Liberated Brands: multi-market retailing with Shopify X Quable
20 November 2023
Sold by the Kering Group to the ADG Group, which distributes four brands across 15 countries with a turnover of 70 million, primarily in the board sports, surfing, kitesurfing and snow sports sectors, the Liberated Brands group has been using Quable’s PIM since 2021. Here, Matthieu Galtie, Head of Digital Europe for the Californian brand, shares his experience of using the PIM solution. This testimonial is also available as a video:
Why did Liberated Brands choose Quable’s PIM?
E-commerce began at Liberated Brands 10 years ago with a focus on multi-brand retail (70 per cent of the business is generated via this channel, 15 per cent through retail and 15 per cent through e-commerce). Multi-brand retailers do not require the same level of information as resellers; this channel has very specific needs. During the Covid crisis, with the addition of new products and increased turnover, Liberated Brands sought a more robust system than Excel spreadsheets to integrate prices, product descriptions and assets.
A great deal of content originates from the United States, although the brand also creates content at European level, which it previously managed using cloud storage services such as Dropbox. Consequently, the group sought to streamline this entire process in order to create a more professional system that would improve the teams’ overall productivity. The idea was also to harmonise information across the group’s various brands using a single technical platform: the PIM. Ultimately, the Volcom Group chose Quable’s PIM over Akeneo’s due to its user experience (UX) and SaaS model.
What were the challenges at Libertad Brands prior to implementing the PIM?
Having used Shopify since 2018, importing data on collections was a tedious process; there are six collections a year, including one technical collection. The aim was therefore to streamline all these data exchanges. Similarly, assets needed to be adapted to the correct formats for the various channels: marketplaces, own websites, etc. The idea was therefore to standardise the structure of the catalogue and the data right from the PIM stage. Finally, as the group manages four languages (German, Spanish, English and French), it also faced a localisation challenge. The aim was to adapt content not only to the languages of the target markets but also to the environmental standards specific to each country.
Without a suitable tool to scale its business, Liberated Brands found itself having to manage its own worst enemy: its product data. At first glance, Excel files and directories may seem quite practical, but after a while, without any automation or integration with the rest of the IT ecosystem, they can no longer keep up. The frequent manipulation of various files also leads to a lack of reliability in product data (issues with versioning, data traceability, etc.).
All of this poses a real challenge to collaboration: no business processes are clearly defined, and there are no reporting tools to check whether product data is complete…
The Quable PIM solution and Liberated Brands
The Libertad Brands group is distinctive in that it is a small team (around a hundred people), working with a large number of external service providers: copywriters, translators, an external photography agency, etc.
To establish the business workflows, the process was structured around three main stages:
- Data initialisation. The group uses a PLM, which is effectively regarded as the place where products are created. It contains technical data, material data and care instructions. In addition, the group also has an ERP system to manage all aspects of product coding, marketing, stock, pricing, etc. From the Quable platform, teams can access all this data and identify any missing information or details that need to be completed.
- Data enrichment. Here, copywriters can add SEO content, which translation agencies will subsequently translate. It is during this stage that the photo agency imports all visuals directly into Quable, exclusively in high definition. The platform also manages metadata, which can be controlled from the Quable PIM dashboard.
- Automated omnichannel distribution. It is at this precise moment that the group’s in-house digital team pre-approves and publishes the various catalogues across all channels. Distribution is fully automated across all channels: Volcom’s six Shopify sites, marketplaces and the multi-brand platform.
The Quable and Liberated Brands project timeline
“Getting a new tool adopted within an organisation requires internal lobbying,” says Matthieu Galtie. This involves reaching out to the design and production teams so that they, too, can adapt their processes. “We had to convince an entire executive committee that was very B2B-focused; after that, there’s a brilliant onboarding team at Quable who really go the extra mile in supporting us.”
The Quable AIR methodology was created specifically to ensure the smooth rollout of all Quable implementations. The aim is to provide a series of workshops and tools to manage the project’s rollout. This ‘Quable-style’ methodology is structured around four stages:
- Review the data model. What data does the company already have in-house? What data do you want to leverage, and across which channels and markets? From this point, Quable takes charge of mapping the data and establishing the governance framework for each system in relation to this data.
- Import the model into Quable. Here, Quable will focus on who does what within the organisation, how to coordinate processes between the various teams, and how to create seamless workflows with the different stakeholders.
- Set up the dashboards. This stage aims to define the appropriate management tools to oversee team activities and ensure that the product repository is complete before it is sent to the various channels.
- Manage users: who is authorised to do what on the platform?
- Imports/exports. What are the protocols and procedures for data exchange between Quable and the various platforms? Do we use a native Quable connector?
- Quable AIR training.
- The benefits of the Quable PIM
“The idea is to focus teams on adding value rather than on an extra workload” – Matthieu Galtie.
There are numerous benefits:
- The tool is easy to get to grips with. It is very easy to navigate, set up tags and configure dashboards. The tool is highly user-friendly and equally suited to product teams as well as those at a more senior management level.
- The ease of adaptation to the Agec legislation. Liberated Brands can import all traceability data directly into the product sheet, which allows teams to be very agile.
- The quality of its data. Product information is now accurate and easily manageable, particularly with the management of product renewals, which allows data on permanent products to be maintained year on year. There are also far fewer errors in product information.
- Onboarding of the US team. The group has successfully persuaded part of its US division to adopt the Quable PIM; today, a team managing the Spyder brand has mastered the Quable platform.
Volcom and Quable, in figures, means:
- Over 20,000 products managed on the PIM solution, for the Volcom brand alone.
- 6 Shopify sites, 8 in total including the Spyder brand.
- 6 marketplace channels across 15 countries.
- 4 languages supported.
- 2 advanced, daily users, and around 20 users in total.
Upcoming challenges with Volcom and Quable
The ABG (Authentic Brands Group) fund, which acquired Liberated Brands, has also just acquired the Boardriders Group (Quicksilver, Roxy, Billabong, etc.). More brands are therefore set to join, and Volcom will need to work on aligning its systems with Quable and the Shopify sites. The main challenge will be to integrate and harmonise all the processes of the existing brands with the new ones, using the Quable PIM platform.