Product Information Management System

The investment in efficiencies within an organization often pays off in multiple ways. None is more prominent than improving the workflow of your team and minimizing financial losses due to delays, mistakes in communication, and forgotten information. A product information management system could be the ideal solution. This article considers what it is, how it works, and the difference it makes in the way a business manages its product information in a far more efficient manner.

What Is Product Information and Why Is It Important?

Product information refers to any type of detail or data point about a product that is being produced, designed, or sold in any way by a company. It includes all types of relevant information about a product. Some common examples include:

SKUs
Pricing
Features
Benefits
Dimensions
Functionality

Any detail about a product needs to be understood by all relevant teams. Product information is not just about data though. It also includes all related digital assets for a product, including:

Product images
How-to videos
Graphics
Owner's manuals
Spec sheets

This information is essential to have on hand at all times. A customer may need one small component of information to make a buying decision. If that information is unavailable or takes too long to access, it costs the company a customer. It is extremely beneficial to customers who are trying to select a product to purchase as well as after they have purchased that product for the first time. It can answer their questions, provide direction, and offer help for product troubleshooting issues.

Product Information Management and Its Purpose

Now that you have all of this information about a product, you need an efficient way of managing it. Product information management is the process of gathering all of that product information. That way, it can be used by all parties to market, sell, and service products as needed.

To manage all of those bits of information, complicated videos, manuals, and digital assets, you need some way to centralize it. Having one single location for all of this information allows anyone who needs to gather it to have access to it. This could be multiple people within the organization.

The goal of product information management is to have a single place to store and manage all product information. For example, a marketing professional for the company, a sales team selling in the field, and a customer calling for service on the phone all need access to one piece of data. All employees need to be able to have one location to go to get all of that information quickly.

This can include the SKUs, pricing, dimensions, functionality of the product, or even how it needs to be operated and maintained. The best product information management system (PIM) will incorporate as much information as possible and then go further to also include a built-in digital asset management feature. This type of functionality allows for easy management of product information, including images, documents, and videos.

What is PIM used for then? What is an example of a PIM? Is Shopify a PIM? You have questions, and we have the answers you need.

Once all of this information is in one place, the company — and all members of the team that need to can quickly access the information. This allows for not just quick access but also a way to get the most up-to-date and accurate information possible. That way, employees are not relying on old, outdated data or images that no longer match the product being marked. From marketing materials to sales resources, all of this information is managed easily.

Shopify can be extremely useful to list products on an eCommerce website, but it does nothing for the management of product data. Shopify is an eCommerce solution and not a PIM system.

The Benefits of Product Information Management Tools

PIM software is powerful. It provides a very simple-to-use format that can easily make the best use of all information that a customer or a sales professional needs at the moment. Because it centrally stores and allows for the management of all product data, the best PIM software will fit the company's specific needs.

Remember, PIM typically provides a way to manage:

Product descriptions
SKUs
Features
Benefits
Product dimensions
Replacement parts
Details about the product's functionality

What is a product information management system? There are some that do more. The best versions have a built-in digital asset management (DAM) feature. This allows for all related digital assets to be managed alongside product information. That includes photos, manuals, spec sheets, and graphics.

More so, these product information management tools are not housed in a single database restricted to just one user. Instead, they are used by multiple parties who can log into the software, update the product information as needed, and keep the information up to date in real-time. As a result, it allows the product information management tool to be a single source for all of the most accurate product information. It is the single source of truth.

Who Uses PIM Software?

Core to this process is ensuring that a product like this can be helpful within your organization. PIM software is typically used by:

Manufacturers
Retailers
Distributors
Other companies that have a specific need to do so in relation to selling, marketing, or distributing the product.

Within the organization, the marketing team or product management team will typically manage and own the PIM. It is their goal to keep it up to date and to manage access to it. It is not uncommon for a company not to have a dedicated or standalone team just for product information management.

Multiple teams within the organization could need to use and access the information in the PIM. That includes the sales team, the customer support team, product management, and others.

PIM Competitive Landscape

What are some product information management system examples? What does this industry have to offer? What are the largest PIM companies? There are a lot of fast-moving changes in this industry, and that means that it can become challenging for organizations to know what to choose and which PIM solution to use.

With numerous competitors in this space, it can easily become challenging to choose just one to utilize. Some competitors have positioned themselves as PXM software. Other companies are more focused as a PIM solution but still have much of the same functionality as a PXM.

Some of the most notable competitors in this area include:

Salsify
Akeneo PIM
Plytix
Inriver PIM
Acquia PIM
Sales Layer
Catsy
Pimcore

These competitors may offer comprehensive product information management functionality. Some also offer digital asset management functionality. The problem is that even with all of these features across all of these PIM software companies, they do not offer the full capabilities provided by the Lumavate Platform.

There are numerous solutions out there, but Lumavate is the most comprehensive option for all of your marketing needs. As the best PIM software, it can provide far more in an easy-to-use tool than its competitors. That includes:

The ability to centralize the management of product data
The ability to manage all digital assets
The ability to utilize those digital assets as needed
A way to create digital product experiences
Form building within the platform
Create and send highly targeted text messages

These are some of the product's most important components of these PIM tools. There is much more. No other platform on the market has a full range of capabilities like Lumavate. This makes it a powerful tool to use for virtually any industry.

Additionally, Lumavate is typically:

75 percent more cost-effective than competitive solutions
8.5x faster for go-to-market applications
Requires no technical resources to install, set up, or use
Can have you onboarded and using it in a single day

Choosing a PIM

What is PIM software used for? As you look at all of these PIM software examples, you may be wondering how you can choose one that is best for you. The PIM tools in the market may seem the same, but they simply are not. Before you make a decision, you need to consider five key questions to determine the best PIM software for your specific business:

What functionality do you need?
What other systems do you need to integrate with?
How will the product information be used?
What type of budget is defined for this initiative?
What is your timeline for implementing a solution?

Lumavate is often the best choice for any organization evaluating a new PIM solution for several reasons. It offers a full PIM solution with a complete product experience management PXM) functionality feature. Instead of purchasing these separately, your organization needs to invest just one time.

Within the Lumavate Platform, customers have access to:

Product information management solutions to centralize the management of product data across the company.
Digital asset management functionality to store product-related digital assets.
Digital experience platform to build digital product experiences in minutes, text messaging capability, and a comprehensive form builder solution that integrates directly into the company's system of record.

There are no other solutions on the market with the breadth of functionality that Lumavate has. Remember, Lumavate is also 75 percent more cost-effective than competitive solutions that have less functionality.

Cost of a PIM

As you consider the product information management job description listed above, there is a lot of heavy lifting for the PIM solution to do. You may expect that this could be expensive, and some software solutions are.

The cost will vary greatly depending on the PIM solution and the functionality it offers. Some PIM solution prices are based on the number of SKUs stored in the PIM. Other PIM companies will use the price based on the number of times the product data is used.

Lumavate takes a different approach to pricing. Instead, it offers a comprehensive product experience management platform.

Using Lumavate, you can get started with its PXM platform for just $499 a month. That is typically about 75 percent less expensive than what you could pay with a competitor that does not offer as many features.

Why You Need More Than a PIM

Product information management software is necessary and helpful. It is a must-have feature for every manufacturer producing a physical product. It provides a very important ability to centralize all product information. However, this is only useful when it can be easily shared and used across all areas of the company, including digital experiences, product images, printed materials, challenge partner marketing efforts, and more.

The problem is that most PIM solutions do not offer this built-in functionality and that instantly limits the way your business works and requires you to take additional steps. Instead, you must have countless integrations to third-party software solutions added to it – and each one of those integrations boosts the costs that much more, making it more expensive to do business. Others require you to build your own integrations to enable product data to show up in their digital experiences or other marketing materials. Again, this adds to the cost and can create a frustrating situation for anyone within the organization.

Lumavate offers a built-in digital experience platform (DXP) instead. It automatically connects to Lumavate's PIM solution as well as the company's Digital Asset Management feature. This allows the entire package to work together seamlessly to help your business maximize efficiency across the board. No other PIM platforms offer this.

Why does it matter? In short, Lumavate allows your team to create digital product experiences within the tool. It takes just minutes to pull in all of the dynamic and detailed information that is being managed within the PIM solution. All of this information — the most up-to-date information available — is centralized. Your marketing, sales, and customer service teams can easily use and tap into these resources without any additional technical resources or added information.

Consider What Lumavate Offers

Lumavate is a product experience management platform that enables companies to create and manage everything related to their digital product experiences in one centralized location.

Lumavate's built-in product information solution, digital asset management function, digital experience platform, text messaging, form builder, and more than 40 other integrations make it one of the most important and powerful tools available today.

Lumavate is an all-in-one solution that is easily accessible and usable by your entire team. This is key because no other products offer this type of flexibility and functionality. If your company manufactures or sells physical products, you need all of this technology — it is not optional but not always obtained and used together in a single solution. With Lumavate, it is. This allows you to effectively handle all of the following tasks:

Manage all product data
Manage all product digital assets
Create and update digital experiences containing product information
Send highly targeted text messages using product data and information
Collect product registration or lead registration in a simplified, automated manner, and more

By offering a single-use tool like this, companies are able to achieve the desired outcome they have. Typically, this means not just offering a product that can do all of this but also one that does so while lowering costs, improving efficiencies, and boosting overall user experience.

There is no other platform available that can do this. There is no other product that offers the breadth of solutions that Lumavate does.

At the same time, it is a fraction of the cost compared to other platforms — and those platforms do not do nearly as much to support your business and your growth.

How to Implement Lumavate

Now that you can see all of the value and benefits that this product offers, it is easy to recognize just how valuable and even essential it is. The question many people have, though, is about how hard it is to implement. Let's be honest, many other products are costly, time-consuming, and difficult to put in place.

None of that is true of Lumavate. Rather, it all starts with the following process. You can start with a 14-day free trial right now if you like. If you would like to see how the system works first, make sure to schedule a demo with our team.

Give it a try and find out how well it can work for your needs. Once you see the value, you are likely to want to move forward with one of the multiple subscription plan offerings that are available. There are solutions available to meet just about every company's needs. Costs start as low as $499 per month.

Now that you are ready to buy, you can get started with your subscription in no time. You can onboard the same day that you set up your subscription. That means you can start to fully implement the Lumavate Platform right now.

Lumavate is built for marketers to use. It does not require any additional technical resources to set it up or customize it or its functionality for your company. It is extremely easy to get started with, no matter your company or goals.

If you need help, don't worry. We offer professional services if you want help with implementing the product data into Lumavate for the first time. We can take that off your plate.

Many of our clients are onboarding in a single day and then launching digital product guides in only a few days. That is far faster than the competition. Lumavate's use continues to expand to meet their needs, including across the company's website, sales resources, events, and much more.

Are you ready to learn more? Schedule a demo now.