Etra

Managing an exceptionally wide range of products requires a functional system to support it. At Etra, a lot of work has been done to ensure that product information is available to customers in the right form and of high quality. With the help of Adeona PIM, product information is updated and published efficiently on different channels.

Etrais a Finnish specialist in technical trade, whose chain of 47 Megacenters forms the national distribution network of Etola-Yhtiöt. In addition to Finland, Etra also operates in Estonia and Sweden. Etra's selection includes hundreds of thousands of technical trade products, whose information is maintained and enriched centrally in the Adeona PIM system.

service warehouse solutions

Centralized management of product information means that the necessary information can be utilized faster by both customers and the organization. At Etra, the processing of large amounts of data in several different channels is enabled by highly automated, seamless data transfer between Digia's enterprise resource planning system and Adeona PIM. In addition to a carefully thought-out data model and a master system defined for each piece of information, the processing of the mass of data is aided by an integration interface that combines ERP and PIM data and through which all Etra product information can be published to the necessary channels with fast update cycles.

"Product knowledge is an important part of our business; we trade supplies and have a lot of customers. We want to serve our customers so that information about our products is as widely available as possible", says the CEO of Etola-Yhtiöt Mikael Etola.

Lots of products, lots of information, lots of publishing channels

Etra has a lot of product information: there are about 500 000 items in ERP, 200 000 in PIM and 150 000 in the online store. Etra has its own Online Stores in Finland, Sweden and Estonia. In addition to the online store, product information is published in several other channels, such as the sellers' Ote tool and Etra's mobile application. In addition, the application architecture includes integrations with several other data banks and applications, for example RT product information and service warehouses.

Etra is considered the information bank of the industrial supplies industry, the company's online store has been very well received. Etra has invested in ensuring that product information is available to customers in the right form and of high quality. Efficiency has been increased by improving product discoverability, for example through product numbers, QR and barcodes; this allows orders to be processed faster than before.

"It was a big change at the time, when the products and related information were brought online for the first time. Before that, customers were communicated through printed product catalogs. Digital commerce is a growing business area and if a product is not online with proper information, then no deal can be made. In order for the online store to work well and serve customers smoothly, the product information must be in order in the background. PIM enables this; with the help of PIM, information is quickly updated to be available to customers", continues Mikael Etola.

Adeona Sales Tool publication automation in an important role

In addition to online visibility, customer-specific product catalogs and price lists are an important trading aid for Etra. Customer-specific product catalogs updated with Sales Tool publishing automation are created efficiently when all product information can be found centrally in the PIM system. The electronic product catalog also supports traditional sales.

Sales Tool publication settings
Selection of list settings.

In addition, Adeona Sales Tool publishing automation is used to produce price tags, shelf labels, offers with pictures and various assortment excels. Sales Tool retrieves, for example, the offer selection or customer-specific prices from the ERP in real time. All publications can be made with or without ERP's offer or customer-specific prices.

"Previously, we were unable to make customer-specific product lists. Now the Sales Tool enables us to automatically create the desired product lists quickly and customer-specifically. Customer-specific product catalogs are perceived as a personal service."
Offer created using Adeona Sales Tool.

By participating in product development, you can influence the usability of the software

Etra has participated in the product development of Adeona PIM and has thus been able to influence the usability of the software from its own point of view. Through this, Etra's own processes have been made more efficient. With the help of PIM system, it is possible to see at what level the product information is. Suppliers' data can also be transferred more and more automatically from one system to another. With the development of online shopping, the number of visitors to Etra's website has been growing steadily for more than ten years.

"We see it as an advantage to be able to influence the development of Adeona PIM. In general, Etra wants to invest in long-term partners in digitization solutions. Cooperation with Adeona and Digia has been utilized for more than 15 years. Finnish information systems and Finnish product development guarantee that business needs can be supported with the help of different systems."

The benefits of centralized product information management for Etra

  • Improves operations and reporting.
  • Enables fast update cycles for all release channels.
  • Enables quick strategic changes.
  • Consistent product information across all channels improves the customer experience.
  • The passage of the product to the market is faster.
  • Maintaining a large amount of data is cost-effective when manual work steps have been automated.
  • Customer-specific publications prepared with the Sales Tool are a significant distinguishing factor.


Etra Oy is a Finnish technical trade specialist that offers its customers a wide range of industrial products and services. Find out more about Etra's operations at www.etra.fi

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