When does your store need a PIM system?
Valuable product information is the key to success for retailers in all industries. Companies that conscientiously maintain their product data and provide their customers with all relevant information can improve their sales and reduce return rates. PIM systems simplify the maintenance of product data and offer a lot of potential for improving business processes, but at what point is it really worth considering the purchase of such a tool? We’ll get to the bottom of this question in this blog post.
What does PIM mean?
The abbreviation PIM stands for Product Information Management and describes the maintenance of product data. A PIM system should centrally manage a company’s product information, standardize it for all channels and synchronize it directly when a change is made. The tool is thus very closely linked to the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. It also ensures that product data can be exported on request. This can be useful if, for example, a catalog is to be created from them.
Reading tip: ESYON is a certified Solution Partner for the Perfion PIM. You can find more information here.
Is a PIM system worthwhile for your company?
From the definition of what exactly a PIM system actually is, its use cases basically also result. At the latest, if several of the following points apply to your company, it may be worth considering a PIM solution.
You manage a large number of products
Of course, simplifying product data maintenance using PIM can only work if there is actually something to simplify. In other words, if you only have a small assortment with a few products whose information hardly ever changes, you probably don’t need such a system. Conversely, the tools are often worthwhile for retailers who sell a wide range of items across many product categories.
It is very difficult to set a magic limit for how many products a PIM system is recommended for. In addition to the number of articles, the decisive factors are whether product information changes more frequently and how time-consuming it is to enter a single article. Therefore, the decision for or against a PIM should primarily depend on the time and resources that data maintenance ties up.
Note: A PIM system can also be useful for manufacturers if they produce a large number of items and want to present their customers with uniform product information.
You sell through different channels
More and more businesses are drawn to e-commerce in addition to the local point of sale. If you sell across multiple channels, a PIM system can serve to centralize the maintenance of your product data so that it only needs to be done once for all sales platforms. This saves time and minimizes sources of error, which in turn results in cost savings. In addition, it is already possible with little effort to make the product data available on marketplaces such as Amazon and thus open up new channels.
You operate on international markets
With PIM systems, your product range can be adapted to legal, technical or linguistic conditions depending on the target country. So if you’re planning to internationalize your business, Product Information Management can help you enter new markets.
Using your data to create media
Many retailers use your product information to create media. PIM systems allow you to export data to create catalogs from the info, for example. Manually, this would be very time-consuming above a certain product portfolio, especially if you deliver a catalog to your customers on a regular basis, for example quarterly.
You want to organize your portfolio according to target groups
Especially in online retail, a personalized shopping experience is becoming more and more of a hygiene factor. With the help of a PIM system, you can assign your assets to suitable target groups and user profiles, which noticeably simplifies target group-specific content creation.
You want to implement an efficient SEO strategy
According to a survey by the Content Marketing Institute, 61 percent of markeeters consider the implementation of a successful SEO strategy to be the most important tool for increasing their own visibility. Here, too, a PIM can provide support, because the tools make it much easier to add relevant keywords to product information. Through centralized data maintenance, SEO measures are automatically effective for all channels.
ESYON: Solution Partner for Perfion
Perfion has already proven itself as a reliable PIM system in many use cases. As a solution partner, ESYON GmbH has the necessary know-how to integrate the solution into your system landscape as well. With our in-house Perfion 2 OXID interface, we connect the Perfion PIM with OXID eShop. In addition, we have years of project experience from the ERP environment and can thus realize a fully comprehensive commerce platform for you.
Sounds interesting? Then contact us!
