PIM Shopify Integration
What is Shopify?
Shopify is the biggest and most recognisable worldwide brand for ecommerce and is regarded as among the best online e-commerce platforms for setting up a business in a very short time. It provides users with security, customer support, and marketing tools. Most add-ons on the platform are based on a monthly subscription payment model.
The challenges of the Shopify web shop
An omnichannel retailer needs to be able to manage various channel types simultaneously. Shopify is seen as limited in terms of easily creating different storefronts created for a single merchant.
Shopify doesn’t provide marketing automation as part of its plans, but a PIM can provide the basis for automated marketing tasks.
Shopify is not a content management system, so a PIM becomes essential for managing not only product content (key information), but also digital assets like videos and image carousels to provide rich content.
How does PIM for Shopify enhance performance?
In general terms, a PIM Shopify integration will provide the following improvements to the user experience:
Product data quality – centralised source for verifiably high-quality data
Digital asset management – easily manageable enrichment of product pages to enhance customer experience
Searchability – optimal quality data means greater effect for SEO
Consistency – omnichannel merchants can guarantee consistency of information (and quality) across multiple channels
Time saved – automated processes mean faster time to market, greater efficiency in workflows and a more coherent approach to product content marketing. For the customer, it means a better experience in terms of being able to make an informed purchasing decision based on accurate information.
What kind of integrations exist between Shopify and PIM?
How API connectors drive enhanced Shopify performance
API connectors create a tight integration between Shopify and the range of PIM systems on the market, so eCommerce merchants can automate transfer of high-quality product content from the PIM to Shopify storefronts. Elements like product categories, standard attributes, meta fields, product variants, and digital assets like images and videos.
Modern PIM solutions use ‘headless’ APIs (application programming interfaces) to integrate with other systems – these access web services and databases from the back end allow developers to create dynamic applications without needing to design and build an entire user interface. As APIs can also be deployed in different contexts, such as mobile apps, IoT devices, and virtual reality applications. The modern PIM Shopify integration model enables the connectivity for customised, unified, and highly efficient ecommerce operations.
Standardised and consistent product Information A PIM creates a single golden record of product data. One centralised hub to facilitate the synergy between a proven eCommerce platform like Shopify and the suite of functionalities offered by a modern PIM solution.
Automation: A PIM saves an enormous amount of time on Shopify. Automated import of product data and information means no need for manually processing each SKU – the system does all these tasks for you.
Quick launches for new products: A PIM’s capacity for business process management and workflow optimisation offers flexibility when organising structured and unstructured data. It also facilitates automation for business users and helps to minimise time-to-market by implementing advanced rule engines to have the right checks and validations in place to activate notifications and ensure efficient pursuit of workflow steps.
Product information – accuracy, consistency, richness: A PIM system ensures that product content is consistent across whatever platform used. Users can apply settings for validation and permissions, which guarantee absence of errors in the product data itself.
Easier navigation: integrating a PIM with Shopify helps visitors find their way round your online shop – better quality data means you apply filtering, searching and categories which facilitate a positive browsing, research and purchasing experience.
Search ranking: PIM improves a business’s SEO strategy, as accurate, consistent, and high-quality product information means consumers can interact effectively with brands to discover, search, compare and buy products more easily.
What are the main advantages of PIM-Shopify integration?
The main advantage of a PIM Shopify integration is how your teams can control, manage, analyse, and update all the data points in your product catalog, including but not limited to:
- SKUs
- GTIN numbers
- Images and videos
- Height and weight specifications
- Geographic or industry-specific regulatory requirements
If you can integrate high-quality product data across all channels and platforms, you are generating a consistent and uniform brand message that is easily identifiable by your customers, regardless of the channels they use.
Additionally, business users can track all catalogs and inventory records in real-time and automatically program updated information to be distributed across channels instantly. From a single platform, PIM users can manage and optimise large volumes of of SKUs, digital assets, and product data, to ensure consistency across all distribution channels.
So, when you integrate your PIM with a Shopify platform, you are:
- Providing a centralised database for all product information
- Enabling comprehensive visibility of all products
- Removing manual tasks when creating and maintaining product and pricing lists in Excel
- Reducing routine data entry tasks (with their associated risk of manual errors)
- Ensuring consistency of product catalogs across all integrated systems and sales channels
- Reducing operational costs
- Improving the speed and accuracy of decision-making (your users and customers)
- Increasing revenue opportunities by getting to market faster
- Streamlining operational workflows and processes
There’s much to gain from PIM integration with a major marketplace that has global reach (and its own brand recognition). Even for businesses with large and complex inventories with multiple SKUs and variants, PIM Shopify integration can empower and maximise efficiency across multiple sales channels, guarantee high-quality and compelling customer experiences and increase revenue opportunities.
At Start with Data, we understand the importance of efficient data management and seamless integration across systems. Our PIM integrations are designed to overcome the challenges associated with managing product information. By leveraging our expertise and utilising our PIM connectors, you can streamline your data management processes, ensure data consistency, and unlock the full potential of your business.
Talk to us about integrating your PIM.