Product Information Management Case Study | Ecommerce retailer uses SaaS PIM solution to bring new products to market faster. * SaaS PIM ==> Rapid Implementation, no hardware to manage , no custom programming * Intuitive Product Information Management UI ==> Rapid Adoption by Suppliers and Internal Users * Lowest Total Cost of Ownership

1. ECOMMERCE INNOVATOR GAINS AN EDGE
WITH CLOUD-BASED PIM AND SUPPLIER
MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
APRIL 28, 2015

2. CONFIDENTIAL, MERCHANTRY © 2014
Page 2
A fast growing design-oriented ecommerce
retailer planned to launch a series of limited
time pop-up stores with a constantly changing
assortment of limited time pop-up stores with a
constantly changing assortment of unique and
hard-to-find items from a variety of vendors.
They were bogged down with substantial
challenges from the ongoing rapid pace of
onboarding new suppliers and their product
catalogs (Product Information Management) –
something they needed to excel at for their
unique business model to succeed.
RETAILER OVERVIEW: MULTI-BRAND ECOMMERCE SITE
About the Retailer
• Online only business
• “Pop-up stores”
• Multi-brand retailer
• Fashion & Apparel
• Product Information
Management
Challenges
• Led by ecommerce
veterans

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Merchandising at Turbo-Charged Speeds
The business model put tremendous pressure on the
merchandising function. They had to find new products and
add all the supplier and product details to the online store in
days, even hours!
Onboarding Suppliers and Products Every
Day All Day
Speed was not the only factor with this business model;
volume upped the challenge. Onboarding can strain any
merchant, but for this retailer, adding suppliers and product
information wasn’t a one-time or seasonal struggle, but a
massively relentless every day way of doing business
RETAILER OVERVIEW: ONBOARDING SUPPLIER
CATALOGUES DAILY
“I could not afford the
distraction of spending 25% to
30% of my time on a home
grown IT project for product
information management
during this critical early project
phase. And I knew an email
and spreadsheet product
information management
process would be a disaster.”
CEO

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THE CHALLENGE: DRAMATICALLY SCALE SUPPLIER AND
PRODUCT ONBOARDING WITHOUT ADDING STAFF
The ecommerce company needed an innovative approach to supplier and
product information management that addressed three core challenges:
Continuous supplier
onboarding
Rapid pace of adding
new products and
details
Scarce resources: Not
enough people or time
Curating a unique assortment of
merchandise meant this
company needed to handle a
large number of suppliers, with
new ones being added every
day.
The suppliers ranged from large
and efficient companies to tiny
artisanal vendors.
Many were not technology savvy
and almost all of them had
different processes and
capabilities.
Managing suppliers was simple
compared to the product
information management task. The
retailer needed a way to handle the
massive number and variety of
products coming on daily. The sheer
scale of effort and the relentlessly
fast pace of the business model was
complicated by the need to present
the products across platforms, from
the traditional Website to mobile,
social, even search. While some SKUs
shared common product attributes,
many had unique elements that were
the key to creating the rich product
descriptions needed for stimulating
sales and for sophisticated SEO.
Does any retailer have an oversupply of
staff, cash and time? Our client had
ambitious growth plans that absolutely
demanded a scalable and automated
product information management
system.
They could not add employees fast
enough to handle expansion plans.
Their lean staff needed to focus on
sourcing and selling amazing products,
not managing a multi-month system-
build and IT integration process.
They needed to spend wisely and avoid
making a huge upfront investment with
a long payback window.

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Buy Now or Never
Online retailing is about immediacy.
This company’s business model turbo-
charged the impact of that immediacy.
Because the stores were up for only a few
days, shoppers needed to buy now,
because the product might not be there
tomorrow.
That put even pressure on the product
information management function.
THE CHALLENGE: CONVERT SITE VISITORS WITH A
CONSTANT FLOW OF ROBUST PRODUCT OFFERS
• Product details needed to
automatically flow across platforms
• Product descriptions had to stimulate
a “buy now” impulse
• Rich product information was a must
for creating a sense of trust and
confidence in the company and the
items for sale
• Products had to be quickly findable
through SEO
• The short retail window meant

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Merchantry Solution
Merchantry’s SaaS PIM software was built by retailers, for retailers, to address the
online retailer’s critical ecommerce needs:
• Speed was of the essence. Merchantry’s fast implementation front-loaded value
without requiring front-loaded investment.
• Merchantry created hundreds of product attribute and validation rules to
automate the long-term management of product information across thousands of SKUs
and suppliers.
• Merchantry implemented a fully automated supplier onboarding and product
information management system.
• Merchantry’s Supplier Portal provided a single point of entry for all supplier and
product catalog content, along with an easy and transparent process for self-
onboarding and updating.
• Merchantry delivered training for the retailer’s staff and key suppliers to create
instant experts who could make maximum use of the system from day one.
MERCHANTRY SOLUTION: CLOUD BASED SUPPLIER
ONBOARDING AND PRODUCT INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

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SaaS PIM Speed to Market
Merchantry’s SaaS Product
Information Management (PIM)
solution optimized the online retailer’s
speed to market with fresh, new
products.
Richly detailed product descriptions,
supported by flexible categorization,
has generated increases in sales and
improvements in SEO performance.
Clear, comprehensive and accurate
product information builds trust and
activates shoppers to buy.
SAAS PIM RESULTS: SPEED TO MARKET, SCALABILITY,
AND SUPPLIER SATISFACTION
Success by the Numbers
• 7 weeks from start to finish
• 1 point of entry for all suppliers, items
and platforms
• Onboarding over 200 suppliers per
month
• Handling over 1,400 item validation
rules
“Speed to market with a curated and constantly
changing offering of unique products that have
expansive descriptions is where we excel.
Merchantry is our product information
management secret that keeps our competition
guessing, our suppliers happy and our
customers buying.”
–CEO

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SaaS PIM Scalability
On the operational side, Merchantry’s SaaS PIM software enables the company
to:
• Onboard hundreds of new suppliers and thousands of products every
month—incredibly fast, without sacrificing accuracy.
• Automate validation of supplier information, preventing mistakes and also
feeding online, mobile and social platforms seamlessly.
• Focus on their core competency of curating cool products. With suppliers able
to quickly and effectively self-onboard, the company avoided pushing
spreadsheets and building and modifying IT systems and
And the solution will enable them to continue growing without adding staff.
SAAS PIM RESULTS: SPEED TO MARKET, SCALABILITY,
AND SUPPLIER SATISFACTION

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SaaS PIM Supplier Satisfaction
• Suppliers love the solution too!
• Merchantry makes doing business with this retailer easy—even for small
suppliers with low technology skills. The process is clear and simple so that
suppliers can self-onboard and effortlessly, completely, and accurately supply
information that will make their products sell.
• First impressions count. Merchantry helped this company create trust from
suppliers with a well-thought-out, solidly functioning process and easy tools. This
retailer now is master of a function that is differentiating and mission-critical to the
success of their business model.
SAAS PIM RESULTS: SAAS PIM SPEED TO MARKET,
SCALABILITY, AND SUPPLIER SATISFACTION

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PIM Implementation Phase
No hidden costs outside contract
• No hardware purchase or
configuration
(vs. time and money spent purchasing servers
and DBs, configuring, etc.)
• No PIM software customization or
outside tech resources required
(vs. large professional services contract)
• Rapid PIM deployment and adoption
SAAS PIM RESULTS: MERCHANTRY’S CLOUD-BASED
SOLUTION SAVED TIME AND MONEY
Ongoing PIM Support
No IT infrastructure or software
upgrades to manage
• No FTEs for internal IT management
(vs. ½ FTE for server and software
maintenance)
• Upgrades managed by Merchantry
• Dedicated account manager and
support team for client users
• Supplier support for catalog
onboarding
Low Total Cost of Ownership

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Cloud PIM Advantages
• Product: Pre-configured for
retailer and supplier use cases –
no custom programming
• Infrastructure: No impact on IT
infrastructure, no hardware
sourcing or software install
• API’s: Open APIs in a non-
proprietary format, connecting to
any number of systems
SAAS PIM RESULTS: RAPID IMPLEMENTATION AND
FASTE “TIME TO IMPACT”
Impact on PIM Implementation
2 Months after signature
• 4,700 new products in system
• 190 new suppliers
3 Months after signature
• 7,700 new products in system
• 300 new suppliers

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MERCHANTRY: SAAS PRODUCT INFORMATION
MANAGEMENT FOR MULTI-BRAND RETAILERS
About Merchantry
Based in NYC, Merchantry is the world's only cloud-based
enterprise Product Information Management solution.
Designed by retailers for retailers, Merchantry's SaaS PIM
delivers speed, flexibility and scalability:
• Fastest PIM implementation
• Fastest supplier onboarding
• Robust dropship management module
• Configurable enterprise-strength product information
management (no custom programming)
• On-demand PIM scalability without hardware purchases
or management

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LEARN MORE ABOUT PRODUCT INFORMATION
MANAGEMENT AND SUPPLIER ONBOARDING
Links to Additional Free Resources
• Case Study Webinar: The Future of Ecommerce -How Bluefly
Excelled at Supplier onboarding
• Whitepaper: 7 Product Data Inefficiencies Impacting Your
Revenue Growth
• Blog Post: Unlocking Sales Growth with Product Information
Management (PIM) Software
• Website: Managing Retail Product Information
• Demonstration: Schedule a SaaS Product Information
Management solution demo