PIM - efficient management of product information
PIM is about managing product information, but do you know when and why PIM originated? Here you get an insight into the history and possibilities of PIM
Product Information Management (PIM ) is a system or service that collects and manages all product information in one place. This includes descriptions, attributes such as color, size, volume, associated media, and a variety of other data.
In PIM, product information is enriched and optimised, search engine optimisation (SEO) is strengthened and relationships between products are created, which can then be divided into a number of channels for sales and marketing.
What challenge did PIM bring to the solution?
Until the 1990s, product information management was largely in the form of expensive paper catalogues, demanding to produce and at least as demanding to distribute effectively to existing and potential customers.
In the mid-2000s, PIM became a central service that enabled easy overview and efficient handling and sharing of product information, which is crucial for marketing and sales across channels such as physical stores, e-commerce and social media.
And with e-commerce, new needs arose that product data from ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) could not cover. To understand why, we need to understand the difference between ERP and PIM:
ERP is big data systems for resource planning, finance and administration. ERP is used to keep track of operations in the organization, in an overall system, rather than operating with many subsystems and can therefore be useful as a starting point for analysis and reporting. ERP aims to operate the entire business and the system is best at collecting data in, not for sharing data out to other services.
PIM focuses on the management of information about the products. Product descriptions and attributes such as; technical specifications, category affiliation, channel and location-specific data, language versions, marketing and sales data, images, documents and video related to the product.
In short, specific product data and enrichments that are not relevant to or belong in an ERP solution.
What is the definition of a PIM?
A PIM has some key features that define what it is and give a picture of what you should expect from a PIM system:
- Centralize and manage product information in one place, for easy organization and updating of product data. "One version of the truth" - one central source that has all the information about the product.
- Enrichment of product data, such as descriptions, technical data, media, and other attributes that provide a richer presentation of your products.
- Automation of processes related to qualitative product information. Reduce possible sources of error related to manual tasks.
- Support for multiple languages. Customized product information for all relevant markets and customers.
- Facilitate collaboration between different teams and suppliers. All parties involved can contribute and have access to up-to-date product information.
- Integrations and seamless sharing of product data to third-party applications for sales, marketing and great customer experiences.
Read more about: When do you need a PIM?
How we work with PIM in Epinova
At Epinova, we will have a smart approach to product information and are quick to adopt new technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline and improve the work with PIM. With our expertise and experience, we help companies implement and optimise the PIM solution.
In close cooperation with our customers, we tailor PIM to their needs and establish integrations to existing systems such as e-commerce platforms and CMS.
AI has exciting possibilities and can quality assure and automate PIM tasks such as categorisation, enrichment and translation of product data. Automations that free up time and resources for other tasks, such as ensuring customer loyalty and shopping cart value initiatives.
Epinova's advisors are dedicated to helping our customers take control of their own product information and succeed in an ever-changing e-commerce.
In summary about PIM
Product Information Management (PIM) is useful for companies that handle a large amount of products and product information, especially those that sell products through multiple channels (e.g. webshops, marketing platforms and brick-and-mortar stores). PIM is particularly valuable when there is a need to efficiently collect, organise, structure and distribute product data.
- PIM has proven indispensable in an ever-growing e-commerce industry where other systems (ERP) or manual handling do not solve the requirement for quality and efficient sharing of product information.
- In close cooperation with our customers and partners, Epinova tailors PIM solutions and integrations that ensure efficient and profitable handling of product information.