Bijenkorf Drew the Channel Map Before Choosing a PIM

Bijenkorf chose a PIM after it had drawn the map of web, app and stores. The Dutch department store sells online and in the shop. The product record had to connect those channels, and the surrounding systems had to stay able to change. PIMvendors mapped the applications, named the capabilities, aligned the stakeholders in workshops, and made the internal skills explicit before the selection.

Client Introduction

Bijenkorf is a Dutch department store, online and in store. The range and the service standard are why the channel split matters: a customer who sees a product on the site, in the app and in the shop is looking at one item.

The Challenge

Connecting data and process across web, app and physical stores was the job. That meant a PIM and the systems around it, in an architecture that could still change when a channel changed. Plenty of vendors were available. Picking from the logos, without a map, was the risk: a short project now, and a second product database the next time a channel was added.

The Solution

PIMvendors mapped the applications and defined the capabilities an omnichannel setup needed, and which PIM fitted that map. Workshops put the stakeholders on one list and named the skills the internal team would have to hold.

The Results

Bijenkorf made the decision and implemented a setup that connects product data across the channels. The map and the skills were part of the delivery.

The trade-off is pace. Drawing web, app and stores before the purchase is slower than buying a PIM for the site and hoping the shops follow. The slower path is what stops the next channel becoming its own product database.

The map is the lesson for another department store. The commerce stack sets out which system owns the product when web, app and store all publish it. How to select a PIM is the selection that came after the capabilities were named. Product data quality and governance is the internal skill the workshops had to name, because a PIM does not staff itself. The PIM implementation guide is how that architecture becomes a build.