Digital Asset Management

Why Your Business Needs PIM for E-commerce

August 3, 2020 4 minute read

What is PIM and how can it help your e-commerce business? Learn the benefits and best uses of product information management here.

In today’s digital landscape, staying ahead of the curve is more important than ever as brands vie for profitability in a crowded, competitive online marketplace. Finding an effective approach to managing product information is critical...it allows you to be confident that your product data is complete, consistent, and up-to-date at every stage of the process.

A product information management (PIM) system can help you manage data associated with your product lines. PIM e-commerce solutions offer significant benefits that can promote higher profitability in today's fiercely cutthroat consumer and B2B markets.

What is PIM?

Product information management, more commonly known as PIM, is the process of collecting and managing all the needed information — from descriptions to images and more — about a given product, in one central place. Consolidating your product data more effectively allows you to save time at every step across the marketing process.

A PIM e-commerce solution creates efficiency when updating existing product information, as well as when adding new products to your online platforms and sales channels. And, it better ensures that your customers have access to the right information about your products when they are ready to purchase, regardless of what sales channel they are on.

PIM differs from both product lifecycle management (PLM) and master data management (MDM) in significant ways. To learn more about PIM and how it compares with MDM, check out this in-depth comparison article.

The PIM e-commerce connection: why your business needs product information management

Implementing a PIM system for e-commerce can help your company reach more customers with the information they need to make a purchasing decision. PIM solutions can provide the following four major benefits for your business.

Establish a single source for product information

Product information comes from numerous departments and tools. Instead of individuals across teams manually pulling data from multiple systems and creating unwieldy spreadsheets, a PIM system brings the raw product specifications, marketing copy, and creative assets together. Data can be automatically ingested from sources like an enterprise resource planning (ERP) or added into the PIM directly.

The primary records of your products in the PIM system are then exported to quickly populate your e-commerce website, marketplaces, and social media shops. And any corrections, updates, or adjustments made to these records are applied across the board for all product lines on all sales channels.

Go to market faster

Whether you’re launching a new product or sales channel, your time to market determines when you start generating revenue. PIM solutions make it possible to manage product data efficiently. Instead of marketing and e-commerce teams waiting on requests for product information from the ERP, they can proactively find it in the PIM system. It also reduces the long email threads and confusion around where to find the most up-to-date information. Plus, integrations minimize the busywork by plugging information and assets into other marketing technology (martech) systems.

Automating workflows reduces the need for manual data entry, allowing teams to launch and maintain new products and sales channels faster.

Improve quality and consistency of product data

Incorrect or incomplete product data costs your company sales and increases returns, drastically reducing overall profits. Because PIM solutions allow you to ingest, add, and review data in one system, you’ll improve the quality and consistency of your product data. Any changes made in the PIM system can be published across your e-commerce platforms. Your accurate, up-to-date information will help build your reputation as a reliable brand.

Create more effective marketing strategies

According to Salesforce’s State of Marketing report, 84% of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products and services. With today’s customers using multiple channels, it’s never been more important to provide a unified experience across customer touchpoints. Establishing one source for your product data will allow you to enhance the user experience for your customers by ensuring they receive accurate, current information at every step of the purchasing process.

Get started with PIM today

At Acquia, we specialize in simplifying how content is delivered to market. Our combined digital asset management (DAM) and PIM platform brings your product specifications, marketing copy, and digital assets into one flexible, scalable system. Request, watch, or click through a demo to discover why some of the top brands around the world trust Acquia DAM (Widen) for their content management and distribution needs.