PIM Systems: How to Improve Product Experience Across All Channels [5 Reading Tips]

PIM Systems ERP Reading Tips — Source: Unsplash/Igor Miske

The world is digitalising at an impressive pace. All age groups regularly use technical devices to communicate, stay up to date and shop online. Last year, almost three quarters of Internet users aged 16 to 74 made purchases online.

By integrating a PIM solution that fits your company’s needs, you can offer potential customers an impressive product experience that goes far beyond the presentation on product detail pages – on all available channels.

PIM System: The Right Solution for Efficient Product Data Management

Many companies still maintain product data in an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. However, this type of resource management tool is not designed to maintain product data efficiently and for specific target groups. The fact that it is hardly possible to prepare data for specific channels is definitely an argument against product data maintenance in an ERP system. Since there is only one structure, the integration of different data structures is unthinkable. In addition, workflows and approval processes are not ideally supported and it is not possible to identify data duplicates. Lastly, it is the lack of inheritance mechanisms that speaks against product data management in an ERP system.

Pain Points When Maintaining Product Data in an ERP System

Non-transparent work processes
Long time to value / time to market
Inflexibility in structural changes
»One fits all« – content that cannot be adjusted to different output channels
High effort required to create catalogues and data sheets
High manual maintenance effort
Many different data sovereignties
Many different formats
Large volumes of data that can only be handled with difficulty

PIM System for a Cross-Channel Product Experience

Customers expect the best possible product experience on all available channels. The better, i.e. the more structured, consistent, complete, correct and relevant, your product data is, the more flexibly and efficiently your company can use this data. It is important to have data checked and optimised in a PIM system right from the start. The capabilities to create an ideal data model in a PIM system and use the system’s data quality assurance features contribute to something that is incredibly important for your company as well: meeting complex compliance standards, both externally and internally, and having consistent, complete data. After all, it is only clean product data that enables customers to find products and obtain sufficient information about them. This way, returns and service enquiries can be reduced.

Even an individual customer approach based on product characteristics of previously purchased items can only be successful if the product characteristics are complete and correct. Besides data quality itself, product data structure quality as well as active quality management also play a major role. This means that a PIM system alone will not work without intelligent configuration, efficient processes and clear responsibilities.