PIM systems stands for Product Information Management - what is it used for, what benefits does its implementation bring, what does it help with, which one to choose?

The traditional stationary sales channel is beginning to give way to the e-commerce channel, or the two channels are complementing each other in an omnichannel model, where it is critical to provide the consumer with a rich and consistent shopping experience.

 

As any company grows at a geometric progression, so does its digital information ecosystem. This process is particularly evident in the case of companies with sales operations, where the number of products and related data is increasing. Products are given elaborate descriptions illustrated with photos and graphics, videos, tables filled with technical data, files with downloadable instructions, catalogs, certificates, price lists, advertising materials, related products, spare parts, accessories, blog posts, templates for auctions and comparison websites, etc. become associated with them.

 

Products often come in different variants, differing in features such as color or size, which can affect the final price or weight of the product, or the images displayed on the product page. All this means that a given product can have up to several hundred variants. And then there are the different language versions. Can a PIM system help sort out the mess that is forming?

With the increase in the amount of products and content in the digital channel, a major problem arises - how to manage such an amount of information? The process of entering and editing them takes employees more and more time. They separately add content to the online store panel, separately to the company website, to product blogs, to brand pages, to the B2B sales system, to mobile apps or product configurators. Each of these systems has a separate administration panel.

 

After some time, product information in different channels begins to differ and lose consistency. Errors and confusion occur. In some places, outdated product information is presented, and elsewhere, for example, products that have already been withdrawn from sale are presented.

 

Operating in foreign markets raises additional problems. How to control the translation of product catalogs, product descriptions in online stores, if separately we have to enter several language versions in different systems? Moreover, we often have to translate the same content - product information, PDF documents, catalogs, company information, etc., etc. - in several administration panels.

 

All this not only generates ever-increasing costs for content management, but also destroys the consistency of information and increases the time it takes to bring a new product to market.

Now let's imagine a situation where all the content is in one place. We can conveniently view and edit all products and their related descriptions, technical data, images, videos, articles, files. Once a change is made to a product description, it is immediately visible in all product services, online stores, in the digital product catalog, as well as ready to be read by the interfaces of price comparison sites, auction portals. When you change one product image, it is instantly, automatically, substituted in all target channels. Similarly with PDF files - when adding a new version of a file, the old one is automatically replaced with the current one everywhere.

 

When adding a new article about a product in the PIM system, we can choose which services we want it to appear in and publish it with one click.

 

All content is managed within a single administrative panel of the PIM system, where we can give individual employees the appropriate permissions.

 

This is what the Product Information Management (PIM) system makes possible.

1 Reduce the cost of managing content [product information, both technical data, marketing materials and documents such as manuals, technical data].

 

2 Consistency of communication across all channels and platforms (websites, online stores, B2B sales platforms, blogs, mobile apps, social networks, emails, newsletters, videos, e-publishing).

 

3 Consolidation of data that was previously scattered in different places.

 

4 Manage product content across all channels and platforms from a single dashboard.

 

5. increase in sales - with extensive, comprehensive product information, customers are more likely to make purchasing decisions. At the same time, the amount of unique, professional content has a very positive effect on SEO, resulting in increased organic traffic to websites and online stores.