Product information management, or PIM, is the process of coordinating and enhancing the management of product data and related digital assets among various teams so that the team can deliver an engaging product experience that contributes to the product’s successful sale through a variety of sales and marketing channels.
It is an on-premises SaaS system with a focus on managing, enhancing, and disseminating product information. PIM solution is a process-driven application that is powered by master data and facilitates collaboration on the product features. It acts as a solitary, central platform for gathering, managing, governing, and enhancing product information and content before distributing it to marketing, sales, and eCommerce channels.
What does a PIM software do?
The PIM software manages all of the textual information that goes into a product sheet as product information. Marketing descriptions, narratives, technical details, labeling, recipe details, ingredient lists, packaging, cross- and up-selling, etc. are all included in the product record.
The PIM software will gather the initial raw data as soon as a product is produced in the company’s IS (often from the ERP) and then notify the marketing and product departments. It is now possible to start the process of improving the new product’s information. The product sheet is immediately delivered to all sales channels and adapted to meet the requirements of each once the quality of the product reaches the desired position.
Regardless of the number of the product or the size of the company, the PIM relies on a collaborative methodology that enhances teamwork to streamline the organization and help in increasing the posting of product sheets.
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Why are PIM solutions important?
Whether you are in B2B or B2C sales, the secret is to provide a compelling product experience. Your customers want comprehensive, trustworthy, and relevant product information across a variety of digital touchpoints so they can make educated buying decisions. However, production data is frequently incomplete, inconsistent, and dispersed across numerous applications, business units, channels, and siloed systems.
As a result, groups like digital marketing, merchandising, product management, and e-commerce are unable to have a complete perspective of all product information. They spend a lot of time manually maintaining product data and exchanging emails with groups like creative agencies and suppliers.
Businesses that find it difficult to efficiently manage and collaborate the product information frequently miss chances, shrink their market share, and lose money. Additionally, they have trouble creating an enjoyable user experience, which makes it difficult to develop customer loyalty.
PIM supports standardization of the ever-more-complex requirements for product content. It makes it simple to syndicate dependable, rich, and high-quality product information to sales and marketing channels.
You may accelerate workflows and time to market, swiftly discover and assess product data quality concerns, capitalize on emerging market opportunities, and ultimately provide customers with a pleasant product experience if you have the correct PIM strategy and a reliable, available source for product information.
As we now see, an organization’s use of a Product Information Management (PIM) solution is a system for managing and centralizing product data. So, PIM solutions are crucial for a number of reasons.
1. Data Consistency:
PIM solutions ensure that product information is accurate and consistent across all channels, such as e-commerce websites, catalogs, and marketplaces. Having consistent product information helps to avoid confusion and mistakes that may arise.
2. Data Integrity:
PIM systems offer methods for verifying and enhancing product data, helping in guaranteeing that product information is correct and comprehensive. This enhances client satisfaction and lowers the possibility of mistakes.
3. Data Efficiency:
PIM systems economize on the time and effort required to create, manage, and distribute product information. Because of the time and resource savings, businesses may concentrate on other crucial duties.
4. Data Governance:
PIM systems offer a centralized location for managing product data, making it simple to monitor and restrict access to private data. Data security and regulatory compliance are improved as a result.
5. Multichannel Distribution:
PIM systems make it simple for businesses to distribute product information over a variety of channels, such as print catalogs, e-commerce websites, and marketplaces. This broadens the organization’s exposure and promotes purchases.
In conclusion, a PIM solution is crucial for data consistency, quality, effectiveness, governance, and multichannel distribution, which ultimately improves customer experience, boosts sales, and minimizes errors.
Role Of PIM in the IT System Of the Company:
By centralizing and managing product data, a Product Information Management (PIM) system contributes significantly to a company’s IT infrastructure. A PIM system’s function in an organization’s IT system includes:
1. Data Integration:
To guarantee that product information is correct and current across all systems, PIM solutions link with other IT systems like enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), and content management systems (CMS).
2. Data Management:
PIM solutions give users the ability to create, amend, and publish product information as well as validate and enhance data. This makes it easier to guarantee accurate and comprehensive product information.
3. Data Distribution:
PIM systems make it simple for businesses to publish product information through a variety of channels, including print catalogs, online marketplaces, and e-commerce websites. This broadens the organization’s audience and encourages purchases.
4. Data governance:
PIM systems offer a central area for managing product data, making it simple to monitor and restrict access to private data. Data security and regulatory compliance are improved as a result.
5. Data analysis:
PIM systems include reporting and analytics tools that enable businesses to monitor and analyze product data, including customer engagement and sales performance. Making informed business judgments is possible with the use of this information.
In short, a PIM system is essential to a company’s IT systems because it integrates, manages, communicates, governs, and evaluates product data across various systems and channels, which ultimately improves customer experience and boosts profits.
The Information System contains a wide variety of tools. built from acronymic blocks that gather, enhance, analyze, and/or communicate all forms of data to the company’s numerous business divisions. One of these building blocks is the PIM (Product Information Manager) software. The PIM is not meant to replace the following tools, even if they are more or less recognized and vice versa.
PIM versus ERP, MDM, PLM and CRM
Data is transversely grouped, processed, and analyzed using an ERP (Enterprise resource planning). It has modules for project management, accounting, HR, manufacturing, inventory control, and finance.
MDM (Master Data Management)makes an intervention just upstream of the PIM to normalize data of various quality that originates from various sources. Once they have been processed, they can be sent to the PIM, where they are centralized and enriched before being delivered to the sales channels.
A PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) pulls together the engineering procedures and information relating to the manufacturing process as well as the modifications that the product goes through from start to end.
CRM vs. PIM: An instrument for managing lead and customer connections is a CRM (Customer Relationship Manager). It enables the gathering, centralization, and enrichment of contact information and subsequently takes steps to boost brand and consumer loyalty.
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Why should you arm yourself with a PIM?
The companies where we work place a high value on customer satisfaction in our daily professional lives, and irrespective of our profession, we all make a direct or indirect contribution to that satisfaction. On the other hand, we are also consumers in our personal life. Each of us has a favorite website or company, yet this loyalty can go in a heartbeat. If one of these businesses were to, for instance:
For instance, if one of these companies:
The companies where we work place a high value on customer satisfaction in our daily professional lives, and irrespective of our profession, we all make a direct or indirect contribution to that satisfaction. However, we also have consumers in our personal life. Everybody has their favorite website or company, yet this loyalty can go in a heartbeat. If one of these businesses were to, for instance:
- Give the product sheet in Russian language and the marketing slogan is in Spanish Language
- Offer a cardigan on the purchase of a t shirt in the month of June
- Offer a product feature on their site that is not available anywhere else whether online or in stores.
If we look closely, these cases can be highly frustrating and bad for customers and hence this can lead to abandonment of the cart. So, the memory with the brand will be unforgettable for the customer and this memory is actually a bad one which the customer will never forget.
So, for improving the product experience on the distribution channels the brands need to use PIM which can resolve small anomalies like the ones mentioned above.
Top 7 PIM Tools
Companies may organize and integrate all of their catalogs’ technical and marketing data by using product information management software (PIM). Businesses may maintain and distribute this one, complete source of product information using PIM software.
All product-related data, including location-based and multilingual data, is gathered and stored by a PIM in a single catalog that is used to provide product data to channel partners. A PIM can be an invaluable tool for businesses that have a large number of products, or products with many editions or permutations of the same product.
This ensures that the organization is always using the most up-to-date information possible about their products. A PIM makes sure that all divisions of a company have a comprehensive understanding of each product. So, here are the top 7 PIM tools in 2023.
1. Pimcore
The agile digital experience platform from Pimcore has highly developed multi-channel consumer interaction features, excellent integration, and headless content capabilities. It is:
- A platform for open-source experience management that connects commerce and content.
- A versatile, all-in-one publishing platform that allows for intelligent automation of the distribution and content management processes.
- Renowned for managing content and marketing campaigns in real time, all under one simple, intuitive interface, to create engaging, tailored digital experiences.
- A solution that integrates and consolidates data and marketing processes, maximizes efficiency, and lowers costs. It is completely designed for interoperability.
2. Akeneo
A collaborative and simple to monitor way of producing enhanced product information should be created by managing your product data through a PIM. Therefore, ensuring that user rights are given appropriately lowers the possibility of incorrect data being broadcast.
Project owners may establish several user types with various levels of access privileges using the Advanced Rights Management functionality in the Akeneo Enterprise Edition. By limiting access to less experienced users and granting individuals with greater expertise the ability to approve amendments and ideas, this essentially establishes a hierarchy of users.
3. Salsify
Using adaptable data modeling, Salsify enables e-commerce merchants to provide better online buying experiences. With the use of this software, e-commerce companies may transform a variety of data sources into content that is suitable for consumers, increasing their sales. Additionally, the platform offers data access from anywhere for brand makers. They have the ability to produce, import material from many sources, and modify it as necessary all at once. Additionally, the programme examines this content to confirm that it complies with the demands of the sales channels used by brand producers.
4. Plytix
Having direct and bulk editing features makes it easy to manage different types of data. With branded portals and product sheets, you can showcase your items expertly and win over customers. You can deliver all of your data to your merchants and online store more quickly than ever thanks to our syndication channels.
Additional elements that will alter how you handle your product information include:
- “Direct Editing” (Excel style)
- Bulk editing and features for import and export
- Advanced Filtration
- Infinitely Customizable Attributes
- Input Attributes (Excel operations)
- Production of Product Feed (XML, CSV, XLSX)
- API
5. Bluestone PIM
The first SaaS PIM platform to be MACH certified is Bluestone PIM. This solution is quite adaptable since it enables you to link to other programmes, online stores, or platforms and share information about your products with them.
Bluestone PIM allows you to:
- Establish a single, reliable source for all product information.
- Market items more quickly across all channels, regions, and languages.
- Enhance product data quicker and increase productivity with collaborative features.
- DAM: Digital Asset Management Create a consistent product experience for your consumers across all of your communication channels.
- With Bluestone PIM Marketplace, you can easily add more applications to your capabilities. Explore how these applications can be connected to meet your unique needs, improve marketing, and boost sales.
6. Widen
Brands can manage and distribute assets across teams, technologies, and channels with Widen DAM’s assistance. The search and workflow features are business-specific and are provided through a customizable metadata format. Additionally, assets may be found thanks to AI-powered auto tagging. Using the API or pre-built connections with more than 50 products, from design suites to project management, users may sync work between platforms.
Product-based businesses may utilize Widen to create a 360-degree perspective of the content of their products. It shows relationships between products and cascades parent-level values to variations. Users can be up and running in two weeks with the aid of quick start implementation. Widen DAM is offered separately or as a component of Acquia DXP.
7. Image Relay
Any marketer may benefit from using Image Relay, especially if their products need a library of photos and videos and if they believe their team might benefit from some high-quality onboarding to ensure that everything is set up correctly and that they are prepared to utilize the programme successfully.
Particularly speaking, it was critical that we have a simple approach to store and retrieve assets that may represent those items and connect with potential consumers because we have so many products and are expanding our direct interaction with customers. Grouping assets for distribution with influencers and other marketing partners was also quite simple using Image Relay.
Retail organizations that have their product information dispersed across several channels might benefit from PIMs. In terms of product enrichment, it establishes a parallel process. From a single central source, the team as a whole may edit, update, and share your product information. All information that has been altered and shared will be tracked by the PIM system, which will also guard against these modifications being overwritten.
Final Words:
When a company has hundreds of products, using a PIM is common since managing it has become impossible. However, even businesses with a small selection of items might benefit from employing one, particularly if they must manage a large number of variables and customizations.
A PIM provides you with the necessary framework to simplify and enhance how you interact with your products. This implies that producing high-quality product information is simple. Properly written product descriptions encourage potential buyers to make a purchase. In order to get the products through the checkout, it is essential to have the option to add product photographs, videos, or other materials in one place.
