Let’s be honest, no one ever launched faster or scaled smarter by wrestling with spreadsheets. They did it with clean, connected, and scalable product data, and by employing the right technology (hint: that means Akeneo!). 

This year at Unlock 2025, we proudly recognized Steelcase, Courir, SellerX, and Ploonk with this year’s Accelerator Award for utilizing our technology to tackle that exact problem: cleaning up their product data management processes and implementing strategies that accelerated their time to market.

While each of these innovative brands operates in a different industry, they all faced a common obstacle: fragmented manual product information workflows that held them back at the exact moment they needed to move faster. 

The Common Challenge: Fragmented, Manual, and Risk-Prone Processes

Despite their unique business models, these four brands were all struggling with similar bottlenecks:

• Disconnected systems, disjointed data: When product data is scattered across flat files, legacy platforms, and isolated databases, maintaining consistency becomes nearly impossible. Courir, SellerX, Steelcase, and Ploonk all struggled with fragmented systems that didn’t talk to each other—whether it was managing assets manually, working with marketplace-specific catalogs, or loading supplier data across regional environments. Without a single source of truth, teams faced duplicated work, mismatched product information, and increased room for error across every channel and market.
• Manual overload at every step: From writing product descriptions post-launch to mapping device compatibility line by line, these brands were stuck in workflows bogged down by manual effort. Courir often completed enrichment after products were already live, Steelcase manually linked thousands of images, and Ploonk had to re-import and update titles each time a new phone was released. SellerX depended on flat file uploads for hundreds of marketplace listings, often with no automation in place. This resulted in delays, duplicated work, and teams spending more time updating spreadsheets than driving strategy.
• Visibility gaps and collaboration friction: When tools aren’t shared and workflows aren’t synced, cross-team collaboration suffers. Brand managers at SellerX lacked the visibility to confidently manage data across platforms, while Courir’s regional teams couldn’t enrich consistently or quickly due to decentralized processes. Without a unified view of product data, it became harder to coordinate launches, catch errors, or respond to market needs, turning teamwork into a game of guesswork.
• Systems that couldn’t keep up with growth: As these businesses scaled—whether expanding catalogs, launching into new regions, or onboarding new brands—their tools couldn’t keep pace. Steelcase’s legacy architecture couldn’t support the scale or nuance of their growing product experience strategy, and Ploonk’s increasingly complex mapping requirements became nearly unmanageable. SellerX inherited brands with no PIM in place at all, making integration difficult and time-consuming. Without flexible, scalable infrastructure, growth ended up creating friction at every turn.
  

From Bottlenecks to Breakthroughs with Akeneo Product Cloud

Turning ambition into action doesn’t just take strategy but also enablement. By adopting Akeneo Product Cloud, these award winners equipped their teams with scalable, user-friendly tools that turned a manual mess into a streamlined execution. Here’s how they did it:

• Accelerating go-to-market speed: These brands used Akeneo to speed up time-to-market while reducing errors. Thanks to Akeneo, Courir now publishes localized product pages instantly across regions, and SellerX reduces mapping mistakes and launches faster across marketplaces. Steelcase drastically lowered the time spent loading and linking supplier data globally, and Ploonk automated title generation and compatibility mapping, allowing them to launch complex product variations quickly and accurately across channels.
• Building a single source of truth for product data: Each of these brands began by consolidating their product data into Akeneo Product Cloud, eliminating the chaos of flat files, spreadsheets, and disconnected systems. Steelcase used Akeneo Product Information Management (PIM) and Akeneo Supplier Data Manager (SDM) to validate and enrich supplier data across regions, while SellerX brought order to 409 active catalogs, giving teams consistent, structured information they could actually trust.
• Automating the complex, eliminating the tedious: Manual tasks like title updates, media assignment, and localization were slowing teams down. Ploonk automated over 1,000 rules using Akeneo’s rules engine and reference entities, and Courir cut media management time by 66% by automating description generation and short-form video uploads with the custom Bee App Connector.
• Connecting to the tech stack with ease: Akeneo’s composable infrastructure made it easy to connect with existing systems. Courir integrated Akeneo with Salesforce Commerce Cloud for real-time publishing, while SellerX used Akeneo Activation to syndicate data directly to Amazon across multiple regions. Steelcase ensured enriched product content and assets synced smoothly across various platforms.
• Empowering teams and increasing autonomy: Akeneo enabled non-technical users to take charge of product data without relying on IT. Courir’s merchandisers now update content in real time, Ploonk’s teams handle localization and catalog logic independently, and Steelcase gave regional teams autonomy to enrich and validate supplier data with confidence.
• Creating a foundation for global growth: From global syndication to localized content delivery, these brands are ready for what’s next. SellerX scaled syndication across continents, Courir simplified multilingual publishing, and Steelcase built a flexible, future-ready infrastructure. Ploonk, equipped with automation, handles complexity at scale without adding friction.

There’s more to a product than meets the eye. A t-shirt might look like it fits, but knowing the exact measurements makes all the difference. A camera might catch your eye on the shelf, but reviews and specs reveal whether it’s truly right for you.

That’s the power of product content. When customers have access to accurate, timely information, they’re able to buy with confidence. And when that information stays consistent across every channel, it builds trust and fuels long-term growth.

What makes it all possible? Product content management.

What is Product Content Management?

At its core, product content management (PCM) is the process of creating, managing, and distributing enriched product information across multiple channels, ensuring that product data is accurate and centralized. PCM acts as the backbone of a smooth digital commerce experience and empowers businesses to present their products clearly and compellingly no matter where their customers encounter them. 

The content involved in Product Content Management is broad and diverse, including:

• Product titles and descriptions: Descriptive text that communicates what a product is, what it does, and why it’s valuable.
• Images: High-quality visuals that showcase the product from different angles and in various contexts, helping customers visualize what they’re buying.
• Technical specifications: Detailed technical information such as size,  materials, compatibility, and features that ensure customers get the right  measurements of a product.
• Customer reviews: User-generated feedback that adds credibility and helps other shoppers get a better idea of how a product would be.
• Enhanced content: Rich media elements like videos, comparison charts, or  interactive media (such as Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality) that create a more  immersive product experience.

Advantages and Disadvantages of PCM

Product content management might not wear a cape, but in the world of digital commerce, it’s nothing short of a hero. Still, like any hero’s journey, PCM has both high points and hurdles.

Advantages of Product Content Management

• Convert browsers into buyers: Think of enriched content as your silent salesperson. Clear descriptions, polished visuals, and precise specs help customers make confident decisions, no in-store staff required! In fact, incorporating user-generated content like reviews and photos can boost conversion rates by up to 91.4%.

• Reduce returns: Mismatched expectations are the top culprit behind product returns; in fact, nearly 60% of consumers have returned a product due to inaccurate or misleading product descriptions. Accurate, detailed content sets the right expectations upfront, leading to fewer “this isn’t what I ordered” moments.

• Speed up time-to-market: Centralized content means teams aren’t sending panicked emails and sorting through spreadsheets to track down the right product details. Launching new items becomes faster and far less stressful with efficient data management, businesses, often achieving a 20% reduction in related costs.  

• Power omnichannel consistency: From your website to Amazon to social media channels and beyond, PCM keeps your product content consistent and on-brand across every channel. 
• Build brand credibility: High-quality content doesn’t just inform, it builds trust; and trust leads to loyalty, which leads to repeat business (and maybe even a few happy tweets).

Challenges of Product Content Management

• A data avalanche: With hundreds—or thousands—of products to manage, keeping content up to date can feel like trying to organize a tidal wave. Without the right tools, chaos is one click away. In fact, 40% of B2B organizations still rely on manual methods for product data, leading to outdated product descriptions and inconsistent pricing.
• Everyone wants a piece: Marketing, product, eCommerce, legal – everyone has a say in product content. Managing all those voices without stepping on toes requires both structure and diplomacy.
• Picky channel requirements: Every platform seems to want something different; different image sizes, character limits, mandatory fields, etc. Meeting all their specs can feel like an impossible task!
• Quality can slip through the cracks: When managing massive volumes of content, a single typo or outdated spec can sneak through and lead to big problems like lost sales, negative reviews, or worse, regulatory issues. Basically, everything you don’t want.
• It’s a marathon, not a sprint: PCM isn’t a one-and-done effort. It requires ongoing maintenance, updates, and oversight. But when done well, it’s an investment that pays off again and again.

Typically a two-day affair taking place sometime around Amazon’s anniversary in July, Prime Day is one of the most highly anticipated eCommerce events to get all your favorites shipped directly to your house at a fraction of the original cost.

Now in its tenth year, Prime Day is officially set to occur from July 8th through July 11th, taking place in 26 countries after record-breaking sales last year. 

What began as a way to celebrate Prime members has grown into a massive mid-year shopping holiday that sets the tone for the entire summer retail season. Consumers mark their calendars, retailers brace their inventories, and competitors scramble to roll out parallel promotions. In a sea of deep discounts and lightning deals, only the best-prepared product experiences rise above the noise.

Regardless of what you’re selling on Amazon, Prime Day is your chance to win hearts, carts, and conversions. And that all starts with product information that’s complete, compelling, and conversion-ready.

How Brands Can Prepare for Amazon Prime Day 2025

As we mentioned, this year’s Amazon Prime Day is slated for July 8-11th, which means that now is the time to ensure that your presence on Amazon is ready for one of the biggest digital sales events. Below are a list of things you should consider to optimize your Amazon readiness – because your competition likely already has. 

As an example, we’ll be following the fictional company TechGear along as they optimize their Amazon storefront and listings for Prime Day 2025.

1. Optimize your product pages

Optimizing your product pages is a vital step in preparing for Prime Day success. The worst thing that could happen is you spend lots of time and energy on getting shoppers to your product page, only to lose the sale because of poor or missing product content!

There are a few key ways our friends at TechGear can optimize their Amazon product pages:

Conduct a thorough audit of product listings

Before Prime Day arrives, TechGear can meticulously review their product titles, descriptions, images, and other relevant details, ensuring that all information is accurate, up-to-date, and consistent across their entire product catalog.

For instance, TechGear could verify that their headphone listings have compelling titles that include key features such as “Wireless,” “Noise Canceling,” and “Long Battery Life”, and that their product descriptions are informative and up-to-date, highlighting the unique selling points of each product.

Of course doing this page-by-page is impossible, so it’s helpful to have a centralized source of truth like a Product Information Management (PIM) system that gives you visibility at scale across your product catalog, allowing you to make mass changes to quickly optimize the product information.

Utilize A+ Content

Amazon A+ Content enhances product pages with rich multimedia elements, including additional images, videos, comparison charts, and compelling storytelling.  This section of an Amazon product detail page is an opportunity to tell your brand story and connect with shoppers.

For TechGear, Prime Day is the perfect opportunity to ensure as many of their product pages as possible have A+ Content with lifestyle imagery and brand storytelling to showcase the benefits of their products and increase customer engagement and conversions. They could create visually appealing modules, maybe even 3D-rendered models, and could split-test different variations of their A+ Content, enabling them to identify the most effective elements and layouts.

Generate reviews and address feedback

Customer reviews play a vital role in the Amazon shopping experience – just because they’re at the bottom of the page, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be at the top of your priority list!

Positive reviews from satisfied customers build trust and encourage potential buyers to make a purchase. TechGear should proactively engage with their customers and encourage them to leave reviews, especially those with pictures and videos showcasing the product in action. This social proof will help build credibility and attract more customers during Prime Day.

TechGear can also audit their existing reviews and address any negative comments or customer concerns ahead of Prime Day, showing their commitment to customer satisfaction and building a positive brand reputation before the increased flurry of customer activity.

Take advantage of Amazon Posts

Similar to social media feeds like Instagram, Amazon Posts allow brands to create a stream of curated posts showcasing their products in action. By utilizing Amazon Posts effectively, TechGear can keep their products top-of-mind for consumers during Prime Day by publishing posts showcasing customers using their bluetooth speakers during workouts, gaming sessions, or while traveling.

Or maybe TechGear just wants to generate some buzz and awareness, so they feature their best-performing ASINs, like their highest-rated items or best sellers to capture the attention of customers who are actively searching for popular items on Prime Day.

2. Offer multiple ways to save

To entice customers and maximize sales during Prime Day, offering various ways for them to save is crucial. Amazon provides several effective strategies that brands can utilize to drive engagement and conversions. 

Lightning Deals 

Lightning Deals are time-limited discounts on select products that create a sense of urgency among shoppers. These deals are prominently featured on Amazon’s website and can be highly effective in driving impulse purchases. 

For our friends at TechGear, a Lightning Deal could be reducing the price by 30% on their best-selling headphones for a limited time during Prime Day. This deal would catch the attention of shoppers casually browsing for headphones and encourage them to make a quick purchase before the deal expires.

Prime Exclusive Discounts

Prime Exclusive Discounts are special discounts visible only to Amazon Prime customers. These discounts showcase the discounted price alongside the regular price, highlighting the percentage saved. 

TechGear could offer a Prime Exclusive Discount on their latest smartwatch, displaying the original price crossed out and the discounted price next to it, indicating a 20% discount exclusive to Prime members. This exclusive offer would incentivize Prime customers to take advantage of the savings and potentially drive more browsers to subscribe to Amazon Prime to get access to the exclusive discount.

Coupons

Coupons on Amazon are displayed with an eye-catching bright green tag, making them easily noticeable for customers. These coupons provide instant savings on eligible products.

For example, TechGear could offer a coupon for 15% off their entire range of phone accessories, including cases, chargers, and screen protectors. When customers visit the TechGear Amazon store, they would see the bright green coupon tag, encouraging them to apply the coupon and enjoy the discounted price at checkout.

Non-Amazon promotions

Outside of Amazon, brands like TechGear can employ a number of strategies to drive customers to the popular marketplace during Prime Day, including social media promo codes, influencer codes, custom marketing pages, and buy-one-get-one (BOGO) deals. 

TechGear could leverage social media platforms to run a Prime Day promotion where they provide a unique promo code only to their social media followers that offers an additional 10% discount on all purchases made during Prime Day. Or they could collaborate with influencers in the tech niche who would promote TechGear’s Prime Day deals through their channels, sharing exclusive discount codes with their followers. 

This omnichannel approach leads us nicely to our third strategy.

3. Utilize other channels to promote Prime Day deals

While Amazon is obviously the primary platform for Prime Day sales, don’t limit your promotional efforts solely to the marketplace! Leverage off-Amazon advertising channels such as Facebook and Google as these platforms offer sophisticated targeting capabilities, enabling you to promote your Prime Day deals and bundles to potential customers who may not be actively browsing Amazon. 

TechGear could run targeted Facebook ads that showcase their exclusive Prime Day discounts and highlight the unique features of their products. By using precise audience targeting options provided by Facebook, TechGear can reach users who have shown an interest in similar products or who fit their target demographic, driving traffic to their Amazon storefront and increasing the chances of conversions during Prime Day. Or TechGear could utilize Google Ads to capture the attention of potential customers by bidding on strategic keywords and optimizing ad campaigns, ensuring their Prime Day promotions appear prominently in Google search results.

Lastly, TechGear could utilize TikTok or YouTube for video content, enabling them to demonstrate their products in action by showing an Olympic swimmer using their water-proof headphones in the pool or doing a collab with a popular streamer as she reviews their newest keyboard.

Just as our mascot, Ziggy, powers everything we build at Akeneo, a powerful product experience fuels success in modern commerce. We know that a strong product experience is all about delivering the right content, in the right context, through the right channel, and tailored to the right market. When done well, it reflects brand values, drives conversions, and reduces returns. 

That’s why we’re proud to recognize four standout businesses, JC Perreault, Wein Wolf Group, B&S International, and Tikamoon, as winners of this year’s Product Experience Excellence Award at Unlock! 

Each one comes from a different corner of the retail world, from luxury home goods to fine wines and everyday consumer products. But despite their differences, they faced similar challenges. However, with Akeneo Product Cloud, they discovered a shared solution, one that empowered them to deliver enriched, localized, and consistent product experiences wherever their customers shop.

Their Shared Journey: Overcoming Fragmented Data and Manual Processes

Before Akeneo, these brands were stuck wrestling with content chaos and operational headaches that made delivering great product experiences harder than it should be, including:

• Scattered product information: Between spreadsheets, outdated systems, and siloed databases, product information was more scattered than the clouds in the sky. Inconsistencies and inaccuracies ran rampant, making it tough for teams to collaborate, let alone deliver consistent content across channels.
• Time-consuming manual processes: Enriching and managing product data was often slow and hands-on, causing major delays in launching new products or expanding to new sales channels. For some, an underpowered eCommerce platform made things worse by limiting key functionality and flexibility.
• Barriers to digital growth: Without centralized, structured data or automation, scaling digital operations (like launching online stores or integrating with third-party platforms) was difficult if not impossible.
  
• Inconsistent customer experience: When the back end’s a mess, the front end suffers. Without the right technology in place, it became difficult to deliver the consistent experiences today’s customers expect, which often led to customer frustration, lost sales, and higher return rates.

The Akeneo Impact: Creating a Foundation for Award-Winning Experiences

Each winner turned to Akeneo to overhaul their operations and, in doing so, nailed the art of delivering content exactly where and when it’s needed:

• JC Perreault: Recognized for their dedication to creating a seamless, personalized product experience across both physical and digital channels, JC Perreault increased their online product range by 4X—from 3,000 to 12,000 products—and cut time-to-market from two weeks to just 24 hours. Plus, improved data quality led to longer engagement on product pages and lower bounce rates. By unifying in-store and online operations through a shared data foundation, they proved that great product experiences begin with great product data.
• Wein Wolf Group: After delivering an exceptional product experience by ensuring content is sent out in the correct format and tailored to the appropriate geography, Wein Wolf was also a recipient of the 2025 Experience Award. Their product data quality soared from below 30% to 97%, while time-to-market dropped dramatically thanks to reduced manual effort after implementing Akene. As Ramin Movahed-Schwarz, Head of Digital Hub & E-Commerce, eloquently put it, “In our world, the earth does not revolve around the sun, the earth revolves around Akeneo”.
• B&S International: Honored for providing contextually appropriate content across channels and regions, driving higher conversions and lower return rates, B&S International reduced product launch times from over a week to just days and doubled B2C orders during peak periods, like Black Friday, with customers spending more time on their websites. Akeneo’s flexibility allowed them to apply a single solution across their diverse B2B and B2C segments.
• Tikamoon: Celebrated for seamlessly blending compelling storytelling and sustainability with operational excellence, Tikamoon utilized Akeneo to reduce the cost of adding new attributes by 80% and media-related costs by 90%. Their e-merchandising team now manages a 20% larger product catalog (with double the attributes and triple the media assets) without their team having to grow. It’s smart, scalable efficiency like this that gives customers exactly what they need to make confident purchase decisions at every step.

Eyeing up pretty products has always been part of the shopping experience. Even if it feels like a distant memory, many of us can still picture our younger selves stepping into a store, tugging at our parents’ sleeves, drawn to toys neatly lined up on a shelf. Or pausing outside a storefront, mesmerized by mannequins dressed in the latest fashions. In every case, we were influenced by the items placed right before our eyes, bringing us one step closer to making a purchase.

And who could blame us? A beautifully arranged display that practically tells you what you want is enough to make anyone stop and look. But what happens when that same powerful experience isn’t limited to a single store, or even a physical location? What happens when it becomes accessible anytime, anywhere with just a few clicks?

Enter the digital shelf. Unlike a single store shelf, the digital shelf spans across websites, marketplaces, mobile apps, social media platforms, and even search engines. It’s wherever your product shows up online, and it’s more dynamic, competitive, and customer-driven than ever.

But while the medium has changed, the mission remains the same: catch the eye, spark interest, and convert attention into action. Just like that perfectly arranged aisle or storefront, the digital shelf requires thoughtful presentation, engaging visuals, and clear and compelling product information that anticipates what shoppers want to know. 

Winning the digital shelf means showing up where your customers are, with experiences that are as persuasive and polished as the best in-store displays, powered by data, strategy, and technology.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves; let’s back up and take some time to define exactly what the digital shelf is.

What is the Digital Shelf?

It’s no surprise to say that the shopping experience has completely evolved over the past decade, and the experience we once associated with physical stores has now merged with the online space where products are displayed, discovered, and evaluated by shoppers around the world. The digital shelf can now encompass any combination of digital touchpoints that a shopper may encounter as they’re discovering, researching, and purchasing products on platforms such as eCommerce sites, search engines, social media apps, and third-party retail sites such as Amazon or Walmart.

Examples of digital touchpoints include:

• Mobile apps
• Third-party review sites, such as Yelp or TripAdvisor
• Voice search technology, such as Amazon Alexa or Google Home
• AR/VR shopping experiences

The Building Blocks of the Digital Shelf

Even though the digital shelf isn’t made of wood, glass, or metal, it’s just as real, and arguably even more influential. It’s shaped not by physical placement, but by a combination of content, strategy, and technology.

So, what determines which products get seen, clicked, and purchased? Let’s take a look at just a few of the key factors that influence performance on the digital shelf, and why getting them right can make all the difference between a scroll-past and a sale.

Product Visibility Across Channels

As I mentioned, the digital shelf isn’t glued to one spot. It’s everywhere your customers are, whether they’re scrolling, searching, or shopping. Products can pop up across marketplaces, social media feeds, brand websites, and beyond. If a customer can find it, click it, and buy it online, congratulations: it’s part of your digital shelf.

Accurate Content and Information

On a physical shelf, it’s all about eye-catching packaging and clever signage. Online? Your images, titles, descriptions, and more have to do the heavy lifting. Rich and accurate product content is what attracts and converts online shoppers.

Searchability and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

If a product falls on the digital shelf and no one searches for it, does it even exist? On the digital shelf, visibility often comes down to sharp Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Smart keywords, polished product titles, and strategic descriptions make sure your products rank higher on retailer sites and search engines.

Customer Reviews and Ratings

In-store, shoppers can poke and prod around. Online, they lean on the next best thing: ratings and reviews. Glowing testimonials can lift your product to star status; bad reviews can send it tumbling off the shelf.

Pricing and Promotions

Pricing is highly dynamic online. Shoppers can compare prices in a few clicks, which means brands need to be light on their feet. Flexible pricing, discounts, special promotions, and bundling strategies play a huge role in how products perform on the digital shelf.

Personalization and AI Recommendations

Thanks to browsing habits, purchase history, and even location data, platforms can serve up products tailored to each shopper’s whims and wishes. A personalized experience (especially powered by AI) turns casual browsers into loyal buyers.

As brands continue to prioritize technology, sustainability, and transparency, legislation across the globe is evolving to support these efforts.

The European Union has been leading the charge with new regulations aimed at enabling a greener, more circular economy, particularly through one of the most impactful regulatory developments: the Digital Product Passport (DPP), a key element of the EU Strategy for Sustainable Products Regulation. This initiative falls under the broader scope of the European Green Deal, approved in 2020, which aims to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.

While DPP is a European regulation, its effects are expected to ripple across global supply chains, making it a pivotal consideration for businesses worldwide.

But what exactly is the Digital Product Passport, how does it work, who is affected, and how can your organization prepare? Let’s dive in.

What are Digital Product Passports (DPP)?

A Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a digital record that captures, stores, and shares comprehensive product information throughout its entire lifecycle, from raw materials to end-of-life. The goal is to make key sustainability and supply chain data available across the entire value chain so that manufacturers, suppliers, retailers, repairers, and consumers alike can make better-informed decisions.

The passport is expected to include data such as:

• Product name and model: The official commercial name, model number, or SKU used to identify the product. Consistency in naming ensures traceability and prevents confusion, particularly when products are sold across multiple markets or channels.

• Place and date of manufacture: The specific location(s) and timeline of the product’s production. It may include factory identifiers, country of origin, and the batch or lot number.

• Warranty details: information about warranty periods, coverage terms, repair policies, any available extensions, and potentially also customer service contact information.

• Unique product identifier: Each product must be assigned a globally unique ID, such as a serial number, GTIN (Global Trade Item Number), or QR code, that allows it to be digitally tracked through the value chain.

• Material composition and origin: Detailed information on raw materials and components used in the product, including the types of materials, their percentage of content, and where they were sourced.

• Sustainability metrics: Quantifiable data on the product’s environmental performance, such as carbon footprint, water usage, energy consumption during production, and emissions generated during transportation.

• Repairability and durability scores: How easily the product can be repaired and how long it’s expected to last under normal use. This may also include standardized repairability ratings, expected lifespan, and availability of spare parts.

• Presence of hazardous substances: Manufacturers will be required to disclose any hazardous or restricted substances included in the product, in accordance with REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) and RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) directives.

• Recycling and end-of-life options: Detailed instructions on how the product (or its individual components) should be handled at end-of-life, including disassembly instructions, recycling center locations, or guidance on proper disposal.

The Digital Product Passport, as part of the larger European Green Deal, sets the overarching ambition to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 and is designed to make sustainable products the norm, not the exception, across the EU.

This strategy aims to extend the lifecycle of products, ensure easier repair and reuse, and reduce waste, and the DPP in particular is the enabler of this strategy, making relevant product data accessible at every step, from design to disposal. For businesses, understanding this broader context is critical, as compliance with DPP is just one part of a much more comprehensive shift toward circular, transparent production and consumption.

For these reasons, the European Union mandates that DPPs support several strategic objectives:

1. Compliance with Legal and Environmental Regulations

The DPP serves as evidence of regulatory compliance, allowing businesses to prove adherence to current and future environmental and product safety regulations.

2. Support for a Circular Economy

By providing transparency into product components and usage, the DPP encourages product reuse, easier recycling, and reduced environmental impact, all aligning with the EU Circular Economy Action Plan.

3. Empowered Consumer Decision-Making

When sustainability and origin data are available at the point of sale, consumers can make ethical and eco-conscious purchasing choices based on accurate product information.

4. Innovation in Business Models

DPPs open up opportunities for businesses to introduce repair, refurbishment, and reuse models. Companies can move beyond the traditional take-make-waste model and embrace sustainable services.

In essence, the Digital Product Passport is a tool for traceability, transparency, and transformation, helping businesses and consumers alike to participate in a more sustainable future.

A business is only as strong as its team, and a team thrives under strong leadership! At Akeneo, we understand that behind every exceptional brand is a visionary leader who empowers their teams and drives innovation while bringing strategy to life. That’s why we awarded each of the following businesses – Giant Tiger, KoRo Handels GmbH, Kruitbosch, and Groupe Emosia – with the 2025 Leadership Award at Unlock. 

These brands are unmistakably at the forefront of internal transformation and efficiency. Faced with evolving customer expectations and growing pressure for operational agility, they made a strategic decision to streamline their processes with Akeneo Product Cloud. In doing so, they’ve not only overcome critical business challenges but also elevated the customer experience across all channels!

Navigating Unique Challenges on the Path to Product Excellence

To see a rainbow, you have to get through the rain, and before Akeneo, these companies weathered more than their fair share:

• Fragmented data, fragmented results: When your product information lives in five places at once, nobody knows which version to trust! For KoRo and Giant Tiger, product info lived across multiple tools such as spreadsheets, ERPs, and shared drives, making it difficult to maintain consistency. Both companies struggled with fragmented systems that led to unreliable product data and inefficiencies.
• Inefficiencies in everyday workflows: Spreadsheets and endless copy-paste routines? Not exactly a recipe for speed. Teams spent too much time on repetitive tasks like locating images, updating spreadsheets, or transferring data between systems. At Groupe Emosia and Giant Tiger, this slowed down product launches and distracted teams from strategic priorities.
• Limited access and limited alignment: Without centralized platforms, teams lacked visibility and had trouble working together efficiently. Groupe Emosia’s disconnected workflows and Kruitbosch’s multi-partner ecosystem made collaboration especially difficult without a single source of truth.
• Barriers to scalable growth: Growing pains are real, especially when your systems weren’t built to scale. Legacy systems made it tough to expand into new markets or channels. Kruitbosch struggled with adapting product content for B2B and B2C audiences across regions, while KoRo needed a better structure to scale operations globally.
• Unreliable data with risky decisions: Guesswork doesn’t belong in product data. Without proper control over updates, teams faced issues with outdated or incorrect product specs. KoRo lacked version tracking and change history, increasing the risk of compliance errors. Giant Tiger faced similar challenges as their catalog expanded.

Despite what ‘hypebeasts’ and overenthusiastic tech gurus would have you believe, modern growth doesn’t just depend on hustle or even great products; it hinges on how well you manage and deliver information. With powerful tools like Product Information Management (PIM) and Digital Asset Management (DAM), companies can unlock new levels of efficiency and consistency while delivering top-tier experiences for customers. From global brands to fast-scaling startups, those embracing these systems and ensuring that they work well together are setting themselves up for faster growth.

But what exactly do these powerful solutions do, and how are businesses achieving rapid growth through their implementation? The 2025 Digital Commerce Benchmark Study,  created in partnership with Ntara and Bynder, offers fresh insights into how PIM and DAM together are driving success across industries, along with other factors.

Let’s take a sneak peek into the report to see what the data says about the impact of these technologies, and why investing in them might be the smartest move your business makes this year!

What’s PIM and DAM?

Before diving into how these systems fuel business growth, it’s important to understand what they actually do.

Product Information Management (PIM) is a software solution that helps businesses store, organize, manage, enrich, and distribute product data across all sales and marketing channels. It serves as the single source of truth for product information, ensuring accuracy, consistency, and efficiency at every touchpoint.

Digital Asset Management, on the other hand, refers to the system and processes used to centralize, manage, and deliver digital assets such as images, videos, graphics, and documents across teams and throughout the product lifecycle. DAM ensures that everyone has access to the right content, in the right format, at the right time.

Better Results Start with Customer Centricity

89% of businesses say that improving the customer experience is their top priority when it comes to how they bring products to market. This customer-first mindset is echoed in how companies are choosing and upgrading their technology: PIM, DAM, ERP, CMS, and CRM, and eCommerce systems are among the most frequently planned investments, especially in sectors like consumer brands and industrial manufacturing.

These investments help to streamline internal operations, and they help these customer-focused organizations create more seamless and personalized experiences for buyers. Businesses that pair systems like PIM and DAM tend to lean more toward customer-centric thinking, making tech decisions that prioritize the end-user experience rather than just internal cost savings.

And it’s paying off: despite economic uncertainty, 41% of businesses reported strong performance over the past year, and 51% expect growth in 2025. The companies seeing the most traction are those that understand that great product experiences start with customer needs, not internal processes.

Maturity Isn’t Just About Age—It’s About Smart Tech Moves

Digital maturity is the result of deliberate investment in the right systems, strategies, and tools. Even companies with relatively high digital maturity often hesitate to call themselves “ahead” – a clear sign that keeping up with shifting buyer expectations and evolving channel demands requires continuous investment.

But there’s a clear pattern: as digital maturity increases, so does competitive confidence. Among companies that rated themselves at the highest level of digital maturity, 100% reported confidence in their ability to compete – none felt behind.

One of the strongest signals of smart digital investment? Companies with both PIM and DAM in place report 36% higher digital maturity and 39% greater confidence compared to those without. And that confidence translates into action: these businesses are better equipped to launch products faster, scale across channels, and deliver exceptional customer experiences.

Each year, the Akeneo Expansion Award honors visionary customers leveraging Akeneo Product Cloud to fuel remarkable growth and transformation. The 2025 recipients, including Sealed Air Corporation, FELCO, and Digital Factory InVivo, are no exception. These leading brands show how a strategic approach to Product Information Management (PIM) solves many existing data management problems and can unlock global markets and unparalleled efficiency. New channels, fresh audiences, and complex challenges become opportunities when product data is put to work.

Despite operating in diverse industries, these companies faced remarkably similar hurdles before implementing Akeneo. But today, they offer valuable insights for any business looking to turn product data into real growth.

Growing Pains: The Pre-Akeneo Struggle

Before Akeneo, our award winners were stuck with product data systems that just couldn’t keep up with their ambitions. Their biggest hurdles included:

• Inefficient manual processes: Managing extensive product portfolios relied heavily on manual methods and spreadsheets, making processes time-consuming as the companies scaled. Launching a new product could take a month – not exactly agile.
  
• Siloed and inconsistent data: Data was often managed in separate systems, leading to siloed information and difficulty providing consistent product information across channels. Importing data from disparate sources led to unreliable product data.
  
• Limited accessibility and collaboration: Existing systems just didn’t cut it—teams struggled to access or update product info quickly, and manual data sharing made it tough to keep channel partners in the loop, let alone support them efficiently. Dependence on technical teams for data management and integration slowed things down and left little room for business users to take the lead.
  
• Difficulty scaling and expanding: Outdated legacy systems lacked the flexibility needed for modern eCommerce. Expanding globally was difficult, customizing content for different channels was slow, and keeping up with new regulations just piled on more complexity.
• Risk of losing institutional knowledge: For companies like Sealed Air, key product knowledge lived in the heads of seasoned team members. Without a system to capture it, that expertise was at risk of being erased.

These challenges stood in the way of global growth and kept brands from delivering the consistent customer experience today’s shoppers expect.

The Power of Akeneo’s Product Cloud

Akeneo Product Cloud gave these companies the springboard they needed to turn growing pains into growth wins! And while each brand’s journey was unique, several common themes emerged in how they leveraged Akeneo, including:

1. Creating a single source of truth: The first major win? Bringing scattered product data together to create a single, centralized product data repository. This shift eliminated the need for manual spreadsheets and ensured data reliability and consistency across all channels. As Digital Factory InVivo noted, Akeneo made managing their large, complex catalog a whole lot simpler by providing them “with a centralized and structured platform”.
   
2. Automation in action: All three winners leveraged automation to improve their workflows significantly. FELCO cut product launch time from one month to just 24 hours by automating publishing, and Digital Factory InVivo sped up catalog integration and updates, reducing ticket processing time from over a day to just a few hours. In fact, Digital Factory InVivo saw efficiency gains overall equal to 1.5 full-time employees in just three weeks.Thanks to Akeneo’s rule-based automation and smart features, AI-driven product descriptions streamlined processes and freed up valuable resources for all of our PXM Champions.
   
3. Seamless integration and data syndication: Akeneo’s composable infrastructure also played a key role in these transformations, making it easy to plug into the rest of the tech stack via APIs. The winners connected Akeneo with everything from ERP systems to DAM tools like Cloudinary, ETL tools like Kiboko, and eCommerce platforms like Shopify. This enabled smooth data sync, streamlined syndication, and stronger collaboration with channel partners. FELCO even retired its legacy GS1 system by managing compliant data directly in Akeneo using reference entities – a major win for both efficiency and flexibility.
4. Enabling global reach with multilingual capabilities: For brands expanding across borders, Akeneo’s multilingual and localization data capabilities made a big difference. FELCO tapped into native genAI tools to translate product descriptions with local relevance, and scaled from 10 to 170 markets in under six months, while new product launches across the board accelerated from months to just days or hours. Digital Factory InVivo tailored catalogs and enriched content to meet customer expectations and stay compliant with country-specific regulations.
5. Empowering teams with improved data quality: Akeneo gave business teams the reins with a structure that’s built for autonomy, not bottlenecks. With robust control and validation tools, teams could manage product data confidently, leading to stronger consistency, better SEO, and cleaner content all around. Digital Factory InVivo saw a significant expansion in attribute management after adopting Akeneo, growing from 40 to 650 attributes, while FELCO’s channel partners gained easier access to enriched product data, strengthening relationships and boosting sales effectiveness.
6. Transforming for the future: With the right strategy and the right technology in place, these PXM Champions are setting themselves up for long-term success. Sealed Air used AI to preserve decades of product knowledge, while FELCO enabled the online sale of spare parts and Digital Factory InVivo launched new eCommerce platforms and digitized partner catalogs, creating an omnichannel platform that connects their entire value chain.

And while there’s a lot of really exciting ways your organization can take advantage of AI today, we’ve seen a lot of misinformation floating around about the impact AI will have on the retail industry. So, we decided to separate fact from fiction by dispelling the five most common myths we’ve heard about the most talked about technology of 2025, AI.

Myth 1: AI is a magical, fix-all solution

It’s tempting to view AI as a magic wand that can instantly resolve any business challenge we point it to. In reality, the power of AI lies in its capability to be used to address specific pain points identified by an organization as part of a larger strategy.

For instance, in the fashion industry, it can be nearly impossible to not only predict upcoming trends but then also react quickly enough to take full advantage of the market shift. A well-trained machine learning algorithm can ingest billions of data points from social media, user reviews, and market data in a matter of minutes and generate intelligent recommendations for patterns, styles, and colors. Some AI art generators could even assist in creating mock-ups of these products, or visualizing how they’ll look on different body sizes and shapes.

But who’s training the algorithm with the right target audience to ensure the AI generator isn’t creating a pink, sparkly button down shirt that’s popular in the Gen-Z market for their professional men’s shirt line? AI can help generate SEO-friendly and channel-specific product descriptions, but who’s identifying which channels and markets content needs to be curated for? Who’s communicating production and launch timelines to marketing and support teams, and ensuring everyone has the information and assets they need for a cohesive launch? 

AI is not a one-size-fits-all solution; at least for the foreseeable future, it’s not quite as easy as some people may think to just “ChatGPT it”. Which leads us nicely to our second myth.

Myth 2: AI will entirely replace human jobs

With Microsoft laying off more than 6,000 people in favor of automation and Duolingo coming forward as a “AI-first company” that will replace contract workers with machine learning algorithms, it’s not hard to see why people are panicking about AI taking their job.

But the truth is that AI needs to be viewed as a collaborator, not a competitor. While it’s true that AI has the potential to automate certain repetitive and routine tasks, its primary impact is on augmenting human capabilities and transforming the nature of work instead of entirely replacing the work itself. AI can help to optimize supply chains and reduce time-to-market, but it can’t (and shouldn’t) entirely replace the need for skilled engineers to design and create innovative products.

In actuality, the growth of AI is expected to create over 97 million jobs by the end of 2025; these roles will be more focused on data analysis and AI development and implementation, but will still require the empathy, creativity, and critical thinking of human beings that AI can’t quite replicate (yet). The adoption of this new technology should be seen as a reallocation of responsibilities that can actually lead to a more dynamic and productive workforce.

Myth 3: AI implementation is expensive and time-consuming

One of the most common excuses we hear about avoiding AI implementation is that businesses often believe that this process requires substantial upfront costs without immediate results. The truth is, while AI projects can be resource-intensive initially, cloud-based AI platforms and pre-built solutions have made it more accessible and cost-effective for many businesses. 

Cloud-based platforms eliminate the need for massive hardware investments and provide access to powerful computing resources on a pay-as-you-go basis, meaning a reduced up-front cost and an accelerated results timeline. Similarly, pre-built AI solutions are often tailored to specific industry needs, coming with predefined models and algorithms that can be customized to suit a business’s requirements, reducing the time it may take to implement.