PIM: Product Information Management
Rich product information is the foundation of a good e-commerce strategy. Create a master database comprising every product sold online and in-store, with all the accompanying information – images, product description and attributes and much more. Connect to vendor ERP to get this data fast and in the right format.
Connect to Vendor ERP
Get the right product information from the vendor at the outset. Ensure quality by validating information and format at upload. Speed up the process by integrating with the vendor ERP or download from a spreadsheet.
Enhance content
Enrich the customer experience by enhancing content – in quality and features. Create common information to be shared across a product group, or display products with their unique attributes.
Customise content
By creating a single, updated marketing profile for each product allow marketing teams to self-serve by selecting content relevant to their promotion, event or marketplace. Collateral can be swiftly recreated with drag and drop functionality from the PIM.
Consistent customer experience
Using a single, centralised master database in the PIM ensures that only approved, on-brand, and the latest product information is used by all marketing teams. It gives customers a unified, consistent product experience regardless of the selling platform.
Our Customers
Product Information Management with Retailpath
Create Complete Product Profiles
• Create Rich Product Information: The PIM is a hub of product information, pushing a range of data to different sales channels:
- Core product data (product name, title, description)
- Product attributes (SKU, cost, pricing)
- Product specifications (e.g., dimensions, warranty and packaging)
- Product marketing copy, assets, and media
- Supplier information
- Channel-specific information (Amazon, Shopify, etc.)
- Product specifications (e.g., dimensions, warranty and packaging)
- Store-specific information (POS registers, product catalogues)
• Store in a Central Database: A single central hub solves several management challenges. A single source of truth ensures that every team members access only one up-to-date record for each product. This delivers consistency in pricing, product information and branding. Making changes is easy – once the master file is updated, the change is reflected throughout the system, wherever the product is in use. This is invaluable in creating a great customer experience. From an operations point of view, it reduces the need for multiple revision and approvals.
• Integrate with Vendors: Vendors are best placed to provide you core content of the products. By setting standards for the information they need to provide, the process of getting products to the market becomes much faster. The quantum and quality of data is validated at upload and the vendor is automatically prompted for additional data, if the standards are not meet. Linking into the vendor’s ERP, or custom software with an API aided integration speeds up the process. There is also the option of downloading information from spreadsheets.
Provide Self-Serve Content for Marketing
• Downloadable Marketing Profile: By creating a single downloadable marketing profile for each product which comprises the master database, marketing teams can select and download only the information relevant to their project. Marketing teams can create and save endless configurations of information to create superior experiences for merchants, stores and customers. Because the data is pulled from the central master database, teams can be confident that the product information is accurate, approved and updated.
• Customised product information: Products come in varying types, shapes and sizes, as do projects, events, promotions and marketplaces. Some groups of products share common information – such as colours and sizes in apparel. Others such as handmade, artisanal products may have some very unique attributes. Some products may have a combination of both – such as unique attributes but global shipping information or returns policies. A good PIM has the ability to apply information differentially for different types of products.
• Great Product Image Library: Good images sell products. The PIM allows marketing teams to set the image order/sequencing and set defaults for web and print. This allows teams to control the customer experience and journey better. Built-in cropping tools and watch creation features means that customisation is possible without the involvement of the design team or the expense of sending it to an outside agency for changes.
Optimise Product Catalogue Use
• In-built DAM to manage assets: Every marketing event, promotion and e-commerce platform is different. Assets may be needed in various customised formats. A built-in DAM gives the marketing team access to high quality images and content which can be reformatted on the fly within brand guidelines. Print and web may have very different needs and a built in DAM with collaborative editing tools and templated approval pathways gets marketing material ready very quickly without the need to go back to design teams or agencies.
• Consolidated Product History: When a product is used in a promotion, the history – price, date etc, - is stored with the product information. This gives marketing teams contextual information of previous times the product was on sale and how it performed. This audit trail is invaluable when marketing teams are shortlisting products for promotions or sales.
• Make data driven decisions: The feature-rich PIM creates a detailed product library and also allows for very flexible customisation based on what different marketing teams may need. Audit trails and product history ensures that managers have data on all metrics related to their offerings – which products are being promoted, the product information or images most frequently used by their marketing departments. This allows managers to make data driven decisions around product information.
