Consistent manufacturer product data that is always up to date and identical everywhere is not only helpful for online buyers, but also for distributors and retailers. The plugilo platform, founded by Michael Mohr, can collect this data and make it available centrally. The first distributors are already on board. Now Mohr and partner Michael Urban are looking for additional partners.
If there is anyone who understands data, it is Michael Mohr. With his company DCI, founded back in 1993, he was one of the pioneers in this industry. Even then, DCI prepared product data for retailers, e-tailers, and the trade.
DCI is, in a sense, the mother of plugilo. Today, the DCI Group exists only as a holding company. Mohr has since transferred the e-commerce activities into plugilo, which was founded in the USA and with which he aims to “write a new success story.”
plugilo collects, standardizes, and normalizes product data and stores it in a central database. This is done with AI support and a high degree of automation. The data can come from all kinds of sources, for example from distributors, but also from manufacturers. And it can be available in any format, such as CSV, API, screen scraping, and even PDF files.
Manufacturers can modify or update this data and ultimately certify the data source as reliable. “After all, manufacturers are the owners of the product data and must retain control over their data,” Michael Mohr explains in an interview with connect professional.
Online shops and platforms are then supplied from this database. Distributors and their retail customers also benefit from the data, because in the future the distributor will be able to provide them with manufacturer-certified data for their ERP systems and online shops.
Real-Time, Up-to-Date Data Set
Michael Urban joined plugilo two years ago. As a long-standing senior manager in distribution, he knows the topic of product data from practical experience. The former head of Actebis later held management positions at Tech Data and, until the end of 2024, at the broadliner TD Synnex, among others.
The idea of integrating not only B2B customers and the channel, but also end customers, came from him. After all, distributors and manufacturers run many campaigns for end customers. But when a customer makes a purchase, it is often difficult to determine where the lead came from, Urban explains. Through the plugilo platform, however, this can be tracked at any time.
A number of distributors, shops, manufacturers, and publishers are already on board. This is visible through the small plugilo plug that marks certain items on their websites or shops. When a customer clicks on it, a data card opens with all product information. These cards can be collected in a dock. The master card is always up to date and shows the data set in real time. It is also available across different shops.
When a customer pulls the card and wants to buy, the manufacturer can decide which shop the customer is forwarded to: their own, MediaMarkt, or a partner.
A reseller can integrate plugilo into their website within 15 minutes, Mohr promises. The service is free up to a certain data volume. Fees only apply for large data sets.
AI Bot “pluggy” Deals the Cards
plugilo also offers additional services, such as preparing a manufacturer’s data. Mohr sees plenty of demand for this: “Many manufacturers have catastrophic data.”
The latest flagship product is set to be “pluggy.” The AI bot helps with sales. When a potential buyer wants to use artificial intelligence to search for a product, “pluggy” pulls the right cards for them.
pluggy’s advantages: The advisor bot is not limited to a single shop. And it learns along the way. Its owner can train it according to their own wishes and preferences. System houses in particular, which often struggle to find advisors, can benefit from pluggy, for example by having it advise their customers during the product search.
The platform is ready, the AI bot can be deployed, and a partner portal has already been established, the two report. Now they want to get started. The past few years were all about building, says Mohr. Now the go-to-market phase begins.
And of course, they want to attract more partners for plugilo. The distributors Api and, more recently, Littlebit are already on board. They are already in negotiations with additional retailers and manufacturers.