We model product data exactly as we please - Anything can be done with Perfion
“With Perfion, I am free to model product data as I please – and also to meet the needs of our various countries. Everything is possible! Our business is constantly changing and evolving, but the PIM system has always been able to keep up. The investment in Perfion has been returned many times over.” Maiken Høhrmann, Product Information Manager, Louis Poulsen Lighting A/S
Lighting company Louis Poulsen has established itself as one of the key global suppliers of architectural and decorative lighting. Since 2012, the Perfion PIM system serves as their single source of product information for 5,000 item numbers in 14 different languages.
Challenge
Before the implementation of Perfion, the Louis Poulsen team handled product data manually.
Sales staff pulled lists from the ERP system and sent quotes and product sheets to customers by email. Additional information was provided via phone calls.
The manual process was extremely time-consuming. Furthermore, sales experienced challenges visually showing customers what the company was offering.
Solution & Benefits
When Louis Poulsen started a webshop, it became imperative to be able to share and publish product information more efficiently, to automate as many processes as possible.
They decided on Perfion, due to the fact that it is 100% modellable and meets the lighting industries need to freely create and move around data fields, as well as set up configurations and make queries.
Maiken Høhrmann, Product Information Manager at Louis Poulsen, said:
“Our ERP system contains data used in production and we keep the ERP clean by not storing ‘everything else’ in there. Lighting has a lot of technical information and in Perfion we can break data down into atoms, re-model it and transform it as we see fit. We can also add additional data without having to tinker with the ERP system.”
Perfion is fully integrated with Louis Poulsen’s web and ecommerce platform (EpiServer) and ERP system (SAP ECC), meaning all types of product data can be maintained and centrally managed with the PIM system. Perfion is seen as the “Single Source of Truth”.
Louis Poulsen’s lamps are presented on the web pages with product data and images directly from the Perfion PIM system
Product data flows seamlessly from Perfion to all channels
From Perfion, current product information is fed directly to the company’s B2B and B2C websites and webshop, as well as to data sheets and price lists, which can be generated automatically in seconds in predefined templates set up in Perfion’s built-in design module.
Every year, Louis Poulsen produces a large InDesign-based product catalogue of all 180 products and their 5,000 variations, including text, images and data in 12 languages, and prices in a large number of currencies. The native connector to Adobe In-Design allows for all product data from Perfion to flow seamlessly into the catalog file.
Product data from Perfion automatically flows into Louis Poulsen’s large InDesign product catalogue files
Produktdata fra Perfion flyder automatisk ind i Louis Poulsens store InDesign produktkatalog-filer.
"Being able to download data sheets automatically in our 14 languages has saved a lot of resources internally. It has helped our Asian countries in particular, because they have special legal requirements. Now they must not remember to add special data manually. It is a huge help that the "truth" is available in Perfion.
The PIM system has actually helped all departments: ecommerce, marketing, sales and customer service – the whole company. PIM is also a reference work - everyone knows where to find data."
Louis Poulsen already uses a wide range of Perfion's functions. As the company develops, new needs are constantly arising. So far, the PIM system has been able to meet them:
“We use Perfion every day and have yet to experience that something is not possible. If we can’t figure out how to handle a task, it's not because Perfion doesn't have the functionality. It's because we don't know about it yet.”
Maiken Høhrmann's recommendations to others facing a PIM project::
- Prepare your new data structure before you start the project. Once the structure is in place, the rest is very straightforward.
- Emphasize internal training to ensure that employees are comfortable with the shift from familiar, manual processes to more automation.
- Just go for it! It pays 100%.
About Louis Poulsen
Founded in 1874, Louis Poulsen Lighting A/S is born out of the Scandinavian design tradition. Today, the company is one of the key global suppliers of architectural and decorative lighting. The products serve and span the professional and private lighting markets for both indoor and outdoor applications.