What is PIM Made Of?

Providing accurate data and marketing content is often a struggle for enterprise organizations. Information silos make it difficult for employees to understand the entirety of the product and all of its related information that they need to fully understand to bring it to market. Many organizations today (I won’t name names, but you know who you are,) still use countless spreadsheets to manage all of their product information. The bigger the organization, the messier these spreadsheets become. It becomes extremely difficult to manage cross-functionally when you have various teams across the organization needing relevant information just so they can complete their tasks, and if one team has inaccurate data, the whole company suffers for it. Did you know there is a better way?

In today's age of technology, it always seems like there is some new software that can help your organization. Whether that's from a marketing or financial perspective, these softwares are developed to make your life easier. A more recent example of these types of business software is a PIM. 

What Is PIM Software?

The PIM meaning is a product information management system. PIM software is capable of managing, adding, and storing relevant product information so that all teams across your organization can access this data and a select group can manage the data to ensure it’s always accurate. No longer will team members scramble or email for accurate information just to do their jobs effectively. The PIM does the heavy lifting for them and empowers multiple users to manage its data. PIMs can be as robust or as simple as the organization wants them to be, but just why is product information important?

What Is the Purpose of Product Information?

Amplifi defines product information as “any information held by an organization about the products it produces, buys, sells, or distributes.” But importantly in reference to PIMs, product information “typically  refers to information relating to the selling and/or marketing of products via digital channels.” Without product information, your organization is at a disadvantage compared to competitors who have accurate product information available to their sales, marketing, and customer service teams as well as their customers. . Product information can vary from a product manual with troubleshooting techniques to installation instructions to educational videos to interactive photos of the product and so much more. Most of the time, this information is stored in a product information database that serves as the brains of the PIM. 

The importance of product information is that all teams within an organization have ample access to as much information necessary to do their jobs. The product information is important to the success and long-term growth of your organization. PIMs are much more secure than excel spreadsheets, enabling you to protect your data and ensure that it does not get removed or edited without approval. These PIMs also create a higher level of transparency with customers which builds trust in the relationship. At the end of the day, product information is a key cornerstone for any company that sells products.

What Is PIM Made Of?

As stated, PIMs can be extremely elaborate depending on the size of the organization using it. The more products you sell, the more product information you need to store. Most product information management systems are designed to store your product data such as product name, description(s), pricing, SKU, features, specs, etc. PIM systems also enable you to connect digital assets to each product such as an owner’s manuals, warranty information, troubleshooting tips, how-to videos, product images, and more. A best-in-class PIM solution also makes it possible for you to relate one product to another so you can show the related parts or accessories for a specific product. 

Chances are, if your customers would want to know it, it should be stored within a PIM. PIM data management is much easier to do as opposed to old ways. No longer do employees have to rely on other teams to provide the content they need via spreadsheets and multiple file storage locations, it is all located in one place.

What Is an Example of a PIM?

There are countless PIMs out there to choose from, which makes selecting which one that is best for you a bit tougher than you would like. At their core, the best PIM solutions all function the same. A few of these PIM software examples to go off of would be PIMs such as Akeneo PIM, Salsify PIM, and Lumavate. For a larger list of PIMs, you can always see the list compiled by ChannelSight. PIM software companies are growing at an exponential rate. As a matter of fact, O2Web predicts that by the end of 2030, the PIM market will be worth over $68 Billion. 

PIMs are everywhere, so the only question that needs answered is, which one makes the most sense for your business. Most PIMs take the same amount of effort and only differentiate in price slightly. Select a PIM and transfer that product information into your digital experience platform (DXP). Two different platforms, two different companies, two different checks written every year. You can go with a company like Salsify software. Or better yet, you could go with Lumavate.

Lumavate just released its very own PIM that coexists with its DXP. So now when product information is added, edited, or removed from the PIM, this automatically updates any digital experiences that reference the product. Two softwares, for the price of one! 

Book a demo today, and let Lumavate solve all of your product information problems!