Case Study
A rapidly growing automotive distributor struggled with fragmented product data across eight systems, causing $800,000 in annual order errors and 6-8 week product launch delays.
DataCatalyst applied their Accelerate methodology with a lean five-person team to implement a unified PIM/MDM platform in just 16 weeks.
Order errors dropped 50%, product launches accelerated 30%, and total annual savings reached $1.5M while enabling scalable growth across all channels.
This $4 billion automotive parts distributor operated 150 retail locations while serving 2,000 wholesale customers. Despite their market success, they faced a critical operational challenge: managing 275,000 SKUs across eight completely fragmented systems including SAP Business One ERP, three legacy content management platforms, custom spreadsheets, and PDF catalogs.
The operational reality was unsustainable as the distributor faced three critical pain points that directly impacted their bottom line:
To eliminate operational drag and support continued expansion across retail and wholesale channels, the distributor required a transformation that would address fundamental data management challenges.
The organization needed a single source of truth capable of managing product attributes, images, fitment tables, and automotive industry taxonomy (ACES and PIES) across all systems and supplier relationships. Additionally, they required automated workflows for data enrichment, validation, and publication, plus seamless integration with existing infrastructure including SAP Business One ERP, Magento B2B portal, and multiple marketplace channels.
DataCatalyst deployed a lean 5-person SWAT team of seasoned experts, applying their proven Accelerate methodology to ensure rapid time-to-value. This business-driven approach began with comprehensive data profiling across all eight systems to understand the current state and identify critical integration points.
The team conducted collaborative workshops with 35 stakeholders spanning Sales, Marketing, IT, Retail Operations, and Wholesale Management. This cross-functional engagement ensured requirements were driven by business needs rather than technology constraints, a hallmark of the Accelerate methodology.
DataCatalyst delivered a comprehensive solution in a focused 16-week MVP, demonstrating our commitment to fast time-to-value through manageable scope and iterative delivery.
The implemented platform provided:
The implementation required significant organizational change across eight systems and 150 locations. Teams transitioned from reactive spreadsheet fixes to proactive data stewardship – a cultural transformation that DataCatalyst supported through comprehensive training for 50 users and establishment of governance protocols with 15 dedicated data stewards.
This transformation completely reimagined how product information flowed through the organization, moving from siloed manual processes to integrated automated workflows.
The implementation supported quantifiable improvements across all key performance indicators from the baselines prior to the project start:
These metrics demonstrated not just operational improvement but transformation of product data from a cost center into a revenue driver.
The distributor now operates as a fundamentally different organization. It efficiently scales operations, onboarding data from 5,000 new SKUs monthly with minimal effort. Expansion into new channels proceeds smoothly with additional marketplace connectors and mobile applications supporting growth initiatives.
Real-time dashboards now guide merchandising strategies, inventory planning, and supplier performance reviews. What was once fragmented product data scattered across eight systems has become a strategic competitive asset enabling data-driven decision-making across the entire organization.