When Should Companies Implement a PIM Solution?

Today various e-commerce sites use product information management or PIM that is designed to manage information centrally. The information is related to various products. We are talking about managing your product details, product images, product naming conventions, and product descriptions. 

According to Business2Community news portal, more than 51% of consumers said the biggest drawbacks of online shopping is not being able to have correct product information, touch, feel, and try a product, followed by lack of physical shopping experience, lack of interactivity, and delay in delivery.

As a result of changing consumer behaviors and increasing demand for seamless digital shopping experiences, businesses have started using robust PIM solutions.

PIM solution is widely used by e-commerce companies, product managers, and marketers, who are always in search of tools to manage all their product information in one place without constantly coordinating for data from partners, employees, and colleagues via calls or emails.

The product information management system or PIM solution is necessary for managing the customer-facing product strategy. This is because consumers today 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, and distributors. The product information today has a big role to play to make a sale happen online.

As a matter of fact, retailers are now giving priority to digital experience platforms (DXPs) like PIM, DAM, and CMS over a range of other merchandising tools like a product recommendation, A/B testing tools, and personalization tools.

Having detailed product descriptions is the main requirement of an e-commerce site. Studies have shown that 30% of the online consumers in the USA would prefer shopping from online stores if the product information on the website is detailed and accurate.

There is a new breed of buyers due to the increase in the demand for high-quality and consistent product information. As a result, 33% of omnichannel strategy professionals and businesses cited that investing in product information management systems is their top priority.

“When should you consider implementing a PIM solution in your company?” This is one of the most commonly asked questions asked by modern retailers. We decided to answer this question in a detailed and simple way possible.

The decision to implement a PIM solution is not the same for everyone in the business industry. The needs of retailers differ depending on industry type and business.  There are many scenarios that cause online retailers and businesses to make an investment in the PIM solution. Below are the main scenarios.

Omnichannel is for a more organized and more effective multi-channel experience. Industry experts say it provides the physical interaction and personalized service that many people miss when shopping online. A news report published by PRNewswire says that 87 percent of online retailers agree omnichannel is critical to their business.

So how can the Omnichannel strategy be achieved? First of all everything from everywhere needs to be measured on your e-commerce site, then that information needs to be sorted and understood. Lastly, that information needs to be applied to each customer's behavior and activities. Today, the customer expects the digital and in-store experiences to interact seamlessly. And businesses that implement PIM solutions make it happen in a smart and structured way.

Product Information Management (PIM) solution is important for centralizing, organizing, categorizing, and localizing product data. But do you know PIM solution can also enhance the customer experience significantly? A market study report by Walker Group, states that By the end of 2020 customer experience will take over price and product. The same report suggests that 86% of buyers will pay more for better customer experience.

Having a good PIM solution implemented on your e-commerce site means that all relevant data will always be online, detailed, consistent, always up to date and extremely valuable. The rich product information cuts down the online shopping cart abandonment rate and enhances the shopping experience.

Additionally, with PIM solution implemented, your staff can serve customers better by providing the relevant information, removing buying obstacles, leading them further along the sales cycle, whether they call your customer service or visit a store.

PIM not only improves the product information but also streamlines business processes and allows you to manage every aspect of master data management such as data structure, product hierarchy, validations, approval, and enriching the product information with correct descriptions, attributes, images, documentation, and other related components much faster.

Meaning, you can onboard new products for your customers much quicker and with less effort.

A multichannel strategy allows presenting your products on all available marketing channels. Today, according to a recent report on shopping behavior research, up to 51 percent of companies use multiple channels (at least 8 channels) to interact with their customers.

Often e-commerce organizations struggle with handling the diverse data needs of various channels and properly distributing the data across those channels. It can be a real challenge. PIM helps overcome this challenge since all of your product data is stored in a commonplace and then distributed across all your channels. The need for manual updates and the inconsistencies that come with it across your many channels is no longer needed.

Therefore, to become a successful e-commerce entrepreneur, you need to allow your customers to interact with products in a more natural way through a medium. This might be an e-shop, online marketplaces like Flipkart or Amazon, comparison shopping sites, social media or a printed product catalog.

You know that growing your product catalog comes with system challenges. Managing hundreds or thousands of SKUs is one of them. At this stage, choosing a PIM solution for your e-commerce business is definitely the key to keeping your growing number of SKUs in order. A PIM solution allows you to easily scale up and import a million SKUs from your ERP without having any technical difficulties.

A PIM stores the basic information about a product, including its name, price, SKU, and description. But it can also handle information, such as product specifications, product stores, information on suppliers and sales channels, and anything else that could be relevant to your e-commerce store.

The goal is that everything anyone could need to know about that item will be stored in one place, instead of in separate files. The information should be easily searchable and organized into categories. It should also be simple to upload, edit, or export info as needed.

International sales are becoming more and more important for e-commerce companies. And when it comes to PIM solution, it allows companies to quickly scale their catalogs and spread product information to international channels.

At present, e-commerce companies that are willing to extend their reach to important retail markets in Mexico, Philippines, Indonesia, India, United Arab Emirates, and Mexico can provide customers with product-related content translated into the proper language and can meet local payment preferences by using a PIM solution.

You also need to know what product information needs to be localized. PIM allows teams to work in a collaborative manner using customized workflows to ensure high-quality product information is ready to be published in a particular region.

PIM solution gives you the ability to export the right information for the right channel, right region, and localize product information to more efficiently meet the needs of cross-border e-commerce. All these benefits give your business a better time-to-market and opportunities to pursue sales growth to customers around the world.

The product information management system is a great investment you can make to your e-commerce business. You just need to pick the right solution that suits your business.

So, are you interested in implementing a product information management solution (PIM solution) for your e-commerce business, but not sure where to start? Get in touch with PIM solution providers to solve your queries and questions related to PIM, DAM, CMS, and e-commerce solutions.