Gepard PIM: What’s Hidden Inside?

Product Information Management Architecture: Multi-Tenancy Benefits

While launching a PIM, it’s always hard to balance implementation speed, ease of use, and customization level. It’s almost impossible to launch a one-fits-all product experience management solution. What is the answer to this challenge?

On the one hand, you could quickly get out-of-the-box software with zero customization level. On the other hand, you could build your own solution, tailored directly to your needs.

Where is Gepard product information management tool here? Directly in the middle. We have come out with a multi-tenant architecture as an approach for our flexible SaaS PIM platform.

Multi-tenant architecture is where all clients use the core product information management system with their custom configurations. Here you are the person who chooses what to take as it is, and what to modify to fit your business requirements best.

Each client has their own tenant — an isolated separate PIM with custom configurations. And inside the product information management tools, there are multiple users of different access levels, defined by their roles.

Think of multi-tenancy as an apartment building. Each tenant is like a family of one or more users that lives in their own flat. Each apartment has a unique layout and interior. At the same time, all apartments are in the same building with a single centralized administration, and security system, as well as sources of electricity and water.

Benefits Of A PIM With Multi-Tenant Architecture?

• Cost And Time Efficiency. The cost of launch and connection of new sales partners is lower than average. Your time to market with basics is decreased and advanced configurations are applied later.
• Centralized Product Information. Multi-tenant PIM product helps to ensure consistent and accurate product data across all channels, which can lead to improved customer product experience and increased sales.
• Higher Flexibility Level. Flexible configuration to the existing client’s platforms allows for satisfying up to 99% of your needs.
• Increased Collaboration. Multiple departments and teams can access and contribute to product information in real time. This can improve communication and collaboration between departments, reducing the risk of errors and inefficiencies.
• Better Data Governance. Centralizing product information in PIM helps to ensure that master data is protected and used in a responsible and compliant manner. Proven system modules provide security of investments and scalability.
• Improved Data Quality. Multi-tenant PIM software often includes tools to validate and enrich product information, helping to ensure that the information is complete, accurate, and consistent. This can also help improve the overall quality of the data and make it easier to use for various purposes.
• Increased Efficiency. You can automate many of the manual tasks involved in managing product information, such as data entry, data mapping, and data distribution. This can significantly reduce the time and resources required to manage product information and improve overall efficiency.

Now, when the main idea is crystal clear, we can go on to the goal of any PIM platform user. Everyone wants to put all the product information in order and overcome the data mess they could face.

How To Structure Your Product Data In Gepard Product Data Management Application

Everything begins with building your main data structure in the Taxonomy Module. It can be either imported as a file or created right inside the platform. Later I will cover how to match it with the hierarchies of the data sources and sales channels you work with.

Here are the main types of data used to build a hierarchy inside Gepard PIM:

• Brands
• Product Categorization
• Feature groups
• Features
• Product Families
• Units
• Languages

How To Match Product Information With Data Sources & Sales Channels

Now, when you’re done with creating your own data structure, another challenge arises, with a chill of copy-pasting fear. What if you need to collect data from a few data sources? And what if you follow an omnichannel strategy and need to distribute your product information to different marketplaces and other sales channels?

You can see the data structure of the sales channel right in a template the marketplace provides or using their dedicated portal. Usually, it’s not the same as the one you have.

No worries. You won’t need to spend hours copy-pasting product attributes from one Excel spreadsheet to another. All you need to do is once to map structures with each other, and let them run.

It could be done through specific rules — sets of conditions to match one data hierarchy with the other one. We have a huge set of predefined mapping rules to match data structures with each other. You can see a few examples of how the mapping rules look in the screenshots below.

Here are the main parameters for setting up a rule:

• Data source
• Data destination point
• Entity type & name
• Value

Match type specifies the condition for mapping, specified in the rule line:

• “Include” for at least one of the added values
• “Include All” is a must for everything that was specified
• “Exclude All” for not containing the specified content
• “Exclude” the case product’s digital assets do not contain at least one of the added values

What could be mapped inside Gepard?

• Brand
• Category
• Feature
• Category Feature
• Feature Value
• Unit
• Language.

Mappings are processed in the following high-level order: Brand Mapping → Category Mapping → Feature Mapping.

Creating Flexible Product Information Management Workflow

Along with managing multiple data structures, you need to define the workflows. In other words, the way the product data is collected and distributed across your channels.

The Gepard pipeline interface presents the logic of how the product data workflows are organized and executed inside your PIM tools. Every company has its own product content flows with specific configurations for importing, mapping, transforming, and delivering product data.

Here are a few example configurations that could be applied to your flexible workflows inside the Gepard PIM pipeline:

• Source for products import: ERP system, a folder on FTP, etc.
• List of products to import from a source.
• List of products to export.
• A destination where the product feed should be submitted.
• Format of the product feed you need to deliver: CSV, XML, JSON or XLS(X).
• Sales channel where the product feed must be delivered.
• And more.

With the pipeline, you could configure and manage the complete flow of product data: from product import to product feed management – generation and syndication. All that through a user-friendly interface where the user can create, update, and delete configurations. Moreover, at the beginning of the project, our data integration team provides a setup according to the particular client’s requirements and ensures further support.

How To Import Product Information To Gepard PIM

Gepard import engine handles data imports from different sources, enabling to import of both data structure (product information management taxonomy) and product content with product descriptions and visuals.

To configure which products should be imported and updated, we simply add a condition that specifies the selection of particular products in the assortment rules.

Products Feed Generation & Syndication

From the PIM storage, products are selected according to your assortment rules and submitted to feed generation, according to the template of the sales channel, and in the required format.

As a result, a client sends the export file automatically via API or downloads from a Gepard product asset management platform. Then it’s delivered with a transport method, set in the pipeline module.

The data validation is on, so you don’t need to worry about the product information accuracy. According to our data governance policy, if the product catalog data does not fulfill your rule conditions it’s not shared anywhere and you will see a specific notice inside the platform. Products with incorrect or missing data are filtered for future editing, so they are not included in the output file.

We could arrange exports to the following file formats:

• XML
• XLS(X)
• CSV
• JSON

Product content syndication process refers to data transfer across various sales channels. You could dive deeper into this eCommerce data delivery process in our recent article on the topic. Gepard PIM syndication together with the intelligent mapping engine is a hidden super-power that lives “under the hood” and arranges all the data delivery magic.

Our partnership with Gepard is absolutely beneficial. We reduced costs on the data export processes and attracted new clients, who experienced data transformation challenges. Gepard data transformation capabilities have added new value to our own solution, helping us to achieve our strategic business goals.

Emre Tan Altınok

Managing Director at Icecat

Integrations Gepard PIM Offers

Currently, the Gepard PIM system is integrated with the following sales channels:

• Amazon
• El Corte Inglés
• Dixons Retail
• Argos
• CoolBlue
• Elkjop
• Lazada
• Migros
• MediaMarkt
• Office Depot
• Auchan

The data sources we are already integrated with:

• Icecat
• TradePlace

It could be also used in combination with Gepard B2B eCommerce Platform, and we offer custom-built integrations per client as well.

Conclusion

Gepard PIM is the right solution for enterprise and mid-sized businesses. If you’re in the process of selecting your eCommerce master data management software, I recommend you to read our CEO’s article on how to implement product information management. You could also gain practical knowledge of PIM systems and data syndication solutions by filling out the contact form to learn more about Gepard’s product management capabilities.