The Very Group announces plans to enhance customer experience with enriched product information by partnering with Akeneo

The Very Group, which operates Very in Ireland, has announced a new partnership with leading global product experience management (PXM) vendor Akeneo, as part of an ongoing tech transformation to optimise customer experience and modernise its tech stack.

Using Akeneo’s PXM platform, Very will provide customers with rich product information, such as digital media, technical specifications and enhanced product details, to create a better shopping experience. Customers will be supported in their buying decisions by tailored and category-specific product information, for example highlighting different features for beauty products than for electrical goods.

The platform will allow new products to be added to site in less than a minute, increasing speed to market and allowing the Very team to focus on data quality, enrichment and consistency, while enabling suppliers’ product information to be automatically uploaded to the Very site.

The move is the latest milestone in Very’s multi-year tech investment programme, and follows the ongoing transformation of its ecommerce platform through a partnership with commercetools, personalised size and fit guidance provided by working with True Fit and the creation of enriched, engaging content, like editorial pages and marketing content, by partnering with Amplience.

Very will continue momentum with further technology and talent investments imminently, supporting the modernisation of its tech stack towards a microservices-based, API-first, cloud-native, and headless architecture (MACH). This will allow the retailer to deliver customer experience changes more frequently and faster than ever before.

Rossa Butler, Managing Director for Ireland at Very said: “We have ambitious plans to grow the Very brand in Ireland and we will do this by continuing to offer the brands that our customers want and love, coupled with a seamless digital customer experience with data and technology at the core. Our partnership with Akeneo represents a key milestone in our innovation story and will enable us to deliver a best-in-class shopping experience for our customers in Ireland, with additional innovations and services to launch in early 2023.”

Matt Grest, chief information officer at The Very Group, said: “Our tech transformation is already delivering fantastic results for our customers and our business, and we’re excited to take another big step by partnering with Akeneo. Better, richer product content will help us continue taking customer experience to the next level, including tailoring the experience of shopping different categories, and help us drive efficiency by streamlining internal processes.”

James Barlow, regional director UK & IRL at Akeneo, commented: “The Very Group has always been a future-forward retailer that puts customer-centricity front and centre. And its commitment to digitally transforming its business lies at the heart of delivering exceptional online shopping experiences for its customers. With unified product data and enriched product information, we’re thrilled to have been able to support Very in its efforts to enhance customer experience, all while improving operational efficiencies and speed to market.”

In March 2022, Akeneo became a certified member of the MACH Alliance, a group of independent tech companies which champion open, best-of-breed technology ecosystems. Very technology partners commercetools and Amplience are also accredited.

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