The shift to Akeneo’s solution has allowed The Agent to streamline how product information is collected, cleaned, enriched and shared.
The Agent has announced the adoption of Akeneo’s Supplier Data Manager (SDM) solution, with the aim of streamlining and enhancing the onboarding of its supplier product data.
The company works with both emerging and established apparel, accessories and footwear brands, including Le Coq Sportif, Herschel Supply Co and Aigle, to grow online sales on third-party marketplaces across Europe and the UK, including Zalando, About You, Amazon and Decathlon.
The company manages the entire marketplace selling process, or a collaborative partnership with tailored services, from catalogue integration to performance optimisation.
The Agent receives product data from hundreds of brands, managing thousands of SKUs each season – often across multiple languages and formats.
Prior to implementing Akeneo’s SDM solution, this process was handled using spreadsheets and email and was prone to inaccuracies, often leading to an extended time to market due to the need for multiple manual reviews and checks.
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The shift to Akeneo’s solution has allowed it to streamline how product information is collected, cleaned, enriched and shared. Through a structured portal and workflow, brands now upload their product data directly, following clear steps to ensure it meets the specific requirements of each marketplace.
Aude Guillome, Client Success Manager at The Agent, said, “Our brands now complete a guided workflow of four steps uploading and enriching product data, before our team takes over to complete the process. This allows for much faster integration, improved accuracy, and ultimately, better CXs.”
“As online marketplaces become more demanding, with some requiring up to 180 unique product attributes for a single SKU, high-quality product data is now a critical asset in ensuring sales success. The return on investment of Akeneo’s SDM is clear – better data, faster onboarding, and a 10% reduction in returns.”
Internally, merchandising teams have shifted from labour-intensive data input to strategic oversight and performance benchmarking. Supplier data collection is now fully automated, ensuring the product is available for sale earlier in the season.
Romaine Fouache, CEO at Akeneo, said, “With marketplace sales accounting for approximately €225 billion in online sales across Europe in 2023/24, delivering high quality, marketplace compliant product data in a timely manner is critical to ensuring commercial success on these channels.”
“By using SDM, The Agent ensures that its brand partners are marketplace ready with the content necessary to reduce returns and boost visibility.”
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