What is PIM? Why You Need It for Your eCommerce Business
In this Article
You have a great product. You know it, your customers know it, and your competitors know it. However, the question is: do you have excellent product information? Do you have a system that helps you manage and update all the data about your product across different channels? This article is a deep dive into a product information management system. It is built on professional software, which is the key to unlocking the full potential of your product data. You may ask, what is PIM?
Product Information Management (PIM) is key to ensuring that your customers always get the correct information at the right time and place. If you don’t have PIM, you are missing out on a huge opportunity to grow your business and delight your customers.
You risk losing them to your competitors with a better product information management system.
Throughout this article, we will use Acme Corp (a fictional manufacturer of various products that uses PIM to centralize and organize its product data from different sources and distribute it to multiple platforms and marketplaces) in answering the question “What is PIM?” and understanding the tools used for effective and efficient product data management.
What is PIM?
PIM, short for Product Information Management, refers to collecting, managing, and distributing all the necessary information about a product.
Organizations approach this process differently – the least sophisticated organizations use spreadsheets and other manual tools to manage product data.
In contrast, the most efficiency-focused ones use advanced PIM tools to manage product data from a central location.
We can answer the question by describing it as a vital practice for organizations that handle a vast catalog of products.
A company such as Acme Corp, the fictional manufacturer we met earlier, requires a robust PIM system to centralize and organize its product data from different sources, such as suppliers, distributors, and internal systems.
Why is PIM important?
Understanding important PIM tools, or software platforms designed specifically for product data management, is a great way to clearly describe what is PIM.
In a nutshell, it gives organizations superpowers when managing product data. They also create a single, reliable source of product information for the particular organization’s products.
For example, suppose Acme Corp. manufactures 2,000 different products, each with unique features, including size, color, and description. In that case, a PIM tool allows the company to create a core hub to store, update, and maintain accurate and consistent information about each product coming off the conveyor belt.
The tool ensures that the collected product data remains up-to-date, complete, and reliable across its entire product catalog.
Common Challenges Managing Product Information in Today's Digital Economy
Indeed, Acme Corp’s management understands that the current business environment relies heavily on digital technology to run efficiently.
While such an environment is ideal for business interactions, it also means that institutions such as Acme Corp face the challenge of ensuring they provide high-quality and accurate product information. Otherwise, consumers and other stakeholders can easily find alternatives.
A digital economy also implies that organizations deal with vast amounts of data, diverse applications, and complex organizational structures.
Some of the key challenges when managing product data in this environment include:
- Incomplete and fragmented data. In the digital economy, product information is scattered across multiple sources. This includes suppliers, manufacturers, internal systems, spreadsheets, and legacy databases. This fragmented data can be incomplete, lacking essential details or attributes required for accurate product representation. Thus, gathering and consolidating this dispersed information poses a challenge. Especially because it requires efforts to identify and collect data from various sources.
- Inconsistent data across applications. Different applications and systems within an organization often store and manage product data independently, leading to inconsistencies in product information. Therefore, it becomes a challenge to ensure accurate representations of products.
- Siloed systems and business units: Organizations often have siloed systems and business units, each responsible for managing product data in their respective areas. This siloed approach hampers effective collaboration, coordination, and data sharing between departments, often resulting in duplicated efforts, data discrepancies, and a lack of centralized control over product information.
- Data quality and accuracy: If product information is incomplete, fragmented, inconsistent across applications, and siloed in each business unit, there is no chance for the data to be accurate, let alone high quality. In other words, ensuring data accuracy and quality is impossible without a robust data management system.
- Dynamic and rapidly changing data: A manufacturer such as Acme Corp receives numerous requests for products that are required to fit unique specifications. This makes its product data dynamic – it undergoes frequent updates due to product offerings, pricing, specifications, and inventory level changes. Managing the constant flow of updates and promptly ensuring accurate information is propagated across various channels and applications is complex.
- Multichannel distribution: The current business environment also demands companies like Acme Corp to distribute products through various channels, including marketplaces, social media, mobile apps, and e-commerce websites, in addition to traditional partnerships with distributors and retailers. Each channel may have specific data requirements and formats. Therefore, this makes it challenging to adapt and optimize product information for each channel consistently.
- Localization and globalization: Another defining characteristic of the current business environment is globalized markets. In this regard, organizations must adapt product information to different cultural preferences, languages, and regions. It is impossible to manage localized content, translations, regional regulations, and market-specific requirements without the help of an advanced PIM tool.
What is PIM: Key for a Successful Product Data Management Strategy
Suppose the Acme Corp management has had enough of spreadsheets and legacy databases as the foundation of their product information management strategy. In that case, they decide to adopt a PIM solution to supercharge operations.
This decision will undoubtedly turn the business into a superpower upon understanding ‘what is PIM’ and its incredible lineup of benefits:
- Speeds up workflows and time to market. A PIM solution enables efficient collaboration among teams, provides workflows for content creation and approval, and offers centralized control over product data. On that account, the tool streamlines and automates various aspects of the product data management process. This may result in accelerated workflows and reduced time between launching a new product and getting it into the consumer’s hands.
- Improves data quality and governance. PIM tools offer several features that help enhance data quality and management, including data cleansing, standardization, and validation. For example, a company with an enormous catalog of product offerings can easily improve product content‘s overall quality and reliability.
- Capitalizes on emerging market opportunities. With a considerably short time to market, organizations can rapidly expand into new markets, launch new product lines, and adapt their offerings to changing customer demands. In addition, PIM tools allow a company like Acme Corp. to tailor product information for customers based on their region of residence, enabling it to gain a competitive advantage and seize growth prospects.
- Delivers positive product experience to customers: The ultimate goal for any organization is to create the best relationship with customers, and nothing does it better than building a history of reliability. Customers often love and ultimately trust organizations that are upfront about their products. Thus, there is no better way to communicate this posture than by providing consistent, complete, and accurate product information across all channels. Thankfully, PIM tools enable businesses to enrich product data with high-quality images, specifications, and descriptions, ensuring that customers can access reliable information that helps them make informed purchasing decisions.
- Enhanced cross-selling and up-selling: An effective PIM eCommerce strategy may require capabilities for businesses to establish relationships between products and effectively implement cross-selling and up-selling techniques. PIM tools make this happen by managing product variations, bundles, and accessories, enabling businesses to showcase related products or recommend complementary items to customers easily.
Features of a PIM
Any business serious about its future prospects must thoroughly interrogate a potential PIM solution before adopting it into core business operations. In this regard, the organization looks out for particular features that effectively and efficiently deliver the tool’s functions.
A regular PIM solution can provide a wide range of benefits because of the following critical attributes:
Data Integration
The solution allows organizations to collate product data from multiple formats and sources, enabling them to connect with suppliers, distributors, internal systems, and other databases to gather product information. PIM solutions offer mechanisms to import, map, and transform data from diverse sources, ensuring seamless product information integration and synchronization.
Data Enrichment
Data enrichment is critical because it enables organizations to make product data more accurate and current. A good PIM solution must provide the capabilities to add details to existing information and provide granular data such as attributes and metadata. Additionally, most PIM platforms provide editing and translating functionalities to enable users to enhance product data within the PIM system. These solutions often include tools for bulk editing, data templates, and image/video management to streamline the enrichment process and ensure consistent and compelling product information.
Data Governance
PIM solutions offer robust data governance capabilities. They allow businesses to define and enforce rules, approvals, permissions, and workflows for product information management. Importantly, they enable organizations to assign responsibilities, establish data governance frameworks, and streamline product data approval and review processes. The goal is to ensure data integrity, consistency, and adherence to organizational and industry-specific standards.
Data Quality
High-quality data is one of the critical objectives for a robust product information management strategy. In this regard, PIM solutions incorporate features to monitor, validate, and improve product information governance, accuracy, and quality. These features enable users to establish and implement data validation rules, cleanse product data cleansing, and manage exceptions. Furthermore, PIM solutions help identify and resolve data errors, inconsistencies, and duplicates. They offer data quality metrics, readiness (completeness) reporting, and alerts to ensure consistent, complete, accurate, and timely product information.
Data Syndication
PIM solutions enable the efficient publication and syndication of product information to various sales and marketing channels. They offer integrations with marketplaces, e-commerce platforms, content management systems, and more. Users enjoy particular capabilities, such as accurate data export through CSV connections and automated data feeds through APIs to ensure real-time or scheduled updates to product information across different channels. The tools also support channel-specific formatting, data transformations, and business rules to meet each channel’s requirements and standards.
In addition to these key features, PIM solutions often include other functionalities, such as version control, audit trails, search capabilities, and localization support. More advanced PIM platforms like Catsy have built-in digital asset management (DAM) solutions to supercharge product content management workflows. These features collectively provide businesses with a comprehensive toolset to efficiently manage, enhance, govern, validate, and distribute product information. This will ultimately improve operational efficiency, data quality, and customer experience.
Example of a PIM
Suppose the Acme Corp. management wants to acquire the platform to up their product data management game.
However, they need to walk their staff through the inner working and nuances of a PIM solution.
Here is an example of how a PIM solution works in practice, a model that the company’s management can present to the employees.
Life before a PIM
Let’s assume from the onset that Acme Corp. will use Catsy PIM to source product information from internal teams. This includes engineering, logistics, marketing, product managers, etc., for onward distribution to distribution channels.
Before acquiring the PIM solution, each Acme Corp. business unit kept a record of product information. The engineering unit had a catalog of specifications, and the marketing unit stored and managed product images and videos in a separate database.
Product Management with a PIM
Therefore, the first step after acquiring Catsy PIM was integrating disparate product information into a central hub. The solution connects all the internal business units. It also adds data mapping and transformation functionalities.
This is to ensure that the information stored in the main repository is consistent with organizational standards.
Acme Corp.’s internal teams can add, edit, and enhance relevant product data from within Catsy PIM. The platform provides templates and bulk editing capabilities to streamline the enrichment process.
Catsy PIM also includes a DAM solution, which enables the marketing department to manage and enrich digital assets.
But before Acme Corp. can distribute the product information to channels, it must ensure the data meet exceptional quality standards.
To this end, Catsy PIM provides monitoring and validation tools. Authorized personnel can set up validation rules and alerts to identify and rectify data errors and inconsistencies.
It doesn’t stop there!
Catsy PIM provides data quality metrics and reporting to track and measure product information’s accuracy, consistency, and completeness.
Most importantly, users can see how much longer it will take until details for a specific product is complete through a readiness reporting tool that is easily accessible on the dashboard.
With all the checks complete and the product data 100% complete, Acme Corp. can distribute the information to different sales and marketing channels. Catsy PIM provides the capabilities to automate this process.
It has pre-built integrations with eCommerce platforms and marketplaces. This is done through CSV and API connections to ensure that only accurate information is shared.
Who Uses a PIM Tool?
Various stakeholders use a PIM tool within an organization (and external partners) to manage product information effectively. The typical users within the organization include:
Product Managers
Product managers are responsible for creating and maintaining the product catalog within the PIM system. They define the product strategy, roadmap, and pricing and ensure up-to-date and accurate product data is available for distribution across multiple channels.
Digital Marketers
Digital marketers utilize the PIM tool to execute marketing campaigns and optimize the performance of products across different channels. They leverage the enriched product information stored in the PIM system to create compelling marketing content, ensure brand consistency, and target specific customer segments effectively.
Merchandisers
Merchandisers select, present, and promote products to drive sales and meet customer demand. They use PIM tools to curate and display products based on customer preferences and market trends. They leverage the product information in the PIM system to select the right products for specific sales channels, create product assortments, and optimize product placements to maximize sales and customer engagement.
Logistics Managers/Purchasing Departments
Logistics and purchasing managers are in charge of the product information stored in the PIM tool. They are used for shipping, inventory management, and procurement. They utilize the PIM system to provide accurate product data, track stock levels, manage logistics, and coordinate supply chain activities.
eCommerce Managers
eCommerce managers are responsible for managing online sales channels and ensuring a seamless shopping experience for customers. They leverage the PIM tool to publish and update product information on e-commerce platforms, optimize product listings, manage pricing, and synchronize inventory across multiple online channels.
Creators
Copywriters and other creators use the product information stored in the PIM system as a reference for their projects. They rely on the PIM tool to access accurate and detailed product specifications, descriptions, images, and other content required to create compelling visuals and marketing materials.
The organization may also have external partners who may benefit from the PIM solution, such as:
Agencies
Agencies that work with businesses to manage their product information utilize PIM software to access and enrich clients’ product data. They collaborate with the organization’s representatives and use the PIM system to enhance product information. It ensures meeting the requirements of different marketplaces, print publishers, and e-commerce channels.
The Future of PIM
Product information management is a rapidly growing market with a positive outlook. The market is expected to achieve remarkable growth with an expected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.3% in the decade between 2018 and 2028.
Powering the explosive growth are factors like technological advancements and the presence of key players like Catsy and others. The retail and eCommerce industry is anticipated to witness significant adoption of PIM.
This is due to its emphasis on improving customer experience and the increasing utilization of artificial intelligence and retail analytics tools. This sector recognizes the value of PIM in addressing the growing demands of customers. It also maximizes the potential of advanced technologies for better business outcomes.
Some of the current trends and future opportunities of PIM in the digital economy include:
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI has the potential to revolutionize PIM by automating and enhancing various tasks. AI-powered technologies like natural language processing (NLP), machine learning, and computer vision can be leveraged to automate data classification, attribute extraction, and product data enrichment.
Omnichannel Commerce
With the rise of multiple sales and marketing channels, providing consistent and engaging product experiences across all touchpoints has become crucial. Therefore, PIM plays a vital role in enabling omnichannel commerce by centralizing and managing product information in a unified manner.
PIM solutions with omnichannel capabilities ensure that product data is adapted and optimized for each channel. They maintain brand consistency and deliver seamless experiences throughout the customer journey.
Globalization
Organizations need to adapt their product information to different languages, cultures, markets, and regulations in the global marketplace. PIM systems with localization features will be critical in enabling businesses to expand their operations globally effectively.
Customer-Centricity
Customer-centricity is a critical focus in today’s digital economy. PIM plays a vital role in understanding and meeting customer needs by enabling the collection and analysis of customer data, creating a more engaging and personalized product experience.
Conclusion
In this article, we brought light to the frequently asked question “What is PIM?”. Looking ahead, the future of PIM in the digital economy will likely involve further advancements in AI capabilities, deeper integration with emerging technologies like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), increased emphasis on data privacy and security, and the continuous evolution of customer expectations.
Organizations that embrace these trends and leverage PIM solutions to deliver relevant, consistent, and personalized product experiences will have a competitive edge in the dynamic digital landscape.
PIM is used to collect, manage, and distribute product information. This might come from various sources, ensuring accuracy and consistency, and facilitating its distribution across multiple channels and platforms.
An example of a PIM solution is Catsy. It provides comprehensive product data management functionalities, including version control, audit trails, search capabilities, and localization support. Catsy also has built-in digital asset management (DAM) solutions to enhance product content management workflows.
Various stakeholders within an organization, such as product managers, digital marketers, logistics managers, and eCommerce managers, as well as external partners like agencies, use a PIM tool to manage product information effectively.
PIM solutions offer features such as collecting and consolidating product information, enriching data, managing variations, ensuring accuracy and consistency, providing self-service tools, and incorporating digital asset management capabilities.
Companies need a PIM to improve data quality and governance, capitalize on emerging market opportunities, streamline product information integration and synchronization, enhance product data accuracy and ‘currentness’, and ensure consistent and compelling product information across multiple channels and platforms.
