Enterprises are catching up with the evolution. From initially giving customers the right content to lap up, to relevant content becoming a key expectation of customers irrespective of the touch point – the rules of engagement have evolved drastically.
For amplifying their market share, digital businesses must re-analyze their product information management processes and capabilities, and adjust to the changing reality.
An efficient product information management solution must allow for able governance of product information, offer content that’s merchant friendly and automate dissemination of assets to all channels of marketing and sales.
Product Information Management has proven time and again that it can present enterprises with a way to become faster, more compatible, overcome inconsistencies, and effortlessly circulate new product information. Here’s how PIM is doing it.
Road to Desired Business Outcomes Starts Here
PIM is where product experiences originate. It assists digital businesses on many separate levels, which leads to their desired business results. For instance, product managers need to handle products ably by creating assortments, marketers need to be armed with high-quality media assets having up-to-the-minute product information for marketing campaigns, while channel administrators have to oversee the content pertaining to their channel for marketing and sales. Suppliers too, get ample support in executing their tasks.
All these systems stitched together with PIM, create a larger, more complete and systematic model offering you fitting business outcomes.
As an upshot: your go to market becomes faster, content is automatically syndicated across touch points, and customers get the content they deserve.
Content is Inextricably Linked with PIM
Content is the undisputed king – even when it comes to PIM. Brands and retailers are abundantly clear about the experience expected of them, be it via direct or social marketplace channels. If your existing systems and processes are compromising the pertinence and timing of your content out of sheer tardiness or long-established legacy practices, then maybe you’re placing the cart before the horse.
Because, content goes hand in glove with experience. Customers want rich, consumable and many a times, exclusive content when it comes to products. So, if any of your existing age old systems (picture: spreadsheets, manual processes) come in the way of what they wish for, it’s highly likely that your business will suffer.
Employing PIM in an Expanding Marketplace
When marketing process evolves, it ends up evolving the marketplace too. The marketplace is undoubtedly warming up to PIM, and that goes beyond retailers as organizations are getting aware of how information can steer buyer behavior.
Enterprises need solutions to attend to customers’ information needs in order to widen their sales channels. They are making more and more investment in building smarter user interfaces and creating automation that cuts across channels, formats and segments.
Enterprises have also realized the futility of managing data in spreadsheets, repositories and systems that live in silos.
Modernization is another reason why enterprises find themselves attracted to PIM. That’s because, distributors like to engage with customers, not only at the point of sales, but anytime during the product life cycle. They also want PIM to market products on a broader level, by eliminating human intervention and going beyond single distributors.
Functions PIM Vendors are Delivering Today
Considering the diversity and scale of information today’s digital businesses require, they look for the most fitting solutions out of the bouquet of services PIM vendors offer.
Master Data Management (MDM): In most cases where consistency, efficiency, and the need for a single version of data across the enterprise is important, including storing information from multiple domains sitting on ERPs or CRMs, MDM comes to rescue.
Product Experience Management is another function where product managers and merchandisers build product experiences through offering rich content as well as equipping their teams with single views, and creating flexible workflows. It also enables collaboration among various teams.
Product Syndication: The need for content distribution by marketing and sales channels as well as marketplaces is offered by product syndication.
Vendor Portals and On-boarding: Suppliers can not only load content directly into a retailer’s PIM, but also measure the content against the standards defined by product managers.
Conclusion
Enterprises have realized that today’s business cannot be run on yesterday’s systems. Though there are a number of aspects that influence the selection of a suitable PIM solution, a digital business professional must factor in their requirements very carefully.
As consistency, efficiency, getting rid of silos and bringing products to market instantly takes center stage, PIM’s significance to empower customers, govern content, soars to extraordinary levels. Before your enterprise gets pushed into unwarranted situations—it’s time to make a choice!
Get Forrester’s Report that names Pimcore in the list of top Product Information Management (PIM) Vendors.
Shashin Shah has been an expert in the Information technology field for more than twenty years. His experience globally and in the US, spanning across several industries has greatly contributed to his unparalleled skill set. Currently, Shashin is working as Chief Business Officer at DTES division of Happiest Minds, where he is primarily handling Pimcore Global Services. Pimcore is 100% open source consolidated platform for PIM, MDM, DAM, WCM & Ecommerce.
