What Are the Key Components of a PIM?

The world of product information management systems is rapidly growing. A market once valued at around $12 Billion in 2021 is projected to be worth more than $68 Billion by 2030. So what is causing the PIM market to grow at such a rapid rate? The answer is the endless value that efficiency provides. If there is one thing these PIM companies understand, it’s creating efficiency for everyone who has access to the PIM. 

What Is a PIM?

A PIM or a product information management system defined by Plytix, “refers to the process of handling all the data, content, and other material that you need to market and sell products. PIM also ensures that quality data is created for internal use and multichannel distribution.” Organizations are investing in PIMs because they want to take advantage of the numerous benefits these PIMs have to offer. Being able to store, edit, and update product information in one central location is the most efficient way to reduce information silos at work. This means that sales teams, marketers, customer service, and product managers can have full access to all of the content they require to do their jobs more efficiently. This is important because now whenever a product has an update or a new manual is released, the PIM can be updated granting every employee with the most up-to-date and accurate product information they can get their hands on. 

What Is the Purpose of a PIM?

The purpose of a PIM is to help provide the most accurate and organized product information for both employees and customers of any product your organization sells. A PIM can be used for a variety of use cases for a variety of different products. For example, Samsung has more than 50 different refrigerators that you can buy on its online store. Each of these products has different information tied to it that is crucial for sales, marketers, and customers who are on the online store. Without a PIM, information becomes siloed, making it more difficult to update the products in the online store or to give accurate information to the sales team. But with a PIM, all product information is stored in a central location. SKU numbers, product images, educational videos, instruction manuals, etc. are all available in the PIM. So if you are a salesperson making a sale, a marketer making a landing page, or a developer editing the online store, you can ensure that everyone has access to the proper data. 

What Are the Key Components of a PIM?

As you are probably aware by now, there are dozens of different PIMs out there that all do the same thing respectively. While prices may differ as well as certain functionality, the key components are relatively the same. The PIM company Salsify breaks down PIM components like so.

• Quality Content: You want to ensure that your organization has the most up-to-date and accurate PIM features available. These features can range from product photos, SKU numbers, pricing, or user manuals.
• Content Targeting: Each brand or product that the organization stores in the PIM should be tailored to the proper target audience. The more tailored it is, the more conversions you can expect. 
• Content Accessibility: Make sure that each piece of product information content is stored in the PIM. Information silos and excel spreadsheets are an easy way to hinder user accessibility.
• Content Governance: The product information you enter should be just as secure as it is accessible. The best PIMs will protect your data from theft and tampering. 

To make sure your PIM is right for you, it should check the boxes of the components just listed. This will ensure you have the best PIM possible for your organization.

What Does PIM Software Include?

The PIM software that is right for your organization is the one that can hold all of your product information for as many products as you offer. It’s almost important to recognize that your product data likely can’t go into your existing content management system (CMS), customer relationship management (CRM), etc. Instead, you need a data solution built for the management and cross-functional use of product data. That's where a PIM comes in. 

While functionality can definitely vary from one PIM solution to another, you need to make sure that you select a PIM solution that is built to scale with your business and is future-proof. Below are some examples of what you should expect from your PIM solution:

• Multiple product types with customized data attributes for each product type
• Unlimited data attributes
• Unlimited products without any additional fee for adding more products
• Integration to a content management system (CMS) to pull in product images and related product documents
• Option to upload images and documents directly in the PIM without requiring a third-party CMS
• Integration with a digital experience platform (DXP) to dynamically pull in product information into data-driven digital experiences. Major bonus if the PIM also includes DXP functionality in its platform for no additional cost like Luamvate does!
• Unlimited users to add and manage product data from across your business
• History of all updates to your product data by user
• Ability to relate products such as accessories, parts, etc. to drive cross-sell and up-sell opportunities

It’s easy to search for the best free PIM software, but if you want to keep accurate PIM data, you need to invest in a solution that is truly built to serve the needs of your business long-term. However, this doesn’t mean that you have spend an exorbitant amount of money to purchase a PIM. Some PIM solutions such as Lumavate start as low as $10,000 per year. As a matter of fact, Lumavates PIM is now available and is an easy way to integrate your product information with all of your digital experiences all under one platform. The beauty of it is that you can keep your current tech stack and still utilize Lumavate. We want to work with you and help scale your business!

For more information on Lumavates PIM, take a tour of our new PIM functionality, or better yet, Book a demo today!