Automating Product Information Across 16,000 SKUs and Multiple Channels
Garden City Plastics is one of Australia’s leading manufacturers and distributors of horticultural pots, containers, and related products. As the business expanded, managing over 16,000 SKUs across websites, printed catalogues, datasheets, and price lists became increasingly complex. To solve this, Garden City Plastics turned to a centralised Product Information Management (PIM) system.
“The siloed development of product data is now a thing of the past. With Perfion, we can track a product’s lifecycle from inception to retirement, using status changes and alerts to ensure the relevant teams are notified at each stage. The ability to update data at a single point and make it available to stakeholders in real-time has allowed us to speed up time-to-market, streamline internal processes, and ensure consistency in our external communications.
Thanks to Perfion, multiple stakeholders can now contribute and approve product data with accurate, up-to-date information, seamlessly disseminated across all business channels”
– Scott Hardman, IT Systems Administrator at Garden City Plastics
The Challenge: Overloaded IT and Manual Product Data Management
With limited IT resources, Garden City Plastics was spending an excessive amount of time managing manual product data updates. Key challenges included:
- Maintaining thousands of SKUs across multiple platforms
- Manually creating colour variations of product images
- Managing frequent product changes
- Exploring AI search and automation to boost efficiency
- Providing accurate data to internal teams
- Relying on spreadsheets and emails for catalogue production
The business needed a centralised solution to reduce manual work and speed up time to market.
The Solution: Perfion PIM for Centralised Product Data and Workflow Automation
During the transition from Microsoft Dynamics GP to Microsoft D365 Business Central, Garden City Plastics implemented Perfion PIM to ensure seamless integration with both Microsoft D365 Business Central and Sana e-commerce systems.
Key improvements included:
- Data synchronisation between ERP, e-commerce, and Perfion.
- Custom workflows to manage product approvals, automated reminders, and lifecycle tracking.
- Role-based dashboards to empower each department with relevant data.
- API integration with Adobe InDesign via 65bit EasyCatalog for fully automated catalogue creation.
The Results: 59% Performance Improvement and Real-Time Collaboration
Perfion has delivered a 59% uplift in operational performance, primarily by streamlining workflows and eliminating inefficiencies:
- Category and sales managers can now update product data directly, reducing reliance on IT.
- Real-time updates have eliminated double handling and long email chains regarding product changes, new releases, and updates.
- IT resources are now focused on strategic work instead of manual tasks.
- Catalogue creation time dropped from 20.5 hours to 4.5 hours, delivering a 78% time saving.
- Operational costs per product reduced from $632 to $350 per product, achieving a 45% saving due to decreased outsourcing and more efficient use of internal resources.
- Data accuracy and consistency have significantly improved across all channels.
Ongoing support from Boyum IT
“Throughout my experience working with Boyum IT, I’ve primarily collaborated with their support team during the development of our ecosystem, particularly in integrating Perfion and automating various functions through Actions. Whenever an issue has arisen, their response has always been prompt, with a clear course of action leading to a resolution in a timely manner.
Whether working directly with Perfion or with first-tier support and their programming team, Boyum IT has consistently prioritised keeping our systems running smoothly. Their approach has been both efficient and transparent, with unwavering support every step of the way. I highly recommend Boyum IT and Perfion to anyone seeking a PIM solution, knowing that their service doesn’t stop at the point of sale. They are truly dedicated to ensuring ongoing success.”
– Scott Hardman, IT Systems Administrator at Garden City Plastics
Perfion has helped Garden City Plastics work faster, smarter, and more efficiently, and delivering measurable results for every team. Book a demo now and discover how Perfion can drive similar benefits for your business.
You can access documents on the integration of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Sana E-Commerce via the links.
Take a look at our website to find out more about our Product Information Management System Perfion and integrations with other ERP systems and e-commerce platforms.
