PIM - Get control of your
product information & data
With a PIM system, you can ensure full control over the company's product data, free up precious time and reduce time-to-market, so that the focus can be directed towards creating growth in the company.
What is PIM?
PIM is short for Product Information Management and is therefore a system that provides full control over all product data in one place.
In short, a PIM system is a central database with product information, which is handled through a user-friendly system, where several users have access to the same product data. This ensures that you have up-to-date product data across all the company's departments nationally and internationally.
The PIM system can also talk with other systems in the company and thus becomes a link between the sources of your internal information from e.g. ERP and sales as well as your distribution channels such as CRM, webshop, social media, data sheets and so on.
It gives you a Master Data Management (MDM) solution, whereby you achieve a Single Source of Truth.
Create value with a PIM-system
At itpilot, we have no doubt that a PIM system will become an essential part of companies in the future. To be successful with online shopping, it is essential that the customer has a good shopping experience. This is ensured by your goods being presented in an informative, inviting, and consistent manner across all channels.
A PIM-system is very valuable for many companies, because:
- It contributes to the streamlining of internal processes and manual work
- It strengthens sales and marketing efforts by always providing updated product data
-
It reduces time-to-market by allowing products to be quickly created and updated across channels
A PIM system is for you if you:
Have challenges with product data quality
Struggle to keep track of product data and ensure consistently high quality.
Struggle with slow data delivery
Fail to deliver data to various systems and channels at a sufficient pace, leading to delays.
Standardize data across channels
Meanwhile, expend many resources and much time standardizing your data across different channels.
Operate in multiple markets & languages
Have a business operating in multiple markets and languages, requiring efficient multilingual administration and an international strategic approach.
Have a complex organization
Have a complex organization with many stakeholders, requiring careful coordination and communication for effective operation.
Have complex product categorization
Have complex categorization of your products, along with a significant amount of associated data.
A PIM system can, among other things:
Ensure consistent product names
Ensure that all product names are written consistently, avoiding confusion across different sales channels.
Ensure uniform products
Ensure that all your products have consistent and presentable descriptions and materials in the form of text, images, and videos.
Create a standardized product structure
Create a standardized product structure for all brands and categories – regardless of supplier and source.
Simplify the establishment of product relationships
Simplify the establishment of product relationships across sales channels with the aim of increasing cross-selling by presenting the customer with similar products.
Provide a consistent experience
Provide a consistent experience of the company across geographic markets or languages, crucial for maintaining a cohesive brand image globally.
Create Single Source of Truth
Create Single Source of Truth, which occurs when everyone in the company uses the same centralized data. This is also essential for business decisions.
Keep track of all product data
When your company invests in a PIM-system, you ensure that your omnichannel marketing strategy is carried out through the right channels. Easy. Quickly. Effectively.
The more channels your company uses, the greater the demand that the product information is always correct and up to date across all the company's sales channels and platforms. Both when it concerns your webshop, website, Facebook campaign, printed product catalogues or advertising videos.
Through a PIM system, you can easily maintain an overview of all the company's product data - even if it is complex products and products with many different variants and accessories.
In addition, a PIM system also helps ensure consistency and accuracy across all channels and platforms. It could be a standardization of the way in which product characteristics are presented, so that, for example, the size is stated in the same way everywhere (and not in different variants such as XS / Xs / X-Small / X Small and the like). This helps to ensure that all products and product variants can be searched for on the company's sales channels.
Integrate your PIM system with your other systems
To get the most out of a PIM system, it should be integrated with the company’s other systems. For example, it can be integrated with your:
- ERP system
- Financial system
- CRM system
- Webshop
- Marketplaces like Amazon
- Adobe InDesign
- Google Merchant Center
- Social media, including Meta/Facebook
- BI platforms
- Newsletter system or Marketing automation system
At itpilot, we have extensive experience in integrating data from your PIM system into different systems. We can therefore also advise you on which systems your PIM system advantageously can exchange data with.
Through various integrations to your other IT systems, I can automate a large number of manual work processes that you have today. We can advice you, if you are in doubt about how you tie your PIM system together with your other IT systems.
Our experience is that investments in creating these integrations - and thus digitizing a large number of manual work processes - are quickly earned back.
PIMpilot connects your PIM system with your webshop
We have developed a system that processes and synchronizes data from your PIM system to your webshop. We call it PIMpilot. PIMpilot is a unique cloud-based software application that simplifies and automates the integration between your PIM system and webshop.
Advantages of a PIM system
There are many advantages to implementing a PIM system in your company. We have collected some of the biggest advantages here.
With a PIM system, you can easily create and maintain product data, including variants, images, videos, product sheets, stock status, prices, language versions, etc. When product data is updated in a PIM system, it is automatically updated across all the company's channels and systems – in other words: All places where the PIM system is integrated.
Just as a PIM system provides improved data quality, you will also find that there are fewer errors across all your channels and platforms. The PIM system provides a Single Source of Truth, so that all employees can feel confident that, for example, the stock status, price, or product variants are correct.
When all product data is gathered in one place, employee efficiency and productivity also increases. Many manual processes are being automated – and at the same time you are sure that all channels and systems are always synchronized with the latest data. Therefore you do not have to worry about whether you have overlooked a place when, for example, the prices need to be updated.
A PIM system therefore contributes to more streamlined processes and a reduced time consumption.
When a new product needs to be on the market, a PIM system will contribute to a faster time to market. Without a PIM system, you must create the same product several times – across different platforms. With a PIM system, the product only needs to be created in one place, and then it is automatically sent out to the various channels that you use.
By automating and streamlining the processes of creating and updating product data, costs are also reduced. In particular, it is the time consumption associated with manual updates and changes to product data that is reduced.
A PIM system can therefore be a good investment that has quickly paid for itself. Our experience is that the more channels and platforms and the more products and product variants, the faster the system has paid for itself.
Which PIM system should I choose?
There is a lot of different PIM systems, all of which are built on the same cornerstone: A central product database. Therefore, it can also be difficult to figure out which PIM system suits your company best.
At itpilot, we have experience with various PIM systems, and we can therefore advise you on your options. Some of the most widespread PIM systems are Struct PIM, inriver PIM, Perfion and Pimcore.
If you are in doubt about which PIM system you should choose for your company, we are ready to advise and help.
Pimcore - award-winning data system
At itpilot, we work particularly with the PIM system Pimcore. Pimcore is an internationally recognized and market-leading system, which is characterized by offering great flexibility and scalability.
Pimcore has no license costs, the source code is open to everyone, and it is used today by companies of all sizes all over the world to organize their product data in one PIM system.
A solid system & major customers
Pimcore's system is extremely robust and is already used by +100,000 companies – some of the most welknown companies include Audi, Burger King, UNICEF, Deutsche Bahn, LEGO and BOSCH.
Pimcore is, among other things, named
"Customer's Choice" in Gartner's 2022 survey of Master Data Management solutions.
itpilot helps you succeed with PIM
We know that a PIM system quickly can become an essential system in many companies - especially if you sell your products via online channels or if you operate in several markets and languages. That is why we are ready to help you succeed with a PIM system.
At itpilot, we help you automate and digitalise work processes, so you can focus on what creates value for your company.
With itpilot, you not only get a PIM partner, but you get a proactive and long-term partner who can guide and advise you on how to get the most out of your IT systems.
Do you want to know more about PIM systems?
At itpilot, we are always ready to have a chat about PIM systems and digitalisation.
We guarantee a high level of security
At itpilot, we value IT security very highly. That is why we have become ISAE 3402 certified, which means that we are recognized as an IT supplier and partner that meets all applicable requirements for IT security and quality.
With our ISAE 3402 declaration, you are ensured that we have 100% control over good IT practices and IT security - also when it comes to PIM systems and integrations with other IT systems.
FAQ about PIM systems
A PIM system (or product management system) is a central product database which functions as a software solution that helps your company manage and maintain all aspects of the company's product data, including descriptions, prices, images, specifications, etc.
With a PIM system, you can manage and maintain all aspects of your product data in one place. The PIM system can also be integrated with other systems like CMS, ERP and CRM. This way you can ensure that all product data is always up to date across all systems and channels.
A PIM system contributes to better product data quality, fewer errors, increased efficiency and productivity, shorter time-to-market, better customer profiles and reduced costs.
With a data integration between the PIM system and other systems, data is sent through APIs. In other words, data can be automatically transferred between your various IT systems and ensure that product data is updated and maintained in real time.
By collecting all product data in one place (in the PIM system), you ensure uniformity and accuracy in the product information. This allows you to automate your workflows when updating product data.
Through a PIM system, you can optimize product descriptions, metadata, and keywords so that the products are easier to find for search engines. In addition, the PIM system also contributes to an improved customer experience by ensuring uniformity in the product information across channels.
When you implement a PIM system in your company, you ensure that all employees work with the same, updated product information. This also helps to streamline employees' workflows.