Distributors pursuing digital growth must often face the reality of product data. As companies expand through acquisitions, new supplier relationships and broader product assortments, maintaining consistent, accurate product information becomes increasingly difficult.

Banner Solutions — a St. Louis-based distributor of commercial door hardware, electronic access control, residential security and automotive security products — confronted that reality after integrating seven acquisitions and inheriting multiple product catalogs and a digital experience that was difficult to scale.

To address the challenge, Banner partnered with product information management (PIM) provider Akeneo to create a centralized source of product data. The goal wasn’t to achieve perfect data overnight, but to create a structure that would allow the company to continuously improve product information across its growing catalog.

The strategy that has helped the distributor (which manages more than 260 manufacturer brands and more than 200,000 merchandised products) drive more than 300% growth in eCommerce revenue since 2020.

Want to hear the full story? Register to watch the on-demand webinar, Fueled by Product Data: How Banner Solutions is Using PIM to Accelerate eCommerce, sponsored by Akeneo.

Banner’s challenge will sound familiar to many distributors.

Some acquired businesses had eCommerce capabilities while others did not. Product records varied widely in quality and structure. Duplicate products existed under different naming conventions and some product data was sparse.

“We didn’t start from a clean slate,” Ben Smith, Chief Digital Officer at Banner Solutions, shared during a May 21 NAW Webinar on using PIM to accelerate eCommerce growth. “Seven regionalized or family-owned businesses with very different product sets had completely different degrees of product data readiness.”

The company could have waited until every supplier feed was cleaned up or every taxonomy issue was resolved. Instead, it focused on creating a foundation for continuous improvement.

Smith worked closely with Akeneo product data experts to pull data into a PIM. The centralized environment made it easier to identify duplicates, standardize attributes and create a more consistent product structure, Smith shared.

That philosophy mirrors a broader lesson discussed during the webinar by Akeneo: distributors often get stuck waiting for perfect data, even though product catalogs are constantly changing as new products, suppliers and customer requirements emerge.

Why Product Data Matters to Digital Growth

The payoff for Banner Solutions has been significant.

According to Banner, between 40% and 70% of orders across its primary customer channels are placed digitally. The company has also supported multiple eCommerce experiences through a single product information management platform.

Within the door hardware industry Banner operates, customers often begin with broad searches and then narrow their options using filters and product attributes. When those attributes are incomplete or inconsistent in the backend, products become harder to discover. When product information is accurate and structured, customers find what they need more quickly and buy with greater confidence.

As Smith explained during the webinar, product data influences everything from search and navigation to conversion and customer confidence.

The company started with a commitment to organize what it had, establish a single source of truth and improve over time. That process helped transform product data from an operational headache into a strategic asset supporting digital growth.

Preparing for the Next Wave of AI

Like many distributors, Banner is now exploring how AI can help accelerate product data management.

The company is already using AI-powered capabilities to generate and evaluate product descriptions and support search optimization behind the scenes. But rather than relying on AI as a shortcut, Banner is treating it as an accelerator built on a strong data foundation.

During the webinar, Akeneo data experts Director of Customer Success Kimberly Ayala and Karan Kakar, Senior Enterprise Customer Success Manager, argued that AI delivers the greatest value when paired with structured product data. Rather than replacing product data management, AI can accelerate enrichment, categorization, translation and search — but only when organizations have established a strong foundation of governance and taxonomy.

For distributors facing similar challenges, Smith’s advice is straightforward: don’t wait for perfect data but rather commit to continuous improvement.

“The catalog is never done,” he said.

Watch the Webinar On Demand

To hear more from Banner Solutions Chief Digital Officer Ben Smith and product data experts from Akeneo, register to watch the on-demand webinar.

You’ll learn:

• How Banner unified product data across seven acquisitions
• Why progress beats perfection when improving product content
• The role PIM plays in supporting digital growth
• How distributors can prepare product data for AI-driven applications
• Practical steps to improve product discoverability, search and conversion