Akeneo Simplifies Supplier Data Onboarding

Boston, MA, October 17, 2023 –  Akeneo, the Product Experience (PX) Company, and renowned provider of Product Information Management (PIM) solutions, has unveiled its latest product innovation – the Akeneo Supplier Data Manager. This cutting-edge solution offers a straightforward, scalable, and collaborative approach to gathering product data from suppliers, marking a significant leap forward for the industry.

The Akeneo Supplier Data Manager represents a pivotal evolution of the Akeneo Onboarder solution, meticulously refined with valuable insights from customers. It is meticulously designed to better support the diverse practices of retailers and distributors in collecting, enhancing, and importing supplier-provided product information and assets.

This revelation comes hot on the heels of Akeneo’s strategic acquisition of Unifai, a market leader in artificial intelligence (AI) for data collection, cleansing, categorization, and enrichment. Unifai, pioneered by industry experts in AI and machine learning (ML), is set to revolutionize Akeneo’s Product Cloud offerings, injecting intelligence and cutting-edge technology to elevate product experiences globally for brands, manufacturers, retailers, and distributors.

The Akeneo Supplier Data Manager addresses the long-standing challenges faced by retailers, distributors, and suppliers. The absence of an efficient method for collecting supplier-provided product data often leads to delays in product launches and content updates, resulting in lost revenue. Even when data is collected, it is frequently buried in massive, unstructured spreadsheets, leading to frustrated employees and subpar customer experiences. This lack of effective collaboration impedes the seamless flow of product content, causing dissatisfaction among suppliers, retailers/distributors, and customers.

Recognizing the diversity in supplier relationships, Akeneo Supplier Data Manager offers two distinct approaches to collecting product data within a dedicated portal:

1. Suppliers Upload Their Files: Suppliers can simply drag and drop their product data into the portal, centralizing all information for retailers/distributors to efficiently review and import into Akeneo PIM.
2. Suppliers Fill Out Templates: Retailers/distributors can set product and attribute guidelines in a downloadable template for suppliers to complete and re-upload, streamlining the import process into Akeneo PIM.

Additionally, suppliers can upload media files, which retailers/distributors can seamlessly convert into assets with a single click. Once the data is centralized in the Supplier Data Manager, users can easily map it to their data structure and import it into Akeneo PIM.

This innovative solution fosters improved collaboration between retailers/distributors and suppliers, ensuring the efficient sharing of accurate and complete product data and expediting access to updated information, resulting in faster time-to-market.

To cater to the unique challenges faced by each retailer or distributor, companies can choose to integrate Supplier Data Manager alongside Akeneo PIM, transforming their approach to collecting product information and assets from suppliers. Moreover, the option to incorporate potent AI/ML capabilities from Unifai further streamlines the supplier data onboarding process, automating a substantial portion of the workflow.