Multichannel management for your e-commerce
What is Product Information Management?
PIM stands for Product Information Management. It’s a software able to simplify the E-Commerce products information, centralizing data and deploying them to multichannels from a single point.
Companies currently use several channels to reach their clients:
- E-commerce websites developed thanks to Magento, OpenCart, Shopify…
- Physical Stores;
- iOS and Android Mobile Apps;
- Paper catalogues, flyers…
- Marketplace Sales such as Amazon, eBay, AliExpress…
- Social Media (Facebook, LinkedIn…);
- Resellers Networks.
Within this multi channel landscape, the most difficult thing is to manage product information correctly and fast.
Why to choose a PIM
PIM: how it works
Nowadays, companies need to spread and communicate their own products with a multi channel view. E-commerce, B2B, distributors, paper material…each channel has got specific needs and they often are very different, one to another.
The following picture shows the single product enrichment process, without the Product Information Manager (PIM):
Product information management
What changes within companies
adopting the PIM?
Product information is taken from different data sources (mainly ERP but also marketing, sales, distributor sources…).
This data is lacking of information necessary to the different channels, therefore there is the opportunity to enrich them with further data such as technical data, installing tabs, colors choices, size, language description…
When it comes to catalogs including lots of references, where there are several product alternatives, there is always the need to adapt them to specific company channels; this way the workload reaches some limits as lots of individuals and time are involved, increasing the company costs.
This is the perfect situation where introducing the PIM within the company helps to reduce time wasting, company costs and improve information quality.
The Product Information Management represents the product information gathering center and is also the interface allowing the data analysis, product tabs enrichment and chosen
and relevant information transmission to the different channels.
This way it is possible to reduce resources and actually have a centralized workflow, lighter and easily manageable. Other players such as providers and re-sellers also benefit from relying to a centralized data management system.
PIM AND CUSTOMER JOURNEY
PIM and Users Acquisition Process
The customer journey is made of multiple phases before arriving to the final purchasing decision.
Need
It's the initial phase, when an issue arises and the users express a need to purchase a product / service.
Analysis
The users gather all the necessary information to find the right solution. This is a very important phase as the more detailed is the information the more data will be provided to potential clients which will start to mentally elaborate the possibility of purchasing a product / service.
Evaluation
Users look for a confirmation of their idea and check other users reviews. During this phase users can confirm their choice or reject it in case the comments weren't positive.
Action
At the end of this process, users take action, choosing the best solution for them.
PIM and completeness of information
From the start of the process, it’s clear how the completeness of information is key to make the user well notified and informed about the product by increasing the chances of your own product to be purchased. In fact, in most cases, lack of product information is one of the main reasons not to buy a specific item.
GREAT ADVANTAGES
PIM: main benefits
CENTRALIZED MANAGEMENT
Centralised product data management
NATIVE INTEGRATION
Native integration with software platforms adopted by the final user (Ecommerce, websites, CRM, clients intranets, providers websites…)
QUALITY
Product information quality enhancement
MULTI CHANNEL
Better consistency in the information transfer to the different channels
EASIER INTEGRATIONS
Better internal data source integration (ERP, CRM…)
