"PIM simply explained"

Brands and retailers who want to distribute their products perfectly also need to present their products perfectly. For this, they need perfect product information, on all channels. Channel-hopping is a normal part of shopping behaviour these days. Customers combine the most diverse touchpoints in their information and purchase decision process. They research in catalogues, online or in-store and finally conclude their purchase with the supplier who offers them additional added value. This omnichannel commerce approach is no longer limited to the B2C sector. Customers in the B2B sector increasingly expect a cross-channel buying experience as well.

In the following, you will find some of the advantages of a PIM system for medium-sized and large companies across all industries:

• Consistent product communication and better brand awareness: Customers inform themselves about numerous channels and touchpoints during their customer journey. Consistent product information is important to align the individual communication channels and ensure a positive customer experience.
• More efficient processes: For historical reasons, companies often process the different communication channels in separate organisational units. For example, data in marketing, sales, product management and logistics are often maintained separately. This results in many potential sources of error in data management and potential synergies are not utilised. A PIM system avoids duplicate data maintenance and centralises all product-related data in a media-neutral manner. Individual validation rules also continuously optimise data quality and prevent incorrect information.
• Faster time-to-market: Thanks to the improved quality, actuality and consistency of data, output channels such as online shops, websites, portals, marketplaces, apps, catalogues, etc. can be used more easily and quickly. Dynamic and automatic processes reduce production times in marketing and sales, which means that products can be marketed more quickly.
• More sales impact: Clean and structured product information improves the ranking of product pages and ultimately improves visibility in search engines. It increases the time spent in the online shop, shortens the purchase decision process and improves the conversion rate. Appropriate product relations enable cross-selling and up-selling potential to be recognised at an early stage and exploited more quickly. At the same time, complete product descriptions reduce incorrect orders and lower return rates.

“Complete and correct product data is also a service feature that customers appreciate. People who know what they are buying are more satisfied. For 81 % of the suppliers, product data is one of the most important levers for reducing returns.”

Source: German Study “Retourenmanagement im Online-Handel – Das Beste daraus machen.”