Product Experience

The Limitations of the Traditional Search Experience

Explore why outdated SEO tactics no longer meet the demands of today’s search behavior—and how to adapt. From intent-focused strategies to the role of PIM in improving product content, learn how to make SEO more effective, relevant, and human-centered.

Some of the world’s greatest inventions are high-tech smartphones, well-optimized coffee machines, and SEO. But while your phone keeps getting smarter and your coffee machine somehow knows exactly when to brew that next cup, businesses’ use of SEO is old-fashioned, failing to keep up with how real people actually search. It’s become a bit like using a paper map in the age of GPS—technically useful, but often archaic and far from flexible.

While many companies are using SEO, some still struggle to use it effectively, which means missing out on meaningful customer insights and even deterring potential buyers. As you can see, bad SEO can make or break your business. Instead of attracting the right audience, it can push them away. But what does poor SEO really look like? And how can you avoid making the same mistakes with your brand? Well, let’s find out!

What is SEO? And Why Is It Needed?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of improving a website’s visibility, content relevance, and ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs) for specific keywords. The goal is to attract more organic (non-paid) traffic by aligning businesses’ content with what people are actively searching for.

To achieve this, brands create content that directly addresses their customers’ questions—using the right keywords, structuring pages for readability, and ensuring the site is fast, mobile-friendly, and easy to navigate. SEO involves optimizing everything from meta tags and headers to internal links and page speed, all to help search engines understand your content and connect it with the right users. When done well, SEO helps brands appear naturally in the moments that matter most!

What Happens When You Get SEO Wrong

But as valuable as SEO is, there are some drawbacks to the traditional SEO strategies that have become particularly evident as AI-powered search experiences have started to take the spotlight.

Traditional SEO often focuses on exact-match keywords, assuming users search in a predictable, uniform way. But in reality, people use conversational language, ask full questions, and vary their phrasing based on intent, location, or even mood. Focusing only on static keywords means your content may fail to appear in more meaningful, high-intent searches—where potential customers are actually looking for what you offer.

If your content is stuck chasing exact matches instead of understanding the bigger picture, you’re missing out on opportunities to show up for the searches that actually matter.

Another big issue? Traditional SEO often oversimplifies search intent. It lumps users into broad categories rather than recognizing that someone casually researching a product and someone ready to buy might use very different wording. 

Yet outdated SEO strategies treat them the same; or worse, force marketers to play a guessing game as to what customers really mean when they search.

And let’s not forget how fast search behavior changes. Sticking to a rigid set of keywords means you’re optimizing for yesterday’s searches instead of adapting to what people are looking for today and tomorrow. Businesses that cling to rigid keyword strategies may find themselves losing visibility to competitors who embrace more dynamic, AI-driven, and conversational approaches to content discovery.

How You Can Use SEO Effectively?

Despite these limitations and the growing push for AI-powered intent-based searching, traditional search experiences aren’t going anywhere. But  focusing on strategies that prioritize user-friendly content, seamless user experience, well-optimized pages, and adaptability can help businesses ensure that they are utilizing these traditional SEO engines effectively. A few key tips include:

• Understanding search intent: Go beyond keywords—ask and understand what your audience is really trying to achieve when they search.
• Creating relevant, authoritative content that answers real questions: Use tools like Google’s “People Also Ask,” AnswerThePublic, or forums to find the actual language your customers use, and then incorporate that language into your product detail pages.
• Structuring content for readability: Use headings, short paragraphs, bullet points (like this!), and visuals to keep your content skimmable and engaging.
• Optimizing for technical performance: Ensure your site is fast, mobile-friendly, secure (HTTPS), and easy to navigate with clean URLs and proper metadata.
• Keeping your SEO strategy flexible: Trends change—update outdated content, monitor keyword shifts (via tools like Google Analytics and third-party SEO platforms) and adapt your strategy regularly.
• Leveraging internal linking and user flow: Help search engines and users understand how your content connects by guiding them through your site. Use internal links to highlight related topics and drive traffic to high-value pages, and a well-structured flow to create a smoother experience for your audience.
• Thinking human-first, not search engine-first: Write for people, not algorithms. The more relevant and helpful your content is to real users, the better it will perform.

When SEO is approached with strategy and empathy, it becomes less about algorithms and more about connection, which is the best way to understand and communicate with your customers.

SEO and PIM: Why Product Information Matters

Strong SEO doesn’t start and stop at keywords. It depends on the quality, consistency, and completeness of your product data, which is where a Product Information Management (PIM) system comes in. PIM helps businesses centralize and manage product content across all channels, ensuring that information is accurate and up-to-date whether it’s appearing on a website, an app, or a third-party marketplace. This consistency is key not only to building trust with customers but also to optimizing for search engines, which reward relevance, structure, and completeness.

When product data lives in silos or is spread across disconnected systems, it creates gaps in customer experience and weakens your SEO foundation. In fact, poor data quality and data silos cost companies an average of $12.9 million annually, and 84% of retail executives admit to struggling with data silos. These inconsistencies can lead to incomplete product descriptions, conflicting information, misaligned keywords, and missed opportunities to appear in searches. PIM solves this by creating a single source of truth for all your product content!

A well-implemented PIM also enhances personalization and user engagement—both of which influence search rankings. By pulling together product data, customer feedback, and user-generated content (UGC) from across touchpoints, brands can create more targeted, SEO-friendly content that resonates with how people actually search and shop. 

In short: the better your product data, the stronger your SEO! PIM gives you the foundation to deliver consistent and search-optimized content across every channel—helping you win in both discovery and conversion.

Think Beyond the Search Bar

SEO today is about far more than just keywords and rankings; it’s about relevance, context, and creating frictionless experiences that match how real people search. Traditional strategies that focus solely on static keywords or guess at intent are quickly becoming outdated. If your brand wants to stay visible and competitive, it needs to evolve with the way customers think, speak, and shop.

That’s where strong product data and tools like PIM make all the difference. By centralizing and enriching your product information, you create a foundation for more accurate, personalized, and search-optimized content across every channel. When you combine that with a customer-first mindset, SEO stops being a guessing game and starts becoming your best strategic advantage.

The Next Chapter of Commerce is Here.

Discover how AI is transforming shopping, search, and product experiences, and why clean, structured data is the key to staying competitive in the next era of commerce.

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Venus Kamara, Content Marketing Intern

Akeneo

Artificial Intelligence

How AI is Disrupting Commerce Today

Learn how brands like Perplexity, Sephora, OpenAI, and Amazon are leveraging AI to reshape the customer journey—from intent-based search and virtual try-ons to intelligent agents and personalized shopping assistants. See how AI, powered by clean product data, is helping businesses drive engagement, boost efficiency, and stay competitive in a rapidly evolving digital marketplace.

3. OpenAI’s Operator: Independent AI Shopping Agents

When talking about AI, how could we possibly forget OpenAI? The team behind ChatGPT recently introduced Operator, an autonomous AI agent designed to tackle a wide range of web-based tasks, from filling out forms and booking flights to ordering groceries and booking reservations. Users simply describe the task, and Operator gets to work in its browser environment. At any point, users can take over control, especially for actions requiring sensitive information like login credentials or payment details. This innovation contributes to OpenAI’s impressive growth, with weekly active users surging by 33% since December 2024, reaching 400 million globally. 

Customization is where things get really interesting. Operator lets users set preferences for specific websites, like always choosing aisle seats when booking flights or automatically reordering the oat milk that somehow disappears faster every week. Additionally, Operator allows for multitasking by running multiple tasks simultaneously in separate conversations, akin to using multiple tabs in a web browser. 

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While still in its early days (and not immune to the occasional stumble on a complex web interface), Operator represents a shift in how we as consumers interact with the internet and how businesses need to think about being discovered. As autonomous shopping agents become more common, it’s no longer just about appealing to human shoppers, and unlike human shoppers, AI agents rely on structured, machine-readable data to identify product attributes, compare options, and make decisions. If your listings are vague, inconsistent, or missing key attributes, you risk being invisible and overlooked by AI shopping assistants,  ultimately missing out on a growing wave of automated purchases.

4. Amazon’s Rufus: Personal Amazon Shopping Assistant

Ever wanted your own personal shopping assistant? Well, now you’ve got one. And no, it’s not Alexa.

Trained on Amazon’s vast product catalog and supplemented with information from across the web, Rufus acts as an intelligent shopping assistant that provides real-time answers, product comparisons, and tailored recommendations. Rufus allows consumers to interact conversationally—whether you’re asking “what to consider when buying running shoes?” or getting oddly specific with “is this cordless drill easy to hold?”, Rufus is ready. Since launch, it’s handled tens of millions of customer queries, proving just how eager shoppers are for smarter, quicker help. By integrating this assistance directly into the Amazon shopping journey, Rufus helps reduce friction and guide customers toward faster, more confident decisions.

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But the impact goes beyond the cart. AI assistants like Rufus are also changing the game for sellers. Amazon is already putting generative AI to work, helping brands create more engaging and informative product listings by enhancing titles and descriptions to better capture consumer interest and improve discoverability. 

And then there’s Fit Review Highlights—a feature that offers personalized size guidance and insights so customers can determine which size will fit them best. When you have 58% of consumers saying that sizing was the #1 reason for a product return, you can’t help but see how an AI-powered feature like this can help boost conversion rates and reduce return rates. 

These four brands (Perplexity, Sephora, OpenAI, and Amazon) are just a few examples of businesses putting AI to work in their own uniquely brilliant ways. The methods may differ, but the mission is the same: to make shopping (and searching, and browsing) faster, smarter, and way less frustrating. In a world where expectations are rising faster than your screen time, these brands are proving that smart tech and smarter data is the way forward.

Your AI Assistant Is Only as Smart as Your Product Data

Believe it or not, in the world of AI-powered shopping, messy or incomplete product data is enough to ruin the entire customer experience—no matter how advanced the tech behind it. If AI doesn’t have the right information to work with, it can’t recommend accurately, answer questions, or even surface your products in the first place!

That’s where a Product Information Management (PIM) system comes in. It helps brands centralize, organize, and enrich their product content—ensuring every attribute, description, and spec is accurate and AI-ready across all channels. With AI tools like chatbots, search engines, and virtual assistants relying on structured data to make recommendations or answer queries, a strong PIM foundation isn’t just helpful—it’s essential. The better your data, the better these tools can represent your products, guide customers to the right choice, and ultimately drive conversions. AI can only be as intelligent as the product content behind it!

The Future of Shopping Is Already Here—And It’s Powered by AI

From Perplexity’s zero-click shopping and Sephora’s virtual beauty tools to OpenAI’s Operator and Amazon’s Rufus, brands are already showing us what’s possible when AI meets customer experience. These innovations are setting new expectations for speed, personalization, and convenience across the board.

For brands looking to stay competitive, the message is clear: embracing AI is essential, but smart technology needs smart data. Investing in structured and enriched product information is the first step to unlocking the full potential of AI and delivering the kind of customer experiences today’s consumers expect.

The Next Chapter of Commerce is Here.

Discover how AI is transforming shopping, search, and product experiences, and why clean, structured data is the key to staying competitive in the next era of commerce.

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Venus Kamara, Content Marketing Intern

Akeneo

Akeneo News

Akeneo Earns Top Marks in 2025 Analyst Reports from IDC and ISG

Leading analyst firms IDC and ISG have released their 2025 assessments of Product Information Management (PIM) and Product Experience Management (PXM) vendors. Akeneo has been named a leader across multiple categories. Here’s a look at the highlights from five key reports.

3.  ISG PXM for Retail Buyers Guide Results

Retail is changing fast—and product information is at the heart of the transformation. The ISG PXM for Retail Buyers Guide zooms in on the unique challenges retailers face when trying to deliver consistent, enriched product experiences across a growing number of touchpoints.

With eCommerce, marketplaces, in-store experiences, mobile apps, and social commerce all vying for attention, retailers can’t afford to rely on outdated, fragmented systems. This report makes a strong case for why modern retailers need a PXM solution that unifies product data, enhances storytelling, and scales with speed.

In short: Retail success today depends on experience. And experience starts with great product information.

Why Akeneo Was Recognized as a Top Performer:

Akeneo was recognized as a top performer in key areas that matter most for retailers; “Manageability”, “Capability”, and “Product Experience”. Our platform was again classified as “Exemplary” in both Product and Customer Experience, affirming our leadership in helping retailers create and manage product content that actually connects with customers.

Key Highlights

• Retail-ready manageability: Akeneo offers user-friendly workflows and governance tools that help merchandising, marketing, and ecommerce teams collaborate efficiently without needing to call IT every five minutes.
  
• Seamless data flow across channels: Our platform ensures that product information is not only consistent, but contextually relevant—whether it’s being displayed on a website, in a mobile app, or on a digital shelf.
  
• Experience-led innovation: With built-in AI features and a strong focus on product storytelling, Akeneo helps retailers move beyond basic attributes and craft immersive, engaging product narratives.
  

Key Takeaways

1. Spreadsheets can’t scale. Centralized PXM is a must: If you’re still managing product data in Excel or bouncing between disconnected tools, you’re holding your customer experience back. Unified platforms like Akeneo empower retail teams to work smarter, faster, and more collaboratively.
2. GenAI and XR are redefining product storytelling: With GenAI, retailers can now generate compelling, on-brand product descriptions in seconds. Combine that with emerging technologies like Extended Reality (XR), and the ability to tell rich, immersive product stories across digital and physical environments becomes a major differentiator.
3. Manageability drives real results: It’s not just about having a powerful platform—it’s about having one that’s easy to manage, scale, and adapt to your business. Akeneo strikes that balance, making it easier for retail teams to take control of the product experience without compromising agility or governance.

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4. ISG PIM Platform Buyers Guide Results

The ISG PIM Platform Buyers Guide takes a step back to look at the bigger picture – how PIM platforms are evolving across industries, and why they’re no longer just back-end data tools. What emerges is a clear message: Product Information Management is moving from support role to center stage, playing a foundational part in driving customer experience, digital transformation, and business growth.

This guide explores how PIM is shifting from being a system of record to a system of engagement; one that empowers teams across the organization, leverages automation and AI, and enables businesses to scale product content creation and management in increasingly complex ecosystems.

Why Akeneo Was Named A Top Performer:

In this broader context, Akeneo was once again named a top performer, proving that our platform delivers not only for retailers, but for a wide range of industries, from manufacturing and consumer goods to distribution and B2B services.

Akeneo earned leading scores in both “Manageability” and “Product Experience”, two of the most critical capabilities for any modern PIM platform. Our adaptability and ease of use across various industries stood out, along with our commitment to cross-functional collaboration and scalable workflows.

Here’s what makes Akeneo shine in this category:

• Industry-agnostic flexibility: Whether you’re selling fashion, furniture, industrial parts, or anything in between, Akeneo adapts to your business model and product complexity—with flexible data structures and a modular architecture.
  
• Collaborative lifecycle management: Akeneo’s workflows are built for real-world teams. From product managers and marketers to compliance and ecommerce teams, everyone can work in sync to bring high-quality, enriched product data to life.
• Usability that scales: The platform combines powerful features with an intuitive interface, so users across the organization—from tech-savvy admins to creative content teams—can contribute meaningfully without a steep learning curve.

3 Key Takeaways:

1. PIM platforms must scale with complex ecosystems: The days of using basic tools to manage flat product catalogs are long gone. Today’s businesses need PIM platforms that can scale to handle thousands (or millions) of SKUs, multiple languages, varying regional requirements, and an ever-growing number of sales channels. Akeneo is built to grow with you, no matter how complex your ecosystem becomes.
   
2. Automation and genAI are no longer optional: To keep up with speed, scale, and quality demands, PIM platforms must embrace automation. Akeneo incorporates GenAI for enrichment and workflow automation, helping businesses produce more content, faster—without sacrificing accuracy or consistency.
3. Empower operational teams without the complexity of MDM: While some organizations may consider Master Data Management (MDM) solutions, these often come with complexity and overhead that slows teams down. Akeneo offers a purpose-built, user-friendly alternative that empowers business users to manage product information effectively—without relying on IT or managing a heavy enterprise system.

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5. ISG PIM for Manufacturing Buyers Guide Results

Manufacturing has always been a world of precision, scale, and complexity, and in the digital age, product information is just as mission-critical as the products themselves. The ISG PIM for Manufacturing Buyers Guide dives into how manufacturers can no longer afford to treat product data as an afterthought. Instead, it must be treated as a core business asset—one that drives operational efficiency, compliance, digital transformation, and customer satisfaction.

This report explores the distinctive pressures manufacturers face: global supply chains, strict regulatory environments, multiple product variants, and the increasing demand for rich, accurate product content across both digital and physical channels.

Why Akeneo Was Recognized As a Top-Tier PIM Solution:

In this high-stakes environment, Akeneo is recognized as a top-tier PIM solution, helping manufacturers tame complexity and thrive in an increasingly interconnected and data-driven world.

Akeneo earned top 3 rankings in “Capability”, “Manageability”, and “Usability”, positioning it as a powerful solution for manufacturers seeking to future-proof their operations.

Here’s how Akeneo delivers:

• Streamlined product information flows: Akeneo helps centralize and structure complex product data—whether it’s technical specifications, multilingual documentation, or compliance attributes—so it flows efficiently from R&D to the digital shelf.
  
• Digital & physical channel readiness: Whether you’re sending product information to distributors, ecommerce platforms, printed catalogs, or internal sales tools, Akeneo ensures consistency across every touchpoint.
  
• GenAI-ready for speed and scale: As manufacturers increasingly turn to automation to scale product data across regions, Akeneo’s built-in GenAI tools enable fast, accurate content generation and enrichment tailored to each market or channel.
  
• Seamless system integration: From ERPs and PLMs to ecommerce platforms and regulatory databases, Akeneo connects with the broader technology ecosystem manufacturers rely on to run efficiently.
  

3 Key Takeaways

1. PIM is foundational for manufacturers going digital: Manufacturing firms are increasingly expected to deliver not just great products, but great product experiences. PIM platforms like Akeneo enable manufacturers to bring that digital layer to life—ensuring product data is accessible, accurate, and ready to power every customer interaction.
   
2. Agentic AI and automation are game-changers: Managing a vast product catalog with multiple configurations, regions, and compliance requirements is no easy task. Akeneo helps manufacturers apply AI-powered automation to handle repetitive tasks like categorization, enrichment, and localization, freeing up teams to focus on higher-value initiatives.
   
3. Scalable, integrated systems are critical for future-proof operations: In today’s volatile environment, agility is everything. Akeneo’s flexible and composable platform architecture allows manufacturers to adapt quickly—whether it’s entering a new market, complying with new regulations, or launching a new product line—without overhauling their entire tech stack.

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Wrapping It Up

Across five different analyst reports and a wide range of use cases, from the fast-paced world of retail to the complex demands of manufacturing, Akeneo has been consistently recognized as a leader. This recognition reflects not only the strength of our platform, but the impact it has on real businesses navigating real challenges.

Whether it’s harnessing the power of AI to streamline content creation, enabling collaborative workflows across global teams, or syndicating enriched product data to over 400 channels and marketplaces, Akeneo is helping brands take control of their product information and turn it into a strategic growth driver.

Our vision is clear: product information shouldn’t be a burden. It should be your competitive advantage. And we’re committed to giving businesses the tools they need to create product experiences that are accurate, consistent, and engaging across every channel, market, and touchpoint.

We’re incredibly proud to see that vision validated in these reports—but we’re even more excited about what’s next. With our customers as co-innovators, we’ll continue building the future of product experiences, together.

Curious how Akeneo can help your business thrive in 2025 and beyond? Let’s talk.

Are you ready to take the next step?

Our Akeneo Experts are here to answer all the questions you might have about our products and help you to move forward on your PX journey.

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Casey Paxton, Content Marketing Manager

Akeneo

Regulation Compliance

Using PIM to Prepare for Digital Product Passports

Discover how businesses are using PIM to prepare for the EU’s Digital Product Passport (DPP)—centralizing product data, enabling supply chain transparency, and supporting sustainability goals. Learn how this powerful combination helps brands stay compliant, build trust, and deliver the clear, accurate product information customers expect in a more circular economy.

What Could Help Businesses Prepare?

It’s easy to look at DPP regulation as a burden and a a digital checklist for businesses, but in reality, it’s a big leap toward a market where transparency isn’t optional, accountability matters, and everyone from manufacturers to consumers can make smarter, more sustainable choices.

But that kind of transformation doesn’t happen overnight—and definitely not without the right tools. So, what could help businesses actually get ready for this new data-driven, transparency-first era?

The answer is a Product Information Management (PIM) system.

A PIM solution centralizes and structures all your product data in one place, making it easier to collect information from suppliers, enrich it with sustainability attributes, standardize formats, and distribute it to the right platforms—including future DPP interfaces.

By building your product data foundation on a robust PIM, you’re not only setting yourself up for smoother compliance, but you’re also reducing manual effort, improving data quality, and ensuring consistency across markets.

Benefits and Challenges With PIM

Benefits:

• Centralized data, fewer headaches: A PIM consolidates all your product data into a single source of truth. No more scattered spreadsheets or chasing down suppliers for missing info—it’s all in one place, clean and structured!
• Easier DPP compliance: With the ability to manage and enrich product data – including sustainability attributes, certifications, and lifecycle details – a PIM helps ensure you’re capturing what the DPP requires and sharing it in a consistent format.
• Efficiency at scale: Whether you’re managing ten products or ten thousand, a PIM can automate and streamline data handling, reducing manual effort and accelerating your path to compliance!
• Better collaboration across teams: Marketing, sustainability, product, and compliance teams can all access and contribute to the same dataset, helping break down silos and speed up processes.
• Future-proof foundation: As DPP requirements evolve, your PIM can adapt, whether that means updating attributes, integrating with new platforms, or scaling across markets.
• Improved supply chain visibility:

A PIM system centralizes product data from across your supply chain, making it easier to track sourcing, production inputs, and environmental impact—all key for DPP compliance. In fact, 55% of business leaders identified improving supply chain visibility as a top priority, highlighting the growing demand for transparency and data-driven decision-making.

Challenges:

• Initial setup takes effort: Implementing a PIM (or optimizing an existing one) means gathering, cleaning, and structuring your data—a necessary but time-consuming first step, especially if your current setup is fragmented.
• Data quality is everything: A PIM is only as good as the data you put into it. Ensuring supplier data is complete, accurate, and up to date is essential for DPP success.
• Cross-functional buy-in is key: You’ll need alignment between IT, product, legal, and sustainability teams to define workflows and assign responsibilities, especially when managing data tied to compliance.
• Staying up to date: DPP isn’t a static, one-and-done project. Businesses will need ongoing governance processes in place to keep product data current as regulations shift and new requirements emerge.

How Do the DPP and PIM Help Brands and Customers?

For businesses operating in the EU, preparing for the DPP isn’t just about staying compliant. When paired with a robust PIM system, the DPP becomes a powerful tool for building transparency, strengthening customer trust, and gaining a competitive edge. A PIM helps brands gather, manage, and distribute the detailed product data the DPP requires, making it easier to showcase sustainability efforts in a credible, consistent way across all channels.

For customers, this translates to greater clarity and confidence. With access to standardized, trustworthy product data—powered by PIM and delivered through the DPP—consumers can easily understand what products are made of, how they were produced, and how they can be repaired, recycled, or reused.

Stay Compliant—and Competitive!

The Digital Product Passport is a signal that the future of commerce is transparent, data-driven, and increasingly circular. For businesses, that future comes with both pressure and potential. Getting ahead of the curve means more than just checking compliance boxes; it means building the infrastructure to support better product data and stronger relationships with customers, partners, and regulators.

That is exactly why a PIM system is necessary. By centralizing, structuring, and streamlining your product information, PIM doesn’t just help you meet DPP requirements – it sets you up to thrive in a market that values both accuracy and sustainability.

Together, the DPP and a strong PIM foundation give businesses the tools to turn compliance into a competitive advantage!

Avoiding Greenwashing

Discover how to avoid the pitfalls of greenwashing and build genuinely sustainable strategies that foster trust, align with regulations, and drive long-term business growth.

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Venus Kamara, Content Marketing Intern

Akeneo

Retail Trends

4 Ways to Build a Resilient Business in an Unpredictable Global Market

Businesses are facing mounting pressure from every direction, from tariffs and regulations to evolving consumer demands. Discover four actionable strategies that can help you stay ahead of the curve, from streamlining supplier onboarding to scaling into new markets with localized content. Learn how the right tools and the right mindset can turn uncertainty into opportunity, future-proofing your product experience operations for whatever comes next.

3. Create a single source of truth for all product information

Rather than juggling product specs, sustainability credentials, and compliance documentation across disconnected spreadsheets, legacy systems, and siloed teams, businesses need a centralized platform where all product data is stored, governed, and accessible to the right people.

Akeneo PIM is designed to do exactly that. By empowering businesses to centralize, manage, and enrich product information at scale, a composable PIM system like Akeneo ensures that every team, from merchandising to marketing to compliance, works from a unified set of accurate, up-to-date data, and that can lead to real cost savings – for example, AMG Medical saw a 60% reduction in catalog management costs after implementing Akeneo PIM. With powerful data governance, workflow automation, and enrichment tools, Akeneo PIM makes it easier to maintain consistency and quality across all channels and product lines.

This not only supports compliance with emerging regulations like DPPs, but also reduces errors, speeds up product launches, and improves the overall customer experience. And when change does come—whether it’s a new regulation, market opportunity, or supplier switch—you’ll already have the solid foundation in place to adapt with confidence.

4. Be prepared to expand to new markets/geos with translated, localized content

When conditions become unfavorable in one region, entering new markets—or doubling down on others—can provide much-needed growth. But too often, expansion plans are delayed or derailed by the complexity of creating localized, relevant content for each new market.

The key is to build a scalable localization process in advance. That means centralizing product data, leveraging translation workflows, and ensuring you can easily tailor product information to meet the needs of local customers, from language and measurement units to cultural context and buying habits.

The good news is that Akeneo can help there as well. With Akeneo Activation, you can distribute tailored product information to any channel, in any region, all from a central platform, ensuring that the right content gets delivered to the right place in the right way at the right time. Akeneo also offers AI-powered translation and localization tools that dramatically simplify the process of adapting product content for new languages and cultures – FELCO was able to scale their eCommerce presence from 10 markets to 170 in just six months with Akeneo. 

By ensuring that product descriptions, features, and marketing copy are not just translated but fully localized for tone, terminology, and context,  Akeneo enables fewer errors, faster launches, and better customer engagement in every market you enter.

With the right tools and processes in place, localization becomes a growth lever rather than a bottleneck. And in a volatile global market, having that kind of flexibility could make all the difference.

Build for Flexibility, Not Perfection

There’s no crystal ball in business. Tariffs will rise. Regulations will shift. Consumer behavior will evolve. And companies that cling to rigid, outdated systems will find themselves constantly playing catch-up.

But the answer isn’t to try and prepare for every scenario; it’s to build systems and strategies that let you adapt quickly to any scenario. That means modernizing your supplier onboarding, making your product information channel-ready, centralizing your data, and preparing your content for global reach.

The businesses that thrive through uncertainty won’t be the ones who guessed right. They’ll be the ones who build their organization with resilience, agility, and adaptability in mind. So, the next time the unexpected happens (and it will), you won’t be scrambling. You’ll be ready.

Are you ready to take the next step?

Our Akeneo Experts are here to answer all the questions you might have about our products and help you to move forward on your PX journey.

Request a demoRequest a demoRequest a demo

Casey Paxton, Content Marketing Manager

Akeneo

Technology

What Is a Point-of-Sale System?

Point-of-Sale systems are transforming how businesses operate — from processing payments to tracking data and improving customer service. Discover how POS systems work, the differences between cloud and on-premise setups, and how to choose the right solution. Learn about key features, benefits, challenges, and how tools like PIM can enhance your POS system’s power across channels.

Why Businesses Need a POS System

Whether you choose a cloud-based or on-premise setup, the core purpose of a POS system remains the same: to help your business run more smoothly, serve customers better, and make smarter decisions. But beyond just processing payments, POS systems have become essential tools for modern businesses.

From managing real-time inventory and automating sales reports to tracking employee performance and storing customer data, a POS system helps streamline operations and reduce human error. With everything connected in one place, business owners can make more informed decisions, save time on administrative tasks, and focus on growth. Features like low-stock alerts, data-driven insights, and built-in analytics also empower businesses to operate more efficiently and stay ahead of the curve.

That said, no system is without its challenges. POS systems — especially more advanced ones — can come with a learning curve, and depending on the setup, they may require regular maintenance, training, or updates. As I mentioned before, cloud-based systems rely heavily on internet access, while on-premise ones require dedicated hardware and IT support. 

Despite these hurdles, the long-term benefits often outweigh the initial setup and costs. For customers, POS systems enhance the overall experience by enabling faster checkouts, flexible payment options, and even personalized service through loyalty programs. Whether you’re running a small café or scaling a retail chain, the right POS system doesn’t just make your business more efficient — it makes it more competitive and future-ready!

Tips For Choosing The Right POS System

With so many benefits on the table — and a few challenges to consider — it’s clear that choosing the right POS system is a big decision. The key is finding a solution that fits your business’s size, industry, and unique workflow. 

Not all systems are created equal, and what works for one business might be a poor fit for another. So how do you make the right choice? Here are a few key tips to guide your decision:

1. Understand Your Business Needs

Start with the basics: What type of business do you run? A retail store, restaurant, or mobile service provider? Each has different requirements — for example, a café might need table management, while a clothing store may prioritize inventory tracking. Choose a system that’s built with your industry in mind.

2. Think About Scalability

Your business might be small today, but what about tomorrow? Pick a POS system that can grow with you — whether that means adding more registers, expanding to multiple locations, or accessing more advanced features down the line.

3. Consider Ease of Use

A system packed with features is great — but not if it’s too complicated to use. Look for a POS with an intuitive interface, easy staff training, and responsive customer support to keep things running smoothly.

4. Check for Integration Options

Your POS should play nicely with your other tools—whether it’s your eCommerce platform, accounting software, loyalty program, or marketing tools. Seamless integration saves time and helps create a more connected business ecosystem!

5. Review the Costs

Don’t just look at the sticker price. Consider setup fees, hardware costs, monthly subscriptions, payment processing fees, and any hidden charges. Cloud-based systems usually have lower upfront costs but ongoing fees, while on-premise options may require more investment upfront.

6. Decide Between Cloud or On-Premise

One of the most important choices you’ll make is whether to go with a cloud-based or on-premise POS system. Ask yourself what your needs or wants are for your business before selecting either model. Consider your technical resources, budget, and how your business operates day-to-day before deciding.

7. Security Matters

Your POS handles sensitive customer data, so make sure it offers strong encryption, secure payment processing, and regular updates. Ask about data backup and compliance with standards like Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).

PIM It to Win It

In order to get the most out of a POS system, you also need to ensure the information flowing through it is accurate and consistent. That’s where a Product Information Management (PIM) system can make a big difference.

A PIM can be a powerful companion to your POS setup, especially for businesses with large or constantly changing product catalogs. PIM acts as a centralized hub for managing all your product data — from names, descriptions, and prices to images, specifications, and categories. When integrated with your POS system, it ensures that accurate, up-to-date product information is consistently reflected across all sales channels, both in-store and online. This not only helps prevent pricing errors and inventory mismatches, but also improves the customer experience by making product details clear and consistent. For growing businesses, a PIM system simplifies product updates and makes scaling across locations, platforms, or markets much more efficient—basically what every business dreams!

Closing the Tab: Why POS Isn’t Just a Checkout Tool

A modern POS system is more than a digital cash register — it’s the engine behind smarter sales and better customer experiences. The right setup can give your business the tools it needs to grow and adapt.

And when paired with systems like PIM, your POS becomes even more powerful — keeping your product info sharp, your team aligned, and your customers happy. In the end, it’s not just about completing transactions — it’s about building a business that runs like a well-oiled machine!

Are you ready to take the next step?

Our Akeneo Experts are here to answer all the questions you might have about our products and help you to move forward on your PX journey.

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Venus Kamara, Content Marketing Intern

Akeneo

Technology

Three Reasons Why PIM Is The Key To Maximizing Your SAP Hybris Investment in 2025

SAP Hybris is a powerful eCommerce and customer experience platform, but its full potential is often limited by inefficient product data management processes. Discover why integrating a PIM system is key to maximizing your SAP Hybris investment in 2025, and how Akeneo PIM integrates with SAP Hybris to drive efficiency, accuracy, and long-term growth.

1. Create a Global Source of Truth for Product Information

One of the biggest challenges businesses face with SAP Hybris is managing product data efficiently. Many organizations using SAP Hybris rely on IT teams to make even minor product information updates, leading to slow processes and bottlenecks. This reliance on IT can also limit a company’s ability to expand its product information to better describe offerings to customers and the market.

Integrating a PIM with SAP Hybris creates one single global source of truth for product information. Business users can manage, enrich, and localize product data in a dedicated PIM environment, eliminating the need for IT intervention for every update and empowering marketing and eCommerce teams to improve product descriptions, imagery, and specifications. 

Having a PIM as the central hub for product data also ensures consistency across all channels  and enhances localization efforts, ensuring that product information is tailored to different markets, languages, and cultural contexts.

When data is centrally managed and connected to SAP Hybris, businesses can deliver richer product experiences while reducing errors and inconsistencies in their product information.

2. Manage Complex Product Catalogs Across Multiple Channels

Many industries deal with extensive product catalogs containing thousands (or even millions) of SKUs, from automotive to apparel to manufacturing and beyond. Managing such vast catalogs across multiple sales channels is a daunting task, especially when data must be maintained consistently across eCommerce platforms, online marketplaces, partner websites, and physical stores.

A PIM solution is specifically designed to handle complex product catalogs and streamline the management of product data across multiple channels. With built-in syndication capabilities, a PIM can automatically distribute enriched product data to various platforms, ensuring that every channel has the latest and most accurate product information while minimizing manual work, reducing errors, and accelerating time to market.

For businesses looking to expand into new markets or launch new product lines, a PIM also provides a structured way to scale product information management without adding complexity. By integrating a PIM with SAP Hybris, businesses can maintain consistency, improve operational efficiency, and drive higher conversion rates by delivering the right product content to the right audience at the right time.

3. Scale with Agility and Speed

Another major challenge businesses face is the rigidity of highly customized workflows feeding into SAP Hybris. Many organizations have heavily customized their SAP Hybris implementations to meet unique business requirements, but these customizations often make it difficult to adapt to changing market conditions. When businesses need to update product data due to new regulations, shifting customer expectations, or emerging trends, the process can be slow and cumbersome.

A composable, SaaS-based PIM solution can address this challenge by acting as a flexible, best-of-breed component within an SAP Hybris ecosystem. Rather than relying on IT-intensive customizations, a PIM allows businesses to make rapid updates to product data without compromising system stability. This also means that, when new regulations impact industries like automotive or electronics, businesses can quickly adjust their product information and stay compliant without disrupting operations.

By integrating a PIM with SAP Hybris, businesses gain the agility and speed needed to scale effectively, respond to market demands faster, optimize workflows, and drive digital commerce innovation without being held back by rigid system limitations.

Why Akeneo PIM is the Best Choice for SAP Hybris

For businesses looking to maximize their SAP Hybris investment, look no further than Akeneo PIM. 

By leveraging Akeneo PIM alongside SAP Hybris, businesses can:

• Empower business users to manage and enrich product information without IT dependency, enabling marketing and eCommerce teams to quickly update and refine product content for improved customer engagement
• Ensure consistent and high-quality product content across all sales channels, reducing discrepancies and enhancing the omnichannel shopping experience
• Accelerate time to market by improving product data agility, allowing businesses to launch new products faster and adapt quickly to market changes or regulatory requirements
• Scale product information management efficiently without over-customizing SAP Hybris, ensuring a flexible and future-proof solution that grows alongside the business while maintaining operational efficiency

To ensure maximum efficiency, we also offer the Akeneo App for SAP Commerce Cloud, which provides a blueprint for seamlessly integrating Akeneo PIM with SAP Hybris iPaaS and back-office systems. With 80% of the integration work already handled, businesses can quickly implement Akeneo PIM and start reaping the benefits of streamlined product information management.

As digital commerce becomes more complex and competitive, businesses must find ways to enhance their SAP Hybris investment, and a PIM solution can oftentimes be the best way to go. By providing a global source of truth for product data, enabling seamless multi-channel product catalog management, and enhancing scalability, a PIM ensures that businesses can maximize efficiency and drive growth.

For companies committed to SAP Hybris in 2025 and beyond, integrating a scalable and flexible PIM solution like Akeneo is the smartest move to stay agile, competitive, and future-ready.

If you want to learn more about Akeneo PIM or the Akeneo App for SAP Commerce, reach out to an Akeneo expert today.

Are you ready to take the next step?

Our Akeneo Experts are here to answer all the questions you might have about our products and help you to move forward on your PX journey.

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Sarah Hoffman, Product Marketing Manager

Akeneo

eCommerce

How to Syndicate Product Content Like a Pro

Product content syndication is transforming the way brands distribute and manage product data across multiple sales channels. By automating updates and ensuring data is effortlessly synced, businesses can optimize their product listings, improve visibility, and reduce errors. Learn the benefits and the types of tools for syndicating product content efficiently, helping brands scale their eCommerce presence with ease.

How To Syndicate Product Content

Now that you know why product content syndication matters, let’s talk about how to actually make it happen! There’s more than just copying and pasting product details across platforms:

1. Centralize Your Product Data

First, make sure all your product information is stored in a single source of truth like a Product Information Management (PIM) system. When working from a solid foundation of enriched product data housed in a single system, a syndication platform can help insulate each channel from the complexity and change happening in another, while keeping your core product information complete and consistent. If your data is scattered across spreadsheets, emails, and outdated files, syndication will only spread inconsistencies faster!

2. Build a Content Strategy

Define which product data needs to be syndicated, where it should go, and how often it should be updated. Adapt content for different platforms while maintaining brand consistency, and ensure your syndication efforts align with your marketing and sales goals! And optimize your product data to meet each platform’s requirements, all while keeping things SEO-friendly. Because if your product isn’t findable, it isn’t buyable.

3. Use a Product Content Syndication Tool

Manually updating every product listing across multiple sites? Sounds like a slow descent into madness. Instead of updating everything by hand, use a syndication solution that automates the process. These tools transform your product content into the correct format for each platform, guaranteeing uniformity while saving you time and your sanity!

The right eCommerce syndication solution doesn’t just export content to unowned sales distribution channels. It should:

• Work seamlessly with your legacy business systems and streamline workflows for your marketing teams
• Identify missing information and errors that may cause data to be rejected
• Enrich and configure all product content from a single location
• Translate product data for the GDSN (Global Data Synchronization Network), an internet-based tool that enables manufacturers to securely share regulatory and supply chain data with their retail partners
• Open the door to a large syndication network, an extensive template library and the maximum number of distribution channels

Working in conjunction with the right PIM solution, the ideal eCommerce syndication platform actually improves product content—and creates an impactful, well-branded experience for every customer across every retail touchpoint.

It also eliminates the need for your IT department to support basic eCommerce processes, like adding digital touchpoints, integrating new channels, or keeping product content up-to-date.

4. Distribute Across Sales Channels

Once your content is optimized, push it to platforms such as eCommerce sites, marketplaces, and more. Automation ensures updates like price changes or new images are wherever your customers are browsing, researching, and buying.

5. Monitor, Update, and Improve

Syndication isn’t a “set it and forget it” process. Monitor your product listings across platforms, track performance metrics (clicks, conversions, SEO rankings), and adjust content as needed. Some platforms allow retailer feedback, so be prepared to tweak product details to improve engagement and accuracy.

With the right tools and strategy, product content syndication works for you—not the other way around.

The Benefits of Product Content Syndication

More eyeballs. More leads. More revenue. Product data syndication delivers it all, enabling you to run campaigns on a cost-per-lead basis, maximize ROI, and effectively strengthen brand awareness. 

And in a world where 73% of consumers rely on product data to make informed purchasing decisions (Forrester), product data syndication is foundational for omnichannel success.

Doing it right requires a holistic approach. One that enables retailers to carefully monitor the quality, consistency, and organizational integrity of product data before it’s syndicated—and enriches data as it’s distributed.

Getting that accurate, optimized, high-quality data to the right unowned place at the right time in the right format is a game-changer. It opens new sales channels, effectively accelerates speed-to-market, and ensures that products are visible, accessible, and appealing to targeted buyers. Partner retailers and channels benefit too, as they can count on accurate, personalized, distribution-ready product content.

Product data syndication is an effective way to create superior experiences for your customers, grow their trust in your brand, and get your products to market faster. 

With shoppers bouncing between so many channels, making sure your product data is correct and current everywhere is key to maximizing sales and maintaining brand trust!

Whether you’re using product feeds or direct integrations, the goal is simple: get your product content everywhere it needs to be—without the headache. By embracing the right tools, like PIM systems and product syndication solutions, brands can ditch the busywork, minimize errors, and focus on what truly matters: selling more and stressing less.

Are you ready to take the next step?

Our Akeneo Experts are here to answer all the questions you might have about our products and help you to move forward on your PX journey.

Request a demoRequest a demoRequest a demo

Venus Kamara, Content Marketing Intern

Akeneo

Sustainability

How Retailers & Brands Can Support a Circular Economy

Sustainability is transforming how brands and retailers operate. From resale and refurbishment to take-back programs, discover how businesses across fashion, food, electronics, and automotive industries are embracing the circular economy. Learn why accurate product information is the key to reducing waste, increasing customer trust, and making circular strategies a success.

We live in a time where customers view products as more than just items to purchase and gateways to the latest trend. More than ever, they’re looking at brands through a sustainability lens, and particularly within Gen Z: young consumers are 27% more likely to buy from businesses that are genuinely walking the sustainability talk.

In other words, being “green” isn’t just a nice bonus anymore – it can often be a dealbreaker for consumers, and brands and retailers have taken the hint. To meet these shifting expectations, many brands and retailers have embraced the circular economy not just as a sustainability flex, but as a real commitment to doing better. But what exactly is the circular economy, and how does it work in practice? Let’s find out!

What is a Circular Economy?

Like its name suggests, the circular economy refers to a business model that aims to minimize waste by reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling products, materials, and resources. Unlike the traditional linear economy, the circular economy minimizes waste by keeping products and materials in use through resale and reuse. It’s about extending the life of products, components, and materials to reduce the environmental impact of production and consumption.

At its core, the circular economy flips the script on how we see products, materials, and consumption – turning “use and toss” into “use and reuse.” It’s not just about buying and discarding; it’s about giving products a longer life, cutting down waste, and reimagining the retail landscape in a more eco-friendly way.

Circularity: Great for the Planet, Great for Business

The circular economy isn’t a new idea, but it has taken center stage in recent years as environmental sustainability becomes increasingly urgent. Given its environmental impact, the need for this movement is greater than ever, offering benefits like less waste, lower use of finite resources, reduced carbon footprint, and significant cost savings. However, the benefits go beyond just the environment – they also offer significant advantages for businesses, such as:

Boosting in-store traffic: Implementing circular economy practices can increase store traffic by attracting eco-conscious consumers who prioritize sustainability in their shopping habits. Offering secondhand or refurbished products, repair services, and trade-in programs create new reasons for customers to visit their stores!

Building customer loyalty: Customer loyalty can be built by aligning with consumers’ growing demand for sustainability and ethical business practices. As shoppers become more environmentally conscious, they seek out brands that favour long-term value over short-term consumption. By offering services like those I mentioned above (including resale options and rental models), brands create an ongoing relationship with customers rather than a one-time transaction. These initiatives keep customers coming back, building trust and strengthening their connection to the brand.

Reducing returns: By focusing on durability and second-life programs, brands ensure customers get high-quality products that won’t end up back on the shelf due to defects or dissatisfaction. Plus, circular practices also encourage retailers to provide clearer product descriptions, sustainable packaging, and digital tools like augmented reality and virtual reality, helping shoppers make smarter choices upfront and keeping returns to a minimum.

Showcasing passion and commitment: Participating in the circular economy sends a strong message that your business cares about the environment by turning values into action. By implementing circular practices and having official certifications, companies can demonstrate that sustainability is not just a marketing message but a core part of their operations. 

Creating upsell and cross-sell opportunities: When customers bring in products for resale or recycling, retailers have an opportunity to upsell new items or cross-sell related products, increasing revenue. For instance, repair services give brands and retailers the perfect chance to upsell customers to premium or upgraded versions when they bring in older items. Likewise, refurbished and secondhand goods open the door for cross-selling add-ons like accessories or warranties, turning sustainability into a smart strategy that benefits both businesses and consumers.

The Circular Economy in the Market

By practicing what they preach, businesses are finding innovative ways to extend product lifecycles and minimize waste. Here are some standout brands and retailers leading the charge in circularity!

Fashion 

Asket is a Swedish fashion brand known for their commitment to timeless clothing and radical transparency. Unlike fast fashion, Asket focuses on permanent collections rather than seasonal trends, minimizing waste and encouraging consumers to purchase high-quality, long-lasting clothing. And it doesn’t stop there. Through their repair and resale outlet, Asket ReStore, they refurbish and resell previously owned garments, keeping their clothing in circulation and out of landfills or incinerators. 

Here’s how it works: Customers who want to return their pre-owned (and washed!) Asket garments can do so through the brand’s platform in exchange for store credit. The returned pieces are then inspected, cleaned, and refurbished before being resold at a lower price, ensuring they stay in circulation rather than being discarded. If items need minor repairs or alteration, Asket restores them to ensure they’re ready for a second life.

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By offering secondhand options, Asket extends the lifespan of their products, proving that good style never goes out of fashion—nor does sustainability. Their initiative not only reduces textile waste but also provides customers with a more sustainable way to shop, making long-lasting clothing accessible while minimizing environmental impact. 

To take things a stitch further, Asket partners with Fabrikörerna, a Swedish west coast organization that specializes in mending clothing and repurposing deadstock materials. Beyond textile revival, Fabrikörerna also serves as an integration project, helping immigrants learn Swedish and settle into their new communities. Through this partnership, Asket not only weaves together circular fashion but also supports social sustainability, proving that responsible business practices can make a meaningful impact beyond clothing!

Food & Beverage 

The circular economy extends beyond traditional retail, and the mobile app, Olio, presents an innovative way to tackle food waste at the community level. Unlike platforms that focus on selling surplus food, Olio connects individuals, local businesses, and even supermarkets to share excess food for free. Whether it’s extra groceries, unopened pantry items, or fresh produce from a home garden, users can list and claim food that might otherwise go to waste, promoting a culture of sharing and sustainability.

For businesses, Olio makes food waste a thing of the past by offering an easy way to redistribute unsold food instead of throwing it away. Supermarkets (such as Tesco!), bakeries, and restaurants can donate excess stock, helping them cut waste disposal costs while contributing to local food security. By partnering with businesses and community volunteers, Olio ensures that perfectly good food finds plates, not landfills.

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At an individual level, neighbors can use Olio to share food within their communities, making it easy to give away surplus items before they expire. Got extra home-cooked meals, too many groceries, or produce you won’t finish? Instead of letting it go to waste, simply list it on the app and let a neighbor pick it up. It’s like a digital “borrow a cup of sugar” moment—but for full meals! This simple list-and-pickup system makes sharing easy, reducing waste while building stronger community connections.

From an environmental standpoint, Olio plays a significant role in reducing food waste and lowering carbon emissions. By preventing food from being discarded, the app helps minimize methane emissions from decomposing food in landfills and conserves the resources used in food production, such as water, energy, and labor. With its community-driven approach, Olio turns waste reduction into a shared mission, making sustainable living not just possible, but deliciously easy!

Electronics

When it comes to electronics, Back Market isn’t just a player—it’s a leader setting the standard for sustainable tech. They’re an online marketplace for refurbished electronics, making high-quality tech more affordable and sustainable by the minute. Founded in 2014 in France, the company challenges the idea that new is always better—offering refurbished smartphones, laptops, tablets, and more at up to 70% less than new. By working with professional refurbishers, Back Market ensures that customers receive thoroughly tested and certified products, often at significant discounts compared to brand-new devices.

At the heart of Back Market’s circular economy strategy is its trade-in program, which gives old electronics a second life while rewarding customers for making sustainable choices. What sets it apart from others is its convenience and transparency. Customers receive an instant price estimate for their device through the platform, and once the item is shipped and inspected by a professional refurbisher, the payment is processed quickly. Even devices that are no longer functional can still hold value, as they can be repaired, refurbished, or responsibly recycled. This ensures that every device gets a second chance, reducing e-waste and minimizing the need for new production. 

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The platform not only helps extend the life of electronics but also reduces e-waste and the environmental impact of tech production. Manufacturing new devices requires vast amounts of raw materials, energy, and water, contributing to carbon emissions and resource depletion. By encouraging consumers to opt for refurbished products, Back Market helps curb this cycle.

Beyond just selling refurbished tech, Back Market is reshaping consumer perceptions of pre-owned electronics. Through a mix of witty marketing, transparency, and strict quality standards, the company has built a brand that makes sustainability cool and accessible. Their rigorous testing process, warranties, and customer satisfaction guarantees help build trust in the refurbished market, making it easier for people to switch to greener, more cost-effective tech choices. As demand for refurbished devices continues to grow, Back Market is proving that sustainability isn’t just a responsibility—it’s a thriving business opportunity!

Automotive

Renault is driving the circular economy forward—literally. The company has embraced repair, reuse, and recycling to keep its vehicles and components on the road longer instead of sending them to the scrap heap. One of its most significant initiatives is the Refactory at Flins, the first European circular economy factory dedicated to mobility. This facility specializes in vehicle refurbishment, battery repair, parts remanufacturing, and materials recycling, ensuring that end-of-life vehicles and components are given a second life rather than being discarded. By implementing these processes, Renault not only minimizes waste but also reduces the need for new raw materials, aligning with the principles of the circular economy.

One of Renault’s most impactful circular initiatives is its battery refurbishment program—because why waste a perfectly good battery when you can give it a second life? Renault evaluates the health and capacity of used batteries, repairing or repurposing them for second-life applications, such as energy storage solutions. These refurbished batteries are then reintroduced into the market at a lower cost, making electric vehicle (EV) ownership more affordable while reducing the environmental impact of battery production. This initiative plays a crucial role in reducing raw material dependency and lowering carbon emissions associated with battery manufacturing.

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It’s not just batteries getting a second chance—Renault is also reviving key vehicle components like engines, turbochargers, and gearboxes through its RE-FACTORY initiative. Instead of producing entirely new parts, the company repairs and reconditions used components, ensuring they meet original quality standards before reselling them. This lowers energy consumption, slashes material waste, and gives customers a more budget-friendly option—all while keeping perfectly good car parts from an early retirement.

By steering the auto industry toward circularity, Renault is proving that sustainability can drive side-by-side with vehicles. By extending the life of vehicles and components, reducing reliance on virgin materials, and implementing large-scale refurbishment programs, Renault is reshaping the industry’s approach to sustainability. These initiatives not only lessen the environmental footprint of car manufacturing but also offer economic benefits by creating more affordable, durable products for consumers. With innovation at the wheel, Renault is showing that the road to sustainability is one worth taking—and it’s got plenty of mileage left!

Making Rounds With PIM 

The circular economy thrives on transparency and accurate product data—all of which are made possible with a PIM (Product Information Management) system in your corner. For brands and retailers embracing circularity, a PIM ensures that key details like materials and durability are consistently communicated across all platforms. Whether it’s refurbished products, resale, or take-back programs, having a centralized system for managing product data makes it easier to keep items in circulation.

For brands and retailers, PIM is the secret tool that makes circularity work smoothly. With accurate product descriptions, sustainability certifications, and lifecycle details all in one place, businesses can cut returns, boost resale opportunities, and simplify refurbishment processes. Plus, with traceability and transparency at their fingertips, customers feel more confident choosing products that support sustainability. But PIM isn’t just about making circularity easier—it’s also about future-proofing businesses in a world where sustainability isn’t the status quo. As regulations tighten and consumer expectations shift, having a centralized, adaptable product data system ensures brands stay ahead of the curve.

Closing the Loop: The Future of Brands and Retailers is Circular

In an era where sustainability is no longer optional, the circular economy presents a game-changing opportunity for brands and retailers. By embracing circular strategies, businesses can reduce waste, enhance customer loyalty, and contribute to a more sustainable future—all while strengthening their bottom line.

The key to making this shift successful? Accurate, transparent, and engaging product information. And this is effectively done when powered by a robust Product Information Management (PIM). The centralizing solution guarantees that no matter the channel, consumers have clear, consistent details about a product’s materials, durability, and end-of-life options—allowing them to make informed, eco-conscious choices. PIM streamlines sustainability efforts, making circular economy practices more accessible and effective for businesses.

The circular economy is the future of retail, and brands that embrace it stand to win big in both sustainability and customer loyalty. Because consumers are backing brands that walk the talk, and those embracing transparency and circularity won’t just save the planet—they’ll leave the competition in the dirt.

Avoiding Greenwashing

Discover how to avoid the pitfalls of greenwashing and build genuinely sustainable strategies that foster trust, align with regulations, and drive long-term business growth.

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Venus Kamara, Content Marketing Intern

Akeneo