<img src="https://secure.leadforensics.com/176401.png" style="display:none;">
+ Growth
  • Expanded reach through consistent, high-quality product information
  • Enabled tailored digital experiences across global markets
  • Increased customer engagement with improved online content accuracy
  • Strengthened brand presence by meeting evolving customer
+ Effiency
  • Reduced manual work with automated data updates
  • Accelerated product launches through streamlined content processes
  • Improved team productivity with centralized product data management
  • Minimized errors, ensuring reliable data across all channels

"Instead of continually optimizing insufficient parts of the process, it is wiser to build up a unique data source. With Contentserv, we now have exactly the right solution — both to efficiently handle product data and to secure our future viability."

Tobias Janorschke
Project Management Digitalization at COR

cor-customer-story-yellow-sofa

About COR

The family-owned German company from tranquil Rheda-Wiedenbrück manufactures furniture to meet the highest demands and has launched several designer classics since its foundation in 1954. Solid craftsmanship, individuality and attention to detail are part of the brand’s essence — which is why COR furniture is sold through exclusive specialist retail partners.

In addition, the company furnishes hotels, office buildings and even cruise ships. Renowned designers such as Luigi Colani, Peter Maly, Jehs+Laub and Pauline Deltour have designed unique furniture for both private and public spaces. Companies such as Google, Netflix and Spotify are among the references, as are various banks, hotels and corporate administrations such as Otto, BP and DHL

COR's target markets are mainly Germany and its neighboring countries, as well as the United States as the most important market outside Europe. With a team of around 220 employees, the company generated sales of around 50 million euros in 2022

cor-customer-story-white-sofa
Pain

From manual strain to a unified product experience

COR’s product information management used to be a complex process — basic data was centrally managed in the ERP, but images and other vital content were scattered across various departments. When trading partners requested product data, teams spent hours compiling it manually in Excel and folders, leading to time-consuming, redundant workflows.

With remote work on the rise and the digital product experience becoming essential, COR recognized the need for a streamlined, cloud-based solution. Moving away from incremental fixes, they chose a complete data reorganization to establish a unified source of truth, ensuring accuracy and reducing manual work. This shift not only improved collaboration but also made location-independent access possible, aligning COR’s product data management with a new, digital-first approach.

However, with a fast-moving ready-to-wear market, the colossal manual entry of different product data (6,000 color references per season, assortment tracking, product feature updates in different languages, etc.) became extremely challenging. Furthermore, primarily using spreadsheets for this purpose was very time-consuming and error-prone. These files quickly became archaic in the context of Lacoste’s digital transformation and they would often contain numerous data entry errors, which resulted in a slow time-to-market that was harmful to sales. Another major challenge involved variable data such as collections, which must be renewed every six months and had to take into account the difference between the Northern and Southern hemispheres.

Therefore Lacoste needed to adopt a tool that would streamline the creation and distribution of its product catalogs on both its merchant and marketplace sites. This made it clear that Product Information Management (PIM) was the right solution to quickly enrich databases, accurately aggregate content, and shorten time-to-market, all while increasing agility and flexibility.

Aim

Building a seamless product journey for today and tomorrow

COR aimed to create a seamless, cloud-based hub for accessing all product information, including price lists and images, through Contentserv’s PIM/DAM solution. With a centralized data source powered by business rules, they enhanced data quality and consistency while minimizing manual maintenance.

Standardized interfaces now allow COR’s partners to access and use data directly in their own systems, facilitating smoother collaboration and reliable data flow. Structured approval processes for catalogs and promotional materials have simplified coordination with agencies, creating an efficient, unified workflow. In the long term, COR envisions a digital “knowledge repository” for easy access to critical product details, such as spare parts for older models, supporting ongoing digitalization and future e-commerce growth.

In addition to these initial objectives, there were two other quantified objectives: the implementation of the PIM solution should make it possible to increase the average value of orders and reduce product returns.

Lacoste evaluated five PIM solutions, and at the end of 2016, they selected Contentserv. Contentserv allows data to be quickly onboarded and adjusted via user-friendly, intuitive interfaces, and for information to be distributed across all sales media. A pioneer in the PIM industry and a leader for 20 years with an international customer portfolio, Contentserv has extensive experience in product information management.

Gain

A new era of effortless collaborations and high adoption

The intuitive interface of Contentserv’s solution won COR over from the start, making onboarding smooth and straightforward. With user-friendly features, the system quickly gained internal acceptance, an essential factor for seamless day-to-day integration.

Contentserv’s PIM/DAM solution is highly configurable, allowing COR to adapt it to their unique needs without overloading their IT team, as Contentserv handles development and security. Beyond core PIM functions, the cloud-based system also supports efficient remote work, enabling COR’s teams to stay connected and productive from anywhere.

The Contentserv PIM solution provides great flexibility in data generation, with users managing an impressive amount of data (2,400,000 attributes, 24,000 references, and 172,000 ean/UPC barcodes). Export procedures integrated into the solution speed up the automatic creation and editing of catalogs and web pages, allowing Lacoste to export up to 40,000 items daily. Users can then assemble images, technical attributes, and prices by simply dragging and dropping them onto dynamic models subject to pre-established rules.

Other significant advances include the ease of creating new attributes such as information that allows consumers to refine their choices and maximize their shopping experience. This process used to take several months and now takes only 2 or 3 weeks. Furthermore, as fashion is governed by seasons, it is necessary to reconfigure entire offerings every six months. The Contentserv PIM solution allows Lacoste to maintain the attributes (about 300 per product) of the models that remain on sale, and thus, avoids rebuilding the catalog from scratch.

Facts and figures

Industry: Furniture


Annual turnover: € 45 million (2021)


Target market: DACH, Europe and US


Target customers: B2B and B2C

Facts and figures

Type of products: Premium seating furniture, tables, side tables, custom-made products 


Number of commercial products: 35 product lines with multiple variations


Number of digital assets: Several tens of thousands 

Facts and figures

Sales and marketing channels: Specialist home retailers, online stores of specialist retailers, architects, planning offices 


Contentserv solution used: PIM/DAM 


Usage model: SaaS


Implementation partner: hmmh multimediahaus AG

Why (How) COR uses Contentserv

  • PIM/DAM solution enables central, cloud-based access to all product data for seamless collaboration.
  • Business Rules enhance data quality, consistency, and reduce manual effort across teams.
  • Standardized interfaces empower partners with direct access to COR's product information.
  • Remote-work support through intuitive, user-friendly design fosters high adoption and flexibility.

However, with a fast-moving ready-to-wear market, the colossal manual entry of different product data (6,000 color references per season, assortment tracking, product feature updates in different languages, etc.) became extremely challenging. Furthermore, primarily using spreadsheets for this purpose was very time-consuming and error-prone. These files quickly became archaic in the context of Lacoste’s digital transformation and they would often contain numerous data entry errors, which resulted in a slow time-to-market that was harmful to sales. Another major challenge involved variable data such as collections, which must be renewed every six months and had to take into account the difference between the Northern and Southern hemispheres.

Therefore Lacoste needed to adopt a tool that would streamline the creation and distribution of its product catalogs on both its merchant and marketplace sites. This made it clear that Product Information Management (PIM) was the right solution to quickly enrich databases, accurately aggregate content, and shorten time-to-market, all while increasing agility and flexibility.

Ready? Here you grow.

Get in touch with one of our Contentserv experts to discover the Product Experience Cloud.