On November 18, we took the stage at Quebec’s leading retail event, HOP! The Retail Summit 2025, we presented on the BMO stage. We shared the expertise behind our long-standing partnership with Patrick Morin group, a major construction and renovation retailer in eastern Canada.
This post provides the key takeaways. If you want the full story, the video on this page offers the complete conference replay.
Why is product information such a critical part of the customer experience? The answer is simple. If customers can’t quickly find what they need or are unsure whether they’re buying the right item, they won't make a purchase. Even worse, they lose trust and may never come back.
Although this seems obvious, one of the biggest challenges in e-commerce today is still the quality of product data. The list of issues is long and includes inconsistent attributes, incomplete descriptions, poor search performance, and weak integration between store systems and the ecommerce platform.
But at Patrick Morin, it’s different. The team has long prioritized harmonizing product data between the PIM, ERP, search engine, and customers. Building a solid data foundation before reinvesting in UX was essential, not optional.
A standout customer experience requires consistent and complete product data. When product information is inconsistent, incomplete, or difficult to use, the customer experience suffers and conversions drop.
That’s why we started by rebuilding the foundation of product data management.
What we implemented:
The outcome:
Clean, coherent, enriched data improves search performance, SEO visibility, and product clarity, ultimately increasing conversion.
An effective e-commerce strategy goes beyond tools and technology. It begins with understanding the people who matter most: your customers.
Twice a year, Groupe Patrick Morin surveys its users. What’s missing? What slows you down? What frustrates you?
These insights, combined with our UX research methodologies, help us uncover real friction points and guide the right optimizations.
We rebuilt the search engine around real customer behaviors.
We fed the search engine actual customer behavior, such as clicks, add-to-carts, and conversions, because the best data is always customer-generated.
To elevate Patrick Morin’s digital experience, we brought together 3 essential data sources: customer data, product data, and purchase intent signals.
This integration enabled significant improvements:
It also created a seamless connection between e-commerce and physical stores, providing a true omnichannel experience.
The results:
Structured, automated, and activated data becomes a productivity engine and a direct lever for growth.
If there’s one lesson to take away from this project, it’s this: The best optimizations always come from customers.
While trends and best practices are useful, real priorities are shaped by actual customer needs, challenges, and intentions.
This is precisely what distinguishes our partnership with Patrick Morin group. It’s built on transparency, a deep understanding of business challenges, and a shared ambition: Turn data into measurable, sustainable growth.
About Groupe Patrick Morin
Founded in 1960, Patrick Morin is recognized as one of Quebec's top retailers in the construction and renovation sector, providing quality products and services to consumers and contractors alike. Headquartered in Joliette, Quebec, the company now boasts 26 renovation centers, totaling nearly 2,000 employees.
www.patrickmorin.com
SOURCE Groupe Patrick Morin
