Brand Aid

Making product information available to consumers is a top-of-mind concern for most consumer goods companies. But before product information becomes available for public consumption, internal and external parties must be fully aware of a product's diverse traits. In an effort to simplify its product information process and bolster its brands, food and personal care manufacturer Unilever embarked on an ambitious plan to centralize all of its catalog information under one master source. The effort will also increase Unilever's consistency, reduce process errors and improve margins in Unilever Europe and North America to the tune of $25 million.

The Selection Process

Unilever's global requirements for item synchronization and pricing management with its retail partners were of utmost importance when the company began evaluating the product information management (PIM) competition. After a meticulous selection process, Trigo surfaced as the company's vendor of choice based on Trigo Product Center's user-friendly interface and scalability.

"Unilever's decision to implement Trigo Product Center was a direct response to our need to deliver standardized information to our customers, to introduce new products more rapidly, to improve invoice and order accuracy, and to improve overall end-to-end efficiencies," says Nick White, vice president for information architecture, Unilever. "In addition, Trigo Product Center provides a foundation for Unilever's strategic future initiatives, including radio frequency identification and collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment."

Retail Ready

Unilever's determined approach to PIM spawned a project called e-CAT that was sponsored out of the company's customer development organization. The organization is responsible for ensuring the visibility and availability of Unilever brands at all outlets. To overcome process problems between retail trading partners, item synchronization models from the Uniform Code Council (UCC) were adopted in addition to other private companies to streamline information sharing interoperability between business systems. Unilever also developed a clear vision to be compliant with the upcoming Global Commerce Initiative (GCI). The combined efforts will ultimately produce a global industry view, according to White.

Unilever's e-CAT strategy currently delivers a smooth and consistent PIM process to trading partners. Reductions in costs were achieved from the correction of process errors that virtually eliminated wrong orders, incorrect deliveries, invoice discrepancies, and stock-outs. The company estimates that around 80 percent of deductions given to its grocery retailers can now be eliminated through the use of accurate product information. Unilever will also continue to monitor and track improvements in the area of product information through Trigo Product Center. The combined IBM and Trigo solution is being rolled out in five continents, eight languages and over 50 retail partners.