A Product Information Management (PIM) solution is an application that collects and catalogs information about the products your business sells. PIM software allows you to manage product information, create a catalog, and distribute that catalog to eCommerce and sales channels.
Businesses with tens or hundreds of products often find it difficult to maintain accurate product information for their catalogs and other sales channels. It’s just too easy to lose track of product information when emailing back and forth with marketing professionals, web designers, and internal staff. Using a PIM solution for e-commerce businesses, you can simplify product data management while improving product data accuracy and efficiency. If you’re trying to decide whether a PIM solution is right for your e-commerce business, these tips can help.
Assess Your Current Product Data Management Process
How accurate and efficient is your current product data management process? Look at everything from order fulfillment to inventory. Take an audit of your existing product data. Look for:
- Fragmented or incomplete information
- Inaccurate product descriptions
- Missing products
- Descriptions that are inconsistent across multiple digital selling channels
Know where your process is going wrong and identify areas for improvement. Who is in charge of managing your data? Who has the ability to write your product descriptions? When was the data last reviewed, and who reviewed it? Who contributed to your current product data?
Knowing the answers to these questions will help you point to the source (or sources) of your problems. This will also help you determine whether a PIM solution will improve workflows and processes enough to ensure more accurate product data.
Define Your Business Requirements
Consider the specific needs of your business. What’s in your e-commerce toolbox? One aspect of this is knowing where data collection and management are going wrong. Map out your current workflows to determine how product data is produced. Once you’ve identified areas of weakness, it’s easier to determine whether a PIM will help strengthen those weaknesses.
If you believe that a PIM solution is right for you, determine what you hope to achieve with PIM implementation. Some examples of goals include:
- Improving product data accuracy and consistency
- Make editing easy and efficient
- Allow multiple users to edit data
- Create and distribute catalogs across multiple digital selling channels efficiently
- Enhanced collaboration and communication among teams
- Better customer experiences
Evaluate the Benefits of PIM
Don’t jump into purchasing PIM software for customer experience enhancement or collaboration and communication improvement until you’re sure your business can benefit. Start by evaluating the benefits of PIM software. Not every application is the same. Compare your list of goals to the capabilities of the various brands of software you’re considering.
Consider Your Budget and Resource Availability
Make a budget for the purchase of PIM software. Remember that the purchase price is only one cost of the product purchase to consider. Successful implementation comes with its own costs. Training your team to use your software has a cost associated with it. The best software companies will offer training and support for your team to make the transition faster, easier, and less costly for your business.
Make the Right Decision for Your Business
Once you’ve performed your assessment, it’s time to determine if a PIM can help overcome pain points in your current product data management process. As you complete the decision-making process for PIM, consider the value a PIM will bring to your business. Among those things for you to consider are improved accuracy and efficiency in managing product data and enhanced team collaboration and communication.
Remember that software is an investment that gives back over time. As you’re trying to measure the potential value of PIM solutions, consider the long-term benefits of having such software. It’s easier for your customers to make an informed buying decision if your product descriptions are rich, accurate, and relevant to their needs. PIM solutions make it easier to supply your customers with such information, which in turn helps sell your products and grow your business. A good PIM software most likely has the pre-built catalogs for many major marketplaces and dropship national retailers, so you can easily expand the digital business to these selling channels.
Ready to take the next step and see how a PIM solution can benefit your business? Contact DigitBridge today to discuss your product data management needs and learn more about their PIM software. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to improve accuracy, efficiency, collaboration, and customer satisfaction.
