inRiver

01Efficient distribution to the electronic channels

To give customers a consistent multichannel experience you need consistent product data across channels. You also need to deliver a single view of each product across all content, languages, and markets. The faster and more frequent a channel is updated the bigger the task becomes to keep all information constantly updated and while keeping the information consistent  across channels. That's why the e-commerce channel is the one the drives the need for speed, agility and efficiency more than any other channel.

E-commerce does not provide sales staff in the stores, so there's no-one there to answer the customers questions. There is no possibility to test, feel and compare the physical goods as you can in a brick and mortar shop. This makes it necessary to provide rich content in order to help the customer choose the right product. inRiver PIM is built from the ground up to support the needs for the modern retailer and e-tailer to make the process efficient, deliver rich product content while keeping a speedy time-to-market.

Different markets needs different solutions depending on the customers needs, e-commerce is no exception. Reaching all target markets and audiences with the same solution often becomes very expensive as the highest common denominator, often the most demanding B2C channel, will set the standards. On the other hand, a cheaper solution that is perfect for regular B2B might not be enough to sell to the more demanding B2C customers. One thing is certain, the demands will change over time and what's right today might not be right tomorrow. That's why it is important to be able to choose different e-commerce solutions for each markets demand and be able to change them over time. inRiver integrates easily with all types of systems, making it easy, fast and cost effective to launch new initiatives based on any type of software. In short, it gives you freedom of choice when it comes to e-commerce solutions.

02Integrate smarter

Today most web solutions are based on old and unreliable integration methods often based on that the sending system writes files on a file system that is then read by the receiving system. This leads to a number of problems:

• Export of redundant information as each and every system will receive all product information, often as files on a disk drive.
• No transaction security as the file system export is unable to verify that information was successfully exported and received by the channeling systems.
• Expensive to scale as every new channelling system, i.e. web shop, web site or other, will become an integration point.
• Quality and consistency is threatened as there is no way of verifying the success of an update.
• Very difficult to keep multiple systems updated as file export is slow and often done overnight as background batch-jobs.

03Summary of benefits:

• Dramatically reduces information maintenance, maintain all product information once in one system.
• Shortens update times.
• Uses the same information in all channels.
• Helps to gain information quality and consistency.
• Uses smart business rules to automate the process.
• Makes scaling the solution easier and much more cost effective..
• Integrates to web shops, web content management systems, e-marketplaces, portals and more.
• Creates automatic navigation structures based on the smart business rules in the PIM system.