What Are PIM Platforms?

Shoeboxes. Junk drawers. Hard drives.  Random spreadsheets. 

Without a centralized solution,  your product data is stored everywhere and anywhere which leads to unnecessary friction and wasted time felt by your team. You need a solution to consolidate your product data in one place. 

You need a Product Information Management (PIM) solution. 

What Are PIM Platforms?

Whether you’ve heard of PIM platforms before or you’re new to the world of PIM software, let’s begin with a quick definition of what a PIM is. 

A PIM platform is a solution designed for companies with products (especially manufacturers) and provides a way for businesses to organize, categorize, and manage all of their product information in a centralized location. 

You can store the following information in a PIM: 

• Stock Keeping Units (SKUs)

• Pricing Information 

• Product Ratings

• Product Ingredients

• Product Classifications

• User Manuals

• Owens Guides

• Related Products 

In the age of digital transformation, various software is being designed to help manufacturers organize their product data and digital assets. Let’s take a look at some of the various solutions out there that help provide manufacturers with the ability to organize their content and digital assets.

• Content Management System (CMS) -A CMS is where manufacturers can store a variety of content including product images, product videos, owner’s manuals, text, and other PDFs used on their website.  

• Digital Asset Manager (DAM) - A DAM is a tool that enables manufacturers to store all of their digital assets that are used across multiple channels and by multiple team members. 

PIM vs. CMS vs. DAM

The main difference between a PIM, CMS, and DAM is the type of items each stores. PIM software stores product information and product data while a CMS and DAM store things like images and video that help craft the story behind each product. That being said, each is essential to the role they play in digital product management. A CMS is more limited than a DAM since it’s solely tied to the company’s website while the DAM can be used to digital asset management for any channel. 

Product Experience Management

Separately, PIM, CMS, and DAM software each represent one area of a product experience strategy. Manufacturers need to harness the power of all of these solutions if they wish to deliver a truly unparalleled customer experience. When combined into one platform, that solution is called a Product Experience Manager (PXM). 

A PXM brings everything we’ve talked about together in one platform for manufacturers to deliver dynamic product experiences. 

What’s a Product Experience?

What do we mean by product experiences? At each leg of the customer journey, manufacturers should be providing their customers with a digital touchpoint that provides them with relevant content for that point in time. 

This means providing an easy-to-digest product comparison experience when a customer is in the aisle. It means having a digital product onboarding experience customers can activate after purchasing. It also means having a product information experience for customers to use in case something goes wrong with their product.  

What Are the Benefits of a PIM? 

PIMs offer more than just data organization. Let’s take a look at some of the many benefits manufacturers can witness by implementing a PIM solution. 

• Saves Time  - Employees are wasting hours trying to find product information in disparate places. A PIM solution can make marketers more productive by removing the need for marketers to track down product data in multiple places every time a new piece of content is launched because it stores product data in a centralized location. 

• Removes Data Silos - Multiple users can work together to add, edit,  and access product data and gather important customer insights from the same solution.

• Increased Collaboration - By having one place where information is stored, employees can have a single source of truth for product information. 

• Brand Consistency - At a large-scale business, it’s a challenge for marketers to keep tabs on the content, experiences, and information heading out the door for customers to consume. With a PIM solution that’s tied to a PXM, marketers can better control their brand’s assets and ensure approved images, descriptions, documents, and more are being distributed. 

What Is an Example of a PIM?

The competitive landscape for PIM solutions is rising as more manufacturers are realizing the need to digitize their business. An increasing number of businesses are discovering the potential benefits that come along with implementing a PIM. 

Here are some examples of product information management software solutions.  

• Lumavate

• Salsify PIM

• PIMcore

• Plytix

• Catsy

• Akeneo

• Inriver

• Unbxd

Not all the PIM tools in market are created equal, however, and it’s important to vet out each one to determine which PIM solution will work best with your business. 

Some PIM software companies are going to limit the number of users that can access the PIM.  Some PIM tools are going to be pricier than others. And some of the above PIM software examples are going to be more difficult to use than others. 

Which is the best PIM solution for your business? Let’s find out.

Which Is the Best PIM? 

A PIM solution is essential for manufacturers to have, but it's only one area of what your tech stack needs. You need a solution to store your content and digital assets. You need a solution to carry out all of the essential functions of a product experience strategy. That’s exactly what Lumavate does and why it's considered the best PIM and PXM solution. 

Why Lumavate Is the Best PIM and PXM

With Lumavate, we enable manufacturers to manage their product data throughout its entire life cycle - meaning from its entered into a PIM solution, to the front-end product experience activated by customers. Plus, we enable manufacturers to integrate into their existing tech stack so marketers are never backed into a corner of which solution they use.

Not only is product data and creating engaging product experiences the focus of Lumavate’s platform, but we also have text messaging functionality that enables manufacturers to engage with their customers in a way that cuts through the noise.

With Lumavate’s messaging capabilities, manufacturers can send text messages to customers when a new piece of content related to their product is updated or launched or be reminded when it’s time to replace a part or accessory.

See It For Yourself

Want to see Lumavate’s PIM capabilities in action? Schedule a demo and have one of our product experts show you our PIM capabilities or take an on-demand tour to see how our PIM works for yourself.