What is PIM?
Product information management, or PIM, involves the collection, maintenance and processing of product data and its provision for various output channels or media. A PIM system provides a central location for collecting, managing and enriching product information, creating a product catalog and distributing it to sales and e-commerce channels. PIM systems facilitate the creation and delivery of compelling product experiences. They manage all types of data related to your products, including technical data, usage data and emotional data. PIM systems can collect raw data from various systems, import data via CSV and XLSX files, input product data directly from suppliers and connect to DAM systems for images, videos and documents.
Advantages of PIM systems
PIM systems enable everyone involved to prepare products for sale on time and on budget. They can improve data quality, shorten time to market, increase conversions, boost productivity and reduce returns. The advantage of a PIM tool lies in the centralized management of data, which forms the basis for more efficient management of product information. Once in the system, the products are organized in a media-neutral structure and enriched with additional information such as descriptive texts and media. The quality of the data is crucial in this phase. Data validation ensures that the minimum requirements for the product description are met.
Data management and integration in PIM systems
PIM systems can classify products into families, categories and channels, measure and track the quality of product data, regulate users with roles and permissions, and manage the completeness and versions of the catalog. They can enrich product descriptions with technical and usage data, link images, videos and documents to the respective product and use a rules engine for the automatic enrichment of standardized attributes. PIM systems can localize and translate product information for each market and region, manage catalogs for each sales channel in a single system, select channel-specific attributes for each channel and consolidate all online and print channels via API-based connectors.
PIM systems and business transformation
PIM software prepares your company for digital transformation and lays the foundation for fully utilizing all the possibilities of digital product data management. PIM systems are needed by marketing professionals, product managers, e-commerce experts, sales professionals, IT professionals and CEOs who want to keep an eye on costs while thinking about increasing sales. All product information is in one place without duplicate data storage (single source of truth). The information is stored independently of its destination (catalog or e-commerce system). Efficient data maintenance is ensured by mass processing and search functions.
PIM systems and customer experience
PIM systems can syndicate catalogs to marketplaces and shopping channels that are not their own. They can benefit the entire team, including marketers, CMO and sales, the C-suite and IT. Your customer receives consistent product information across all relevant channels that align with available space. Defined quality gates ensure that only product information of sufficient quality reaches the customer. PIM systems improve the customer experience by providing consistent, accurate and comprehensive product information across all channels.
PIM systems and advanced technologies
PIM systems can be seamlessly integrated with cutting-edge technologies such as advanced AI tools thanks to their advanced architecture. They can speed up content creation and reduce the burden on marketing and product management by integrating GPT for automated content creation. PIM systems can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty by generating personalized content for different customer groups. They can ensure the quality and consistency of product information by integrating AI technologies, especially LanguageTool. PIM systems can automatically check grammar, style and consistency, minimizing manual revisions. PIM systems can automatically identify, extract and standardize relevant product data from a variety of unstructured text sources by integrating GPT.
PIM systems and workflow management
Processes can be defined and initiated automatically using workflows. Workflow management in PIM systems provides insight into all processes, which improves the accuracy and productivity of workflows. PIM systems can create and release content efficiently by defining different workflows for different content types or products and involving specialized subject matter experts. PIM systems can maintain an overview, no matter how complex or variable the requirements are, through role-based workflows from Kanban boards.
Introduction of a PIM system - preliminary considerations
Are you about to introduce a Product Information Management (PIM) system? The introduction of a Product Information Management (PIM) system requires careful consideration. It doesn't just affect one department, but has far-reaching effects within the company. Employee acceptance and the cooperation of all departments are crucial. Involving employees at an early stage to allay their concerns and taking individual departmental requirements into account are key factors for success.
