Product Information Management (PIM) and its Uses

Product Information Management (PIM) and its Uses

Retail Tech Insights | Monday, July 04, 2022

Product Information Management and its importance in the business sector

FREMONT, CA: A Product Information Management (PIM) tool is a software solution that helps retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers to control their products in a central place. It provides one single point of data on the product. It is the place to gather, optimize and distribute product content data. It is in a sense the central tool for Product Data Management.

Why does a company need to use PIM?

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PIMs are useful for retail businesses where their product information is spread across different channels. It creates a parallel process in product enrichment. Many people in the team can edit, update, and share product information from one central source. The PIM system will keep track of all the information that has been shared and updated and will prevent these changes from being overwritten. Many companies use a PIM when they have thousands of products and it has become a nightmare to manage. Yet, stores with a limited number of products also benefit from using one, especially when they have lots of variables and customisations to manage.

Why is PIM important?

PIMs have been transforming the way businesses control their data for years. They empower businesses to organise and enrich product catalogues, deliver impactful product experiences across sales, marketing, and customer support channels, build product experiences and unlock business growth.

1. Increased efficiency and productivity - The central hub provides the team with a one-stop solution for finding all the relevant information relating to a particular product. There will be no time lost or confusion trying to locate, cleanup or piece together the product information. The time one would have lost can be better spent on-boarding new products and expanding the product catalogue size. Having a back-office system of all the products that the team can access and modify without bothering the eCommerce store means the employees can work in a more agile way. With a PIM organising all the product information, the team can focus on making the information as accurate as possible.

2. Contextualise product information - Different markets require different versions of product information, including currency, metric values, or delivery details. PIM helps organisations create and maintain multiple versions of product information or assets. These can be contextualised based on the channel, market, brand, customer segment, or region. It provides media formats and product descriptions that are specific to a channel without duplicating existing product data within the PIM system.

3. Enhance customer experiences (CX) - Cataloging a diverse product portfolio is no longer enough to address today’s ever-changing customer needs. Businesses need to further implement a sophisticated data management solution that streamlines product information, and marketing collaterals and allows businesses to manage every aspect of each product record created for faster time-to-market to provide customers with the newest products first. This includes hierarchy, structure, validations, approvals, versioning, and other related data components. This enables brands to onboard new products with less effort while addressing their customer needs in real time.

4. Improved ROI - Having a modern, well-designed PIM can significantly transform the number of sales a company receives. Many companies who are using PIM report increased conversion rates and decreased product returns.

5. Manage explosive growth in product content - With an ever-expanding product catalogue, organizations need to implement a centralized data repository to source and market growing product content derived from multiple suppliers and sales channels such as SKUs, pricing, product description, assets, and more. PIM helps organize, distribute, and update this data – both within the business and externally with distributors, marketplaces, retailers, and other channel partners. This includes the management of relatively new market entrants such as augmented or virtual reality-based content to provide enhanced and interactive product experiences.

Implementing a PIM system will optimize the internal processes, creating value in numerous areas. However, more and more organizations and industries work with market standards for product data. This is an efficient way for suppliers to provide their product data to their buyers.

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