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Case study

The challenge

A consumer goods company operating in 40 countries wanted a way to quickly syndicate accurate product information to its 500 ecommerce partners and distributors—and to confirm that existing listings were up to date. The challenge? Product information was scattered across multiple systems: ERP master data systems such as SAP R/3, as well as SAP EHS, SharePoint systems and even desktops. And attributes, including product titles, descriptions, dimensions, package counts and features, were not consistent across countries. 

The lack of a single source of truth for product information created cascading problems. New product listings had to wait until the marketing and brand teams hunted through multiple systems to find the correct information and images. Different descriptions for the same product led to inaccurate sales reports and forecasts. Auditing ecommerce sites for out-of-date information took six to eight months, exposing the company to legal and compliance risks. These challenges would multiply as the company introduced more products in more countries through more channels in more languages. To overcome these problems, the company turned to Cognizant's CPG digital solutions expertise.

Our approach

We built a digital shelf solution that serves as a single source of truth for tens of thousands of products and hundreds of thousands of images for business segments currently operating in 40 countries.

Now, the company has an easier, more automated way to syndicate product data to retailers and other channels. The product information management solution, hosted on Stibo Step, pulls in data from the company’s existing SAP, packaging, pricing and product hierarchy systems. The MediaBeacon digital asset management solution serves as a central repository for the latest images, PDF files, packaging artwork and videos. Cognizant designed an intuitive interface that employees and partners can use to access product data and images from both PIM and DAM solutions in one place. Today, more than 3,500 employees and agencies use the digital shelf solution. We worked in two-week sprints to roll it out across North America, Latin America, EMEA and Asia Pacific. Country teams can now customize the standard framework.

 

Digital shelf improves productivity, sales and audits

Cognizant helped the client increase sales, strengthen its brand and avoid fines by designing and implementing a centralized PIM and DAM system that makes the syndication of product data and images easier.

$3 million

saved annually in operational expense

60%

increase in time to market via digital channels

68%

time saved in creating product listing