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Do you find yourself rummaging through Excel spreadsheets, SAP systems, and online databases to get a clear picture of your products? There is a solution to this tangled mess: Product Information Management, or PIM for short.
PIM is the master system that can solve all your problems with contradictory and dispersed product information. Instead of storing data in different sources, PIMs provide:
For instance, you can store manufacturing specifications and plans, general product data, high-quality images, and certificates in a single location. You can also add information about the properties required only for your website, making it easier for your customers to find the information they need. This approach not only eliminates confusion but also reduces errors, leading to an increase in conversion rates and sales.
Developers have to manage large amounts of data about products and categories, whether they are working on an e-commerce platform, delivery service, or omnichannel network, that will include:
There can be up to 200 attributes and characteristics assigned to each item:
PIM can be your best friend in dealing with this data – with its ability to store and manage all your product information in one place, PIM can help streamline your workflow and make your life a whole lot easier.
Thanks to a system of integrations, you can easily import and export text information, media files, analysis data, attributes, regional features, prices, and more to and from external resources – you no longer have to juggle multiple databases and interfaces. Instead, everything is neatly organized in a single database with a single interface.
But that’s not all. There are other benefits to keeping all data in one PIM system:
You get to control the quality of your data. Suppose you need to specify a data category for a CRM or upload a photo on your website. In that case, the PIM system will check the availability of necessary attributes before sending the product to the channel. This ensures that everything is correct and saves you time in the long run.
Ease of finding, supplementing, and correcting information in a single PIM system. No more sifting through countless sources to find what you need. With the PIM system, everything is at your fingertips.
It reduces risks and eliminates untypical tasks for other units in the company’s information structure. Previously, editing a card would affect the operation of all or some sales channels. But now, with the PIM system, changes have no side effects, making everyone’s job easier.
In what cases a PIM becomes essential?
There are countless cases  where the use of a PIM system is absolutely justified – here are three of them:
1. You have to update your catalog on the regular
With a PIM system, updates to product composition, stock units, and descriptions can be made quickly and efficiently. The updates are automatically propagated to all sales channels, ensuring that your customers always see the most accurate and up-to-date information. A single data edit is all it takes to update all your external systems. And for those who want even more automation, some PIM systems even allow the configuration of rules for automatic updates at fixed time intervals.
For example, there was a major retailer case — managers used to struggle with regular and timely updates before implementing the PIM system. They would change the stock units’ composition every two weeks, leading to outdated information, inaccurate descriptions, misleading images, and irrelevant attributes, resulting in customers’ frustration.
However, thanks to the PIM system, the retailer’s catalog is now updated on time, and customers get exactly what they expect. No more outdated or inaccurate information. No more frustrated customers. Just smooth and efficient updates across all sales channels.
2. Product card data entries are made by various departments or employees
You can easily assign different access levels to card editing and save the history of changes via a PIM. Heads of departments easily see the history of changes, approve them, comment on them, and send them for revision or rollback to any previous version.
Take the example of Tarkett, a company that manages its product information with 60 employees located in different regions of the world – the business changes suggested by each employee are recorded, allowing the administrator to control all existing and previous versions, regardless of their language and sales channel.
3. You’re developing a marketplace
With the help of PIMs and MDMs, you can corral all your data sources, eliminate duplicates, and create a clear, concise structure for your product cards and attributes. Plus, you can even set rules that encourage your suppliers to provide complete and accurate information. It’s like having a personal assistant that keeps everything running smoothly, without all the headaches.
The benefits of implementing a PIM system go beyond just user-friendly interfaces. You’ll experience fewer errors and contradictions in product cards, reduced time to market for new products, and better resource management for information coordination. Optimizing content for different sales channels, boosting remarketing campaigns, and increasing customer satisfaction is a walk in the park. Don’t just take our word for it. Research shows that PIM implementation reduces time to market by 400%, increases sales growth by 50%, and lowers returns by 23%.
Real-life examples of PIM’s success stories are even more impressive. Skullcandy, a headphone manufacturer, increased its checkout conversion rate by 15% six months after implementing a PIM system. And that’s not all; we’ve worked with large and medium-sized companies to implement PIM systems, and each time we saw an increase in conversion rates.
We’ve only scratched the surface of the PIM system’s capabilities. Still, we’re happy to answer any questions you may have about its functionality in the comments below.
You will need the right tools to monitor your IT architecture for quick and painless PIM implementation. AINSYS integration framework syncs data between every tool and platform your IT team employs, helping you get an accurate picture of your software. By implementing AINSYS tools, any IT consultant can say goodbye to complexity and inefficiency and say hello to seamless and streamlined product information management with PIM.
