Why Your PIM Plays a Central Role in Managing Your Product Data
Why Do You Actually Need a PIM?
Why a PIM? PIM stands for "Product Information Management" – a system that allows you to manage your product data, which you then publish across your various sales channels.
These channels can include anything that regularly requires data: websites, catalogs, apps, or marketplaces like eBay or Amazon – whether printed or digital.
"Why up-to-date product data is crucial."
Product data essentially encompasses all data related to a product. For an engine, such attributes might include: performance, manufacturer, size, version, compatible models. But also images, synonyms, attributes, and anything else that controls output. It's crucial that your product data is kept up to date and consistent, and is organized in a way that allows it to be sorted, grouped, and output effectively.
If you’re now thinking, “Well, I already have all my data in my Enterprise Resource Planning tool (ERP),” we’d like to explain why it makes sense to separate the two systems.
How PIM and ERP Differ
At the beginning of many projects, we often hear from clients that all their data is already completely and correctly stored in their SAP system.
That’s great—if that’s the case for you as well. But as soon as you take a closer look, you’ll realize it makes sense to separate based on content and flexibility. In terms of content, your products naturally belong first in your SAP (or another ERP) system. But the relational knowledge in the ERP is more technical in nature and not optimized for sales.
“Why you should enrich your product data in the PIM.”
For example, in an ERP system, you typically need fewer translations and certainly fewer media assets—and once a product is released for sale, it rarely changes until the next phase of its lifecycle. It's different in a PIM: updating the product description might make sense, even if the product itself hasn't changed!
And a good PIM is designed to offer that kind of flexibility. That’s why you should first create your product data in the ERP and then transfer it into a PIM—where the refinement takes place!
When Success Brings Chaos
Let’s say your company is selling a product that’s in high demand: your sales team is pushing strong to stores, distributors, and marketplaces—across multiple countries.
Your company is doing great: you’ve got flyers, data sheets, you’re selling on Amazon, and you just launched your own online shop – all brand new!
“How to prevent costly data chaos.”
You're growing so quickly that there’s no time to keep track of what was changed, when, and by whom! Each channel has its own specific requirements—and possibly its own quirks. And your dealers in various countries need different info: in multiple languages, versions, and prices—sometimes even for legal reasons.
On top of that, more data keeps coming in: return info, reviews, and so on. Your business may be booming, but you're spending more and more time just trying to stay organized—because chaos is expensive. That’s usually when we step in, analyze your data and processes, and help bring order back to your operations.
Chaos in Your Product Data Threatens Your Success!
When we talk to marketing managers in large companies, one recurring issue always comes up: product data management!
When product managers, country reps, and marketing colleagues are sending Excel files back and forth, trying to maintain the correct data in what they hope is the latest version, it wastes time and resources—and jeopardizes your success. Why? Because these kinds of activities kill both creativity and motivation, and increase the risk of spreading incorrect or outdated data.
“Chaos in your product data costs you time and money!”
That means you're almost certainly slower than you could be—and that inevitably costs money. Fortunately, there are better ways. Imagine a system that keeps all your product data up-to-date and consistent across all channels—these systems exist!
Incorrect Data Leads to Unsatisfied Customers!
If you consider the issue of accurate data from a customer’s perspective, just imagine you’re trying to purchase a product and do some research beforehand.
And then you realize that the shop still lists last year’s data, incorrect accessories are shown, or the information is incomplete. Or the article number is wrong, you reorder the product—and then you receive the new version with the same item number. That’s frustrating, and you’ve probably experienced it yourself.
“Defined standards ensure the integrity and quality of your data.”
And that’s just the user side! When you think about all the other purposes for your data, it becomes clear why accurate data is so important. Keyword: Artificial Intelligence. The foundation of AI is correct data! And for that, you need defined standards. These standards determine the integrity and quality of your data, allowing you to retrieve it by content, by selection, by format—so you can publish across your channels with 90%, 95%, or even 100% accuracy at any time.
Accurate Data Is the Foundation for Accurate Output!
Detailed, well-structured, and easily findable product information is the best buying guide and usually increases the conversion rate in your shop.
And to ensure that the end customer sees exactly the products they are interested in, you need the attributes and features for those products—and then filters, configurators, and similar tools help narrow down the selection.
“Well-structured product information is the best buying guide.”
For this to work correctly, you need the right data. For example: Which products are even compatible with each other? What fits together? Do you have the correct data types for everything? And what if the market thinks in inches, but you want to sort numerically? You also need to define which attributes should be controlled by which filters in your shop—like radio buttons, sliders, etc.
With the appropriate rule sets, even highly complex variants can be described in a way that allows you to maintain them easily in your PIM and display them correctly in shop systems, marketplaces, and everywhere else.
Why Your PIM Is the Right System for Centralized Data Management
A website or online shop is of no use if it shows up on page five of Google search results. So how does this relate to a PIM and product management?
Ideally, your PIM is the system from which all the data used on your website, online store, and marketplaces originates. That includes information like titles, keywords, descriptions, and much more. Since every search is ultimately based on content—and because this content is reused across channels—it makes sense to incorporate that content early in the process, i.e., directly in the PIM!
“How you use your PIM affects your Google ranking.”
And if you can flexibly control which content goes where and what gets displayed on your website, that’s one less thing to worry about! If you also manage assortments in your PIM, you can even use that information to plan your SEA campaigns in advance—because you'll already know which product will go live when and in which country, and what its URL will be.
Why the PIM Plays an Important Role in Customer Experience
As a customer, I want my needs to be understood and to quickly find what I’m looking for. Customer experience therefore plays a key role in the decision-making and purchase process.
You might think this is the shop’s responsibility and primarily a matter of design and UX. That’s partly true: of course, design is important and must match your target audience. But beyond that, there are a few things you can—and must—get right already in the PIM and during data entry.
“Your PIM ensures that your customer feels understood and supported.”
If we understand our customer well enough—knowing where they encounter us and what their touchpoints are—we can already link product-related content properly in the PIM. This also means providing content the customer will see before purchasing: some is shown in the shop, some comes later, such as spare parts or maintenance schedules. If the customer feels supported not only in your shop, but also before and after the purchase, this will have a positive effect on your business—reducing return rates, increasing recommendations, and boosting sales!
Why You Should Consider Data Output When Choosing Your PIM
If you're looking for a suitable PIM system—a product management solution—it's important to know what such a system is capable of.
But even more important is understanding your own requirements for such a system and where your marketing is headed. If those two things align, you'll find the right system!
“Think about your PIM solution from the end goal backwards!”
From our perspective, the key questions should always be goal-oriented: What are your project goals? Which output channels do you need to serve? Which sales and marketing efforts do you want to support more effectively? What processes do you want to digitize—webshop, print catalog, marketplace? All of them? Or just one?
One piece of advice we give time and again: Try to approach the solution from the end—think about the output first, without getting lost in the details! No one wants a PIM system without also needing to publish the data. In our view, this is the most important aspect when choosing a system, because it helps keep the distinction between means and ends clear!
We Take Responsibility – Not Just for Your PIM, But for Your Entire Project!
If you’ve now realized that you really do need a PIM, it’s crucial that you don’t just implement any PIM you found on some shortlist after comparing Excel evaluations—you need a PIM that truly meets your requirements!
And I’d be happy if this is the point where we start a conversation. Why? Because with the combination of product, implementation, and output, we genuinely take responsibility for the whole—your entire project. And because we are very skilled at identifying complex problems and delivering results quickly.
“You need a PIM that truly meets your requirements!”
One example: You run a company with multiple brands, different corporate identities, numerous countries, translation processes, and you need a PIM, website output, interfaces to adjacent systems, and a cloud infrastructure.
We can map all of that with our PIM and our adjacent systems! This way, we cover everything you need to succeed—from setting up your products to publishing them!