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+ Growth
  • Increased market reach with consistent, brand-aligned content
  • Boosted product visibility across global channels
  • Enhanced engagement with targeted, localized content
  • Accelerated new brand adoption in diverse markets
+ Effiency
  • Reduced manual data entry through centralized management
  • Streamlined product updates across all channels
  • Minimized errors with automated data validation
  • Accelerated time-to-market with efficient data processes

"The decisive plus points for us with Contentserv were that the software is modular, flexible, agile and simply solution-oriented. We were also impressed by the customized demo — we hadn’t seen that before. To approach us, our products and our goals in such a way... that’s simply a prime example in terms of customer orientation."

Julian Kipper
Head of Supply Chain Management, Toynamics Europe GmbH

About Toynamics

Toynamics Europe GmbH is responsible for all distribution processes of the German-Swiss Hape Group in Europe. Hape is one of the largest toy brands in the world, which has become known primarily for educational and environmentally friendly toys. Other in-house brands include Käthe Kruse, Senger Naturwelt, Korko, Beleduc and Kruselings. But external brands such as the Canadian label Nebulous Stars and DinosArt, as well as a Dutch brand TIMIO and American brand Skip Hop are also marketed.

As the name suggests, Toynamics stands out due to its dynamic way of working. The company reacts quickly and effectively to changing situations and market requirements and thinks beyond established solution paths. Toynamics can support other brands thanks to its established structures — covering all levels of marketing, manufacturing and distribution. The introduction of a PIM system is another important step toward laying the foundation for future innovations and ensuring a customer-oriented approach.

toynamics-child-playing
Pain

Scaling excellence in a rapidly growing network

For years, Toynamics grappled with the need for a Product Information Management (PIM) system. As its sales network expanded and its brand portfolio grew, managing product data manually became unsustainable. The team faced mounting challenges, especially with diverse product data formats from international partners, making it difficult to ensure up-to-date, accurate information across all channels.

Without a centralized system, the team relied heavily on Excel databases, limiting efficiency and data consistency. As Toynamics’ distribution network expanded across Europe, the time and cost of manual updates surged. Maintaining high-quality product data aligned with company standards became increasingly complex—particularly critical as the company prepared to launch its online store.

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 single source of brand clarity

  • Create a central system as the single source of truth for all product information, adaptable to unique brand requirements.
  • Safeguard data quality across brands with automated alerts for any input errors.
  • Boost data maintenance efficiency using custom workflows and automation.
  • Tailor product parameters and languages per brand or product group for consistency and accuracy.
  • Distribute product data seamlessly across partners, social channels, and the online store with reduced manual work.

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 flexible solution built for growth and simplicity

  • Contentserv’s flexible, modular solution offered Toynamics the ability to scale their PIM system seamlessly as needs evolve.
  • A tailored demo provided Toynamics with a clear vision of the PIM’s value and highlighted Contentserv’s commitment to customer-focused design.
  • The cloud-based approach eliminated IT burdens, offered predictable costs, and ensured immediate access to updates and patches.
  • With an intuitive, self-explanatory interface, team members quickly adapted to the new system, maximizing efficiency from day one.

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 & Figures

Industry: toys


Target market: Europe (11 countries)


Target customers: specialty retail, ecommerce and B2C


Type of products: toys and lifestyle products

Facts & Figures

Number of retail products: approx. 2,000 items


Online-channels: online store (B2B & B2C)


Offline-channel: retail consumer fairs


Contentserv solution used: PIM & DAM

Facts & Figures

Usage model: SaaS


Implementation-partner: Contsult GmbH

Why (How) Toynamics uses Contentserv

  • PIM as single source ensures consistent, high-quality product data across brands and channels.
  • Automated Data Quality checks instantly alert to input errors, safeguarding accuracy.
  • Cloud-based flexibility reduces IT strain, offering quick access to updates and predictable costs.
  • Custom workflows & language support enable brand-specific adaptations, boosting efficiency in data distribution across markets.

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.