IPG Boosts Ecommerce Platform Efficiency From Months to Minutes

The packaging manufacturer finds impressive efficiencies with the Salsify Product Information Management (PIM) solution.

About IPG

Intertape Polymer Group (IPG) produces almost any type of tape an industrial customer may need, as well as a number of packaging solutions, engineered coated products, and more. With 3,600 employees worldwide and headquarters in both the U.S. and Canada, the company has a large and growing global footprint.

This growing footprint is served by a variety of distributor customers, many of which are working with IPG to enhance their own ecommerce platforms and get IPG’s products to more customers.

Challenge

As distributors large and small entered the online marketplace, IPG had to find effective ways to share product information with them. Older processes that involved spreadsheets and manual reporting simply no longer worked. Finding and delivering information for large product lines could take months, and customers needed that information right away.

To make matters more complicated, IPG has acquired several companies over the years, and each of those acquired companies stores product data in its own way. This process added an extra layer of difficulty to the process of finding and delivering information.

"We would get requests all day long from multiple customers, and when each one of these requests takes you three months, you can't keep up. We just didn't have the resources to do it, so we had to move in a better direction."

— Erica Medcraft, Senior Marketing Manager, IPG

Solution

Clean Up and Consolidate Data

Transitioning to Salsify meant a large-scale project of locating, cleaning, and consolidating data. IPG approached this project strategically, working to make sure it got cross-functional buy-in from all departments and product lines. The company also developed a plan for the project by using its end goal as its guiding light.

All that hard work and planning paid off, and IPG ended up with a clean, consolidated catalog of product information.

Give Distributors Quick Access to Accurate Data

One point person can now look up information in the Salsify PIM to meet distributor requests. Customers also have access to a self-service catalog that allows them to get their own information in their own time.

This approach reduces inefficiencies for IPG and its customers alike. Distributors now have more power to enhance their ecommerce sites – which, in turn, enhances the sales of IPGs products.

"We have one person that works in Salsify, and she's able to gain information for our customers within minutes versus within months."

— Erica Medcraft, Senior Marketing Manager, IPG

Results

Product Data Accessed in Mere Minutes

There are many ways IPG improved efficiency, but the time savings can’t be overemphasized. Requests that had previously taken teams months to complete now take one employee a few minutes.

That’s not the end of IPG’s newfound efficiencies. The company is now working on developing new workflows for product management teams that allow them to update data directly, as well as workflows that make this information accessible to the marketing team, spreading the benefits of consolidated data throughout the company.

Empowered, Enthusiastic Distributors

While large distributors have had ecommerce sites for some time, small independent distributors are just beginning to build their online presences. For these distributors, access to IPG’s Salsify PIM has been revolutionary.

The efficiencies introduced by IPG’s data catalog make it easier for small distributors to build and grow their budding ecommerce platforms. In a truly mutually beneficial partnership, IPG and its customers can work together to realize their full ecommerce potential.

"To see the growth with our customers, and to watch them have that "aha" moment when we talk to them about the PIM and everything that we can get them – that, to me, is very satisfying."

— Erica Medcraft, Senior Marketing Manager, IPG

"We would get requests all day long from multiple customers, and when each one of these requests takes you three months, you can't keep up. We just didn't have the resources to do it, so we had to move in a better direction."

— Erica Medcraft, Senior Marketing Manager, IPG

"We have one person that works in Salsify, and she's able to gain information for our customers within minutes versus within months."

— Erica Medcraft, Senior Marketing Manager, IPG

"To see the growth with our customers, and to watch them have that "aha" moment when we talk to them about the PIM and everything that we can get them – that, to me, is very satisfying."

— Erica Medcraft, Senior Marketing Manager, IPG

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