PIM in eCommerce: How It Works and Why You Need It
PIM in eCommerce means using a product information management system as the single source of product truth behind your online store and marketplaces. This guide explains how PIM works in eCommerce, why growing stores need it, and what changes when you have one.
If you are looking for an implementation partner, see our PIM for eCommerce services. In today’s competitive eCommerce landscape, delivering excellent product experiences is key to capturing and retaining customers.
However, as product counts and channels grow, managing product information can become daunting. That’s where Product Information Management (PIM) comes in.
As platforms offer brands advanced capabilities, it becomes essential to consider PIM in eCommerce. PIM is a proven way to centralize, streamline, and enrich product data, resulting in better customer experiences, improved operational efficiency, and increased sales.
Top 5 Product Information Management Challenges Faced by eCommerce Businesses
eCommerce businesses face many product information management challenges. These challenges include ensuring accurate data sources, managing product data within a data-driven business ecosystem, and creating effective product data dashboards.
1. Ensuring that data sources are accurate and up to date
One of the most important tasks that an eCommerce business must undertake is ensuring that data sources are accurate and up to date. This means the business must ensure the data collected from customers is accurate and up to date.
If data sources are not accurate, this may lead to many issues, including:
- Inaccurate product data: Inaccurate product data may lead to selling unavailable products or providing incorrect information about available products. This can frustrate customers who can’t find the products they are looking for, and it can also impact the business’s financial performance.
- Incorrect shipping and delivery fees: Inaccurate data sources may result in incorrect shipping and delivery fees. This could cost the business money and cause customer abandonment.
- Incorrect product prices: If data sources are inaccurate, the website may display incorrect product prices. This could overcharge customers and damage the business’s reputation.
2. Managing product data within a data-driven business ecosystem
Another challenge that eCommerce businesses face is managing product data within a data-driven business ecosystem. This means the business must ensure its products are tracked and managed consistently with the data-driven processes in place across the enterprise.
If product data is not managed in a data-driven way, this could lead to issues such as:
- Inaccurate inventory levels: If product data is not tracked and managed properly, inventory levels may be inaccurate. This could mean the business sells products it does not have in stock, or ends up with too much inventory overall. This could impact the business’s financial performance and its ability to serve its customers.
- Lack of visibility into product performance: If product data isn’t tracked and managed properly, the business may lose visibility into how products perform. This can lead to quality control and reliability issues that can damage the business’s reputation.
3. Customers’ Exploding Expectations
Another challenge eCommerce businesses face is exploding customer expectations. This means customers increasingly expect faster, more reliable delivery times, lower prices, and greater product variety.
If a business cannot meet these high customer expectations, this could lead to:
- Collapse in sales: If the business can’t meet customers’ high expectations, sales may collapse. This could happen because of decreased customer satisfaction or increased competition from other eCommerce businesses.
- Loss of customers: If the business can’t meet customers’ high expectations, it may lose customers. This could happen because customers may switch to competing businesses or stop buying products from the business altogether.
4. Agility Challenge
Another challenge that eCommerce businesses face is the agility challenge. This means eCommerce businesses need to change quickly and easily to keep up with rapidly changing market trends.
If a business cannot change quickly enough, this could lead to:
- Inability to adapt to new trends: If a business can’t adapt quickly enough, it may struggle to keep up with new trends. This could mean the business falls behind current trends, or it could lose market share to competitors.
- Reduced margins: If a business can’t adapt quickly enough, it could see reduced margins. This could happen as a result of increased competition from other businesses, or it could mean that the company loses customers because it isn’t able to meet its needs.
- Loss of market share: If a business can’t adapt quickly enough, it could lose market share. This can happen because of decreased customer satisfaction, or because the business can no longer compete with other eCommerce businesses.
5. Being Consistent
Another challenge that eCommerce businesses face is consistency. This means eCommerce businesses need to maintain a high level of consistency to keep customers.
If a business is inconsistent, this could lead to:
- Customer irritation: Inconsistency can also irritate customers. This may happen because customers may not always receive the products they ordered, or they may receive lower-quality products than expected.
- Loss of trust: Inconsistency can erode trust. This can happen because customers may no longer feel confident the company can deliver on its promises.
- Upset customers: Inconsistency can lead to upset customers. This may happen because customers may be unhappy with the quality of the products they received, or with how their orders were handled.
Don’t miss reading Most Common Product Information Management Challenges to explore the challenges that businesses commonly face in their eCommerce business in the absence of a Product Information Management solution.
Are you struggling to manage your eCommerce business effectively? Credencys would love to help you make your eCommerce operation seamless.
Why do eCommerce Businesses Need to Manage Product Data Effectively?
Inaccurate product data can cause many problems. However, eCommerce businesses need to manage product data effectively for several reasons.
- First, inaccurate product data can hamper an eCommerce business’s operational efficiency. This means that the business may not be able to deliver the products that customers expect. Inaccurate shipping tracking information can also delay deliveries.
- Second, inaccurate product data can negatively affect an eCommerce business’s customer experience. This means customers may not be able to find the products they are looking for, or they may be frustrated by the product information available.
- Third, inaccurate product data can impact an eCommerce business’s financial performance. This is because it can lead to incorrect shipping and delivery fees and inaccurate sales figures.
Fortunately, e-commerce PIM software offers many ways to manage product data effectively. These measures include ensuring data sources are accurate and up to date, implementing processes and procedures to maintain data accuracy, and training employees to use product data management systems effectively.
Read Why You Should Consider Implementing PIM for an eCommerce Business to get better insight into the essence of Product Information Management solutions for an eCommerce business.
Are You Dealing with Outdated Product Data? Implement PIM in eCommerce
Product information can become outdated in several ways. For example, if a business sells products through multiple channels, such as online and in-store, it needs to collect and manage product information for each channel separately.
This can become time-consuming and daunting, especially when product information is stored in disparate systems. Another common issue is that product information can be inaccurate or incomplete.
For example, if a business sells a lot of products with variations (such as color options or sizes), then it’s important to track which variants are selling well and which variants are receiving poor feedback. But if product data is collected only for the most popular variants, that information may be out of date or inaccurate before it’s even collected.
PIM for eCommerce can help businesses manage their product information in a way that makes it easier for customers to find and purchase the products they’re looking for. Product information can become outdated in several ways, including when it’s collected and managed independently for each sales channel, when it’s inaccurate or incomplete, or when it doesn’t reflect the most popular variants.
Keep Your Product Data Up to Date for an eCommerce Organization
Product information is one of the most important aspects of an eCommerce business. It helps customers make informed purchase decisions and helps businesses improve the customer experience by providing personalized product recommendations.
However, keeping product information up to date can be difficult. Many e-commerce businesses rely on automated systems to manage product data.
These systems use various methods to collect product data from sources such as suppliers, shipping carriers, and customer databases. However, these systems can be error-prone.
This means the product data stored in these systems may be inaccurate. Inaccurate product data can hurt an eCommerce business’s bottom line.
It can lead to inaccurate product information on product pages, frustrating customers. It can also lead to inaccurate shipping tracking information, which can affect an eCommerce business’s delivery schedules.
In extreme cases, inaccurate product data can even lead to selling products that aren’t actually available in the marketplace.
Do you want to ensure access to accurate, complete, and updated product data to distribute it across different eCommerce platforms and marketplaces?
What is Product Information Management (PIM)?
You might be having a single product data or multiple product data. But when it comes to accessing product data easily and with less effort, PIM comes into play.
A PIM solution lets you store and manage data in a way that gives you an accurate view of your product data. For an e-commerce business, PIM creates a product catalog and, when needed, distributes it to e-commerce channels.
For e-commerce, PIM manages product data in a single centralized platform. That centralized data is accessible to all relevant parties, and storing it in a single platform makes it easier to reach e-commerce businesses.
To explore more about Product Information Management, you must read What is PIM and Product Information Management – An Exclusive Guide. By reading these posts, you will get detailed insights into the different essential elements of PIM that help brands attain new heights in business with streamlined and automated product data management.
What is PIM in eCommerce?
Product Information Management (PIM) is a proven way to centralize, streamline, and enrich product data, resulting in better customer experiences, improved operational efficiency, and increased sales. In simple terms, PIM helps eCommerce businesses manage product information so customers can more easily find and purchase what they’re looking for.
E-commerce PIM works by helping businesses collect, organize, and manage product data from all the different channels and devices where products are sold. This data includes product information such as titles, descriptions, prices, and availability.
PIM also lets businesses track customer interactions with products and generate insights that help improve the customer experience and increase sales.
Why do You Need PIM in eCommerce?
PIM is important for all enterprises. Whether you’re a small or large enterprise, your primary goal is accurate, relevant, insightful product data.
PIM helps both consumers and businesses. Customers tend to prefer products with rich content. Product content attracts customers and helps them make informed buying decisions.
For businesses, PIM can help with product procurement, sales, marketing timing to maximize benefits, and gaining an edge over competitors. You need PIM eCommerce if you want to have trusted product data for your enterprise.
If you want product information sorted and aggregated automatically. When you have multiple sources of product information, PIM is the best option for less time consumption and better outputs.
With data tools, product data is stored in a centralized platform, ensuring consistent and accurate results. To sustain customer loyalty and build the company’s goodwill with happy customers, PIM eCommerce should not be neglected.
With data analysis, you can also gain deeper insights into the product and the enterprise. PIM can also help reduce negative product marketing and lower the chances of product returns.
5 Essential PIM Features for an eCommerce Business
The basic features of PIM are as below, which make data and workflow management easy.
1. Data modeling
It is a process that stores different data in one centralized place. Data modeling provides a visual representation of the stored data, its description, and its consistency and constraints.
Different data modeling tools also show the relationships between data. Data modeling can simplify how data is stored.
2. Data Management
Data management is very important for any organization. Data classification and aggregation on a single centralized platform are equally important.
PIM lets you store data securely on the platform, where you can access it across channels without relying on separate data sources. One single database is sufficient and efficient through PIM.
3. Data Quality Management
Having quality data when you need it is a basic requirement for any organization. PIM lets you store high-quality data on a central platform.
This PIM feature can help you generate new revenue and open new opportunities for your business. Unified, structured, high-quality data can generate more profit and open new opportunities.
4. Creating/ Managing Categories
For e-commerce, PIM can manage product data. An e-commerce business becomes more efficient when it creates product categories and stores product data in the appropriate category.
Storing data with categories on a centralized platform lets any staff member access it when needed. Managing multiple customer data sets across multiple locations is not a tough task with PIM.
5. Workflow Management
Because PIM stores high-quality data, with categories and all product details and descriptions in one centralized platform, it helps your enterprise operate more efficiently. You can manage and track your enterprise workflow whenever needed.
Learn about more features of Product Information Management by visiting Must Have Features of Product Information Management System.
Do you want to integrate these features into your PIM eCommerce solution to manage massive product data seamlessly?
How PIM Works With Your eCommerce Platform
A PIM does not replace your store. It sits behind it: product data comes in from suppliers and your ERP, gets enriched and approved in the PIM, then publishes to your store and every marketplace.
How that connection works depends on the platform:
- Shopify PIM integration
- Magento (Adobe Commerce) PIM integration
- BigCommerce PIM integration
- WooCommerce PIM integration
- Salesforce Commerce Cloud PIM integration
For the full picture of what an eCommerce PIM project covers, see PIM for eCommerce.
Benefits of Using PIM in eCommerce
1. Easy Data Migration
When all important, classified, high-quality data is stored in a single centralized platform, migrating it during e-commerce re-platforming becomes easy. It is convenient to transfer all data from one place to another.
This is only possible if you used PIM eCommerce for data storage and management in the first place.
2. More Time Efficiency
With PIM, you can save time and use it for your core activities. PIM lets you focus on your core business goals while handling data management.
You don’t have to spend hours manually updating data in different places or searching for it when you need it. With PIM, you can achieve greater work efficiency.
3. Improve Customer Feedback
An old customer is always better than finding a new one. With customer loyalty, you have half of everything.
When a customer is loyal and satisfied with your product, you cannot ask for more. PIM can improve customer feedback by storing product data and details.
If a product requires modification, PIM data can detect it, and customers can address issues before they complain. PIM eCommerce can also store happy customer feedback on products.
4. Cost Cutting
Implementing PIM is a cost-cutting option. It cuts the cost of management.
With high efficiency, less time, and lower cost, PIM reduces management’s risk of damaged products or missing product information. PIM can also reduce procurement costs.
Suppliers can use stored data to improve delivery methods.
5. Transparency
When data is stored traditionally, data loss or damage is a high risk. No one would take responsibility for damaged data.
But when data is stored in PIM on a centralized platform, it becomes transparent, and you can easily identify who owns damaged data. PIM makes data storage transparent and accessible when you need it.
To explore more benefits, don’t miss reading What Are the Benefits of PIM (Product Information Management) Systems?
How PIM Empowers Your eCommerce Strategy?
Implementing PIM offers benefits for enterprises of all kinds. PIM also offers benefits for e-commerce.
Below are the reasons to choose a PIM system for e-commerce.
1. A single platform for product information
For your e-commerce websites, PIM can manage all your product data. PIM systems store classified data securely in one platform.
The data includes a product description and all related details. PIM exports all the necessary data to your e-commerce website so it can be accessed by all channels.
With this data, you can make any required corrections or changes easily.
2. Reach the targeted market faster
To generate more revenue, you have to target your audience. PIM helps you reach your target market faster.
It manages classified, high-quality product details. So when you want to promote your products to customers or keep them in the market, you don’t have to wait hours to launch.
Product information is at your fingertips, so you can reach your audience faster.
3. Create effective marketing strategies
Marketing strategies should give you an edge over competitors. When you use PIM in e-commerce, it ensures data is accessible to customers during their buying process.
If data is stored in one platform, customers can get accurate product information. Current and updated information is easily accessible through the PIM system.
Read Why eCommerce Marketers Should Consider Product Information Management to learn how your marketing team harnesses the potential of the PIM platform.
4. Quality and consistency
When PIM is used in e-commerce, product quality improves over time. After implementing PIM, there is no chance of incorrect or missing product information.
As a result, product returns are minimal, and consistent, higher-quality product data is achievable.
Do you want to leverage all these benefits of PIM eCommerce for your existing or upcoming eCommerce solution?
When to Implement a PIM in the eCommerce Ecosystem?
There is no one-size-fits-all answer, as implementing a PIM in an eCommerce ecosystem depends on the business’s specific needs. However, some factors that may influence when to implement the best PIM for an e-commerce ecosystem include:
1. The size and complexity of the eCommerce ecosystem
The larger and more complex the eCommerce ecosystem, the more likely you are to need a PIM. This is because more intricate systems require more complex mechanisms to manage and maintain them.
2. The level of customer customization and engagement
The level of customer customization and engagement in an eCommerce ecosystem may influence the need for a PIM. If customers are highly engaged in their shopping experience, then a PIM may be necessary to manage and track their interactions and preferences.
3. The level of data and analytics that is being used within the eCommerce ecosystem
The more data and analytics used within an eCommerce ecosystem, the more likely a PIM is needed to manage and track it.
4. The level of fraud and security that is being maintained in the eCommerce ecosystem
The level of fraud and security maintained within an eCommerce ecosystem may influence the need for a PIM. If fraud or security threats are a significant issue, a PIM may be necessary to manage and track them.
How to Implement PIM in an eCommerce Business?
To implement PIM in an eCommerce business, you should follow these 4 steps.
Step 1: Product life cycle
In this phase, you should understand your product lifecycle. Here are the key processes that are carried out in this step.
- Track all business processes, from SKUs to the product lifecycle, across all available channels.
- Review merchandise activities such as product categorization, product recommendations, and more promptly.
- Review and validate PIM data exchange between your business clients and suppliers.
- Prepare documentation for your eCommerce store, including business blueprints, definitions, and product architecture, professionally.
- Map the best business opportunities, product selling places, and channels where you operate.
Step 2: IT setup
In the next step, prepare the right dataset. Before implementing PIM, organize and store your business data, which is scattered across multiple systems.
Here are a few key processes to complete during this phase.
- Using spreadsheets or other relevant tools, document your PIM system’s data architecture promptly.
- Ensure your business product workflow for the different platforms is well prepared.
- By defining data protocols, exchange frequency, and other required business tools, ensure your system communication is mapped accurately.
- Track all data cache layers of the existing PIM along with the current UI.
- Make sure your IT staff who handle PIM installation know about the features and benefits of PIM.
Step 3: Selecting the Best PIM provider
It is the most important phase of implementing PIM eCommerce in your business. Choosing the best PIM for your organization can significantly improve business management.
Here are some things to consider before selecting a suitable PIM system.
- Be aware of your business requirements
- Check your IT limitations
- Be aware of the requirements of your IT system
- Check your business product data model requirements
- Map your product life cycle process and choose PIM accordingly
Those are the steps you need to follow to choose the right PIM system for your business. Now we have discussed what you need to do to select the right PIM provider.
- Conduct a legitimate PIM vendor search online.
- Make sure you have selected at least 2 PIM providers from your list.
- Seeking references from your known resources is highly recommended.
- Check whether the chosen PIM provider offers a proof of concept and can deliver the desired work experience before engaging.
- After you complete the selection process, ensure all clients and business partners are fully informed about the PIM operation and requirements.
Once you understand the full product life cycle, including product groups, product categories, data types, and more. The next step is to design the requirements and train your IT staff for PIM implementation.
Make them understand its benefits, features, and everything. The last step is to choose the PIM provider.
Based on your requirement of business, choose the PIM system that suits you best.
Are you ready to skyrocket your business by implementing a Product Information Management solution for your eCommerce platforms?
How to Select the Best PIM for an eCommerce Business?
When selecting the best PIM for an e-commerce business, consider several factors. The first step is your business size and operating scale.
Depending on your business size and needs, decide whether to choose a custom PIM solution. Also, be careful to determine whether your business needs custom software to integrate with your existing eCommerce platform.
Modern PIM solutions integrate easily with the eCommerce platform, which can save costs, but when choosing a custom solution, you need to consider these factors to avoid unexpected problems. Apart from that, here are a few aspects you need to take care of to pick the right PIM solution for your eCommerce business.
Understanding requirements
Before selecting a PIM, understand the specific requirements needed to effectively manage and track data within an eCommerce ecosystem.
Prioritize
Based on the identified requirements, prioritize and select a PIM based on its ability to meet them.
Build Scorecards
Once the PIM is selected, build scorecards to ensure it effectively meets the eCommerce business requirements.
How Credencys Helps in Developing PIM Solutions for eCommerce Business?
Credencys is the leading digital platform development company, headquartered in Los Angeles. The company offers complete digital solutions using open-source technology to maximize the functionality and efficiency of businesses of any type and size.
Credencys Solutions has successfully implemented digital solutions such as PIM (Product Information Management), CXM (Customer Experience Management), DAM (Digital Asset Management), MDM (Master Data Management), and eCommerce Solutions for several Fortune 500 companies. By hiring Credencys, companies can build award-winning digital platforms for efficient data management, complete web solutions, centralized sales & inventory management, and customer experience management.
Here are some key aspects your business can get by hiring Credencys to develop a PIM solution for your eCommerce business.
- Credencys’s PIM solution improves your conversion rate by delivering an engaging customer experience backed by high-quality product data. This accelerates growth and helps you achieve business goals faster.
- The PIM solution provided by Credencys offers a centralized and trusted view of unified business data. This helps businesses to make data-driven decisions easily.
- The holistic PIM solution of Credencys improves the supplier onboarding process. This strengthens relationships between your business and suppliers.
- The efficient and effective PIM solution of Credencys helps businesses to improve their overall productivity by utilizing the power of data localization.
In addition, Credencys’s robust PIM solution supports multi-channel sales and marketing campaigns and helps developers integrate third-party apps and functions to improve your business’s eCommerce capabilities.
Do you want to develop a tailored Product Information Management solution that empowers your eCommerce business and helps you distribute the product data on eCommerce channels effectively and effortlessly?
Summary
PIM for eCommerce offers many benefits and comes from many providers. Based on organizational needs, the best PIM system should support high-quality data management at a lower cost and with high efficiency.
In this blog, we explain how PIM delivers content to the market and turns your digital assets into a flexible, scalable system.
PIM in eCommerce: Before and After
| Without a PIM | With a PIM | |
|---|---|---|
| Where product data lives | Spreadsheets, the store admin, and email | One approved record per product |
| Launching a product | Copied by hand to each channel | Published to every channel from one place |
| Data errors | Found by customers and marketplaces | Caught by rules before publishing |
| New channels and markets | A new copy of the catalog each time | Mapped once, then automatic |
| Returns caused by wrong data | Hard to trace | Traced to the attribute and fixed at the source |
For a leading eCommerce agency managing more than 500,000 SKUs, an AI-powered PIM made product data turnaround 70% faster.
PIM in eCommerce: FAQ
What is PIM in eCommerce?
A product information management system that holds one approved record per product and publishes it to your online store, marketplaces, and other channels.
Does my eCommerce platform replace a PIM?
No. Platforms such as Shopify or Magento manage what is sold in the store. A PIM manages product content once for every channel, including the store.
When does an eCommerce business need a PIM?
Usually when you have thousands of products or many attributes, sell on several channels or in several languages, or receive data from many suppliers.
Which PIM is best for eCommerce?
It depends on catalog complexity, channels, and team. Compare options in our PIM platform comparison matrix, or read our guide to the best PIM for Shopify.
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