If the product is the body, data is its soul. Data is the lifeblood of what you sell online. No product, without it, can describe what it is and what it has for buyers. Effective data management is, therefore, crucial for businesses. PIM systems for eCommerce exist to help do so.

Just about every enterprise, from small and medium to large, has reasons to talk about eCommerce product management software. If you are one of those, you must also be curious about what it is and why you should deploy one.

What is product information management software?

In its most basic essence, a Product Information Management (PIM) system is a software application that collects all your product information into a single place where you can organize, edit, and enrich it. It is where you can make product information that comes in from different sources ready to distribute across all eCommerce sites and online marketplaces.

A PIM system eCommerce is the key to creating and delivering a compelling product experience. Together with DAM and Data Syndication platforms, it becomes even more powerful. It is a must-have for organizations having an extensive product line and multichannel presence.

PIM challenges faced by organizations

Product data includes all types of information, including manufacturing details, technical specifications, color, size, weight, the material used, shipping information, and much more, which can be described using text, high-resolution images, and audio and video clips. Businesses have to organize this data in product catalogs and display it on various eCommerce sites and online marketplaces to help customers make buying decisions.

This data keeps mounting as your business grows in volume and spans geographically. It requires adding and changing product information in the catalog. You have to collect data from various source systems, organize it in your catalogs structures, and enrich it to meet the diverse needs and standards of online marketplaces. At the same time, you have to ensure that the correct information reaches the right place at the right time. That is where problems arise, and you need PIM data management. E-commerce product management software stands to be the one-stop solution for solving all these issues.

Why is PIM data management essential?

Reasons to deploy the PIM system eCommerce are enormous. Exploring a few of them will make you invest in one.

A single source of truth for all product information

Product information lives in different spreadsheets, systems, folders, and locations. It is hard to keep this information updated and uniform. PIM is the solution to host all that information. It gives one central resource to store all the data. It eliminates the need for moving back and forth between systems to access different pieces of information. That saves a considerable amount of time and brings ease and efficiency to the product information management process.

A clear view of product data

Centralized storage of product data gives a clear view of the product. It enables you to add, edit, and optimize information in one place. Also, you can see how complete or ready it is to hit the market. Top of all, you have a piece of mind that the product information is not going to be outdated in some spreadsheets, folders, and systems lying around somewhere. For example, if the price of one of your products changes, you need to change it once, and not everywhere in different spreadsheets, catalogs, and systems. 

Improved collaboration and business processes

Another great thing about PIM data management is it is superb for collaboration. You can use it with teams. Everyone in the organization can benefit from it. While sales teams can get the digital catalog on the fly and rest assured that it has accurate and up-to-date information, eCommerce managers who constantly prepare data for distribution can do this from where the data is stored. Brand managers can track down the very last spreadsheet that needs to be updated. Marketing teams that spend a lot of time juggling content to create and modify campaigns across various channels can be confident that they promote accurate information to influence buyers and make them trust your brand. Now, why a PIM system is essential should come as no surprise to anyone.