kikaLeiner offers personalized experiences that bridge the gap between physical and digital retail

With 1,500 to 2,000 new items introduced monthly, managing this influx became unmanageable, significantly impacting time-to-market. In the best-case scenario, it took three days to go from product creation to webshop availability—far too long in today’s fast-paced retail environment.

To address these challenges, kikaLeiner recognized the need for a centralized system to manage all product information, enrich its quality, and establish a “single source of truth.” Moreover, the limitations of the existing media asset management system, which lacked detailed classifications and effective meta-tagging, needed to be resolved.

Ultimately, kikaLeiner chose Contentserv as a future-proof solution. The integrated Product Information Management (PIM) and Digital Asset Management (DAM) approach, combined with rapid applicability, user-friendly design, and predictable cloud-based costs, made Contentserv the ideal partner in their digital journey.

Key objectives included:

• Establishing PIM/DAM as a central system to create a “single source of truth.”
• Simplifying and speeding up workflows, particularly in item creation and maintenance.
• Directly connecting the existing online shop to automate daily product data updates.
• Enabling efficient meta-tagging of assets using the Google Vision connector.
• Improving the consistency and quality of product data and assets as a foundation for future innovations.

Before implementing the PIM/DAM solution, it was nearly impossible to evaluate existing data and processes meaningfully, hindering optimization efforts. The fragmented system landscape lacked transparency and actionable insights. Once the team gained an initial overview, the necessity for a PIM system became clear.

With the help of implementation partner hmmh, kikaLeiner chose Contentserv as the ideal solution based on its clear advantages. The implementation, utilizing the taxi model, was completed quickly—just three months after the project start, the new system was operational, allowing the webshop to go live.

In the first year, the 20-person team successfully added and enriched approximately 35,000 items, benefiting from efficient workflows and a direct connection between the shop system and PIM. As they continued to expand their range, the company took initial steps to integrate meta-tags for images and other assets with the Google Vision connector, significantly saving resources.

Two factors contributed to the rapid implementation despite challenges: tailored support and workshops from hmmh that met the team’s specific needs, and the experience of two decision-makers who had previously worked with PIM systems. Their fresh perspective and the intuitive usability of Contentserv facilitated a smooth transition to new working methods.

The ongoing digital restructuring promises further simplifications, enhancing not just eCommerce but also supporting systems for branch teams. Project leaders are optimistic that many existing systems will become obsolete as the Contentserv platform assumes their functions. The initial focus is on leveraging the DAM capabilities of the Google Vision integration, which will further enhance the PIM/DAM system's efficiency in critical marketing areas, such as brochure creation.

Moreover, kikaLeiner’s fulfillment level has seen a dramatic rise—from 15-20% before Contentserv to an impressive 90% within just one year, setting new benchmarks against the competition.

However, with a fast-moving ready-to-wear market, the colossal manual entry of different product data (6,000 color references per season, assortment tracking, product feature updates in different languages, etc.) became extremely challenging. Furthermore, primarily using spreadsheets for this purpose was very time-consuming and error-prone. These files quickly became archaic in the context of Lacoste’s digital transformation and they would often contain numerous data entry errors, which resulted in a slow time-to-market that was harmful to sales. Another major challenge involved variable data such as collections, which must be renewed every six months and had to take into account the difference between the Northern and Southern hemispheres.

Therefore Lacoste needed to adopt a tool that would streamline the creation and distribution of its product catalogs on both its merchant and marketplace sites. This made it clear that Product Information Management (PIM) was the right solution to quickly enrich databases, accurately aggregate content, and shorten time-to-market, all while increasing agility and flexibility.