For marketing purposes, you need to distribute your product information to your manufacturers. Manufacturers can know how their product is being presented in the market only if you do not fail to provide the necessary information about the product. For agility of a manufacturer’s workflow; you need to keep them updated with product statistics.
Construction of products is not as easy as it may seem, even for manufacturers. You must keep them updated with the data of failed product design and negative feedback of consumers so that you can build a strong product for your business growth.
What is Product Information Management (PIM)?
Product Information Management – PIM framework has distinct item data of all items put away in an incorporated stage. PIM is an instrument that oversees exact, steady, and dependable information of items on a solitary shred-focal stage. PIM is an absolute necessity required for the storage, revision, alteration, and usage of any item data.
Some veritable advantages of PIM are; Product indexes, cost-saving options, time-efficient options, proficiency and giving better insights into products. For having adequate item data and solid security of data on your hand, PIM is an unquestionable requirement that you will require.
PIM is extremely useful for dispatching another item, adjusting existing items, and comparing the information of two items. To sum up, we can say that the PIM is an arrangement of data in a structured way.
Capabilities of PIM system
PIM is an approach to combine people and resources with technology. The PIM has many capabilities that make the base of your product information stronger like never before. The main capabilities of the PIM system are;
- Collecting data from any sources
- Enrich the data and Control Data
- Supply data to multi-channels
PIM firstly collects data from ERP, media server, purchase department, marketing department, and suppliers. It has the capability of collecting data from all systems. The gathered data may be found in any form; un-structured, duplication of data, and various forms of data.
After collecting data from various sources, PIM has the capability of enriching the data and makes it of high quality. It even has the capability of converting unstructured data into a structured manner. PIM filters out the duplicate data and can delete the unused data that brings no benefits to your business.
The final stage of product information is to supply data to multi-channels. You can share your enriched data with suppliers, customers, marketers, and channel partners. PIM has the capability of supplying accurate product information to suppliers and customers so both can make an informed decision.
Here is Why Manufacturers Need a PIM System
Manufacturers need PIM as the core. The implementation of PIM is a digital marketing strategy that will help your brand and will save you from the risk of being diluted under competition. Below are the major 5 reasons why manufacturers need a PIM system.
1. Need for E-commerce: Global electronics transactions have increased in the past time, but in upcoming years they will boost up almost like twice then they have previously increased. The study has shown that the manufacturers are lagging and are not coping up with the increasing demand of e-commerce.
The manufacturers that lag behind the competition and are not able to cope up with the increasing demand of e-commerce are those manufacturers who have not implemented the PIM system. The lack of a PIM system will cost you more than you can think of, and without PIM your company will be diluted.
2. E-commerce Website: An Ecommerce website is more than a website as it is more of a digital transformation. The need for e-commerce has risen in recent years because of the customer’s liberty to purchase products from any e-commerce.
The digital transformation and the need for mobile with the internet have pushed everyone to buy things with one tap. Customers want to have a rich-product experience from the brand, whose products they buy. To be able to deliver a rich-product experience to customers you need PIM.
3. Control over product Information: You might have faced a situation, in which the control of the product was lying with the outsider and you continuously need to follow up with them. When you are not controlling the product information, then you are not controlling your business.
With PIM you can have control over your product information at every stage of the product. From the manufacturing to its selling process; you can know about the product description any time you want. So with PIM, you need not take follow up with outsiders for accurate product information.
4. Publishing: When you have to wait longer for accurate product information; you are naturally going to face difficulty in publishing the product. PIM can easily publish your products with its ability to create a product catalog and many more.
PIM creates a product catalog for diving products into the relevant categories. The product catalog creates flexibility for manufacturers so that you can publish products easily with exceptional efficiency and can fit the targeted audience.
5. Integration: PIM collaborates with other systems like SAP, Oracle, asset libraries, excel, and marketing systems. The integration of PIM with other systems will clear the mindset of the manufacturer and they can have analytics of products.
With customer feedback and reports, you can have a better idea of where you stand in the competition. You can have a view of the product on a 360-degree level so that you can make better and faster decisions for your business.
When to Use PIM system
You need PIM in the following circumstances;
- When you have a high volume of product data.
- When you have a high volume of customer data.
- When you have multiple channels for marketing and Sales.
- When you have to have product catalogs.
- When you have varieties of different products.
- When you need to manage multiple suppliers.
- When you have multiple sources of product data.
- When you are facing product returns due to lack of product description.
Top 5 PIM Software of 2021 – Review
For core product data and data attributes, you need PIM software. The decision of choosing PIM software would be much easier with the detailed description given below of PIM software.
1. PIMCORE
It is an open-source, consolidated, and enterprise digital platform. It is one of the best PIM software and fits for agencies, software integrations, and enterprises who want consolidated product information to improve their customer experience.
PIMCORE is highly scalable, has in-built style editors, widgets, responsive designs, and user-specific dashboards. PIMCORE can easily integrate with other third-party software and within internal software too. It provides a free trial and has reasonable subscription pricing too.
2. inRiver PIM
This software is best for better product service and software empowers marketers, merchandisers, and e-commerce professionals to build strong product data. Through data governance, this software is designed to be adaptive for marketers.
For large businesses, retailers, and manufacturers, this software is the best. The solutions of this software will let you have a streamlined process and will enrich you with product information. It has extensions for Magento-based stores. The software has advanced search capability makes it stand out from all software.
3. Playtex
This software is in one solution of PIM. It is all one solution of Digital Asset Management, product syndication, brand portals, and Omnichannel marketing. This software offers 10 GB file storage as of free plan with 1000 SKU. The advanced features and API index of the software just costs 830 USD a month.
It has advanced features of import-export functions, direct bulk editing of product data, product feed creation, and many more. The free version is the best fit for small enterprises, which are learning the management of product information. The advanced paid version fits best for mid to large size businesses.
4. Riversand
For enterprise-level brands, this software is the best fit. With its advanced features of storing product information, the software creates up to data of the product. It provides solutions and data of products through its creation till the final sale.
The salient features of the software are; supports multi-language, supports e-commerce, and classification of data is simple. The software creates an automated workflow to carry out business operations.
5. Salsify
It is cloud-based PIM software, so you can have access to product information through this software from anywhere in the world. It can easily integrate with other software and e-commerce platforms. Its flexible permission, collaborative tools, and history capabilities make it one of the best Cloud software.
It is a scalable platform and advanced features of the software will make you alert when the product data is modified. Unlimited users can use it and have a smooth workflow. The software has one-click reminders to request product data.
Conclusion:
To have a better customer experience, manufacturers need PIM. The need for PIM for manufacturers is something that can’t be neglected as it provides significant benefits to manufacturers. To cope up with the changing market trend and need for globalization, manufacturers must need PIM.
