Customer Spotlight: Hendi

As the tagline ‘Tools for Chefs’ suggests, Hendi supplies cooking equipment, kitchen tools, cutlery, serving apparatus, and buffet utensils for the hospitality industry. Founded in 1934, Hendi has grown into a global presence in the B2B hospitality sector, with a presence in the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Romania, Greece, Italy, and Hong Kong. The company’s core activities are developing, producing, selling, and distributing a wide range of catering supplies and kitchen equipment through an international network of dealers, wholesalers, and catering e-commerce sites.

As a fast-growing business, Hendi was ill-equipped for the rigors of e-commerce expansion. A large part of the orders Hendi received came via e-mail, telephone, or even fax machine. These orders then had to be processed manually. Furthermore, these orders were connected to a product catalog that had a database that lacked the desired functionality to cater to the growing needs of the company as it scaled. With e-commerce becoming an increasingly important part of its growth strategy, Hendi identified the need for a future-proof solution to its product data dilemmas. It turned to inriver.

Hendi’s PIM journey with inriver

Here’s how Hendi followed a recipe for more effective data management with inriver:

1. Understanding the challenges

Hendi faced significant challenges managing its product information, largely due to disparate databases containing inconsistent data. This included separate systems for catalogs, websites, and ERP systems, leading to confusion and inefficiency. For example, the Polish catalog showed different information to the Dutch catalog, which showed different information to the website. This lack of cohesion led to endless queries from confused customers.

2. Seeking the right solution

Realizing the need for a unified source of product information for all channels, Hendi began exploring solutions. Initially, it considered open-source options but found them too labor-intensive. After a thorough investigation, Hendi realized Product Information Management software was the answer to the evolving needs of its go-to-market strategy. Hendi then entered discussions with several PIM vendors.

“Choosing inriver was driven by inriver’s excellent print solution and InDesign integration, crucial for our B2B clients who still value printed catalogs. With inriver, we have significantly streamlined our catalog production.” 

Jeffry Wiesnekker

Head of Marketing, Hendi

3. Choosing inriver

There were several reasons behind Hendi’s decision to choose inriver. First, Hendi required a fully adaptable solution that could meet its needs without the extensive development work associated with open-source alternatives. Second, the inriver platform offers direct integration between the PIM database and InDesign, a crucial feature for Hendi’s B2B clients who still prefer printed product brochures.

4. Early benefits of implementation

After successfully implementing the inriver PIM platform with XSARUS, a trusted inriver partner experienced with the inriver platform, Hendi was able to see the benefits of its new PIM platform. The inriver PIM became the central hub for Hendi’s product information, integrating with various ERP systems and Magento instances across its European and Asian offices and creating an organization-wide source of market-ready product information.

5. Operational efficiencies

Thanks to the inriver PIM, Hendi could scale up catalog production from 6 versions to 20, reducing the time required by 75% without significantly increasing team size. Hendi now manages up to 9,000 SKUs across different markets with a single, centralized repository, creating significant internal efficiencies and ensuring more effective sales operations on every channel in every market.

6. Improved customer experiences

Thanks to the Magento Commerce Cloud package, in particular the Magento Page Builder, Hendi marketers can create engaging and inspiring product content pages built on the reliable product information held within the inriver PIM platform. This information is syndicated automatically when updated within the inriver PIM, meaning customers are always accessing the latest product data, images, and more.

inriver X Hendi: The key takeaway

Inriver provided an all-in-one solution for Hendi’s diverse product range, enhancing the business’s ability to share accurate product information quickly and efficiently. The partnership with inriver allowed Hendi to expand its language offerings from 9 to 25 while growing its assortment from 2,000 SKUs to 9,500 SKUs. This transformation has enabled Hendi to save nearly 50% of their time, allowing them to do more work with the same number of people. Looking ahead, Hendi is exploring the potential impact of the Digital Product Passport and how inriver can help, as well as additional integrations to further enhance the value of product information.