20 Things Your CEO Wants You To Know About Product Information Management

In the age of ever-growing amounts of data and new emerging marketplaces, brands’ and retailers’ need for automated PIM is ever-growing. Investing in a product information management system is an important step for your business that requires solid knowledge and preparation.

20 FAQ About Product Information Management

The answers to the most popular questions about the PIM system will help you understand how it can affect different areas of your business and how to choose the right PIM product.

1. What is product information management and why is it important?

Product information management (PIM) system is software that works as a single place to accumulate, manage, and distribute product data across different marketplaces. Using PIM significantly improves your product data feed quality, enhances the reliability of your brand, enables your team members to effectively communicate with each other, and boosts sales.

2. How does PIM work?

The main idea of PIM tools is that they are master systems for product data. That is, all the necessary information about the product should be stored in the PIM, and changed only in it. All other systems, such as a website, marketplaces, etc. already receive accurate product information through export from PIM. The functioning of the PIM system is divided into three major blocks: upload information, enrich and distribute product data & validate.

3. What are the benefits of quality product information management software?

The PIM solution increases the productivity and efficiency of the company, helping to provide consumers with high-quality, reliable, and enriched product information. The main advantages of using PIM systems include:

• Import data from any source and in any format.
• Reduce errors and reduce processing times.
• Data completeness and reliability control.
• Secure distribution of information among partners.
• Reduce time to market.
• Elimination of duplicates and data verification by using a single source of truth.
• Version control and publishing rules management.
• Reducing the cost of product data content management.
• Easy implementation of omnichannel sales.

4. What data can you manage with PIM?

The PIM system works with information about the product and is able to process the incoming and outgoing flow of various types of product content for various sales channels:

• Basic product data in PIM: SKUs, EAN/UPC, names, titles, manufacturers, brands, product descriptions, country of manufacture, and product type.
• Taxonomy and connections: categories, labels, variations.
• Specifications: logistics parameters, materials, ingredients, guarantees.
• Media files: images, videos, documents.
• Marketing data: keywords, audiences, unique selling proposition, SEO elements.
• Sales information: prices, reviews, analytics indicators.
• Specifications: style and size charts, designer notes, assembly instructions, and worksheets.
• Information related to a specific sales channel. These can be different categories of marketplaces, names for each of the sites, internal IDs, data on the number of characters in titles, the relationship between products, and a system for converting data on attribute values, characteristics, and descriptions of product cards.
• Localized information about multilingual copies, translations, and regional packaging formats.
• Supplier and manufacturer data: spreadsheets, certificates, production information, supplier data.

5. What does product taxonomy mean?

Product taxonomy is a logical structure used to organize your products and any related unstructured data. It simplifies the search for relevant information for buyers, which enhances users’ experience. Get acquainted with the differences between leading retailers’ taxonomy before planning to enter a new marketplace.

6. Which businesses need a PIM system?

A Product Information Management system is useful for retail companies where their product data is spread across multiple sales channels. Both small and big businesses, online retailers, manufacturers, product managers, and marketers will enjoy PIM benefits.

7. What teams Need a PIM System?

• Product manufacturers who need to convey information about products to their consumers as quickly and without errors as possible.
• Sales teams who constantly need an accurate product and material data to respond to customers.
• eCommerce managers who need to constantly update content, improve user experience and improve conversion rates.
• Marketing teams that need to manage large amounts of content to create and modify campaigns across multiple channels.
• Suppliers who need to add or update further details about their products, right from price to inventory volume.
• Procurement department that works with the collected product information, like prices, product quality criteria as well as contract details.

8. What are the must-have PIM features?

The required product information management features are simplicity of data import, automation of routine tasks, the multitude of PIM capabilities for data editing, all-seeing digital view of product information, the efficiency of creating product catalogs and managing product categories, automated product content analytics, and advanced data governance.

9. What are the differences between PIM and MDM or ERP?

The wide-reaching ERP system and master data management MDM software are used for high-level business management processes, while the PIM solution works directly with the product databases and has a more product-focused approach. Here you can find a comprehensive comparison of PIM, MDM, and ERP systems and read about product information management best practices that will help you choose the tailor-made software solution for your business. You can also be interested in Solution Comparison: Digital Asset Management DAM, PIM, MDM, ERP & PXM.

10. Is there any retail industry standard to exchange product information?

To avoid any misunderstanding, the companies use a product information exchange standard, such as ETIM (European Technical Information Model), which is very popular in the electronics industry. GDSN (Global Data Synchronization Network) is widely used in consumer electronics, healthcare, retail trade, and many other sectors. Implementing GDSN enables your business to synchronize high-quality information through various sales touchpoints.

11. How should one deliver product information to different sales channels simultaneously?

The product information delivery can be done manually or automated with the help of a PIM solution. The main challenges in delivering product data are complying with the requirements of each marketplace, avoiding data inaccuracies and inconsistencies, and keeping up with ever-changing updates of sales channels.

13. Do retailers have a master data model template for brands?

Various sales platforms have their own product data model, product catalog template, and product specification sheets to be filled in. In this analysis by Gepard, you can compare the master data management models of such major marketplaces like AliExpress, Amazon, Alibaba, and Best Buy; read there about amazon feed specification and retailers’ taxonomy of other major sales channels.

14. Where can one get product content?

Companies that want to sell on multiple channels, use a CSP (Content Service Provider). CSP offers a cloud-based platform with rich product content accessible to distributors and retailers. Here you can read more about what is a content provider and how to choose the most suitable one for your business.

15. How can you manage product sheets faster?

A dedicated PIM system helps manage product information sheets fast and without extra effort. With the automated data processes, the data errors are eliminated and the product information is valid and consistent. Read how to manage product data sheets six times faster and use your time for more creative tasks.

16. How can you plan a PIM launch without a headache?

It’s important to create a plan for flawless PIM implementation. It generally consists of PIM design and discovery sessions, building PIM architecture and data modeling, configuration and data migration, PIM integration, and defining output for the PIM system. The roadmap to PIM implementation can be different for various companies and depends on your business goals and expectations.

17. How can one sell on Amazon, Walmart, MediaMarkt, and BestBuy?

Amazon, BestBuy, MediaMarkt, and Walmart product content policy and data model structures are different from each other, so you’ll have to comply with all the requirements of these marketplaces. Our PIM & Syndication tool will help you structure your product data and match it with the hierarchies of sales channels you use.

18. How to calculate PIM ROI?

Measuring the ROI of PIM is important if you want to reveal the hidden value of PIM for your business and understand how product data quality influences your sales. Here we thoroughly explained how to calculate qualitative and quantitative ROI of product information management and how to measure cost reduction and sales growth after PIM implementation.

19. How to Choose the Right PIM Solution?

When choosing a PIM, it is important to choose a solution that can meet your needs today and will be able to meet them in the future. It is important to pay attention to the following criteria:

• System Flexibility – As your technical infrastructure and processes will evolve over the coming years, you need to make sure your PIM can evolve with your business.
• Compatibility – A key requirement for any PIM system should be whether or not it can interact with the current sources and recipients of the information.
• Usability – complex products will be hard for daily use, so they should be as simple as possible because they will be used by a large number of personnel with different qualifications.
• Automation – Choose a PIM that can do a certain part of the work for you, validate information, track the completeness of the catalog publication, and free up your marketing team to do more important and necessary tasks.
• Scaling – It is critical that your PIM can adapt to changes in your business processes, rather than trying to subjugate processes!

20. How to convince your CEO to invest in PIM?

Investing in a PIM solution should be worthwhile. Your CEO wants to be sure that PIM will improve data quality, reduce eCommerce product returns, and bring more sales. Download our in-depth e-book about the PIM system to learn why it’s much more than just product data management and how it can change your business.

Gepard PIM: A Game-Changer Solution for Your eCommerce Performance

Time-consuming data sheet management, lack of rich data, and inefficient product returns management are just some of the challenges that companies are facing nowadays.
Gepard PIM software is here to help you optimize your eCommerce performance with these effective features:

• PIM easily integrates with your software ecosystem.
• PIM enables automated data import.
• The validation workflow controls the quality of data and the process of content creation.
• The intuitive interface helps to involve non-technical users.
• The automated data transformation adapts your data for the right format of the respective sales channels or sales partners.
• User management enables you to assign roles within the PIM system and manage access rights.
• Automated content delivery ensures that the product data complies with the latest updates and requirements of your eCommerce distribution channels in use.

Are you ready to automate your managing product information and deliver an excellent shopping experience? Entrust this task with Gepard – a team of over 150 highly experienced marketers and developers, helping the major eCommerce players in the EMEA market for over 15 years.
Do not hesitate to fill in the contact form to discuss your specific needs with our dedicated eCommerce expert.