Synchro Diffusion’s PX Evolution: Centralizing and Activating Product Data with Akeneo Product Cloud
The difference {before and after Akeneo} is night and day. We went from vague listings to fully detailed product experiences, automatically. And that has a direct impact on our conversion rates and customer satisfaction.
Synchro Diffusion, a subsidiary of the Mobivia group and a prominent B2B distributor specializing in automotive accessories and equipment for service stations, auto centers, retail stores, and e-commerce sellers, has been on a remarkable digital transformation journey. Initially using Akeneo Community Edition (a free, open-source PIM) to structure basic product data workflows, Synchro Diffusion upgraded to the Akeneo Product Cloud in March 2023 to meet growing complexity and scale.
With a catalog of over 12,000 products, 300+ suppliers, and a small, agile team of six managing Marketing, Digital and eCommerce, the company faced growing pressure to streamline operations and enhance product experiences across a wide and diversified set of customers and channels.
Synchro Diffusion had a data problem.
They serve some of the most recognizable names in automotive and retail, such as, TotalEnergies, Esso, Shell, Point S, Auchan, Oscaro.com…Their product catalog spans everything from car batteries and windshield wipers to plush toys or phone accessories. In total? Over 12,000 SKUs, supplied by more than 300 partners, most of whom send raw data in inconsistent formats, often via Excel spreadsheets.
Behind it all, a small team is tasked with enriching, managing, and syndicating all this product information across ERP systems, eCommerce platforms, and marketplaces.
“We were constantly playing catch-up. Data was all over the place. We’d get product details from suppliers in different formats and had to piece things together manually just to be able to sell.” – said Raphaël Beillevaire.
Synchro Diffusion wasn’t new to Akeneo. They’d been using the free Community Edition for a while, but by the end of 2023, it was clear they needed to optimize and update their approach. That’s when they made the upgrade to Akeneo Product Cloud, which allowed them to centralize their product information, enforce consistency, and build a foundation for scale. Akeneo’s flexible architecture allowed them to connect directly with their existing (Microsoft Business Central) and Adobe Commerce website with ease, enriching global catalog experience, especially on their main B2B E-Commerce platform : “synchro-diffusion.com“.
But even with centralized data, one question remained:
How could they go faster?
GenAI Changing the Game
By late 2023, the marketing team saw an opportunity: to leverage Akeneo’s generative AI, to bridge the gap between what suppliers provided and the high-quality content customers expected.
“We had this long tail of products without proper descriptions or marketing copy,” Raphaël explained. “It would’ve taken us months to catch up. So we turned to GenAI.”
Using Akeneo’s native AI tools and DeepL, Synchro began auto-generating product descriptions, translating content, and extracting structured data from product titles. With the help of carefully crafted prompts and a strong validation workflow, they avoided errors and dramatically improved the quality of their product information.
Even better? Their product and content teams began picking up new AI skills along the way, including prompt engineering, data modeling, and quality assurance, adding to their own professional development.
Before Akeneo, our variants were scattered and hard to manage. Now, we can group them like families, just the way Amazon wants it, and the way customers expect it.
With a rock-solid foundation in place, Synchro’s next focus was scale, especially across marketplaces. They had been active on Amazon since 2017, and had gradually expanded into other platforms. But their existing syndication tool couldn’t keep up.
It was slow, buggy, and lacked proper support. Publishing delays and order errors started to impact customer satisfaction and even triggered penalties from Amazon.
That’s when Synchro decided to adopt Akeneo Activation.
”We needed a single platform to manage listings, pricing, stock, and even order flows. Activation gave us that and more.”
As early beta testers, Synchro helped co-develop core features in Activation. The native integration with Akeneo PIM gave their team end-to-end visibility and control, while reducing manual effort across the board.
Today, they can launch new channels quickly, fix errors at the source, and streamline the entire marketplace process from product setup to order fulfillment.
Before, we were just trying to keep up. Now, we’re optimizing. We’re experimenting. We’re thinking strategically. We’re not just managing marketplaces, we’re mastering them.
By layering Generative AI on top of Akeneo PIM and leveraging Akeneo Activation to push enriched data to their channels, Synchro took a major leap forward in product content quality and performance. All with no additional headcount.
A standout example? Before using AI, a product listing for custom car floor mats on Amazon read:
“Tapis de Sol sur Mesure INCAR Compatible avec Ford Kuga III + Hybride (03/2020-)”
It was technically correct, but lacked clarity and context, no material, no number of pieces, no density info, and no mention of placement in the car. For customers, this left too many unanswered questions.
After applying GenAI + Akeneo Activation, that same product became:
“INCAR Tapis de Sol sur Mesure Compatible pour Ford Kuga III + Hybride (03/2020-) – 4 pièces, Avant et Arrière, Moquette en polypropylène, Noir, 600 g/m²”
This AI-enhanced version:
With Akeneo’s structure and AI tools, Synchro Diffusion scaled this level of enrichment across thousands of SKUs, increasing data completeness from 40% to 90%.
Smarter Variant Management and UX on Marketplaces
Improving content wasn’t just about words, it was about product structure too.
Using Akeneo PIM’s native variant handling, Synchro cleaned up inconsistent listings on Amazon by creating proper parent-child relationships. In one case for Polarbox mini coolers, they grouped all color options under a single parent ASIN, giving customers a seamless, intuitive way to explore and select variations.
This led to:
Owning the Branded Experience
With the basics in place, Synchro didn’t stop at technical improvements. They brought their brand partners’ stories to life.
On Amazon, they launched immersive brand storefronts for top partners, showcasing:
For their partner, the renowned international brand “Bardahl”, they built detailed A+ pages with vehicle-specific benefits and high-converting product breakdowns. Through their partnership with the brand “Polarbox”, they showcased color ranges and lifestyle photography, transforming a single listing into a full-blown brand universe. To enhance the product shopping experience, they also built top-tier official Amazon Brand Stores to centralize the catalog and strengthen brand identity.
“With Akeneo, we had the data foundation. Activation gave us the speed. And together with our creative strategy, we helped our partners take full control of their marketplace presence.”
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