Unified product data for the entire bicycle industry

With a bike-specific PIM-System and their own Veloconnect Server implementation, the Campudus team has been dedicated to sustainably improving product data quality in the bicycle industry for over 10 years. Now, the bike experts have developed a tool that allows manufacturers to automatically convert their product data into the standard formats of the bicycle industry (e.g. BIDEX and DST).

Product data is currently one of the most discussed topics in the bicycle industry. On one hand, manufacturers face the challenge of efficiently managing their product data and bringing it to a high-quality level. On the other hand, retailers and service providers struggle with the problem that manufacturers’ product data is sometimes incomplete and provided in various formats. Without additional, time-consuming adjustments, some product data is barely usable. While using industry-wide data standards can help, it has so far required significant effort from manufacturers, especially in the technical implementation of data formatting.

This is where Campudus’ product data service comes in. The Multi-Standard Tool (MUSTARD 1.0) relieves manufacturers of the burden of data conversion and enables automatic transformation into the desired formats. The tool is populated with the manufacturer’s product data via an API or manually through a data import. The tool takes on the task of consolidating all product data and categorizing it according to the chosen standard. After data conversion, product-specific links (URLs) are generated and provided to the manufacturer. Links to complete product catalogs are also feasible. Here, the customer can specify the optimal output formats together with Campudus. The links can then be used directly to populate web shops, marketplaces, retailers, or digital sales platforms like BikeCenter with standardized and ideally complete data.

Full-service with Veloconnect Server.

The best approach combines the Multi-Standard Tool with Veloconnect 1.5. In this new version of the standard, item master data can be linked to detailed product data. For the first time, manufacturers can provide their retailers with structured product data via Veloconnect. Implementation is especially convenient with Campudus’ Veloconnect Server, as it already has an interface to the Multi-Standard Tool. Additionally, the Server offers extra features for access control and range limitation. This way, manufacturers can granularly share their links and product data with their trading partners.

At VELO DE VILLE, the product data module has already been integrated as part of a pilot project for implementing Veloconnect 1.5. VELO DE VILLE had already been using Campudus‘ Veloconnect Server, allowing the service to be directly integrated into the existing implementation. The Multi-Standard Tool automatically converts VELO DE VILLE’s XML data into the BIDEX format and forwards the data as usual through the Veloconnect Standard to retailers and service providers. With this innovative setup, VELO DE VILLE is the first configuration brand in the industry capable of transmitting product data for individually configured bicycles via Veloconnect.

For a better collaboration in the bicycle industry.

“The lack of availability of high-quality product data is omnipresent and hinders the industry’s development. However, with the existing standards, we are on the right track. Now, we need to simplify access to and implementation of these standards for all industry participants. And this is precisely where our product data service comes in”, says Max Stemplinger, CEO of Campudus GmbH.