Intro

The FHB original GmbH & Co. KG is a leading European manufacturer of traditional guild and workwear, known for its high-quality and functional products “Made in Germany.” The company aims to combine innovative solutions with traditional values to provide craftsmen with clothing that is both practical and durable.

As part of their website relaunch, FHB decided to fundamentally revise their product data management in collaboration with entitys. The focus was on building a robust data foundation that provides precise and consistent data for the website and eShop while significantly improving collaboration between marketing, sales, and data management.

Challenge

Complex structures, lengthy processes, high maintenance effort

With the launch of the new website, previous challenges in product data management became evident, which had previously required intensive manual effort:

The distribution of product responsibility across various departments led to inconsistent and incomplete product information. The coordination process within teams, as well as ensuring data accuracy, was cumbersome and time-consuming. Additionally, the absence of a granular master/variant model resulted in a lengthy and error-prone handling of individual SKUs. The numerous requirements for data structures across sales channels further increased complexity.

Continuing manual processes to enter product descriptions on the new website did not align with time and effort goals, which is why FHB decided to fundamentally and sustainably optimize product data management.

Solution

Custom System Architecture and Sophisticated Data Modeling

FHB chose the Product Data OS from entitys as a PIM solution that not only enhances collaboration between departments but also maintains their independence. The system architecture ensures that each department can only view and edit the attributes relevant to them, providing clear data ownership and governance.

Furthermore, a structured approach to data modeling—including classification hierarchies, attributes, and value lists for each product category—now enables consistent data maintenance. Data quality is ensured right at the point of entry through dropdown selections and plausibility checks. Additionally, the master/variant model significantly simplifies data management: master attributes are maintained once and automatically inherited by the variants, with only variant-specific attributes needing manual updates.

The refined data now flows fully automatically and at regular intervals directly to the website. FHB opted for transmission via webhook, using BMEcat as the standardized exchange format—a solution that delivers. As a result, all product information is always up to date, precise, and optimally structured for customers, taking FHB’s product presentation to a whole new level.

Results

The Result: Enhanced Data Quality and a Significant Reduction in Administrative Effort – Thanks to the PIM solution from entitys, departments now work seamlessly within their system-assigned areas. Additionally, the optimized data modeling allows effortless adaptation to the diverse requirements of different sales channels.

Inconsistencies were reduced by 100%, leading to a significant improvement in data quality. The average processing time per product was cut by 60%, resulting in a substantial increase in overall data management efficiency.

With this robust data foundation, FHB is now fully equipped to continue presenting its guild and workwear at the highest level while optimizing resources.

Outlook

One of FHB’s key sales channels is the online marketplace nextMart, where the company already performs well in benchmark comparisons but now aims to reach the top position.

With the support of entitys.io, FHB plans to refine its product information for this crucial distribution channel even further. By maximizing the use of all available fields in the nextMart model and providing detailed descriptions, FHB aims to increase its current 60% utilization to at least 95%.

This will enable FHB to further enhance its visibility and attractiveness on the marketplace, solidifying its position as a leading provider.