Fashion marketplace accelerator, The Agent, cuts return rates by 10% and doubles product onboarding speed, in partnership with Akeneo

Leading fashion marketplace accelerator, The Agent, has reduced return rates by 10%, doubled the volume of products onboarded, and accelerated time-to-market by one-third through its adoption of Akeneo’s Supplier Data Manager (SDM) to streamline and enhance the onboarding of its supplier product data.

The Agent is a fashion ecommerce accelerator that works for brands optimising and scaling their presence on digital marketplaces. It works with both emerging and established apparel, accessories and footwear brands, including Le Coq Sportif, Herschel Supply Co and Aigle, to grow online sales on third-party marketplaces across Europe and the UK including Zalando, About You, Amazon and Decathlon.

The Agent offers its brand clients either a full-service model, where it manages the entire marketplace selling process, or a collaborative partnership with tailored services, from catalogue integration to performance optimisation, to help maximise product reach and sales.

In its role, The Agent receives product data from hundreds of brands, managing thousands of SKUs each season—often across multiple languages and formats. Prior to implementing Akeneo’s SDM solution, this process was handled using spreadsheets and email and was prone to inaccuracies, often leading to an extended time to market due to the need for multiple manual reviews and checks.

The shift to Akeneo’s SDM solution has allowed The Agent to streamline how product information is collected, cleaned, enriched and shared. Through a structured portal and workflow, brands now upload their product data directly, following clear steps to ensure it meets the specific requirements of each marketplace.

The Agent worked closely with its brand partners to manage the transition from manual processes to using the SDM tool - including training documentation and user videos, explained Aude Guillome, Client Success Manager at The Agent.

“Our brands now complete a guided workflow of four steps uploading and enriching product data, before our team takes over to complete the process. This allows for much faster integration, improved accuracy, and ultimately, better customer experiences.” Guillome commented.

The partnership has significantly improved the accuracy and completeness of product data. Enriched content, such as detailed attributes (such as style, fit and colour) and images, as well as making products more filter-friendly on marketplaces. This is a critical factor for discoverability with Zalando’s AI-powered virtual assistant identifying and serving products based on attributes, rendering products invisible if data is incorrect.

“As online marketplaces become more demanding, with some requiring up to 180 unique product attributes for a single SKU, high-quality product data is now a critical asset in ensuring sales success. The return on investment of Akeneo’s SDM is clear—better data, faster onboarding, and a 10% reduction in returns.” continued Guillome.

Internally, The Agent’s merchandising teams have shifted from labour-intensive data input to strategic oversight and performance benchmarking. Supplier data collection is now fully automated ensuring product is available for sale earlier in the season improving sell-through rates and increasing sales revenue.

Romaine Fouache, CEO at Akeneo, commented: “With marketplace sales accounting for approximately €225 billion in online sales across Europe in 2023/24, delivering high-quality, marketplace compliant product data in a timely manner is critical to ensuring commercial success on these channels. By using SDM, The Agent ensures that its brand partners are marketplace-ready with the content necessary to reduce returns and boost visibility.”

About Akeneo:

Akeneo is the product experience (PX) company and global leader in Product Information Management (PIM); creating a world where every product interaction is an experience that guides consumers and professionals to the best purchase, anytime, anywhere. Akeneo empowers business leaders with software, education, and an engaged community all focused on the practice of product experience management.

Leading global brands, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers, including Chico's, CarParts.com, TaylorMade Golf, Rail Europe, Kering, and more trust Akeneo to scale and customize their omnichannel commerce initiatives. Using Akeneo's intelligent Product Cloud, companies can create elevated product experiences with user-friendly and AI-powered product data enrichment, management, syndication, and supplier data onboarding; as well as a comprehensive app marketplace and partner network to meet business and buyer needs.