Manage and showcase products seamlessly across Websites, Online Shops, and beyond

For many businesses, the product portfolio is at the heart of their operations. It’s crucial to present these products compellingly across all digital channels – be it on websites, online shops, or apps – with minimal effort. However, the reality is often less ideal: maintaining data accuracy is time-consuming, product information may contain errors, and load times can frustrate users.

In this article, we’ll explore technical solutions to overcome these challenges. You’ll learn how the right IT Architecture helps you to:

• Efficiently store, manage, and publish product data.
• Present your portfolio across multiple channels with a user-friendly approach.
• Enhance operational efficiency while elevating the customer experience.

We’ll dive into how technologies like microservices, APIs, cloud computing, and headless architecture (often referred to as MACH architecture) can transform product management. 

Content

• Integration for high data quality with minimal maintenance effort.
• Headless architecture for seamless cross-channel customer experiences.
• Cloud architecture and microservices for high performance.
• Practical example
• Conclusion
  
  

Achieving high data quality with minimal maintenance: Seamless system integration

The challenge

Product information is traditionally relevant to multiple departments — from product management to marketing and sales. Additionally, it is required across various systems (CMS, shop systems, CRM, ERP, etc.).

For instance, marketing uses product information in the Content Management System (CMS) to publish product pages on the website. Meanwhile, sales leverages the same data in the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to create proposals, and so on.

Product data is regularly updated and expanded. With so many touchpoints, this can become a significant challenge: Without an integrated IT landscape, each department must manually update their respective systems. This leads to substantial effort in coordination, consumes time, and increases the risk of human error.

The solution

Centralize your data with a Single Source of Truth

The first step in tackling these challenges is establishing a centralized data repository. All product details — from pricing and media files to technical specifications — are stored and updated in one location: the “Single Source of Truth.”

Ensure seamless data exchange with standardized APIs

Centralizing your data is just the beginning. The next step is making this data accessible to all relevant systems to use on websites, online shops, and beyond. Integrating your systems – from PIM and shop systems to CRM – is essential for a smooth data exchange.

The gold standard for system integration is API connections (Application Programming Interfaces). APIs enable real-time synchronization of product data, ensuring that updates made in the central repository are immediately reflected across all connected systems.

Key benefits at a glance

• You minimize time and costs for product maintenance: Seamless integration eliminates unnecessary coordination and duplicate work. This frees up resources that can be used for other tasks.
• You ensure up-to-date and accurate data across all systems: Real-time synchronization guarantees that all employees always have access to the latest data, while reducing the risk of errors caused by manual processes.

Ensure consistent, error-free customer experiences with a Headless Architecture

The challenge

Many companies require product information to be available across a variety of channels, not just in an online shop or on a single website.

For example, an international industrial company might have separate websites for each of its locations in different countries. Each of these online platforms needs to display the product catalog, possibly with regional customizations. Additionally, the company may offer an app and a customer portal for quick inquiry handling, both of which integrate product information. Similarly, it could use a digital solution for product presentations at trade fairs and other events.

Without a robust IT architecture, the company would need to manually update its product portfolio across websites, apps, and other platforms. This results in an enormous workload and, to the frustration of customers, a high likelihood of inconsistent or outdated information.

In a traditional CMS, the backend is tightly coupled with a specific frontend. This can become problematic when managing multiple digital channels.

The solution

With a headless architecture, such as a headless CMS, you can easily ensure that product information is consistently and accurately displayed across all digital touchpoints.

Headless architecture decouples the backend, where product content is managed, from the frontend, where it is presented. In practical terms, this means you don’t need to manage content separately for each digital channel – such as apps, websites, and more – in their respective systems. Instead, you create, manage, and maintain your product content in one centralized location. The content is then distributed across various touchpoints, with its presentation optimized for each specific channel.

A headless architecture is essential for companies managing multiple channels and striving to provide their customers with a seamless omnichannel experience.

In a headless CMS, the backend and frontend are decoupled, allowing content to be delivered across various digital channels via an API. 

Key benefits at a glance

• You deliver consistent, error-free customer experiences: Users receive up-to-date and uniform information across all channels. This builds trust in your products and leads to higher conversion rates.
• You simplify the management of your product content: By managing your content centrally in one location, optimizing it for various channels, and distributing it automatically, you save significant time that would otherwise be spent on maintenance and coordination.
• You future-proof your solution: Planning to add a new digital channel to your ecosystem? No problem! With a headless architecture, you can easily integrate additional digital touchpoints without the need to redesign your entire backend.
  

Optimize performance and resilience with Cloud Architecture and Microservices

The challenge

A key component of a positive customer experience is the top performance of your digital platforms. Studies show that bounce rates increase by 32% if loading times worsen from one to three seconds, and by as much as 90% if they stretch to five seconds (Google, 2018). This makes the loading speed of your product pages — often the centerpiece of your online presence — particularly critical.

However, ensuring high performance is not always easy. Products often come with massive amounts of data – from images and pricing to technical specifications – that can impact loading times. Additionally, B2C online shops face significant strain during peak traffic periods, such as seasonal promotions or product launches.

Without a flexible infrastructure, these challenges can result in longer loading times and even system outages, both of which negatively affect the customer experience.

The solution

Adapt quickly to traffic surges with a Cloud-Native Architecture

Optimize load times with a content delivery network (CDN):

Stay flexible and independent with Microservices

Microservice architecture divides functions (e.g., product management, order processing, search) into independent services. This modular approach allows for easier development, scaling, and maintenance, ensuring system stability even if one service fails. It also enables the addition of new features with minimal disruption.

Key benefits

Practical example: Product portfolio for trade fairs and more with Storyblok

A slightly different application—beyond websites and online shops—is demonstrated by TecAlliance, a specialist in the automotive aftermarket. The company regularly participates in trade fairs and uses not PowerPoint but a digital product portfolio based on Storyblok for its presentations.

Storyblok is a headless CMS that, thanks to its API-first structure, integrates seamlessly with other systems such as PIM, CRM, or shop systems, as well as individual microservices. As a cloud-native tool, it is also scalable and highly efficient.

TecAlliance uses Storyblok to showcase its products impressively at events while conveniently managing related information. The company benefits from the following advantages:

• Optimal Data Maintenance and Quality: The CMS serves as a single source of truth, meaning all product data is centrally stored and managed in Storyblok. This eliminates duplicate work and ensures high data quality.

• Tailored to Target Audiences: Product presentations can be flexibly adapted to specific target groups. This ensures that visitors feel engaged and understood, regardless of the event.

• Flexible Adaptation and Usage: Storyblok is easily scalable and allows for the addition of more products. Moreover, TecAlliance can integrate the product portfolio into other digital platforms (such as websites) if needed.

Tip: On December 11th at 10:00 AM, we’ll present the full use case in a LinkedIn livestream. Click here to register.

Conclusion

Managing and presenting products across multiple channels is a significant challenge. The right IT architecture can help you overcome it:

• A centralized, seamlessly integrated data repository ensures that product information is always up-to-date and accurate.
• A headless architecture enables consistent product presentation across various channels.
• Cloud architecture and microservices ensure high platform performance and flexible scalability for additional features.

Do you need support with managing your product content or IT architecture in general? Feel free to reach out to us for a no-obligation consultation. Our experts look forward to connecting with you!