Ready for the future with inriver's PIM solution

WE Fashion

WE Fashion is a Dutch fashion brand originally known for its stylish, high-quality, and accessible collections for Men, Women, and Kids. WE Fashion stands for connection and wants to help customers dress 'just right'. Collections are sold via approximately 150 own stores spread across 4 countries, wefashion.com, and in over 20 countries via online partners. Omnichannel initiatives such as the WE is ME customer program, the WE Fashion app, and the ability to order online in-store, complement the shopping experience.

Need for a new PIM platform

To further expand sales on the various online platforms where WE Fashion is active and to further grow the brand, the need arose for a new product information management solution. The PIM solution previously in use at WE Fashion could not meet this need because this platform was no longer optimized and maintained by the developer, and even had a clear end date.

The 'end-of-life' date for the existing PIM platform created a hard deadline for the newly integrated solution. WE Fashion was therefore looking for a future-proof solution in combination with an experienced implementation partner.

The requirements

The new Product Information Management system to be integrated had to meet several requirements:

Provide WE Fashion's customers with accurate, complete, and high-quality product information across all channels;
Review and improve the existing enrichment process;
Achieve a shorter lead time for the enrichment process;
Measurable enrichment workflow with status indicators;
More speed in enrichment, resulting in a faster time-to-market.

WE Fashion chose the inriver PIM package, a SaaS solution. This package meets the above needs and now has thousands of users worldwide.

Implementation process

Prior to the implementation of the inriver PIM system, clear frameworks were established between WE Fashion and XSARUS regarding what the solution should meet and what was within the scope of the assignment. By preparing a clear and comprehensive Solution Design Document, there was no confusion about what would be delivered when. This perfectly managed expectations for both the project team on the WE Fashion side and the team on the XSARUS side.

Workshops

The implementation started with several workshops that focused on, among other things, drafting, migrating, and reviewing the data model. Based on the input from the workshops, the implementation was then carried out. Throughout the entire implementation, members of the project team were on location at WE Fashion one fixed day per week to ensure a smooth implementation. Coordination with integration parties was thus optimal. Even during the implementation, end users of inriver PIM were extensively trained by both XSARUS and inriver.

Inriver PIM offers us a lot of flexibility. With the capabilities for studio sample tracking, generative AI, and reporting, we work with XSARUS towards our goals without limitations. Because inriver offers notifications out-of-the-box, we can proactively continuously improve our product stories.

Arjan Neering, Product Owner at WE Fashion

One version of the truth

With the inriver PIM solution, WE Fashion now has solid PIM software that shows one version of the truth. One place to enrich and adjust product data. The WE Fashion webshop structure and associated products are fully managed by inriver thanks to the use of, among other things, Intelligent Linking. Additionally, 'Looks' and related articles are also managed in one central place.

Thanks to the many functionalities provided by inriver PIM, we have the necessary insights for a good product information management process. It helps our in-house photo studio to set the right priorities and onboard collections on time. Where previously we tried to turn information into usable actions using reports from various systems, the PIM system now provides the foundation for all this. This way, we can further professionalise and automate, and use the remaining time to elevate our product content to a higher level.

Felicia Hutting, Digital Trade Manager at WE Fashion

Specific requirements

The advantage of a SaaS solution like inriver is that it is a very complete and functional package as standard. It evolves with the needs of its many thousands of users. SaaS solutions often have limitations in adding specific requirements, but that is not the case within inriver. XSARUS has - thanks to its many years of experience as an inriver partner - added optimisations several times, making it possible to realise specific requirements within the inriver solution. This has made several specific processes known to the fashion industry more efficient for WE Fashion:

Optimisation of the sample tracking process: employees receive a signal when the launch date of a product is approaching and there is no sample available yet. This way, no products are missed and the time-to-market is shortened.
Colour bundling: each product in inriver is provided with a 'commercial colour' and automatically bundled and deduplicated. For example, a customer of WE Fashion will never see 6 different shades of blue in a filter.
Always the right material composition: when entering material composition in inriver, the correct translation for international sales channels is made immediately and the material composition is automatically totalled to 100%.

Result of the collaboration

Structured, efficient and less error-prone

With the reports from inriver, it can be checked in advance whether the product information is correct, complete and ready for publication on time. Thanks to the controlled and automated workflows embedded in the system, the lead time for product information has been reduced and the time-to-market is significantly shorter.