The primary purpose of a product information management system is obvious: Not only in large e-commerce companies, the flood of data is becoming more and more enormous. Today, it is generally necessary to collect masses of information, to bring it into the right formats and to display it correctly and without errors. Seasonal conditions, such as the all-important Christmas business or special promotions for brand launches, discounts, etc., place even more special demands. In view of these conditions, a "loose" management of product information in digital and/or analogue form - possibly stored in different places - is anything but efficient. With the help of a PIM system, on the other hand, maximum expedient processes, high data quality and data reliability can be guaranteed. Ultimately, this contributes greatly to a positive customer experience and a consistent brand presence.
What are the key advantages of a PIM system
Some clear advantages of PIM systems have already been mentioned at the beginning. In addition, the following advantages speak for the use of such a data platform:
- General efforts in product information management are reduced and thus costs are saved.
- Some quite good PIM systems, such as PIMCORE, are available free of charge as open source software.
- A PIM system can automatically detect discrepancies in data.
- It supports SEO for the distributed products - keywords can be added quickly.
- It also enables an optimization of the conversion rate through higher data quality.
- Product updates are automatically transferred to all channels.
- A PIM system ensures that only correct information is played out.
- Good PIM systems can do more than help optimize product information management - they are comprehensive customer experience and digital experience platforms through the integration of different tools.
You can learn even more benefits to using a PIM system in your business here "What is PIM and why do you need a PIM system?"
PIM E-Commerce:
Wann ist ein PIM System im E-Commerce angebracht oder sogar zwingend erforderlich?
E-commerce can almost always benefit from the use of a PIM system. Even smaller companies can use customized tools to make specific processes more efficient, reach customers more easily across multiple channels, and create an extremely useful customer experience with particularly strong personalization. It goes without saying that all of this is absolutely beneficial in any e-commerce context. However, the capabilities of a PIM system really come into their own wherever there is nested, complex or simply a large amount of product information.
With several thousand products, data maintenance becomes a veritable monster that can no longer be tackled by conventional or purely manual means. Texts, core data sheets, images, tables, etc. cannot be managed efficiently with such masses of products. If multilingualism is also an issue, things get really complicated.
Whether it makes sense to use a PIM system is not a question in most cases. However, the extent to which this should be done must be determined strategically and precisely for each individual company. The introduction and use of a PIM system can only promote process efficiency if it is precisely tailored to the respective requirements. Simply choosing a system that can do "everything" may work in the opposite direction and is, last but not least, wasted money.
What can a PIM system be used for in e-commerce?
It has already been made clear that a PIM system can provide e-commerce with a considerable increase in efficiency and that central processes relating to product information in certain contexts can no longer be managed appropriately without such a tool.
A PIM system is an enormous help in the following processes:
One of the most important advantages that can be achieved with the use of a PIM system in e-commerce is the possibility of a significant reduction in product lead times.
A good or well-tuned PIM enables companies to organize all product information comparatively quickly. As a result, time to market is significantly accelerated and made particularly smooth. Shorter lead times for products in turn save money and conserve resources.
Creating cross-channel product information, managing it and finally distributing it to the right channels is very difficult without a PIM system.
An appropriate solution allows the data to be created, organized, edited and finally displayed in the relevant places in a single step.
The system checks the product data for errors in article numbers, inventory data, prices and more. The result is always correct, identical, qualitatively optimal and up-to-date data information on all channels.
Product descriptions are a significant factor for the quality of the customer experience. Many e-commerce managers know how important all-around good customer experiences are, but do not think about the fact that this can also be greatly improved through consistently user-friendly categorization, description and other product data. The PIM system helps to create correspondingly advantageous structures through specific tools.
It sounds almost too simple, but it's a fact: In e-commerce, a competitive advantage over competitors can sometimes be achieved "simply" by providing more helpful information.
However, this is only logical when taking a closer look at today's behavior patterns of (potential) customers. More and more people are searching the web for information that supports them in their purchase decision with real added value.
A PIM system is ideally a central support in the creation and dissemination of such facts. It can be used to effectively enrich and improve product data. In this way, it is possible to work specifically towards conveying added value to prospective and existing customers that the competition does not offer.
The PIM system can make an important contribution to increasing cross-sales and follow-up sales.
Because using such an application greatly reduces the time spent handling data, managers can free up more resources to formulate the sales strategy.
Once items that are prime candidates for cross and repeat sales are identified, the PIM system identifies highly effective avenues for further orchestration. Last but not least, such a solution supports managers in connecting suitable products with each other relatively easily.
Comprehensive product information helps ensure that buyers know exactly what they are getting into when they make a purchase. As a result, there are fewer surprises when receiving the goods or performing a service, which logically leads to products being returned less frequently.
A lower rate of returns reduces effort and stress on both the customer and company side. It also promotes customer satisfaction and branding.
E-commerce companies that offer their goods or services internationally face special challenges when it comes to product information. Corresponding product data must not only be provided in different languages, but also for target groups with different prerequisites.
A well-coordinated product information management allows those responsible to easily create very individual customer experiences that are suitable for each group, and which also work across all relevant channels.
Detailed, correct and really helpful product descriptions are of course always an expression of good customer service. In addition, however, the support team itself also benefits from correspondingly good data. These are optimally directly available to the employees for inquiries about specific products. If a PIM system is in use, there is no need to search for a long time and stall the (potential) customer. In addition to saving time, the risk of false statements is also reduced.
Efficient product data management thanks to PIMCORE
With the PIM system PIMCORE, users can achieve all the effects mentioned above. The solution can also be flexibly adapted to almost any e-commerce context. The core functions of PIMCORE are presented in a Product Information Management (PIM), Digital Asset Management (DAM) and a Content Management System (CMS). In addition, there is a customer data platform (CDP), which allows customer master data from different web applications to be merged and provides an optimal overview of all customer activities, as well as its own e-commerce framework. The latter is not a shop system that is directly ready for use - but the framework offers a draft for a shop front, so to speak, which can then be individually designed with various available modules to create an individual online shop. The focus here is on both the B2C and B2B sectors. Experienced programmers can bring out a completely unique e-commerce solution that is precisely tailored to the respective requirements and has the greatest unique selling proposition potential.
Conclusion:
Warum sollte der E-Commerce auf PIM setzen?
Product information occupies a very special position in e-commerce. People use it on their customer journey to get a precise picture of focused goods or services. The purchase process and the purchase decision take place differently online than on site in a retail store. Personal consultation is used relatively rarely here.
An important factor during the buying process is usually the product data provided by manufacturers and retailers - from product descriptions to lists of core benefits and prices. Thus, these should of course always be prepared correctly and optimally in order to be able to convince to the maximum. Furthermore, multi-channel product information is practically a must. A good PIM system helps to optimally realize exactly such requirements. Ideally, this goes hand in hand with high process efficiency.Furthermore, in e-commerce companies with several thousand products, it is virtually impossible to manage their information appropriately without software. All this speaks unquestionably for a PIM system. However, choose strategically or contextually wisely. A tool with too many functions that are not needed at all can quickly weaken efficiency instead of strengthening it and breaking down barriers.
We are happy to support you in the decision-making process and introduction of a PIM (Product Information Management) system:
- Requirements workshop on the topic of product data - in the workshop we jointly develop the class model for maintaining the product information and set up the object classes together with you.
- Setup and installation of the PIM incl. required software components in a specialized hosting environment.
- Provision of a universal interface with which the import (MXL, CSV, JSON, Excel, etc.) of your existing product data into the PIM system can take place. The API also allows you to export feeds and create Rest APIs into any application.
- Connection of the PIM system to your required output systems (website, eCommerce shop, app, Adobe InDesign, etc.) as well as creation of the required templates
- Editorial training on the use of PIMCORE
You will find further interesting topics related to PIM here:
Oliver Parrizas will be happy to answer any questions you may have on the subject. 
+49-800-911-91-91
