From Product Data Chaos to Clarity
A Staged Approach to Modernization for Wholesale Brands
For wholesale and distribution brands, product data is the foundation of success. It drives ecommerce operations, enables integrations into other platforms, including additional sales channels, and acts as the foundation to automation and increased efficiency. Yet managing product information effectively remains one of the most persistent challenges, especially for brands relying on older all-in-one suites like SAP Commerce Cloud (Hybris).
In these tightly coupled systems, product information management often gets intertwined with other commerce functions, creating inefficiencies that ripple across the organization. Decoupling product data management through a standalone Product Information Management (PIM) system offers a low-risk, high-impact first step toward modernization.
By exploring the key product data challenges wholesale brands face, the benefits of adopting a standalone PIM, and how this approach paves the way for exploring composable architectures, we can carve a clearer path to success for wholesale and distribution brands.
Product Data Challenges for Wholesale Brands
Wholesale and distribution brands face unique and significant challenges when managing product information, especially in older all-in-one commerce suites. The nature of the industry means these pain points crop up time and again for wholesalers and distributors.
- Complex Catalogs: Thousands of SKUs with detailed configurations, attributes, and buyer-specific customizations make catalog management time-consuming and error-prone.
- Fragmented Data: Product information is often spread across multiple systems, including tools native to the commerce suite, spreadsheets, and custom-built applications. This fragmentation leads to inconsistencies and inefficiencies.
- Slow Updates: Updating product information across various platforms, instead of in a single place, slows down time-to-market for new vendors, categories, products, pricing changes, or localized content updates.
- Channel-specific Demands: Tailoring product data for specific sales channels (e.g., ecommerce, partner portals, marketplaces) often requires custom workflows or repeated manual interventions.
- Regional Localization Needs: Managing translations, currency variations, and region-specific attributes adds complexity, particularly for brands operating globally.
- Limited Scalability: As catalogs grow and new channels are added, older all-in-one suites can struggle to handle the increased load without significant custom development.
- Collaboration Inefficiencies: Lack of a streamlined workflow for approvals and dedication process allows inaccuracies to slip through the cracks, which creates bad customer experiences and introduces delays.
While those challenges can seem daunting, the good news is there are steps brands can take to solve them. And it starts with a standalone PIM.
Why a Standalone PIM is the Ideal First Step
Standalone PIM systems address these challenges head-on by decoupling product information management from tools and processes— especially important when those tools and processes are tightly integrated into a suite designed to serve a single online channel.
First and foremost, a standalone PIM system offers centralized data management by creating a single source of truth for all product information, reducing errors and duplication. This ensures that teams can access and manage data in one place, maintaining consistency across channels. Additionally, PIM systems enhance data quality with built-in validation tools that catch errors, missing fields, and inconsistencies before the information reaches external systems, improving both accuracy and reliability.
By streamlining workflows—enabling bulk updates, automated translations, channel-specific data exports, and especially approvals— PIMs also accelerate time-to-market and allow brands to implement updates quickly and launch products faster while lowering the risk of error. These systems provide channel flexibility by tailoring data for different platforms, making it easier to meet the requirements of ecommerce sites, partner portals, or new marketplaces.
Furthermore, standalone PIMs are designed to scale with growing product catalogs, enabling brands to expand seamlessly without overburdening existing systems. For B2B brands evaluating modernization strategies, a PIM offers immediate benefits without requiring disruptive changes to the broader tech stack.
Akeneo, a leading PIM solution, is particularly well-suited for wholesale and distribution brands. Its flexible architecture supports large, complex catalogs and integrates seamlessly with all-in-one suites like SAP Commerce, but also modern modular platforms like commercetools. Akeneo’s tools for enrichment, translation, and approval make it an excellent choice for businesses managing diverse product information across multiple regions and channels.
PIM as a Bridge to Composable Architecture
Standalone PIM systems don’t just solve today’s product data challenges—they also create a foundation for broader modernization. Decoupling product information management from platforms like SAP Commerce gives brands flexibility to incrementally modernize, reducing risk and disruption while addressing immediate product data issues without moving off their current commerce system. A standalone PIM also allows brands to explore modular, API-first tools for commerce, marketing, and search without being tied to the limitations of a legacy suite.
For example, Akeneo can act as a bridge between existing platforms and modern composable tools. By centralizing product data with Akeneo, brands can reduce dependencies on existing technologies and architectures, while gradually integrating other systems, such as a headless frontend or dynamic pricing engine.
Exploring Modern Architecture Through Pilots
Once a PIM is in place, wholesale brands can begin testing modern architectures, like composable commerce, in small, focused pilots. These pilots allow businesses to evaluate the benefits of modular architecture without committing to a full migration. If we take Akeneo as our example PIM alongside the commercetools platform, we can quickly see where wholesalers and distributors can make fast strides towards their goals:
1. Pilot a New Locale or Product Line
One of the most effective ways to test commercetools in a real-world setting is to launch a pilot for a new locale or product line. This approach works especially well when customer expectations for the new experience are not yet anchored to the existing system.
Example Use Cases
- Expand into a new regional market by deploying commercetools for that region’s storefront. Use Akeneo to manage localized product content, including translations, regional pricing, and inventory specifics.
- Introduce a specific product category, such as spare parts or accessories, through commercetools. Akeneo can centralize the unique attributes and technical specifications needed for these products, ensuring accurate and consistent data across the pilot site.
Benefits:
- Evaluate modular architecture patterns without disrupting existing operations
- Refine workflows and integrations with minimal risk
- Gather user feedback to optimize before scaling
2. Modernize Product List and Product Detail Pages (PLPs and PDPs)
For brands looking to improve customer experience while maintaining their existing backend operations, a composable frontend approach can deliver immediate results. Start by transitioning Product List Pages (PLPs) and Product Detail Pages (PDPs) to commercetools.
Example Use Case
- Use commercetools APIs to power PLPs and PDPs with dynamic, real-time product information and sync product data from Akeneo, ensuring attributes like images, descriptions, and technical specs are accurate and up-to-date. Retain SAP Commerce for checkout and order management in the initial phase
Benefits:
- Enhanced speed and scalability for high-traffic product discovery pages
- Immediate improvements in frontend flexibility and control
- Seamless data consistency ensured by Akeneo as the product information hub
3. Launch a Mobile App for Self-Service Features
A mobile app offers a perfect opportunity to showcase the benefits of commercetools’ API-first architecture while providing value to your customers. By focusing on self-service capabilities, such as re-ordering or checking order status, you can create a compelling app experience.
Example Use Case
Enable account managers to collaborate asynchronously with customers via the app, using commercetools to handle product catalog queries, personalized recommendations, and order data while Akeneo ensures that the product information in the app matches the catalog across all channels.
Benefits:
- Increase customer satisfaction with faster, more convenient interactions
- Build a modern, API-driven mobile experience without disrupting core systems
- Showcase the flexibility of a modular architecture in powering new digital channels
With the right tools in place, wholesale brands can tackle some of the most common pain points with greater ease than ever before.
A Staged Approach to Long-Term Success
For wholesale brands, tackling product data challenges is the logical first step toward modernization. Akeneo provides immediate improvements in data quality, efficiency, and scalability while creating a foundation for future innovation.
By combining Akeneo with composable tools like commercetools in targeted pilots, CIOs can explore the benefits of modern architecture at their own pace. And with resources like the free Akeneo-commercetools integration on Composable.com’s GitHub, brands can take the first step toward a more flexible, efficient, and scalable future.
Everett Zufelt
VP, Strategic Partnerships & Emerging Technology, Orium
As VP Strategic Partnerships & Emerging Technology at Orium, Everett leverages his extensive technical background and over a decade of experience in headless and composable commerce to lead the development of Orium’s offerings. He guides the go-to-market strategy and supports his teams in crafting solutions that enhance the digital capabilities and operational efficiency of scaling commerce brands.