At this year’s Webwinkel Vakdagen, we hosted a keynote together with Heinen Delfts Blauw, Dutch heritage brand known for its craftsmanship and iconic Delfts Blauw products.

During the session, Frans Jansen (Operational Director) and Martijn Leenen (E-commerce Specialist) shared how the company is transforming from a traditional, craft-driven business into a modern, internationally scaling ecommerce organization.

Their story covered much more than brand positioning or channel growth. It focused on what happens behind the scenes when a company starts to scale rapidly — and where things begin to break.

As Heinen Delfts Blauw expanded across:

• ecommerce and marketplaces
• retail and B2B channels
• international markets

they encountered a challenge that many growing businesses will recognize:

managing product data across teams, tools, and channels.

What made this keynote particularly relevant is that it did not stay at a strategic level. Frans and Martijn provided a practical look at how product data became a bottleneck for growth — and how centralizing and structuring that data enabled the company to move faster, reduce manual work, and prepare for future requirements.

This article breaks down the key insights from their presentation and translates them into practical lessons for ecommerce teams dealing with similar challenges.

From craftsmanship to global growth

Heinen Delfts Blauw operates with a clear mission: preserving the Delfts Blauw craft while making it relevant for modern interiors.

At the same time, the company is focused on growth. This includes strengthening brand awareness, expanding into Home & Living, improving the customer journey, and increasing its presence across ecommerce, marketplaces, and retail.

Like many growing businesses, they are investing in multiple areas at once:

• expanding sales channels
• improving internal processes
• scaling operations
• entering new markets

This combination of ambitions introduces complexity, particularly when it comes to managing product information.

Growth does not only create opportunity — it exposes weaknesses in your foundation.

The challenge: product data across teams, tools, and channels

During the keynote, the challenge was clearly defined across three dimensions: teams, tools, and channels.

Teams

Product data is not owned by a single department. It is created and used by multiple teams, including production, marketing, ecommerce, and sales. Each team contributes specific information, such as product specifications, descriptions, or channel requirements.

Without clear ownership, this leads to fragmentation.

Everyone contributes, but no one owns the full picture.

Tools

As the organization grows, so does the number of systems involved. ERP systems, webshops, marketplace integrations, and POS systems all require access to product data.

Without a central structure, each system can become a separate source of truth.

Every tool becomes its own version of the truth.

Channels

Each sales channel has its own requirements. Marketplaces, retail partners, GS1 data pools, and internal systems all expect different formats and levels of detail.

When this is handled manually:

complexity turns into duplication, and duplication turns into errors.

The impact of fragmented product data

The result is not just messy data — it directly impacts operations.

Common consequences include:

• manual workflows, often relying on spreadsheets
• inconsistent product information across channels
• delayed product launches
• unclear ownership and responsibility

As highlighted during the presentation:

Product data is the “blood of the organization”.

If the data is not structured, the entire organization slows down.

The solution: a home for product data

To address these challenges, Heinen Delfts Blauw made a fundamental change:

they centralized all product data into one shared environment.

This created a single source of truth that:

• improves control over product data
• enables clear ownership
• reduces manual work
• supports automation across channels

Centralization is not just about storage: it is about structure and control.

Implementing structure: how they made it work

Centralizing product data only works if processes change as well.

Defining complete product data

They defined what “complete” means per channel.

Completeness is not universal, it depends on where you sell.

Assigning ownership

Each team owns its part of the data:

• Production → specifications
• Marketing → content
• E-commerce → channel requirements

Clear ownership removes friction.

Building workflows

Instead of fixing issues at launch:

• structured workflows guide the process
• missing data is visible early
• responsibilities are clear

Workflows prevent problems instead of fixing them later.

Connecting outputs after stabilizing the base

Automation only works when the foundation is stable.

Otherwise, you scale errors instead of solving them.

From one source to multiple outputs

With a centralized structure in place:

• product data flows from one system
• distributed across all channels
• no duplication
• consistent output everywhere

One source of truth enables scalable distribution.

The results

The impact was immediate:

• products live on marketplaces within one day
• 1-click distribution to POS systems
• significantly less manual work
• faster time-to-market
• better preparation for GS1 and future requirements

This is what scalable product data looks like in practice.

Key learnings

From the keynote:

• Product data is a teamsport
• Workflows beat end-of-process checks
• Channel requirements are a data structure problem
• Centralization enables automation and future growth

What this means for growing ecommerce businesses

Many businesses face the same challenges:

• too many tools
• too many teams
• too many manual fixes

The difference is in how they respond.

Heinen Delfts Blauw did not scale their chaos — they fixed their foundation.

Conclusion

This keynote shows that product data is not just operational.

It is a strategic asset.

By centralizing product data, defining ownership, and structuring workflows, Heinen Delfts Blauw created a foundation that supports both current operations and future growth.

For companies looking to scale, the lesson is clear:

growth requires structure — and that structure starts with product data.