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ERPs vs APIs: Why your product data needs more than one hero

Enterprise software loves a silver bullet solution, but let’s face it – when it comes to managing your product data there are a couple of hard truths: your ERP simply can’t do it all, and your APIs can’t do it alone.

Today, it’s a multi-channel, multi-format, multi-stakeholder world, so the way you manage your product information needs to be smarter, faster, and far more flexible than most legacy systems were ever designed to manage. That’s why APIs have come to the fore and, alongside a dedicated PIM (Product Information Management) solution, is the real most valuable piece in your tech stack.

Our article looks at ERP vs API, not as a showdown between the two, but as a team-up: the secret is knowing how to make them work for you.

Table of Contents

What your ERP is (and what it isn’t)

An ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning system) is the central nervous system of your business. It connects finance, inventory, procurement, sales, and supply chain into one big, harmonious(mostly) system. When it comes to product data, it’s historically where things like SKUs, stock levels, and supplier codes have tended to live.

But here’s the elephant in the room:

ERPs were built to run operations, not enrich product data. They’re extremely good at controlling internal processes, but not so agile when it comes to handling complex, variable, channel-specific content and dynamic assets like marketing copy, imagery, localised data, or SEO fields. What’s more, integrating with modern tools or marketplaces is hardly ever as easy as plug-and-play.

What APIs really do

An API (Application Programming Interface) is the glue that connects your business systems, acting as a messenger, translator and enabler rolled into one. While your ERP holds the data, APIs make sure it doesn’t get siloed – they move information between systems, so everything stays in sync.

What APIs don’t do is actually store or manage data. They connect systems that do. In an environment where product data needs to be moved quickly and accurately across multiple touchpoints, which makes them the key enabler.

APIs bring the following to the party:

  • Real-time data flow: They enable instant updates between systems, so when a product’s price or availability changes in your ERP, that change can reflect immediately on your eCommerce site, marketplace listings, or internal dashboards.
  • Channel synchronisation: APIs allow your product data to be pushed (or pulled) across all your touchpoints, whether that’s Shopify, Amazon, Magento, Salesforce, or a mobile app. This capacity keeps everything consistent and up to date.
  • Legacy integration made modern: So many businesses have on-premises ERPs or older systems which don’t adapt well with cloud platforms? APIs can kill this bugbear by acting as a modern workaround, connecting any given legacy stack with today’s digital tools, all without the need for a total overhaul.
  • Data automation: Rather than relying on human input and flat-file uploads, APIs can automate repetitive tasks. For instance, syncing product descriptions, pushing updates, and flagging changes across systems – all these without the need for manual reworkings.
  • Flexibility and scale: The flexibility of APIs lets you bolt on new tools, services, or partners without needing to rebuild the entire architecture. So, if you want to add a new sales channel or supplier, it’s as easy as plugging in the API, mapping your data, and you’re good to go.
  • Improved customer experience: The more seamless your data pipeline, the smoother the customer journey. Accurate specs, correct pricing, updated in-stock status are all areas where APIs help ensure what the customer sees is what they can be sure they will get.
  • Reduced risk of human error: By cutting out manual data handling, APIs reduce the chance of inconsistencies, outdated info, or overlooked updates, all of which damage trust in the brand as well as hitting sales.
  • Faster time-to-market: As your data is flowing freely and automatically to where it needs to be available, internal teams can launch products faster, respond to market changes quicker, and scale into new regions or platforms with confidence.


So, as you see, APIs don’t just exist to connect your systems: They actually free up your product data to work harder, circulate further to those needing it, and stay accurate throughout the entire customer journey.

Why a PIM system completes the triangle

Let’s say your ERP is a storage tank. That makes your APIs the pipes, and when it comes to your PIM system. That’s the control centre, where raw product data is turned into rich, channel-ready content.

ERPs are designed for operational data: SKUs, stock levels, supplier references, purchase orders. That’s their strength. But as we’ve said, they’re not built to manage the complex, dynamic, and often messy world of product content which today’s buyers expect. Think of what’s involved in creating the ideal product page – Product titles, long and short descriptions, technical attributes, safety documentation, lifestyle imagery, regional regulations, translated content, SEO metadata. An ERP wasn’t designed to be capable of managing all these elements. PIM can do it all, acting as the single source of truth for product content (not just raw product data). It is the go-to place for your teams to manage, enrich, validate, and publish consistent, accurate, and compelling product information at scale.

A modern PIM system delivers the following:

  • Centralised enrichment hub: PIM systems allow you to pull in raw product data from your ERP or supplier feeds and enhance it with marketing copy, digital assets, categorisation, and localised variations, all in one place.
  • Multi-channel readiness: Your B2B or B2C customers, your eCommerce platform, your printed catalogue, and your marketplace listings all require different formats, structures, levels of detail, and regulatory conformity. A PIM makes it easy to tailor product data for each channel without having to duplicate effort and run the risk of losing control.
  • Governance and quality control: Internal workflows, validation rules and completeness scores, all need some kind of framework for establishing quality standards before product data is published. A PIM offers robust support to make sure product content meets these stipulations. That means no more second-guessing what’s gone live, and where.
  • Faster onboarding and time to market: At any given moment, businesses are launching a new product range or onboarding hundreds or even thousands of SKUs from suppliers, and a PIM tool can streamline those processes while minimising errors, duplication, and rework.
  • Collaboration and visibility: Multiple departments – marketing, product management, compliance, IT to name a few – can all work from the same platform, with role-based permissions for access and real-time updates. All in all, this generates complete transparency across the content lifecycle.
  • Scalability for future growth: As your product catalogue grows or your channel footprint expands into new regions, languages, or digital platforms, your PIM scales alongside. There’s no need to retrofit unwieldy spreadsheets or overload your ERP with content which it was never meant to hold.
  • Audit and compliance readiness: Today’s product content is replete with not only essential but obligatory information. Whether it’s allergen disclosures, regulatory certifications for specific industries, sustainability credentials, or regional regulatory metadata, a PIM helps you track and manage this critical product information. Thus, product data is always ready for scrutiny, be it from a regulator, a retailer, or a customer.

So, a PIM solution isn’t there to replace your ERP but complement it. It takes structured operational data and transforms it into enriched content fit to light up any digital shelf. It’s through APIs that it is able to connect seamlessly with the rest of your stack: pulling from ERP, pushing to eCommerce, syndicating to marketplaces, and aligning with internal systems like DAM or CRM.

At a strategic level, a PIM is the support infrastructure that enables your business to deliver higher-quality customer experiences, reduce to a minimum internal process bottlenecks and human error, and respond with agility as your product data ecosystem evolves. When you implement a PIM with a clear roadmap and the right guidance, it becomes one of the most valuable assets in your digital tool bag.

So, ERP or API? Neither...and both.

You don’t have to throw out your ERP with the bathwater. Neither do you need to build a dozen integrations from scratch. What you do need is a product data strategy which reflects how your business actually operates – and how you want it to operate.

That means:

Using ERP as the single source of operational truth
Using APIs to enable data flow between systems in real-time
Using a PIM to manage, enrich and publish product content that sells

Get those three drivers working in harmony, and product data management stops being a bottlenecking headache and becomes a competitive advantage.

A final thought (and a nudge)

Most ERP projects fail not because the technology is bad, but because expectations are misplaced regarding what is expected of an ERP. The modern digital ecosystem has partly been reflected in the complexity of product data across eCommerce, retail, distribution and beyond and your data architecture and systems must reflect that if you’re to stay competitive.

If you’re wrestling with inconsistent product data, sluggish onboarding, or a tech stack that seems more like spaghetti junction during a traffic jam than a clearly thought-out smart motorway, think more strategically.

Get in touch with us at Start with Data and let’s talk in more depth about your circumstances, and how we can support your journey to digital excellence. We’re the experts in all things product data management, from PIM implementation, and management, to content creation, to agility in supplier data onboarding. We’re perfectly placed to help you make your ERP, your APIs, and your product content finally establish the most harmonious of relationships!

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