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Product Information Management (PIM) software is a highly efficient system designed to centralize and streamline collecting, overseeing, and distributing product information over different channels. It enables you to ingest and store all product content, from product descriptions, pricing details, SKUs, and digital resources (including product pictures or PDFs).
In this definitive guide, we will explain:
- What Does PIM Software Do?
- What Can You Store In A PIM?
- The Benefits Of Using PIM Software
- Benefits of PIM for Teams
- What Are The Difficulties Of Using A PIM?
- When Should A Company Implement A PIM System?
- What Is The Best Product Information Management Software For 2024?
- How To Connect Your PIM To Your Work Apps?
What Does PIM Software Do?
PIM software is like a central library from which you can command all your product information. It streamlines the updating and management of accurate information and helps in data gathering, organization, and distribution across various sales and marketing channels.
The various features of PIM are listed below.
- Centralizes all product information in a single location, eliminating the need for scattered spreadsheets or siloed data systems.
- Streamlines the process of creating compelling product descriptions and presentations.
- Seamlessly distributes the product information to various sales and marketing channels (Websites, e-commerce, Marketplaces, Social Media, etc.)
- Easy integration with e-commerce, CRM systems, and ERP software.
- A precious asset for eCommerce business with frequent product updates.
Want to know what’s the best PIM software available in the market? From our suggested list of providers, you can evaluate who provides the best integrations with PIM so that you get the maximum ROI.
What Can You Store In A PIM?
A Product Information Management (PIM) system serves as a centralized repository for all of your product information, promoting streamlined management and increased productivity across several departments. It goes beyond simply storing basic product information. Here's an overview of the different types of data that can be stored in a PIM.
Basic Product Data
This often includes all of the product's main details, making the identification and description of the assets or data easier.
- Product Names and SKUs
Unique identifiers for your products. - Technical Information
Specifications like dimensions, weight, materials, etc. - Rich Product Descriptions
Detailed descriptions that can be easily displayed on your website. - ETIM Classifications
Industry-standard product classifications for easy categorization. - Category Trees
Customizable chain of commands to organize your products.
Marketing And Sales Information
This category includes information that fills your marketing and sales endeavors, guaranteeing reliable information and ideal pricing techniques.
- Sales Information
Pricing information, including sales prices, discounts, and promotions. - Marketing Information
Customer personas, keywords, SEO data, and marketing copy tailored to different regions. - Supplier And Manufacturer Data
Information about your suppliers and manufacturers. - Customer Reviews And Testimonials
Valuable feedback that can be used for sales and marketing purposes.
Digital Assets
This includes all of the visual and multimedia information that promotes your items and increases their appeal to consumers.
- Media Files
Images, videos, and PDFs that showcase your products. - Automatically Generated Datasheets
Technical documents created from product data. - Computed Attributes
Dynamic data, such as calculated sales prices based on formulas. - Design Information
Style guides and designer notes for consistent brand presentation. - Emotional Content:
Imagery, descriptions, and assets that evoke emotions and connect with customers.
Localized Information
This caters to the needs of a global marketplace, ensuring your product information is tailored to different regions and languages.
- Multilingual Content
Product descriptions and other information are translated into different languages. - Regional Variations
Product details adjusted for specific markets, including currency and regulations.
By centralizing all of this information, PIM solutions provide a comprehensive perspective of your products, improving product information management and increasing overall business productivity.
The Benefits Of Using PIM Software
Whether you have a big or small organization, a well-established PIM system can be a game-changer for businesses of all sizes. Here are a few of the benefits of implementing PIM software into the organization's workflow.
Improves Data Accuracy And Consistency
PIM acts as a central store for all product data, killing the requirement for diverse versions stored in completely different regions. This ensures that everyone within the affiliation is working with the same and up-to-date data. The approval devices inside the PIM framework can minimize blunders, ensuring reliable product details over all channels.
Streamlined Product Information Management
It automates the tasks groups perform, freeing up their profitable time and assets so that they can focus on more important work. PIM, moreover, offers different features, such as information import tools and workflow automation tools for product data transfer and data improvement processes. This streamlines product information management and diminishes teams' workloads.
Enhanced Collaboration And Communication
PIM software cultivates collaboration across all divisions and acts as a single source of truth. Promoting client benefits, deals, and other groups can access and upgrade data simultaneously without mistake. It encourages communication between providers and sellers.
Omnichannel Efficiency
It streamlines the process of upgrading exact data on all channels and gives each client a steady brand experience, no matter where they experience the organization's products.
Faster Time To Market
PIM software gives you an advantage in the display by streamlining your product's data management operations, from collection to distribution. This allows for speedier product launches and upgrades.
Reduced Costs
PIM can also significantly reduce costs by reducing errors and giving accurate data, resulting in fewer returns and more positive customer interactions. Its ability to automate operations saves staff time and allows them to focus on more creative activities.
Improved Customer Experience
PIM guarantees that clients have access to relevant and up-to-date product information across all touchpoints. This leads to a better client experience, more client fulfillment, and possibly increased brand loyalty.
Data-Driven Decision Making
PIM provides easy access to complete and accurate product information. This enables organizations to make decisions about product development, promotional strategies, pricing, and inventory management.
Benefits Of PIM For Teams
Marketing Teams
PIM software ensures consistent product information reaches customers with all requirements, leading to a unified brand experience resulting in improved ROI on marketing campaigns. Streamlining the design of marketing materials improves their efficiency in creating catalogs and datasheets.
Data Teams
PIM allows for a centralized management system where all product information, storage, management, and export are available. It eliminates errors and ensures accurate and readily available product information.
Technical Teams
To assure accuracy, technical teams can easily modify and validate product specs with access controls. It also streamlines the process of submitting product specifications for new product releases. Furthermore, improved specification input processes improve the efficiency of new product launches.
E-commerce Teams
PIM allows for the effortless transfer of up-to-date, consistent, and accurate product data to your e-commerce website. Some pre-built connectors for popular platforms further simplify the process.
Management
PIM simplifies access to product information, allowing for faster and more informed data-driven business decisions. The improved processes also allow for faster scaling operations when needed.
What Are The Difficulties Of Using A PIM?
Product Information Management (PIM) software acts as a central library for all your product information, streamlines all processes, guarantees consistency, and enables different teams of the organization for effective collaboration and omnichannel marketing.
The potential difficulties that can arise when you use a PIM system have been listed below.
Data Integration And Quality
Uploading large amounts of data from multiple sources is a difficult task. Inconsistent formatting, missing information, and typos can result in incorrect descriptions of items and dissatisfied customers. Also, information might be scattered across different departments in spreadsheets. Integrating this segregated data into the PIM system necessitates careful planning and execution.
Implementation Challenges
Implementing a PIM system can be costly and complex. Choosing the correct system, moving data, and training employees all demand a significant amount of resources and expertise. Employees more accustomed to the older system may find adjusting to the new PIM difficult. Overcoming this resistance necessitates effective communication and training on the benefits of PIM.
System Limitations
While PIM is excellent at maintaining product data, it may lack tools for assessing other data and creating actionable insights. Organizations may require extra technologies to utilize product data for improved marketing, sales, or inventory management. Some PIM systems struggle to keep up with expanding product catalogs and sales channels.
Vendor Lock-In And Ongoing Maintenance
Choosing a closed PIM system may limit your future possibilities. Opting for open-source or flexible solutions with strong integration capabilities may be preferred. Furthermore, PIM systems require continual maintenance to ensure data accuracy, which demands a dedicated team or resources.
When Should A Company Implement A PIM System?
As the company starts to grow, managing digital assets and product information becomes more complex. Traditional file storage systems can become burdensome and slow when managing complex and huge quantities of data. Here, a product information management (PIM) system can take you to new heights. There are a few signs that a company can take advantage of by using a Product Information Management (PIM) system.
Growing Complexity
If your company struggles to manage a large product catalog with complex details and sourcing data from multiple suppliers, leading to time-consuming errors, it is best to integrate PIM software into your workflow. PIM acts as a central hub, organizing and maintaining consistent product information across the board by streamlining the data collection process and allowing for easy distribution of accurate data to all your sales and marketing channels.
Collaboration And Efficiency Use
PIM offers a single source of truth for all product information. It automates tasks, streamlines workflows, and ensures consistent and accurate information, leading to smoother customer encounters. When current processes in the organization are moderate and wasteful, coming about in mistakes and delays like wrong depictions or outdated pricing.
Omnichannel Challenges
When a company comes up short of providing reliable brand involvement across multiple channels, such as websites, marketplaces, and social media, upgrading product content for diverse channels takes a lot of time. PIM encourages you to manage product content efficiently for each channel, ensuring consistency. It allows for quick and centralized updates to product information.
Marketing And Sales Struggles
Managing product information as the marketing and sales team grows is very important. PIM eliminates the hurdle of scattered product details by providing a central location and accelerating the process. Fostering this seamless integration between the marketing and sales departments results in better customer relationships and easier deal closing.
Data Inaccuracy And Costs
When you are using a traditional system in your workflow, there is a chance that the product information is outdated or that there is an error. PIM eliminates those errors and enhances data accuracy throughout the product lifecycle.
What Is The Best Product Information Management (PIM) Software For 2024?
There are many PIM software companies available in the market. To see who offers the best
integrations to make your PIM run without any error, check out our recommended list of suppliers.
How To Connect A PIM To Your Work Apps
With CI HUB, you can effortlessly connect your PIM system to your team's tools and applications. CI HUB successfully connects with apps like Google Workspace Apps, Figma, Layout, Adobe Inventive Cloud Devices, Microsoft 365, and others. CI HUB supports Hubspot, WordPress, Joomla, and other Content Management Systems.
