“Our product data is now centralized, more accurate, and enriched, helping us deliver the experience we strive for to our customers.”
—Regan Wright, Ecommerce Catalogue Specialist at Pacific Automation
For over 50 years, Pacific Automation has been the go-to distributor of industrial, electrical, and automation solutions across Australia. From equipping mines to keeping farms running smoothly, they've built a reputation for reliability and expertise.
We spoke to Regan Wright, Ecommerce Catalogue Specialist at Pacific Automation, to find out how Plytix and Start with Data, a product data management consultancy, helped them introduce a structured approach to data management.
How Pacific Automation managed their product data before Plytix
After decades in the industry, Pacific Automation's product catalog had grown so extensive it was almost unrecognizable from where it started. And while that was a great sign for business, it came with some growing pains. First among them was incomplete product data. As their catalog grew, more SKUs were missing key data customers needed, like installation instructions, technical specifications, or compliance certificates. "Many products were also missing key content," Regan explained. Without the right content (like images and datasheets), customers were left without the information they needed to make a purchase. Pacific Automation was also struggling with poor categorization. "Our customers were finding it really hard to find our products," Regan told us. Because products were not always categorized properly, they did not appear in the right place on Pacific Automation's website, making them nearly impossible for customers to find. On top of that, their ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system held more SKUs than their website, meaning some products were never even making it to their website to be seen by potential buyers. Simply put, their product data management was becoming a problem, and it was costing them sales.
Choosing the right PIM system
To help them choose the right PIM system, they turned to Start with Data, an expert product data consultancy. Start with Data began by tracking down and tidying up all of Pacific Automation's product data to understand exactly what they were working with. From there, they designed a structured schema and taxonomy: a plan for organizing the data and mapping connections, like categories and subcategories. This foundation was essential, as it defined how the data would be structured before anything was built or imported. With the taxonomy in place, Start with Data helped Pacific Automation select Plytix as the right PIM to improve their product discoverability, enhance data accuracy, and create a better experience for customers. Start with Data then imported all of Pacific Automation's data into Plytix, creating one central source of truth for managing all their SKUs. As part of their data preparation, Start with Data assigned every SKU to the new taxonomy, so both the Pacific Automation team and their customers could easily search and navigate the catalog.
After adopting Plytix: How Pacific Automation increased sales by 20% with better-organized data
“It used to take a team of 5 to create our printed catalogs. Now I can make a digital catalog almost instantly.”
With the taxonomy in place and the data loaded, Start with Data turned their attention to the gaps. They sourced missing attributes and assets, including technical specifications, installation instructions, and images, directly from manufacturer websites and other sources, then validated and loaded everything into Plytix. Start with Data also identified and resolved missing content across the catalog, ensuring every product had the essential information customers needed to make a purchase. With one central source of truth, Pacific Automation's team could then manage and enrich content collaboratively, without creating multiple versions of the same data. Pacific Automation also used Plytix to feed their product data directly into BigCommerce through the Plytix-BigCommerce integration, so setting up a new store was far faster and easier than it would have been otherwise. To keep things running smoothly, they set up automatic updates from Plytix so their storefront was always stocked with their latest product data.
The result? No more incomplete product information. No more missing images. No more lost products. Pacific Automation's product data is always up-to-date, complete, and easy for customers to find.
The best thing about Plytix?
"Partnering with Start with Data to create a structured taxonomy and implementing Plytix as our PIM solution has been transformative," Regan told us. "Our product data is now centralized, more accurate, and enriched, saving a significant amount of manual effort and helping us deliver the experience we strive for to our customers."
Pacific Automation's results with Plytix
With Start with Data designing the taxonomy, sourcing and structuring their product information, and Plytix centralizing and enriching it, they transformed their product data management and saw a:
“It used to take a team of 5 to create our printed catalogs. Now I can make a digital catalog almost instantly.”
- 20% increase in sales, proof that better product data leads to better business
- 70% reduction in missing product content
- 15 hours saved per week on manual data management
Pacific Automation's journey proves that Plytix and Start with Data are a powerhouse duo for the industrial and electrical industries.