9 Product Information Management Trends to Watch Out
The digital space is evolving with each passing day due to the emergence of hi-tech technologies. The evolution profoundly affects the business space too. Companies are always eager to embrace the new ways and technologies that help streamline their business operations, reduce overhead costs, and increase productivity.
Undoubtedly, product information management (PIM) trends is one of the highly essential parts of any business domain in which they always try to drive the comprehensiveness of product data. All the latest technologies and trends highly impact the PIM and push its capabilities to the next level.
Besides technologies, businesses can integrate third-party tools and software in the PIM solution to address the changing business needs and manage infinite products with all different attributes, descriptions, and images.
Adoption of advanced technologies enables businesses with a more scalable, flexible and smarter PIM system that manages operations, product data and customers too.
In this post, you can explore different product information management trends that help businesses manage product data seamlessly on a centralized platform in a more advanced and effective way.
Top 9 Product Information Management Trends
1. AI & ML improves the quality of Product information
Leverage the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) for your PIM system. When used correctly, the technologies improve the quality product information.
AI & ML technologies track users’ search patterns and journeys and collect the data. You can analyze the data to understand how customers consumed the product information from the different touchpoints.
This allows organizations to improve product information for different target groups and channels. Implementation of AI & ML helps you to get a bigger picture of customer needs and behavior and optimize your online visibility and different sales and marketing methods in a more effective way.
Eventually, you end up delivering high-quality product information to the customers compared to your competitors.
2. Product data sharing and distribution become smoother
Whenever you plan to develop or integrate a PIM system for your business, you will have to choose from either a simple PIM system or an enterprise PIM solution.
In a simple PIM system, you can manage product information on your website. But, it won’t allow you to share and distribute the product data on multiple networks.
While you go for an enterprise product information management solution, it allows integrating powerful APIs to push product data in a correct format to serve the receivers of the data and internet-based applications.
Basically, it’s about connecting your PIM system with the internet to make the data sharing and distribution simplified like never before. Integration of APIs allows creating a data network from where the data will be distributed across multiple channels and shared with different stakeholders.
With the increasing usage of the Internet of Things (IoT), the information ecosystem will become more complex. Hence, the need for product content hub will rise.
3. AR transforms the product information user experience
The core objective of PIM implementation is to enhance the customer experience. Well, this might be surprising, but Augmented Reality helps you to deliver a world-class experience by enabling customers with immersive product information.
A lot of companies from varied industry domains use AR to offer a highly realistic experience to the customer. Such as Samsung, the brand developed an AR-based shopping app where the customer can view the detail of consumer products, select their preferred one and superimpose them on a specific corner of their home or office remises.
Well, product information management systems do not help in creating 3D content of product for AR application, but the technology product background data for AR solutions. In Samsung, the product catalog is managed by a robust PIM system.
4. Completeness of product data empowers customers
Gone are the days when customers used to depend on sales representatives to get all the information about a product.
Today, customers can find out information about products and services in many ways. They are quite tech-savvy. They know the platforms that enable them with the pool of information about the products they are looking for.
Consumers are smart enough to get the answers to their questions by doing detailed research about whatever they want. Moreover, they interact with multiple touchpoints to retrieve maximum information about the product they plan to buy.
If you are one of those businesses that still operate with traditional ways to market the product, then it’s high time for you to update your business by adopting an advanced PIM system.
With the help of a robust product information management system, you can cut down your customer service and sales expenses tremendously as well as create an omnichannel experience for your customers.
5. PIM helps in making effective strategic decisions
While selecting a PIM system for your business, make sure it helps you in making the right strategic decision. The latest PIM solutions not only allow to manage products along with their different attributes and promote them across multiple channels and leading marketplaces.
Product information management solutions run real-time analysis to enable companies with profound insights about product performance. It provides the data about where your buyers are, so you can elevate your procurement initiatives and increase purchasing.
Thus, choose a PIM platform that enables you with a bird eye view about your products. Offering the critical product data, the PIM systems help businesses in making strategic business decisions about products. Companies can continue with the products that are in demand and stop producing products that do not have market potential.
6. Information enrichment through different users
Product information is not managed by a single stakeholder. There are multiple participants such as suppliers, vendors, dealers, etc. who play a vital role in enriching product information and making it more impactful.
There are many enterprise PIM solutions that allow multiple users to access the system. Organizations have to define roles and right based access to maintain the security of the PIM system and improve product information at the same time.
7. Omnichannel experiences will lead the market
The robust PIM systems allow companies to deliver an omnichannel experience to the customers with end-to-end personalization.
Omnichannel is all about delivering ‘buy online and pick up from the store’ experience to the customers. Enabling buyers with an option to pick up the product from the store, brands can improve their satisfaction. They can check the product before taking it to the home.
To deliver excellent omnichannel experience, PIM should be efficient enough to manage different aspects of product information that include inventory. A better omnichannel experience does not only ensure consistency, flexibility, and accuracy, but also respond to the immediacy involved in the online and in-store experience.
8. Audio & Video based product information
With the emergence of digital platforms, traditional marketing practices have transformed inside out. Previously, businesses used to promote their products through printed flyers, brochures, magazines, etc.
All these methods are about to leave behind as companies have started understanding the significance of audio and video content to promote the product in a more effective way. They experienced that visual content drives more customer engagement than conventional ways of marketing.
Instead of traditional printed material, you can introduce the product to the customers through a video or guide users on how to use the product with the help of audio.
According to research, the role of audio and video content is highly significant in increasing conversation from the online store. Leveraging audio and video for product information management, the brands can easily communicate instructions, purposes of use, and benefits of the product to the target audience quickly and effectively.
9. Reach out to the global market with marketplace integration
All the latest PIM systems are technically quite advanced. They allow companies to connect with any leading marketplace such as Amazon, Best Buy, eBay, etc. with a single click.
The product information management solutions consist of modules that allow companies to map the product data on the preferred marketplace. This definitely helps businesses to add a revenue stream by selling products on different marketplaces.
Well, exposure on popular marketplaces puts your business in a global competition where you can taste the success only by offering customers quality product information that convinces and encourages them to make a buying decision.
Why Pimcore is the best fit for your business?
Pimcore is a consolidate platform that enables companies with different solutions within one system. It offers product information management, master data management, digital asset management, content management system, e-commerce framework, and customer data management.
You can use all these solutions separately or combine all of them to build a complete business solution. Being an open-source platform, Pimcore is available for free without any licensing cost. And the most important part is it contains all the capabilities that we have discussed in this blog post.
How Credencys help you build a robust product information management solution?
Being a strategic partner of Pimcore, Credencys has successfully developed and implemented product information management systems for different businesses from varied industry domains.
We have a team of highly skilled Pimcore developers who have proven expertise to build custom product information management solutions as per your specific business needs. We make sure that the PIM system not only manages your products but also helps you in delivering world-class customer experiences by analyzing product performance.
If you want to utilize other components of Pimcore along with PIM, we hold a competency to develop a consolidated platform for you.
Frequently asked questions about product information management
What is PIM?
The product information management (PIM) system manages all product related information that is required to market and sell products via different distribution channels. All the advanced PIM systems support multi-lingual data, multiple geographical locations, and modification and maintenance of product information within a centralized catalog.
Why do I need a PIM?
With a robust PIM solution, you can improve the product data quality s well as govern data usage ad access. It is callable enough to match with your expanding portfolio as your business grows. Moreover, the advanced PIM system offers the flexibility to respond to changing market conditions.
How does PIM work?
PIM is the abbreviation of the product information management system. The system manages all the content, data and other material that is essential to sell the products. The PIM solution also makes sure that the quality data is created for multichannel distribution and internal use.
How much does a PIM cost?
If you chose Pimcore then you can use it for free. Yes, Pimcore is an open-source platform, hence it is available at zero licensing cost. All you need to pay is to customize our PIM solution.
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