Is it ‘PIM time’ for your eCommerce?
In this day and age, onboarding, processing, enriching, and distributing product information is still a time-consuming, frustrating, and never-ending affair for the majority of product-centric companies. If that’s what you’re doing at present, warning bells should be ringing – it doesn’t have to be like this!
When should you implement PIM for your eCommerce business?
eCommerce is burgeoning, and rich product data is key to eCommerce success. Complete, correct, and relevant product information removes uncertainty and helps consumers make informed buying decisions. Giving your customers a strong reason to trust the information you provide them with will contribute towards more conversions, greater AOV, and fewer returns. As your business grows it’s important to consider how you manage your product data.
You might be managing your data in Excel or an ERP system. But to really harness the awesome potential of your products, you need software that’s designed to manage product data. This is where Product Information Management (PIM) shines.
Download our free PIM Buyers Guide
How do I know if I need a PIM solution?
Some of the tell-tale signs of a product-centric company struggling to manage its ever-increasing product data streams are:
- You are drowning in spreadsheets and spending vast amounts of unprofitable time manually transferring data from them to your own formatting
- You’re never sure what information is ‘right’ or definitive – it’s done on a wing and a prayer as often as not
- Your teams are spending far too much time updating information on channels
- You have an unacceptably high volume of returns
- People who convert like what they buy, but ecommerce traffic and conversions rates are lower than you want
These are just examples of some of the problems which a PIM solution is there to solve. So, if you’re
- managing thousands of SKUs
- wanting to create exceptional shopping experiences for your customers
- actively selling through multiple channels across multiple touchpoints
- planning to expand across territories and markets
- looking to significantly reduce product return rates
…it really is PIM time. It’s a crowded market for sellers in general, so make sure your products are visible to the right people with the enhanced SEO capabilities a PIM solution offers. It’s a solution which will seamlessly integrate with an existing tech stack and enables you to create fully enriched and consistent data across all your channels on a sustainable and expandable basis.
Multiple channels, omnichannel
If you want to grow your business into new territories, or significantly expand the number of SKUs and categories you want to offer, you need a scaleable solution Expanding the channels through which you sell your products also implies developing into mobile. Why? It is fast becoming the device of choice for accessing the big eCommerce channels. Trends indicate that mCommerce will likely account for nearly half the eCommerce market within the next three years. That suggests that omnichannel eCommerce is becoming well and truly embedded in purchasing habits worldwide – and that isn’t just B2C. An increasing number of purchasers in B2B are expecting as standard the same omnichannel experience they get from retail.
Rich product content is at the heart of the customer experience. Detailed product descriptions, high-quality images and accurate measurements contribute towards a compelling and persuasive shopping experience. Help your customers make the purchase and even cross-sell them more.
Extending reach, going mobile
If you want to grow your business into new territories, or significantly expand the number of SKUs and categories you want to offer, you need ease of scalability. Expanding the channels through which you sell your products also implies developing into mobile.
If you are struggling with time, cost, and speed now, imagine the situation in a few months’ time. Companies which implement a PIM solution are fast getting ahead of the pack when it comes to providing:
- absolute certainty about the quality of the information they are syndicating
- suitably enriched product information – neither too much nor too little – formatted for consistency across all channels
- an exciting and persuasive customer experience which leads to greater conversion rates
- speedy TTM for new products
Download our free PIM Buyers Guide
Reducing product return rates
Earlier, we mentioned the collateral damage of poor-quality product information: product returns. Never underestimate the volume and consequent costs of using product data to distribute information which is neither accurate, relevant, or consistent. This quality problem is costing businesses billions global (dollar, pounds, euros – it’s still a lot of wasted money) Why would you return a product? Dissatisfaction is the main reason, and that is frequently driven by what’s construed as misleading information – what you bought doesn’t match with that information and therefore doesn’t meet your expectations. For instance, a quarter of returns are caused by a mismatch between what the product looks like online, and what you were expecting.
You need a PIM solution because it provides clear visibility of your product data and gives you oversight throughout all stages of the product data lifecycle. That way, your teams are not spending time manually rectifying defectively enriched product information (be it text, video, images, or audio).
We’re ready when you are!
A PIM solution provides one centralised hub for all your product data, so if you want to push products out to market with the minimum of fuss, conquer the world or add new channels easily, turbo-boost the performance of your digital shelf by implementing a PIM solution. Alongside our vendor partners, Start with Data PIM consultancy services provide wrap-around services or discrete expertise in the entire value chain of processes needed to ensure a PIM implementation leaves you ready to hit the ground running.
Contact us to arrange a conversation about what we can do to help you achieve improvements in operational efficiency, product data management and your longer-term business strategy.