Product information management system for
the big Nordic furniture retailer

Before our team introduced advanced filtering, the HFN managers had to undergo a hard way. To find a particular category of products, they needed to export all data on products in the form of a file and using Excel format and formulas find the needed products manually in the list. Then, they introduced changes in this file and uploaded it back to the PIM system. This process took much time, effort, and hardware capacities. Downloading files that contain more than 1.5 million products was a challenging task even for powerful computers. The function of advanced search and filtering was a real game-changer for HFN. Now, the team can use basic and advanced filters to compose a custom dataset based on certain product properties, attributes, categories, etc. The custom list is easy to download and takes much less time to edit and upload back to the system.

Our software product development team automated price management for Home Furnishing Nordic. Before we introduced this functionality, prices were updated manually. A supplier or manufacturer sent the file with price updates to the HFM team. The team had to introduce the changes manually. Now, it’s an automated function. The supplier sends the file with price changes. This file is processed by the service that transforms it into the readable format for PIM. Then, the file is automatically added to our PIM system, data is extracted, and prices are updated with no effort from the HFN team. Such a functionality prevents errors in price management and reduces the time needed for manual calculations and data updates.

The function of public categories is useful not only for user navigation on the website. Managing public categories in the PIM system contributes to better website optimization for search engines. For example, the HFN manager creates a public category of “Black sofas” and adds products to this category. Google can index this category as a website page. Whenever users google “Black sofas,” there’s a high chance for the client website to end up in the search result and find a new audience.

One of the goals of using PIM by the client was to get new opportunities to scale. When the ecommerce business is at the start, it has a smaller product assortment that is easy to manage and track. But as soon as the business grows, the assortment grows in variety. The PIM system for HFN includes the assortment from the client websites, manufacturers, and suppliers. All these data need to be structured in a certain way to help managers expand business offers. A powerful product information management system unites the work of different departments across the supply chain. User-friendly management functionality helps to keep the assortment list consistent even when the number of products grows.