Sustainability

Sow PIM, Reap Growth: Sustainable Marketing Initiatives

Dive into the heart of sustainable marketing: what it means, why it matters, and how leveraging the right data and the right technology can streamline sustainability efforts, ensuring increased sales, enriched data, and an enhanced customer experience.

Why is Sustainable Marketing Important?

That’s a good question!

Like many things, when it comes to sustainability, customers are speaking with their money. It’s clear that more and more consumers base their purchasing decisions on the values and practices of the brands they support. In fact, a recent study found that 80% of consumers would be willing to pay an average premium of 9.7% for sustainable brands. And this sentiment is only growing stronger; in younger generations, it’s even more evident, with 75% of Gen Z valuing sustainability with every purchase they make.

But the importance of sustainability and how it translates into marketing extends beyond just meeting consumer demand. Companies that adopt sustainable practices can also see benefits like cost savings, improved efficiency, and reduced risk — all stemming from supply chain disruptions (remember the pandemic?) or social issues. Using sustainable marketing to promote transparency and ethical practices can help businesses build trust with their customers and improve the customer experience. Plus, it can foster stronger brand loyalty and better customer retention!

If you’re a business that loves growth, this shift in demand for sustainable products and services is a market opportunity you don’t want to miss. Studies show that 62% of consumers are willing to change their purchasing habits to help reduce environmental impact, meaning that sustainable marketing could be the catalyst that causes buyers to choose your brand over your competitors. Utilize it correctly, and you could expand your market share while creating meaningful value for your customers, your brand, and the planet!

How PIM Supports Sustainable Marketing

Sustainable marketing is a game-changer, but the harsh truth is that it’s time-consuming and complex to do correctly. Effectively communicating sustainable initiatives often involves finding, storing, and distributing product information, supply chain data, regulatory compliance certificates or third-party reports, and more across all of your channels in a way that is cohesive and digestible by the average person. To communicate your commitment to sustainability effectively without doubling the work of your team, it’s crucial to have a single, well-organized source of information, which is where a Product Information Management (PIM) solution comes into play.

PIM systems enable you to easily store, manage, and distribute up-to-date product information across all of your sales channels, making sure your customers have access to all of the details they need to make informed, sustainable choices.

For example, with a PIM system, you can easily create a comprehensive list of all the materials used to create all of your products, along with where and how these products have been manufactured and how they can be properly disposed of when the product has reached its end-of-life, all in one place. With a PIM system, you can track and document sustainability attributes, such as recycled materials, carbon footprint, or certifications, making it easier to communicate these details to consumers.

A PIM solution can also help future-proof your brand. As your business grows and your product offerings expand, it becomes harder to juggle all of the sustainable attributes for each product without a PIM system, meaning inaccuracies and inefficiencies could run rampant. With the right tools, you can ensure your customers are aware of your brand’s sustainable and ethical practices at every stage.

It’s more than just a tool to help you manage your product sustainability data — PIM makes it easier for customers to find your products by improving filtering capabilities on your website. With a PIM solution in place, you can easily create and manage product attributes related to sustainability, such as eco-friendly materials, fair labor practices, or carbon footprint. Your customers can then easily filter and find products that align with their values — thus, creating an overall better shopping experience and therefore, (say it with me now) increases the likelihood of a purchase!

Painting The Town Green

In an eco-conscious world, sustainable marketing offers businesses the opportunity to easily connect with customers who value transparency and environmental responsibility. By following a green-driven strategy, companies can display how focused and meticulous they are with their ethical choices, letting consumers know their contribution to a cleaner earth.

By leveraging a robust PIM system, businesses can also centralize their product data, ensuring accuracy across channels while amplifying their sustainable initiatives. Together, sustainable marketing and PIM work harmoniously, creating a powerful synergy – pne that not only drives growth but also enhances brand reputation while strengthening customer trust and loyalty.    

Is your brand all in on sustainability? Get in touch and we’ll show you how Akeneo can help you shout it from the rooftops. 

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

Regulation Compliance

The Proactive Approach to Regulations Compliance

Staying ahead of sustainability regulations may seem like a daunting task, but it can be a golden opportunity for businesses to lead in transparency, accountability, and innovation. Discover the actionable steps you can take for proactive compliance, including how to leverage the right data and tech to meet evolving standards.

4. The EU Taxonomy

The EU Taxonomy is a classification system established to define what constitutes environmentally sustainable economic activities. It’s a cornerstone of the EU’s sustainability initiatives, like CSRD and SFDR that we mentioned earlier, and is designed to provide a clear and science-based framework for identifying activities that contribute to the EU’s environmental objectives, including climate change mitigation and adaptation, sustainable use of water and marine resources, transition to a circular economy, pollution prevention, and biodiversity protection.

The taxonomy sets technical screening criteria to determine whether an economic activity significantly contributes to these objectives while ensuring it does no significant harm to others, and is in the process of being implemented in phases. The criteria for climate change mitigation and adaptation were adopted first, with reporting requirements beginning in 2022. Criteria for the remaining objectives are being finalized, with full implementation expected by the end of 2025.

5. The German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (the LkSG)

The German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (better known as LkSG in Germany) is a law designed to ensure companies operate responsibly within their supply chains, focusing on human rights and environmental protection. Implemented in 2023, the act mandates that companies identify, prevent, and address risks related to human rights violations and environmental harm across their direct and indirect supply chains and establish robust risk management systems to identify issues such as child labor, forced labor, workplace safety violations, discrimination, and environmental degradation. These companies are also required to conduct regular risk analyses, implement preventive measures through supplier contracts and training, take corrective actions when violations occur, and provide annual compliance reports.

Initially, the law applied to companies with 3,000 or more employees in Germany, but in 2024, it expanded to include those with 1,000 or more employees. Foreign companies with significant operations in Germany are also subject to the LkSG, and non-compliance can lead to fines of up to €8 million or 2% of a company’s global revenue, exclusion from public contracts, and reputational damage.

How to Proactively Prepare for Regulations Compliance 

When it comes to navigating sustainability regulations, data is your most powerful ally. Without accurate, comprehensive data, it’s impossible to align with regulations or build trust with stakeholders.

Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look at how businesses can use data to proactively prepare for compliance and turn regulatory challenges into opportunities.

1. Collect and analyze data

The first step in preparing for compliance is gathering reliable data from across your operations, including information on your supply chain, manufacturing processes, product lifecycle, and distribution networks.

Why is this important? Regulations like the CSRD and DPP require businesses to provide detailed disclosures about their social and environmental impact; having this data on hand ensures you can comply without delays or inaccuracies.

Tracking metrics such as carbon emissions, use of recycled materials, or ethical sourcing practices gives you the right foundation to evaluate your sustainability performance and address any gaps before any penalties kick in, empowering you to build credibility with regulators and consumers by backing your claims with hard evidence.

2. Manage and enrich data

Collecting raw data is only the first step – it then needs to be organized, enriched, and optimized in order to be truly actionable and impactful. A Product Information Management (PIM) system is a vital tool for achieving this, centralizing all your product data into a single source of truth, ensuring it is accurate, consistent, and accessible. When it comes to sustainability compliance, businesses can utilize PIM systems to:

• Track sustainability attributes like recycled content, certifications, and carbon footprints
• Maintain up-to-date records that align with evolving regulations
• Easily share product data with stakeholders and auditors in the required formats

3. Onboard supplier data

A significant portion of sustainability regulations focuses on supply chain transparency. Gathering data directly from your suppliers is crucial for compliance, but it can be challenging without the right tools. Supplier data onboarding platforms simplify this process by automating the collection of sustainability-related information, ensuring that data is accurate, consistent, complete, and compelling.

This level of visibility helps businesses comply with regulations that mandate companies to monitor and address risks in their supply chains, and allows them to identify and collaborate with suppliers that align with sustainability goals, strengthening relationships while ensuring compliance.

4. Leverage AI technology

Artificial intelligence is a game-changer when it comes to managing and leveraging sustainability data as AI-powered tools can enhance your compliance efforts in several ways:

• Data cleansing: AI solutions can automate the identification of errors, inconsistencies, or duplicate entries, ensuring your sustainability data is trustworthy and clean
• Data enrichment: AI solutions can help to identify and add verified sustainability details to product descriptions or product detail pages, making them both compelling and regulation-compliant
• Data analysis: AI solutions can sift through vast datasets to uncover inefficiencies in record time, helping organizations to highlight areas of non-compliance or identify opportunities to improve your environmental footprint

For businesses looking to stay ahead of regulations, AI offers the speed and precision needed to handle complex data demands effectively.

5. Ensure seamless technology integration

The final piece of the puzzle is ensuring that all your data tools, including PIM systems, supplier platforms, AI tools, and more, work together seamlessly. Disconnected systems lead to silos, making it harder to track and act on sustainability insights.

Integration ensures that data flows smoothly across your entire organization and supply chain, creating a unified view of your compliance efforts. This interconnected ecosystem eliminates gaps and redundancies, allowing teams to collaborate effectively and make data-driven decisions with confidence.

From Compliance to Competitive Advantage

While the challenge of compliance may seem daunting, proactive preparation is key. For businesses willing to take the lead, the rewards of proactive compliance go far beyond avoiding penalties as these organizations will be able to position themselves as leaders in a new era of transparency and accountability, earning trust and driving long-term success.

When businesses invest in the right tools and processes, compliance stops being a burden and becomes a driver of innovation, efficiency, and trust. By proactively preparing today, businesses can not only meet tomorrow’s regulatory requirements but also strengthen their market position and build lasting relationships with customers and partners.

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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Casey Paxton, Content Marketing Manager

Akeneo

Sustainability

Run That Back – What is Reverse Logistics?

Discover how reverse logistics enables businesses to support a circular economy by repairing and recycling products, promoting sustainability, generating revenue, enhancing customer experiences, and boosting brand reputation.

The 9 Types of Reverse Logistics and Their Benefits 

Reverse logistics is as essential to businesses as water is to fish! Just like how a fish depends on an ocean to survive, businesses depend on reverse logistics to manage their flow of returns and materials, preserving value while upholding environmental responsibility. But reverse logistics isn’t a one-size-fits-all concept – it encompasses a variety of processes, each serving a unique purpose and offering distinct benefits.

Let’s take a look at the nine main types of reverse logistics and highlight the advantages they bring to businesses, customers, and the environment.

1. Returns Management

The most common type of reverse logistics focuses on handling standard customer returns caused by defects, incorrect orders, and dissatisfaction. By instilling an optimized return flow and a well-structured reverse logistics process, retailers can recover up to 50% of the profit they lose due to returns. Each retailer has their own type they utilize, such as return policies, try-before-you-buy, free returns, etc. However, these approaches lose their impact if they aren’t seamless and simple for customers, 92% of whom are more likely to repurchase from retailers with a hassle-free returns process.

2. Return Policy And Procedure (RPP)

A return policy and procedure are a set of rules created by retailers to guide employees and customers in returning, refunding, or exchanging items they no longer want. Before making an online purchase, 96% of consumers review a retailer’s return policy. Return policies should be transparent, leaving no room for confusion; as a result, if implemented correctly, these policies boost customer confidence and loyalty, driving a positive experience!

3. Remanufacturing Or Refurbishment

This form of reverse logistics involves goods being remanufactured, refurbished, or reconditioned. By doing so, businesses can recover a product’s value while using 50–80% less energy compared to manufacturing a new one, ultimately reducing environmental impact. 

4. Packaging Management

Instead of constantly purchasing new packaging and repetitively discarding old ones, retailers have the option to reuse packaging material. For example, Coca-Cola introduced reusable glass bottles in 2018, encouraging consumers to return empty bottles to retailers for reuse within the brand’s system. This approach effectively minimizes waste and ensures product disposal is done correctly. 

5. Unsold Goods

This process focuses on sending back unsold goods from customers, retailers, or warehouses to the manufacturers. Returns like these result from low sales, outdated inventory, or a rejected delivery. Through this, unsold goods are efficiently repurposed in a cost-effective manner, reducing expenses for businesses.

6. Delivery Failure

Products, for whatever reason, may not be delivered to their intended destination. In such cases, products are returned to the manufacturers or shipped back to consumers, the latter boosting customer loyalty. 

7. End-of-life

The term End-of-life (EOL) refers to when a product is no longer supported, manufactured, or sold by a company. Businesses can communicate with their customers about their product’s obsolete state instead of complete, utter silence, reducing the chance of a negative reaction. With in-house collection programs, manufacturers can also directly manage the return of end-of-life products, ensuring effective retrieval and processing. 

8. Rental and Leasing

Products under lease or rental contracts must be returned to the owning company, who then re-markets or redeploys them, which is a great way to reduce ownership of rarely used products.

9. Repairs and maintenance

This process involves customers sending back products (for example, a laptop or a phone) for warranty or repair needs if problems arise. Businesses sometimes offer previously damaged products to new customers after they’re repaired. 

These different types of reverse logistics provide businesses with a range of options to handle their product returns or refurbishments, enabling them to customize solutions to their unique needs and goals and offering a way to breathe life back into old products rather than dooming them to waste, which highlights how necessary a well-structured returns process is.

Moving Forward with Reverse Logistics

When it comes to reverse logistics, the only way is forward! By implementing a well-structured reverse logistics process, businesses can turn moments of disappointment into opportunities for innovation and environmental stewardship.

As customers demand greater accountability and convenience, reverse logistics will continue to play a pivotal role in shaping modern supply chains. By investing in these strategies, businesses can position themselves as leaders in sustainability, customer experience, and operational efficiency, proving that returns don’t have to be the end of the line; they can be the start of something better.

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

Composable Commerce

Thinking Outside the Stack: The Case for Composable Commerce and PIM

In a world where consumer behavior evolves at lightning speed, traditional, one-size-fits-all tech solutions often don’t cut it anymore. Discover how composable PIM solutions can empower businesses to build tailored, modular digital ecosystems that grow and adapt as their needs change.

Building Better Customer Experiences Through Composable PIM

A composable PIM solution is instrumental in delivering tailored product experiences across every stage of the customer journey by ensuring that product information is accurate, enriched, and highly adaptable to different touchpoints. 

At the awareness stage, it enables businesses to provide detailed, compelling product data to all digital channels, from social media to your own eCommerce site to third-party marketplaces like Amazon, helping attract potential customers with clear and consistent messaging. During the consideration phase, a composable PIM ensures that customers can easily access rich, localized, and contextually relevant product details, whether they’re browsing an eCommerce site or visiting a physical store, helping to build trust and confidence in purchasing decisions.

When it comes to the purchase stage, seamless integrations with eCommerce platforms allow for real-time updates to product data, such as availability, pricing, or specifications, ensuring that customers have the most current information. And for the post-purchase experience, a composable PIM supports enhanced customer service by providing accurate product manuals, usage instructions, or warranty details, reducing frustration and improving satisfaction. 

Plus, by leveraging analytics tools integrated into a composable PIM, businesses can gather customer feedback and preferences to continuously refine their product experiences, personalizing recommendations and content for future interactions. This ability to tailor product information at every stage ensures a cohesive and satisfying customer journey, fostering loyalty and long-term relationships.

How AI Plays a Role

I know, I know; you’re tired of hearing about how AI is revolutionizing this, reshaping that, and automating those. But the truth is, product data management is actually one of the areas that AI can actually shine the brightest; let me explain, and I’ll do my best to keep the buzzwords to a minimum.

At its core, AI automates labor-intensive processes, such as categorizing products, enriching data, and generating product descriptions, which drastically reduces the time and effort required for manual updates. For instance, AI-powered tools can analyze large datasets to identify patterns, inconsistencies, or missing information, ensuring that product data is always complete, accurate, and up-to-date.

AI also enables advanced personalization within composable PIMs, making it easier to tailor product experiences to specific customer segments or markets. By leveraging machine learning and natural language processing (NLP), businesses can automatically translate product data into multiple languages or adjust descriptions to align with cultural nuances, improving localization efforts. Plus, AI-driven analytics can provide insights into customer behavior and preferences, allowing businesses to dynamically optimize product information for better engagement and conversions.

AI can also enhance the interoperability of a composable PIM by integrating with other systems in the tech stack, such as eCommerce platforms, MDMs, ERPs, or supply chain tools, to provide real-time insights and updates. For example, AI can predict stock shortages or recommend pricing adjustments based on market trends, ensuring that product data reflects current conditions. These capabilities not only improve the overall customer experience but also empower businesses to make smarter, data-driven decisions.

In short, AI amplifies the potential of composable PIMs by automating routine tasks, enabling intelligent personalization, and delivering actionable insights, creating a more dynamic, efficient, and customer-centric approach to product information management.

The Future of Composable Commerce & PIM

As businesses face increasing complexity in consumer behavior and global competition, the modular, API-driven nature of composable solutions will only grow in importance. These systems aren’t just a short-term, Band–Aid solution to today’s challenges, but can really set a business up for success in the future, regardless of what comes their way. The ability to integrate best-of-breed tools, scale seamlessly, and personalize customer experiences will define the leaders in this new era of commerce.

So, if you’re tired of feeling stuck with “good enough” solutions and ready to build something that’s actually tailored to your needs, it’s time to think composable. The tools are here, the potential is huge, and the future? It’s yours to customize.

Driving Efficiency with Composable Commerce

Discover how OMS, PIM, POS, iPaaS, and Delivery redefine agility, scalability, and customer experiences.

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Casey Paxton, Content Marketing Manager

Akeneo

Sustainability

The Environmental Impact of Returns

Online returns may feel like a simple convenience, but their environmental costs are detrimental, ranging from carbon emissions equivalent to millions of cars to billions of pounds of waste filling landfills each year. Discover the ecological impact of returns, along with four actionable strategies designed to help retailers reduce returns, minimize waste, and create a more sustainable future without compromising customer satisfaction.

Every returned product tells a story of wasted resources. But the root cause is often preventable: inaccurate or incomplete product information that leads to mismatched customer expectations.

Fred de Gombert, President

Akeneo

2. Unusable products sit in landfills

Not all returned products are refurbished and restocked. Many are discarded due to damage, contamination, or simply logistical or financial challenges; in 2022 alone, 9.5 billion pounds of returns were sent directly to landfills.

When customers return items, especially in industries like fashion and consumer electronics, the products are not always in resalable condition. Even if the items are unused or in near-perfect condition, restocking them can be expensive and labor-intensive; companies must inspect, repackage, and repair the goods, which requires resources many businesses aren’t equipped to handle efficiently, which is why, in the United States, one in four returned goods ends up in a landfill, and the amount of returned goods in landfills nearly doubled between 2019 and 2022, reaching 4.3 billion tons. 

Fast fashion and low-cost consumer goods exacerbate the problem because the cost of returning and restocking these items often exceeds their resale value. For many companies, it is cheaper and faster to discard returned products rather than reintegrating them into their supply chains, leading to significant waste.

Another factor is the lack of infrastructure for sustainable return management. Many companies lack robust systems to facilitate the reuse, recycling, or donation of returned items. Instead, returned products are often categorized as unsellable due to cosmetic imperfections, damaged packaging, or limited shelf life, even if they are still functional. In some cases, the complexity of sorting and redistributing returned goods for resale or recycling is compounded by regional restrictions or limited access to recycling facilities.

3. Excess packaging

Returns often generate even more packaging waste than the original purchase, and that’s particularly true when it comes to online returns; online shopping can produce up to 4.8 times more packaging waste than traditional brick-and-mortar stores. 

When a product is returned, it typically cannot be shipped in its original packaging alone due to the wear and tear it may have experienced during its initial journey, or simply because the customer threw out the original packaging. Companies often use additional materials like bubble wrap, packing peanuts, and oversized boxes to ensure the product arrives undamaged, especially if it will be resold or refurbished. This creates a surplus of packaging material, much of which is not recyclable or is improperly disposed of. 

Again, the complexity of reverse logistics exacerbates the issue. Items may travel long distances between customers, warehouses, and resellers, requiring multiple layers of protective packaging at each step of the journey. In many cases, the returned item might be repackaged several times before it reaches its final destination, whether that’s restocking, recycling, or disposal. Not to mention the widespread use of non-recyclable or difficult-to-recycle materials, such as plastic wraps, laminated labels, or mixed-material packaging, that further diminishes the chances of proper recycling and contributes to landfill overflow, generating waste and increasing the carbon footprint at every stage of the return process.

The Paradox of Returns

The environmental impact of returns presents a frustrating paradox.

On the one hand, consumers demand free and easy return options, with 40% ranking a smooth return process as one of the top two services a retailer should provide. On the other hand, the cost of offering these services is steep — not just financially but also environmentally, as we covered earlier.

 A simple solution is to start charging for returns to discourage this behavior, but retailers who charge for returns risk alienating customers as 63% of shoppers express negative feelings toward companies that impose return fees. 

This dichotomy forces businesses to walk a fine line between satisfying customer demands and maintaining sustainability commitments.

4 Strategies for Reducing Returns

Retailers can’t eliminate returns entirely, but they can reduce their frequency and mitigate their environmental impact through smarter practices. Let’s take a look at four actionable strategies to do so.

1. Provide in-depth, accurate sizing information

When product descriptions include accurate measurements, high-quality images, videos, and information about materials, care instructions, or compatibility, customers can better assess whether the product suits their needs before buying. Detailed size guides, for example, can reduce returns in the fashion industry where sizing is the number one reason for product returns.

By addressing common questions and potential concerns upfront, customers are less likely to experience “buyer’s remorse” if they know exactly what to expect from their purchase. Regularly updated information is particularly crucial for products with frequent changes, such as tech gadgets or seasonal items. 

When customers receive a product that matches their expectations set by the provided information, they are more likely to keep the item and be satisfied with their purchase. Including user reviews and ratings alongside product information allows potential buyers to learn from others’ experiences, making them less likely to order items that may not meet their specific requirements. In the long run, accurate and thorough product information not only lowers return rates but also enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty.

2. Offer hybrid experiences, like in-person drop-off points or refurbishment centers

Online shoppers are more than three times more likely to return items than in-store shoppers, often because they cannot evaluate products as thoroughly as they would in person. By integrating physical touchpoints like drop-off locations, retailers can simplify the return process for customers while reducing the need for additional packaging and shipping resources. These local drop-off points also enable retailers to consolidate returns, reducing the carbon footprint of transporting individual items back to centralized warehouses.

Refurbishment centers can also amplify these benefits by giving returned items a second life. Instead of automatically discarding products, retailers can assess, repair, and prepare them for resale or donation, thus minimizing waste. These centers also allow for faster processing of returns, enabling retailers to resell items sooner, often at a reduced cost that appeals to price-conscious shoppers. 

Combining online convenience with in-person solutions creates a more sustainable approach to managing returns, cutting down on waste and emissions while fostering a positive customer experience. Hybrid models ultimately provide a win-win solution, addressing both customer expectations and environmental concerns.

3. Partner with sustainable reverse logistics organizations

Don’t want to try tackling sustainable reverse logistics on your own? You’re not alone.

There are many organizations, Happy Returns for example, that specialize in reducing waste by implementing efficient systems for refurbishing, recycling, or reselling items, ensuring that fewer products end up in landfills. They often use advanced technologies like AI and machine learning to analyze return patterns, streamline sorting processes, and identify the most sustainable outcomes for returned goods. By collaborating with such partners, retailers can reduce the carbon footprint associated with reverse logistics, as these organizations often consolidate shipments and utilize eco-friendly transportation methods, without having to develop their own methods and processes from scratch.

Sustainable reverse logistics organizations can also help retailers implement circular economy practices, where products and materials are reused or recycled rather than discarded. For example, they can facilitate the donation of unsellable but functional items to charities or the repurposing of materials from damaged products, not only minimizing waste but also enhancing a retailer’s reputation by demonstrating a commitment to sustainability. 

These partnerships also allow businesses to focus on their core operations while ensuring that returns are managed responsibly, meeting both environmental goals and consumer expectations for ethical practices. In the long term, this approach can reduce costs associated with waste management and improve customer loyalty by aligning with the growing demand for environmentally conscious business practices.

4. Ensure product information is localized and translated to reduce the risk of customer confusion

When product descriptions, specifications, and usage instructions are translated into the local language, shoppers are more likely to understand the product’s features and limitations, reducing misunderstandings or incorrect expectations. Providing sizing charts in local standards or using familiar terms for materials or functionality helps shoppers make better-informed decisions, decreasing the chances of disappointment when the product arrives.

Adapting measurements, currencies, and terminology to match the norms and preferences of the target market builds trust and confidence with customers, leading to fewer impulsive or uncertain purchases that are more likely to be returned. Clear, culturally appropriate communication reassures shoppers that the product will meet their expectations and is suited to their environment or lifestyle. Electronics with instructions tailored to regional power standards or apparel with locally relevant styling tips are less likely to result in confusion or dissatisfaction. 

By removing barriers to understanding and aligning product details with customer expectations, retailers can create a more seamless shopping experience, reducing the need for returns and fostering greater customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Mitigating Returns to Help Your Planet & Profits

The environmental impact of returns is undeniable, from the emissions generated by transportation to the waste created by excess packaging and discarded goods. While consumer expectations for easy returns pose a challenge, businesses have the tools to mitigate their environmental footprint.

By offering accurate sizing information, embracing hybrid shopping experiences, partnering with sustainable logistics organizations, and ensuring precise product information, retailers can significantly reduce the volume and impact of returns.

Every return avoided is a step toward a more sustainable retail industry. By prioritizing these strategies, businesses can balance customer satisfaction with environmental stewardship — proving that convenience and sustainability can coexist.

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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Casey Paxton, Content Marketing Manager

Akeneo

Customer Experience

What Is BOPIS and Why Is It Important?

Discover the meaning of BOPIS and how to execute it effectively. By integrating hybrid shopping into your business, you can bring together the best of both digital convenience and in-store experiences, creating a seamless journey for your customers while ultimately driving sales.

Why is BOPIS important?

Okay, so now you know what BOPIS is, but you’re probably wondering what it has me so fired up about. Well, there’s more to the word than just how funny it sounds.

BOPIS consistently proves to be highly beneficial for retailers and consumers. Online shopping often requires customers to cover shipping fees for their orders. However, this can be costly for businesses, as they must also handle the expense of moving goods from a distribution center. By eliminating the need for delivery, BOPIS not only helps reduce these costs but also spares customers from paying shipping fees. This is why 48% of US consumers prefer the hybrid shopping model!

It’s clear that eCommerce sites have grown popular for their convenience, often discouraging people from stepping into ‘brick-and-mortar’ locations. BOPIS requires customers to visit physical stores to collect their orders, enabling them to browse around and make additional purchases. As a result, it boosts in-store sales and strengthens customer retention — such as 47% of online shoppers stating that they buy more products while picking up their orders.

With these advantages and more, BOPIS is clearly a win-win solution—allowing businesses to keep their customers satisfied, boost revenue, and minimize unnecessary costs!

How to Implement BOPIS

So how do you exactly make sure you ‘win’ with this hybrid shopping model? Here are some ways to implement a good BOPIS strategy:

1. Utilize Product Information Management (PIM) technology

When it comes to hybrid shopping journeys like BOPIS, having access to reliable, up-to-date product data is paramount for your business to succeed. PIM solutions centralize product data, serving as a single source of truth, and allow brands to manage and distribute product data consistently across all channels, whether that be on a website, a mobile application, a social media store, or in a physical location. With it, brands and retailers can efficiently manage and optimize their omnichannel offerings, ensuring customers receive accurate product information across both online and offline channels.

2. Facilitate real-time communication of crucial data between teams

BOPIS relies on real-time visibility, making a robust inventory management system essential. Implementing such a system ensures products are available for pickup, avoiding false expectations for customers and preventing businesses from customer alienation.

3. Designate pickup areas

To facilitate a swift order collection, you must establish a clear and convenient pickup area within your store or designated location. It should be close enough to the inventory to allow products to be quickly retrieved and handed off to customers by employees.

4. Provide extensive support throughout the entire customer journey

This goes beyond a simple social media campaign to advertise the business (though that’s always a plus). It’s about guiding the customer through every step of their journey, from the moment the order is placed to when it’s received—keeping them informed at every stage. Providing clear and necessary updates leaves out gaps for mistakes, ensuring a smooth experience!

The Future of Hybrid Shopping

BOPIS thrives in a time where it fits perfectly more than ever. In the post-COVID-19 era, consumer shopping behaviors have evolved to embrace both physical and online experiences. The growing preference for hybrid shopping allows customers to conveniently place orders wherever they are and carry out in-store interactions when collecting them. 

With BOPIS, your business can showcase its flexibility by seamlessly blending online and offline channels, giving customers access to the best of both worlds. Ultimately, it enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty by consistently meeting your consumers where they are, providing convenience, efficiency, and a shopping experience aligned with their preferences.

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Venus Kamara, Content Marketing Intern

Akeneo

Akeneo News

5 Steps to Ensure the Success of Your PIM Project

Embarking on a PIM project is a game-changer for centralizing and optimizing product data, but success hinges on careful preparation. Created by trusted Akeneo partner O2 Commerce, this article outlines five essential steps to lay a strong foundation for your PIM implementation, from understanding your product data to streamlining workflows and planning resources effectively. Drawing from real-life experiences, we showcase how meticulous planning and strategic use of Akeneo’s PIM solution enabled them to enhance efficiency, automate processes, and streamline data management.

3. Identify Product Data Owners

It’s vital to identify who in your organization manages product data—whether content writers, category managers, eCommerce coordinators, or other teams. Each role ensures consistency across channels.

This process clarifies responsibilities and streamlines workflows to avoid duplication and errors. It also helps determine which information should be managed in the PIM versus other systems.

In Evenko’s case, many data owners operated outside the PIM across various internal and external teams. The company opted for a smaller team actively working in the PIM, centralizing information from multiple sources. This approach simplified workflows while ensuring rigorous and structured data management.

4. Clean and Streamline Data

Implementing a PIM is an ideal opportunity to clean and streamline your data. Identify active and inactive products in your ERP or other systems before transferring data into the PIM.

At Evenko, this step involved removing obsolete data and ensuring that all integrated data was relevant and up-to-date. This approach avoided importing unnecessary information, which could hinder efficient product management.

Given that Evenko’s products – and events – are temporary, with specific start and end dates, efforts focused on current and upcoming events, ensuring optimal system use from the outset.

5. Plan Time and Resources Carefully

One common mistake in PIM projects is underestimating the required time and resources. Factors influencing workload include:

• Catalog size: A more diversified catalog means greater complexity.
• PIM maturity: Team experience with PIM can accelerate or slow the project.
• Data quality: Accessible, standardized, and accurate data simplifies integration.

Unless opting for a turnkey solution, where a partner like O2 Commerce handles the project, businesses must allocate a dedicated project team to meet deadlines and ensure successful implementation.

For its PIM project, Evenko mobilized key resources, including a project manager and a digital data specialist. Their commitment and availability were instrumental in achieving a smooth and timely delivery.

Planning for a Successful PIM Implementation

By following these five essential preparatory practices, you can set the stage for a successful PIM implementation. Managing product information is a complex process requiring guidance from a trusted partner.

The Evenko project demonstrates how meticulous preparation can ensure efficient management of temporary products while adhering to strict business rules.

Check out the full case study 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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Holiday Shopping

4 Key Takeaways From the 2024 Holiday Shopping Season

The 2024 holiday shopping season broke records, with nearly $242 billion in spending and big shifts in how customers shop. Whether you’re looking to refine your promotional strategies, leverage AI for personalization, or tackle the returns problem head-on, these insights provide a roadmap for thriving in 2025 and beyond.

3. Embracing AI is a requirement to meet customer expectations

AI played a starring role in the 2024 holiday shopping season, influencing $229 billion in global online sales. From personalized product recommendations to targeted offers and conversational customer service, AI enhanced nearly every aspect of the customer journey.

Consumers’ reliance on AI-powered tools surged by 42% compared to 2023, particularly for customer service interactions. AI-driven chatbots and virtual assistants helped shoppers find answers quickly, resolve issues efficiently, and navigate the holiday frenzy with ease.

For businesses, the message is clear: AI is no longer a “nice to have” but a necessity. Brands that want to stay competitive must invest in AI technologies that enhance customer experiences, streamline operations, and improve decision-making. Whether it’s deploying advanced recommendation engines, creating predictive inventory models, or refining customer support systems, AI offers endless opportunities to meet and exceed customer expectations.

4. Returns are on the rise

As holiday sales climbed, so did returns. In 2024, global returns reached an eye-popping $122 billion, a 28% increase from last year. This spike was driven in part by trending consumer behaviors like “try-on hauls” and bracketing, where shoppers buy multiple sizes or variations of a product to try at home and return the rest.

For retailers, the cost of handling returns has become a significant challenge. From shipping and processing expenses to lost revenue and potential environmental impact, the growing volume of returns poses both logistical and financial hurdles.

To address this, brands need to focus on strategies that reduce returns without compromising the shopping experience. Enhanced product information, including detailed descriptions, accurate sizing guides, and high-quality images, can help customers make more informed decisions. Additionally, AI tools can predict and flag potential return risks, enabling retailers to proactively address concerns.

Turning Insights into Growth for 2025 and Beyond

The 2024 holiday shopping season was a clear snapshot of how shopping behavior is evolving. Consumers want personalized experiences, seamless technology, and convenience across every touchpoint. They’re influenced by mobile-first strategies, expect AI-driven support, and are navigating the balance between convenience and sustainability. For brands, these trends highlight both challenges and opportunities; and those that adapt will come out on top.

These trends also reveal something larger about today’s shoppers: they’re tech-savvy, value-conscious, and driven by convenience — but they’re also demanding authenticity and accountability from the brands they support. To succeed in this shifting landscape, businesses must stay agile, listen to their customers, and embrace innovation that enhances the shopping experience.

The 2024 holiday season was a record-breaking one, but it’s also a reminder that retail never stands still. By using these lessons to refine your strategies, you can position your brand for long-term growth, stronger customer relationships, and an even more successful 2025.

2024 Holiday Shopping Season Guide

From omnichannel optimization to sustainability-driven purchases, discover how to maximize holiday sales and minimize the dreaded post-holiday return season.

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Casey Paxton, Content Marketing Manager

Akeneo

Composable Commerce

The Trends Shaping PIM: Building a Scalable and Transparent Product Ecosystem

Discover how Akeneo empowers brands to build flexible, scalable ecosystems that enhance product data management, streamline operations, and deliver unified commerce experiences across channels in this guest blog from Valtech. Through modular architecture, real-time insights, and tools for product transparency, discover how Akeneo is enabling businesses to adapt, innovate, and thrive in an increasingly dynamic digital world.

5. Product Transparency, Cost, Fabrics, and Materials

In today’s market, consumers are increasingly seeking more information about the products they purchase. Beyond just price, they want deeper insights into how those products are made, where the materials come from, and what ethical and environmental practices are involved, including not just the environmental impact but also cost transparency, details about the fabrics and material used, and the ethical considerations behind sourcing and manufacturing.

Consumers are looking for a clear breakdown of costs, not just the final price they pay. This might include understanding how pricing reflects factors like material quality, manufacturing costs, and distribution expenses. Transparency around cost helps consumers feel more confident about the value they’re receiving, fostering greater trust in the brand.

Customers are also showing greater interest in knowing what materials and fabrics are used in the products they buy. For example, in fashion, shoppers want to know whether garments are made from sustainable or organic materials, whether they are biodegradable, or if they include synthetic, non-recyclable components. Similarly, in electronics or other consumer goods, there is a demand for transparency around the materials used – especially in terms of their environmental impact, durability, and origin.

Ethical considerations behind how products are sourced and manufactured are also top of mind for consumers. Many now expect brands to disclose whether their products are made in fair labor conditions, whether the supply chain ensures responsible sourcing, and whether the company uses eco-friendly manufacturing practices. Issues like the humane treatment of workers, the avoidance of child labor, and adherence to fair trade principles are critical to consumers’ purchasing decisions.

Recently I was shopping online and I found an incredible example regarding transparency – Asket which manages to directly give transparency on the product detailed page. First, I thought the price was high, and then thanks to this transparency, I decided to purchase a basic t-shirt because I understood the ethical and sustainable practices I was monetarily supporting; transparency equals conversion. So, It becomes essential to make it easier for brands to maintain and communicate these details at scale, which can be displayed directly on product pages across all sales channels. 

6. Microservices and modularity

By partnering with best-of-breed solutions, Akeneo enables businesses to build flexible and scalable commerce architectures tailored to their specific needs, ensuring that Akeneo technology seamlessly integrates with other essential components of the commerce ecosystem, such as eCommerce platforms, content management systems, and customer relationship management tools.

Akeneo’s roadmap will introduce more microservice-based approaches for individual tasks, like stock optimization, pricing, or case tracking. As data sufficiency becomes a challenge, microservices will help manage specific aspects of operations in a modular, adaptable way. 

7. Stock and case optimization

You might have heard that the PIM only stores cold data and It is not recommended to have dynamic data – also known as hot data – in a PIM solution. Well, it is true. But to be able to build solid product enrichment, prioritizing which product to consider first without looking into many systems, becomes essential to know if I have a low or high stock of this product or if another product is causing problems for my customer service department with numerous returns or questions. 

So what can be done in that kind of scenario? It will be key to streamlining operations, possibly implemented through microservices, especially in unified commerce. This will require real-time inventory visibility, allowing PIM to sync with inventory and pricing systems. Akeneo may push more advanced capabilities to manage stock and inventory data efficiently, reducing the likelihood of product shortages or overstock situations. One of the first ideas might be to have BI-like indicators on my product sheets.

8. Inventory and price management — priority on the product

In the retail and eCommerce world, ensuring accurate and up-to-date inventory and price information is paramount. As PIMs evolve, Akeneo will prioritize these data points, making it easier to manage real-time product availability and competitive pricing across different platforms. This could involve integrations with microservices or advanced analytics tools that help optimize stock levels and pricing strategies.

To be precise, this doesn’t mean that Akeneo will be the center of truth for all product data information, including dynamic, logistical, and financial data. It just means that a user might be able to visualize this data through microservices and/or connectors.

The Future of PIM

Akeneo’s strategic direction for PIM and future roadmap emphasizes creating an adaptable, scalable ecosystem that integrates AI, enhances customer interactions, fosters product transparency, and ensures adherence to environmental and regulatory standards. With unified commerce gaining prominence, Akeneo is expected to prioritize modular solutions that deliver real-time insights into product data, inventory, and pricing across multiple channels, enabling brands to deliver cohesive customer experiences. However, it’s crucial to remember that solutions alone are insufficient. A robust product strategy, effective data governance, and innovation are essential to differentiate offerings in the market truly.

As Product Information Management evolves, businesses must adapt to emerging trends to stay competitive and meet consumer expectations.

Check out our previous blog on Optimizing your implemented PIM for continuous evolution

The PXM Practitioner’s Checklist

Discover the 9 essential components to set yourself up for success with Product Information Management (PIM) in this guide, created with Valtech.

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Justine Carlier, Senior PXM & E-commerce Consultant

Valtech

Technology

Why Master Data Management Should Be Included in Your Master Plan

Learn how Master Data Management (MDM) helps to provide a strong foundation for enterprises, driving growth and scalability by centralizing master data for customers, products, and other critical business areas — delivering high-quality data, streamlined operations, and an improved customer experience.

What are the Benefits of Implementing an MDM?

We know an MDM creates a universal data source for organizations, but why does that matter? Implementing an MDM system can have a big impact:

• • Increases data consistency: That “single source of truth” we keep talking about reduces the risk of inconsistent or inaccurate data caused by different teams using different information systems across the organization. 
  • Pulls customer information into one source of record: MDM consolidates customer data from different sources into a single source of record, which can be accessed and updated by authorized users across the organization.
  • Improves product & customer experience: Better product and user data means sales and marketing teams can operate more effectively. Plus, this data leads to stronger product recommendations and more personalized customer experiences. 
  • Improves internal operational efficiency: Nobody likes spending time chasing down data from other departments or manually entering information into 10 different systems. MDM tools cut down on both. 
  • Helps comply with data regulations: To successfully protect consumer data, you have to know what type of data you hold, where it is, and how much you have. MDM can help companies identify all of the personal data they collect. With regulatory requirements like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the European Union’s GDPR, and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in effect, MDM is huge.  

How to Choose the Best MDM for Your Organization

Of course, not all MDM platforms are created equal. Choosing the right MDM solution for your organization is the key to maintaining high-quality data and improving efficiency. Though every business will have its own needs, there are a few key features to look for in an effective MDM solution. 

For example, you’ll likely want a platform that’s Software as a Service-based (SaaS), which usually requires less upfront investment in hardware and IT infrastructure, and can be more flexible as your business grows. 

Growth is also why you’ll want an MDM platform that’s customizable. As you scale, your data management needs may change, and your MDM solution should be able to adapt to those changes. Make sure that the one you choose offers the ability to customize workflows, data models, and more as needed.

Just as important as “customizable” is “composable.” Composable software communicates via API, and this means that each individual solution can be updated or replaced at any time without disrupting the rest of the system. A composable MDM solution also allows for easier integration with other technologies in your organization, such as PIM systems, data analytics tools, or other business applications. This can help you create a more seamless data management environment and avoid data silos. 

Whether you’re a small business just getting started or a large enterprise looking to streamline your data management, MDM software is worth adding to your stack. Not only can it help streamline data management processes, improve data accuracy, and boost consistency across the organization, but it can also have a huge impact on your customer and product experiences. With the right MDM system, you can take control of your data management and unlock its full potential.

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