Product Information Management System: What is it and why is it important?

What is PIM?

Today, various e-commerce sites, other online channels, and mobile search are where consumers go when looking for product information. According to Retail Dive, more than 65% of consumers conduct product research online before setting foot in a store. More than 55% of consumers visit stores before shopping online, emphasizing the idea that seamless, high-touch physical omnichannel experiences are critical to modern retail. As a result of the changes in consumer behaviors and the increasing demand for seamless shopping experiences, digital marketing strategies have become widely used by businesses.

With the increasing use of digital, it has become important for all businesses to communicate consistent brand and accurate product information across the omnichannel landscape. Therefore, a product information management system is required to overcome the complexity and scale created by various offline and online channels.

PIM is widely used by e-commerce managers, online merchants, salespeople, and product managers who are always looking for friendlier tools that allow them to manage all their product information in one place without having to constantly ask colleagues and partners for information over the counter. through emails and calls. .

Why is PIM important?

The product information management system is necessary to manage the customer-oriented product strategy. This is because today’s consumers spend a lot of time researching a product online before making a purchase. Consequently, the need for high-quality product content has become more important for manufacturers, retailers, distributors, and CPG companies. Product description today has an important role to play in making an online sale happen.

In fact, retailers now prioritize online content enhancement over a variety of other merchandising ventures, such as product recommendation, A/B testing, and personalization. Here are the two main reasons why this is so:

• Having detailed product descriptions is the main differentiator in the customer experience. Studies have shown that 30% of US online adults would prefer to shop at online stores from which they have never made a purchase if the product information on the website is detailed.

• There is a new generation of buyers due to the increase in demand for high quality and consistent product information. As a result, 33% of channel strategy and e-business professionals listed investing in a product information management system as their top priority.

Why do companies invest in PIM?

The decision to purchase a PIM solution is not one size fits all. Retailer needs differ by industry and type of business. There are many scenarios that make customer-obsessed companies invest in PIM. Below are the main scenarios.

• The need for a single view of customer-facing product data. Companies that create their own products have used product information management systems since time immemorial to obtain supply chain-related data from the purchase side, such as product weight and dimensions. These companies also need the PIM for a repository for consumer-ready, approved, and trusted product content that is accessible throughout their enterprise to internal users and is also accessible to external channel partners such as resellers and retailers.

• Reduce the time it takes to market new products that have been launched. Manual processes make it difficult to simplify the goal of designing, creating, publishing and approving. PIM helps automate most of the processes needed in product creation.

• To be able to support larger product catalogues. PIM offers scalable solutions that allow companies to increase their SKUs and products without worrying about the scalability of the system.

• To support the increasingly demanding channels of distribution partners. PIM provides the ability to manage product content unique to each channel partner and the necessary tools to syndicate product content to the required pre-defined specifications.

• To ensure a consistent customer experience across all channels.