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19 features that make a PIM a worthwhile investment

If business is getting stronger, you’re probably managing a growing product catalogue across multiple sales channels. But there’s an impending storm. Your spreadsheets are multiplying, your supplier data arrives in six different formats (none of them especially helpful), and your team is starting to sink into a mire of manual updating. Does that sound familiar?

It’s a Product Information Management (PIM) platform that can turn that kind of disorder into smooth and seamless. Having said that, not every system is created equal. Some come with bells and whistles – all well and good, but you may never need to use them. Other solutions fall short on the fundamentals. So, how do you choose a PIM that will genuinely make a difference?

Below, we outline the 19 features which separate a worthwhile investment from just another software subscription. The following aren’t just ‘good-to-haves.’ They’re what unlock the capabilities which will drive sustainable growth, enhance efficiency, and grease the wheels of digital transformation for product-led businesses.

Here are the 19 features embedded in the chronology of a PIM journey.

Table of Contents

Getting your data in: Import, onboarding, and integration

1. Flexible data import
Your product data doesn’t march in like a well-drilled regiment. It arrives in CSVs, Excel files, XML feeds, and sometimes, even scrawled in the margins of PDFs. A good PIM handles all of it: scheduled imports, drag-and-drop uploads, parsing from URLs, and more. The more adaptable your import options, the faster you can centralise your data and eliminate the potential for manual bottlenecks.

2. API connectivity
Your PIM doesn’t live in a vacuum. It integrates with your stack, plugging seamlessly into your ERP, MDM, CRM, eCommerce platforms, and even supplier systems. A clean, stable API means you can automate data flows and eliminate rekeying. It not only saves your people hours of manual effort, but reduces errors and ensures everyone, from your warehouse to your website, is working from the same script where product data is concerned.

3. Supplier data mapping
Suppliers tend to have their own way of doing things, and it rarely matches yours. A quality PIM allows you to transform and standardise suppliers’ incoming data to fit with your internal model, like a universal translator for product specs. The best systems let you automate this transformation with reusable templates and validation rules, so that your supplier onboarding process can scale with you.

Building structure: Product taxonomy and hierarchy

4. Attribute management
Every product is defined by its attributes: dimensions, materials, colours, compatibility, and so on. Your PIM needs to let you create and organise these flexibly, using appropriate data types and consistent naming conventions. The PIM gets a bonus point if it makes them easily searchable. Having a rich, well-managed attribute system makes it far easier to filter, search more accurately, and generate much more relevant product content for your target purchasers.

5. Attribute grouping
Tidiness and order matter. Attribute groups help you to keep fields logical and manageable: For instance, one group for technical specs, another for shipping, another for care instructions. It keeps data entry smooth and the UX sharp. With logical groupings, both your internal teams and your customers will make better-informed and faster decisions – precisely what you need in this challenging operating landscape.

6. Customisable categories and taxonomy
You need a hierarchy which reflects how your customers browse and how your business operates. Whether you follow GS1 standards or your own logic, the PIM should enable you to build a structure that fits your world. A flexible taxonomy also supports your expansion into new markets or verticals. A fit-for-(your)-purpose system should grow alongside you.

7. Product relationships and variants
Whether it’s a power drill with accessories, a t-shirt in three sizes and six colours, or a bundled product kit, your PIM should be capable of handling complex relationships easily – parent-child SKUs, cross-sells, upsells, and related items. When configured suitably, these relationships will improve navigation, increase average order value, and give buyers a richer product and customer experience.

Enhancing your data: Enrichment and quality

8. Bulk and inline editing
If updating product data sometimes feels like swimming in treacle, you’re not doing it right! Bulk editing and inline updates are what you need to help you fix 1,000 SKUs in seconds, rather than days. Filters, views, and spreadsheet-style flexibility should be the norm, especially useful during seasonal updates, product launches, or when cleaning up legacy data.

9. Data validation and completeness rules
An incomplete description or a missing price will no longer hold up a launch. This feature enables your PIM to flag incomplete or invalid entries, based on rules you’ve defined – for example, making weight mandatory for all shipping products. These rules enforce standards and mean you are always publishing content that’s accurate, complete, and channel-ready.

10. AI-driven content generation
Imagine you need to create 1,000 product descriptions in five languages by next Tuesday? It’s AI which helps you scale. Make sure to look for tools which can generate, enhance, or localise content because that gives your team a strong starting point and keeps your brand voice consistent. AI can also help with SEO readiness and tone adaptation for your various channels.

11. Computed attributes
Why not let the system do the maths? Whether it’s unit price, shipping weight range, or calculated lead times, computed attributes reduce errors and eliminate tedious data entry. They also guarantee you consistency across products, allowing your teams to focus on quality rather than quantity.

12. Multilingual support
Managing multiple languages in spreadsheets can be filled with perils and pitfalls. A PIM with proper multilingual support centralises translations and makes your data consistent across all markets. Focus on features like translation memory, field-level localisation, and regional formatting options.

Managing digital assets: Media and documentation​

13. Integrated Digital Asset Management (DAM)
No more will you waste time rifling through email attachments or shared drives. Your PIM should include or integrate with a DAM, making it easy to upload, tag, and associate images, videos, 3D renders, and spec sheets to products. A well-integrated DAM also enables version control as well as eliminating duplicate assets.

14. Custom asset formatting
Amazon wants JPEGs at 1000px. Your CMS wants PNGs. So, you need your PIM to be able to reformat and resize assets per channel…automatically. For you, that means less time fiddling around with Photoshop and more time going live. Investigate batch processing, cropping presets, and channel-specific templates.

15. Media-product linking
It might sound basic, but many systems get this wrong. Your PIM should support multiple asset types (gallery views, lifestyle shots, 360s) and link them cleanly to products without confusion or duplication. Rich visual content enhances customer engagement and gives them more reason to convert.

Keeping control: Governance, workflows, and accountability

16. Role-based permissions
Different teams require different levels of access. Your PIM should let you define user roles and restrict editing rights by category, attribute, or workflow stage. Thus, you can protect data integrity and speed up collaboration among teams. Moreover, it ensures that compliance-sensitive data is restricted to those with the right to oversee it.

17. Workflow automation and notifications
It’s axiomatic that manual processing causes bottlenecks, so you need a PIM which enables you to automate enrichment workflows, set triggers for approvals, and make sure the right people are notified at the right time. Do this and you’ll streamline team handoffs, guarantee accountability, and speed up product readiness.

18. Change tracking and version control
At a given moment, you’ll need to know who renamed a SKU or deleted a product image. By having change logs and audit trails available, you can trace data history, roll back errors, and maintain robust governance. This is a crucial element in ensuring regulatory compliance, as well as conducting internal reviews and post-mortems on any content issues.

Reaching your audience: Syndication and scale​

19. Sales channel syndication
Once your data’s ready, it needs to get out and about. Whatever the destination – Amazon, Shopify, ERP, printed catalogues, social platforms, to name a few – a good PIM will enable you to map, transform, and publish content across all channels without having to start from scratch every time. This feature alone can save you thousands of hours annually by eliminating manual reformatting and re-entry.

The right features. The right partner

So, in summary, selecting a PIM isn’t about ticking every feature box. It’s about solving the product data headaches that are slowing your business down, from wrangling supplier spreadsheets to maintaining consistent global content.

At Start with Data, our mission is to support and partner with businesses in choosing, implementing, and optimising the right PIM for their specific needs. We cut through the background noise, focus on targeted outcomes, and ensure your investment delivers genuine, measurable results.

Are you ready to leverage that product data to get your bottom line where you want it to be?​

We can audit your current setup, identify your pain points, and build you a tailored feature checklist based on your business. The right, the best PIM for you won’t just store your data. It’ll help you scale, streamline, and sell smarter. Contact us today and we can have a more in-depth conversation about how best to get started.

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