PIM for eCommerce Businesses
As your company scales, you’ll need something more sophisticated to be sure you’re offering the best user experience possible. Today’s product information management software collects, manages, enriches, and distributes product information across distribution channels, from your eCommerce storefront to social sales channels, marketplaces, and even advertising networks.
The Growing Need to Use a PIM for eCommerce businesses
Scaling your business can be challenging, but it’s the challenge everyone embarking on an eCommerce journey wants to tackle. One thing to watch out for as you scale is the potential for product information to become incorrect, out of date, or stored in disparate places. Over time, things like item numbers, references, catalogs, SKUs, images, videos, translations, localizations, documentation, custom attributes, and more can become impossible to manage.
Common Issues Without PIM in eCommerce:
Error-prone and Inaccurate Product Launches or Updates:
Without a PIM system in place, businesses may struggle to ensure that new product launches or updates are error-free. This can lead to incorrect product descriptions, pricing errors, and other inaccuracies that can negatively impact the customer experience.
Erroneous Orders and Increased Returns
Inaccurate product information can result in customers placing orders for products that do not meet their expectations. This leads to an increase in returns, which not only affects the bottom line due to restocking and shipping costs but also creates a poor customer experience.
Inefficient Business Processes
Managing product information manually or through disparate systems can be highly inefficient. It can lead to duplication of efforts, data entry errors, and delays in getting products to market. These inefficiencies can drive up operational costs.
Increased Customer Dissatisfaction
Customers today expect accurate and consistent information across all channels, whether it’s your eCommerce website, social media, or marketplaces. Incomplete, out-of-date, or inconsistent data can lead to customer dissatisfaction and a loss of trust in your brand.
Ineffective Product Branding and Merchandising
Effective product branding and merchandising rely on conveying the value of your products clearly and consistently. Without accurate product information, businesses may miss opportunities to showcase product features, benefits, and unique selling points, leading to ineffective branding.
PIMs Collect Various Types of Data
PIM solutions collect more types of product data than you may even know. They can be super flexible for eCommerce so that you can maintain your single source of product truth.
Here are some of the types of data that will likely end up stored in your PIM:
Media Files
In the digital realm, visual content plays a crucial role in the success of eCommerce websites. PIM solutions excel in organizing and streamlining digital assets. Within a PIM system, you can efficiently manage all your product images, GIFs, videos, 3D renderings, and any other media files that enhance your product descriptions. This ensures that your eCommerce site is visually appealing and engaging for customers.
Product Usage Data
A key aspect of eCommerce product data is providing comprehensive descriptions of how shoppers are intended to use your products. With a PIM system, you can create detailed product usage guides and descriptions, helping customers understand the practical applications of your products. Additionally, you might even use the PIM to suggest additional use cases, making your products a more attractive and versatile investment for shoppers.
Emotional Data
To establish a strong emotional connection with customers in the eCommerce space, storytelling and emotional language are essential. PIM systems empower businesses to infuse emotional narratives into their product descriptions and customer experiences. By using emotional data, you can craft compelling product stories that resonate with shoppers. For example, brands like Solo Stove excel at bringing customers into a narrative that evokes emotions and fosters a deeper connection.
Advantages of Implementing a PIM
Shoppers today look all over for the best deals as there are many more opportunities than there used to be for product research. According to a Statista report, the top destination for online shoppers to search for inspiration is Amazon. Thus, it behooves retailers to have consistent product information across all touchpoints within the service.
It’s also a boon to your back-office through data governance, as it provides advantages through standardization of product data and streamlined processes of distributing it across channels.
Key Advantages:
- Reduced manual data entry.
- Precise information.
- Central database.
- Scalability.
- Omnichannel efficiency.
- Improved marketing campaigns.
When Does it Make Sense to Implement a PIM?
Organizations will benefit from better product data management as they expand globally, support multiple languages and currencies, and/or sell across marketplaces and social channels. PIMs can be very beneficial even if you have only a few products, but those products have a high number of variables or customization options.
Best case scenario: you’re proactive, and you have a PIM implemented before you reach the point of your systems straining. Either way, the PIM could be worth it if you see issues.
Ready to implement PIM for your eCommerce?
Scaling into an omnichannel business without vastly increasing your labor costs or disappointing shoppers with inconsistent information can be a real challenge without better product information management. A PIM will reduce the need for manual data entry and ensure your ability to pull exact product information from a central database or master data management (MDM) platform.
Though there are always risks involved in implementing new technologies, there are many ways to mitigate them by doing your due diligence and research, both on your own business and any vendor you’re evaluating.
PIM Software Selection Service
Let us guide you through the process of choosing the most suitable PIM system for your business, aligning it with your unique objectives and requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions
PIM, or Product Information Management, software is a centralized system designed to collect, manage, and distribute product data across eCommerce platforms. It’s crucial for maintaining accurate and consistent product information, which is vital for a successful online store.
PIM software simplifies the organization and management of media files, including product images, videos, and other visual assets. It ensures that your eCommerce site is visually appealing and engaging for customers.
Absolutely. PIM systems allow you to provide detailed product usage descriptions, helping customers understand how to use your products effectively. You can even suggest additional use cases, making your products more appealing and versatile.
Emotional data helps create a strong connection with customers. PIM software enables businesses to infuse emotional narratives into product descriptions and customer experiences. This storytelling approach resonates with shoppers, fostering a deeper emotional connection.
Yes, PIM software is beneficial for businesses of all sizes. Whether you’re a small eCommerce store or an enterprise-level operation, PIM can enhance your product data management, improve the customer experience, and support growth.
PIM systems are designed to integrate seamlessly with existing eCommerce systems and other tech stacks. This integration ensures that product data remains consistent across all channels, creating a unified customer experience.
Implementing PIM software can lead to benefits such as reduced errors in product launches and updates, fewer returns, improved operational efficiency, enhanced customer satisfaction, and better product branding and merchandising.
Organizations benefit from PIM when they expand globally, support multiple languages and currencies, and sell across various channels. It’s also valuable when you have a growing product catalog with complex data or when you notice issues with data accuracy and consistency.
When selecting a PIM solution, consider factors such as integration with existing systems, scalability to accommodate future growth, support for multiple languages, and the ability to tailor content and data accordingly.