NetRom and Contentserv: Transforming product data management for XXXLutz

When the online retailer XXXLutz chose the product-information management solution from Contentserv in 2019 it set the beginning of a new product line for Enterprise Onboarding systems. After the project GoLive of the first Project Phase in 2022, the system integrator engaged at the time struggled with the required system performance and scaling requirements. NetRom was called in and quickly resolved the issues. This marked the beginning of a fruitful collaboration between NetRom and Contentserv. 

Product data can come from multiple suppliers, raw material vendors, data pools, third-party content aggregators, agencies, legacy ERP systems, decentralized business units, CRMs and more. When this data is stored in multiple formats across various departments in the organization, importing and consolidating product data can be frustrating to manage and standardize, often causing product launch delays, missed revenue opportunities and an inconsistent customer experience. 

The fast-paced brand and product expansion strategy of the retailer XXXLUTZ, which is part of the GIGA International purchasing association, puts the E-Commerce and especially product information systems in the product sourcing area at a constant scalability test.   

Founded in 1945 as a furniture factory, XXXLutz is now one of the largest online retailers and 2^nd biggest furniture retailer worldwide, operating 24 online shops and 370 branches across 14 countries in Northeast Europe, employing 27,100 people, and generating around six billion euros in revenue. Besides furniture, XXXLutz offers a wide range of other products, from garden supplies to household items and lighting. The company went online in 2014 (www.xxxlutz.at), marking the start of their expansion from an onsite retail concept to a digital driven company and additionally opted for its own marketplace model ten years later.  

Contentserv provides solutions for product data management, serving enterprise (e)retailers. “Our solution is used by marketers, product teams, and IT professionals at more than 1,600 companies in 90 countries for managing enterprise-size product content,” says Hilke Diepenbruck. “Contentserv’s software enables (online) retailers to deliver their data via product feeds to virtually all global marketplaces. Conversely, it allows marketplaces to properly incorporate product data from their platform partners into their own data environment.” 

Contentserv’s platform allows the provisioning of multiple – organizationally separated – PIM systems, which at the same time hold a central data model. By having workflow automation, data quality rules and onboarding mapping capabilities as essential part build-in, it allows the management and onboarding of large product data sets in a minimalized UI framework that allows for a quick onboarding of new users and suppliers. 

“At enterprise retailers, Contentserv’s target group, you deal with extensive ICT and data landscapes and complex data flows and workflows. Therefore, all Contentserv implementations are carried out by external system integrators,” explains Gerrit Engelke. “Together with the client, Contentserv identifies the most suitable partner. The chosen partner works closely with our internal team, which focuses on coordination, communication, and technical requirements alongside the client’s team.” 

In 2019, online retailer XXXLutz selected Contentserv’s Product Experience Platform for managing hundreds of thousands of their own products, aiming to increase efficiency and prepare for the planned transition to a marketplace. With Contentserv, XXXLutz aimed to collaborate with thousands of international suppliers, enriching their product data. 

The Contentserv Product Experience Platform is a standard solution, which is feature enhanced in a close collaboration with XXXLutz. The related development work was outsourced to an Indian service provider. XXXLutz encountered performance and scalability problems during the expansion of product categories and suppliers, including slow application loading speeds and architectural challenges. As the problems persisted and solutions seemed out of reach, XXXLutz’s intention to replace the solution grew stronger. This was obviously not a favorable outlook for Contentserv, who then started searching for a new partner. 

The new partner was found within Investcorp Technology Partners (ITP), the investor holding a majority stake in Contentserv. In early 2023, ITP acquired NetRom, a leading Dutch software engineering service provider with over 25 years of experience, serving large international clients, including many ISVs, with critical software engineering solutions. Two months after ITP’s acquisition, NetRom tackled Contentserv’s challenges, given a two-month test period by XXXLutz to improve the platform’s performance. 

NetRom started with two developers, primarily tasked with increasing the platform’s speed. They conducted a comprehensive code review and platform analysis, quickly proposing essential architectural improvements. One of the first tangible results was reducing product UI synchronization load times after import from multiple seconds to milliseconds. “This gave the Contentserv team enough confidence that a solution was in sight, marking the start of a good working relationship between Contentserv and NetRom,” says Mircea Negrila, technical director at NetRom. 

Current collaboration since 2023

Contentserv has found a strong IT partner in NetRom. Since 2023, both organizations work closely together in onboarding new clients and supporting their operations thereafter, which includes development work needed for system integrations at clients. NetRom has also taken over cloud management, becoming a full-scale IT-support organization. NetRom continues to support XXXLutz, for example, with development activities focused on onboarding new partners, scaling the platform to a multi-tenant cloud deployment to better serve Asia Suppliers and allowing for a cloud microservice architecture that is focused on both security and speed of the platform. “The cloud Transformation as well as enhancing the platform performance & UX always entails significant backend work. We jointly define all stories and backlog requirements. We work in sprints, with a release after each sprint.” 

Results

Gerrit Engelke, Head of Product Experience Consulting, reflects on the start of the collaboration with NetRom: “The onboarding went smoothly. We were surprised from the beginning by the deep technical knowledge. When we had new questions about Contentserv’s cloud management, the right experts with the right competencies were quickly found. After our cloud migration, NetRom assigned a dedicated DevOps engineer to monitor our cloud services, including costs. Handing over that process entirely was new for us.” 

“The NetRom team has mathematical and algorithmic competencies and deep domain knowledge. This means less time is needed for briefing developers, going back and forth, and giving explanations. This increases speed and makes clients like XXXLutz much more flexible: they can scale their marketing activities faster.” 

Future Plans

In addition to benefiting from the synergy with NetRom, Contentserv has explicit growth plans. The company aims to expand its potential through acquiring other e-commerce platforms, extending its markets with different technology stacks. One of the latest milestones is Contentserv’s acquisition of Shoppingfeed in October 2023. This has expanded Contentserv’s offerings and capabilities with efficient information publication on marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, and Zalando, as well as digital marketing channels like Google Shopping and Instagram Ads. In 2024, a connector was built to the XXXLUTZ marketplace in Shoppingfeed that showcases how Contentserv can serve clients in all different aspects of their business model. This strategic move completes Contentserv’s product portfolio into an AI-driven end-to-end solution. 

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