<img src="https://secure.leadforensics.com/176401.png" style="display:none;">

kikaLeiner realizes efficient and quality-oriented product data maintenance

“When I started at this company, it was clear to me after two months that we needed a PIM system. Contentserv is incredible in terms of usability — it’s practically self-explanatory.”

Johann Wiehart, Product Data Lead at kikaLeiner

Kika/Leiner realizes efficient and quality-oriented product data maintenance Leiner-customer-story-company

About kikaLeiner

With a total of 17 furniture stores and more than 1,900 employees, the kikaLeiner Group is the secondlargest furniture company in Austria. With over 100 years of tradition behind it, the brand Leiner in particular has established itself with customers as a furniture store offering the biggest brands with the best quality and high level of service. While kika, with its self-service concept, first rose to prominence in the 1970s and was then able to position itself as a successful full-service company. Since 2018, the company has increasingly focused on e-commerce. Today, both brands are united under one roof as kikaLeiner.


Leiner-customer-story-kitchen-module

Facts and figures

Take a look at some important facts about kikaLeiner.

Industry:
Furniture sales

Target market:
DACH

Target customers:
B2C

Type of products:
Furniture and homeware (incl. full-service offerings such as delivery, installation, etc.)

Number of products:
230,000

Number of digital assets:
350,000

Sales and marketing channels
PoS, print, online catalog, online shops, online marketplaces

Contentserv solution used
PIM & DAM

Use model:
SaaS

Implementation-
partner
:
hmmh multimediahaus AG

Challenges and implementation

The change of strategy at kikaLeiner made it apparent that a fundamental paradigm shift was necessary for the handling of product information. Master data had previously been maintained in various systems – without being centrally collected or provided with sufficient transparency or clear definitions of quality

This may be sufficient for a purely bricks-and-mortar business, but not in the context of a digital transformation and increasing e-commerce business. With 1,500 to 2,000 new items being added on a monthly basis, the effort involved would not have been manageable over the long term. Among other things, this could be felt in the time-to-market, which was clearly too long: Between creating a new product and it actually appearing in the webshop, there was a processing time of 3 days — in the best-case scenario.

A new basis had to be created in order to centrally administer all product information, qualitatively enrich it, and maintain a “single source of truth”. As a further step, the existing media asset management system, in which detailed classifications and meta-tagging were not possible, could then be replaced.

In the end, Contentserv was selected as a future-proof solution — due, in particular, to the integrated PIM/ DAM approach (Product Information Management and Digital Asset Management), the rapid applicability and the accessible usability, as well as the predictable costs thanks to the cloud-based variants.

Requirements

First and foremost, the cloud-based PIM/DAM solution from Contentserv should noticeably slim down internal processing and allow for the centralized administration of data. This would allow the company to benefit in the future from cost savings and a faster time-to-market. The focus was initially on the following requirements

  • Establish PIM/DAM as a central system to create a “single source of truth”
  • Simplify and accelerate workflows — especially in the creation and maintenance of items
  • Directly connect the existing online shop in order to automate product data and update them on a daily basis
  • Enable efficient meta-tagging of assets using the Google Vision connector
  • Significantly improve the consistency and quality of the product data and assets – also as a solid foundation for future innovations

Implementation

Prior to the introduction of the PIM/DAM solution, it was nearly impossible to meaningfully evaluate the existing data and processes to initiate optimization steps on that basis. Due to the network of various system landscapes, neither sufficient transparency nor meaningful key figures were available. Once the team was able to gain an initial overview, it became clear that a PIM system was needed. Soon after, the decision was taken and, together with the implementation partner hmmh, the cloud-based solution from Contentserv was implemented — which had emerged as a favorite on the previously created shortlist thanks to its clear advantages.

Implementation using the taxi model with hmmh was quickly realized: Three months after the start of the project, the new system was already up and running so that the webshop could go live online. Within the first year, the 20-person team was able to add and qualitatively enrich around 35,000 items to the new system – with efficient workflows and a direct connection between the shop system and the PIM. While the range is being expanded further, the company is taking its first steps towards adding meta-tags to images and other assets with the Google Vision connector in order to save resources. The first test runs have gone very well.

Two factors made it possible to implement the solution quickly despite some hurdles: Firstly, the support and workshops from hmmh were perfectly tailored to the needs and aims of the team, which made getting started in the field easy. Secondly, two of the main decision-makers were already experienced with PIM systems from other companies. As relatively new employees, they were able to view the implementation from an outsider’s perspective. The intuitive usability of the Contentserv solution was also helpful, allowing everyone involved to quickly develop new modes of working.

Convincing results

The degree to which Contentserv’s efforts support the future development of the company can be seen in the time-to-market alone, which has already been reduced many times over: Instead of the original 72 hours, it only takes 30 to 60 minutes for a newly created item to run through the automated quality controls and appear in the webshop. Thanks to optimized workflows, the online offering can continue to be expanded according to an ambitious schedule. Implementation could not otherwise be achieved at such speed, without significantly more employees.

Furthermore, the digital restructuring, which has now been continued in-depth, offers numerous further simplifications – not only in eCommerce but also in the supporting system for the teams at the branch locations. The project leaders are convinced that within the next few years, many of the systems still in use will fall away completely because the Contentserv platform will help to fulfill their functions. To start with, the focus is on the DAM functionality of the Google Vision integration. Then, the PIM/DAM system can speed up important areas of marketing, such as the creation of brochures.

It is also exciting to take a look at the previously established benchmarks compared to the competition: While the fulfillment level was 15–20% prior to the introduction of Contentserv, it could be raised to 90% within a single year.

Read more

„As an integrated PIM and DAM solution, Contentserv created ideal prerequisites for us to fully optimize and expand our processes. Especially the large range of functions and the cloud service, which is as practical as it is capacity-saving. This means that we are now future-proofed for e-commerce.”

Johann Wiehart, Product Data Lead at kikaLeiner

Why Contentserv?

  • The cloud-based system with the SaaS model was ideal for rapid implementation – with predictable costs and zero effort on the part of the internal IT department.
  • Contentserv offers functions which are both practical and proven to ensure data quality via automated workflows.
  • First-rate usability immediately convinced the key decision makers because the nearly selfexplanatory software noticeably simplified the training process.
  • Even the basic functions of the comprehensive PIM/DAM solution were exciting. Combined with numerous expansion options and simple scalability, Contentserv provides the optimal foundation for the digital transformation of kikaLeiner.
  • Both Contentserv and the implementation partner hmmh demonstrated a comprehensive understanding of the industry-specific requirements and individual needs of this traditional furniture company

Get started with Contentserv

Talk to an expert – give us a call and we can answer your questions.

Request a demo