How Is PIM Helping E-commerce Redefine Product Management

Every touchpoint between your product and a customer is an opportunity. 

For customers, it’s an opportunity to alleviate pains, share their needs, rate their experience, get to know your brand better… For companies, it’s a chance to make customers happy, sell more products faster, cross-sell, upsell, and whatnot… 

However, for some, having numerous interaction points is also a logistical nightmare.

Siloed systems make it challenging to synchronize separate departments like digital marketing, product management, or eCommerce. They simply can’t afford to spend too much time manually managing data. Yet, they do. They export the data only for other teams to realize it doesn’t work with their system.

Too often, product information is incomplete, fragmented, and inconsistent across different applications, siloed systems, business units, and channels.

Product Management Information (PIM) could step in and shake off those problems. 

It’s not just about boosting sales and keeping customers happy. It’s about work becoming enjoyable and productive. Complex product information becoming effortlessly available and usable. Think about the time saved—redundant tasks that used to take hours now happening in milliseconds. It’s about straightforward data management that everyone, from top to bottom, can grasp.

#1 Time to Market

Launching a new product fast can make all the difference. Still, achieving speed without sacrificing quality can be rough going. 

This is where PIM steps in. While many companies are still falling short of proper adoption, those that did, secured a lot faster time to market. The benefit that seems to stand out the most for companies that have adopted PIM.

PIM acts as the central hub for all product information. Like a cloud for all your devices. But more so than the cloud, it ensures that data is accurate, consistent, and readily available. By eliminating the need to gather and update information from scattered places manually, PIM makes product ‘launch’ stay true to its name.

Take BAMA, for example, a leader in supplying produce to the Nordic and Baltic food sectors. BAMA recognized the importance of speed in getting food from the farm to the table.

Before PIM, they faced challenges with inconsistent data, inefficient manual processes, and the pure mess of maintaining data quality and compliance.

Plus, the food industry is quite delicate. Let’s just say the shelf life of a strawberry is significantly shorter than that of a TV.

With the implementation of the PIM solution, BAMA’s approach to data management took a turn for the better. By centralizing product information and automating processes, they achieved remarkable results.

• 60% reduction in time spent manipulating data. With PIM handling data tasks, teams were able to focus more on strategic initiatives rather than manual work.
• 70% faster speed to market. By streamlining information processes, BAMA accelerated its product launch. They could serve fresh food to the tables swiftly and keep everyone involved in the process happy.

More resilient supply chain. With accurate product information at their fingertips, BAMA improved collaboration across its supply chain. This resulted in smoother operations and faster response to market demands.

#2 Single Place of Truth: Connecting the Dots

Imagine juggling multiple balls at once. Each ball represents a different aspect of your business—sales, marketing, business analytics, legal… Keeping them all in the air without dropping a single ball is a Herculean task – and you’re probably the Hercules. 

Product Information Management (PIM) can help with the juggling. It provides an additional set of hands, all juggling in sync and awareness of one another. Free of metaphor, PIM offers a single place of truth that integrates all systems and meets the individual needs of different teams.

Beiersdorf is a good example of a company that successfully employed PIM. A powerhouse in skin and body care products – think Nivea, Eucerin, and La Prairie – Beiersdorf faced the challenge of managing diverse product data across various channels and teams. 

Before introducing PIM, different teams grappled with fragmented data sources. This hindered their ability to deliver compelling customer experiences.

Sales reps struggled to access relevant product information. Marketers battled with inconsistent communication across countries. IT staff were given repetitive tasks to assist other teams with various needs The examples are wide and they affect everyone. 

The objective was clear: establish PIM as the company-wide single source of truth for all product data. This meant streamlining processes, enhancing data quality, and fostering a culture of not manually exporting and forwarding Excel lists… It’s funny because it’s true, right? 

Today, Beiersdorf’s vision extends beyond data management to comprehensive process control for the entire product lifecycle. With PIM as their guide, they continue to integrate systems, automate processes, and drive transparency across their organization.

#3 Multi-lingual Support

Moreover, PIM systems simplify version control. Management of multiple versions of catalogs, specifications, and pricing becomes a lot easier. This not only enhances communication of product value but also ensures compliance with local regulations and cultural preferences.

In essence, PIM systems empower e-commerce companies to navigate the challenge of managing products across borders in the best way possible.

#4 Boosting Customer Experience

PIMs play a pivotal role in enhancing customer experience. Boiled down to an essence, perhaps, that’s the whole point of having such a system in place. By ensuring access to rich and accurate product information, PIM is proven to reduce online shopping cart abandonment. A telling sign of a more seamless shopping experience. 

Burger King’s case study, yes The Burger King, exemplifies this. A multi-lingual CMS allowed employees to manage content throughout all European branches. Having an easy way to get the news out to customers, anywhere basically, enabled distributed teams to share updates and set product promotions in a snap.

Also, PIM systems make it less likely for customers to get mixed-up details about products. Essentially, both teams in Estonia and Germany are all on the same page. Imagine how this dwindles product returns and enhances customer satisfaction. 

Well, you don’t have to. Burger King’s example – and there are many alike – doesn’t get any more real than this. Adopting PIM led to an obvious increase in revenue. Yes, through effective promotion of coupons and campaigns, means of boosting customer loyalty and trust.

Additionally, by providing better service through PIM, the staff is empowered to address customer inquiries fast, driving smooth sales cycles and improving overall customer satisfaction.

#5 Speaking of Revenue…

Implementing a PIM system significantly boosts revenue for companies. By streamlining data management processes, PIM minimizes errors, saves time, and enhances efficiency. This means faster time-to-market, increased sales, and saved costs. 

In fact, it’s not unusual for companies to see above 300% ROI and payback as fast as 6 months.

Additionally, PIM ensures accurate and enriched product information across multiple channels, reducing return rates and associated expenses. 

With PIM, companies can capitalize on higher conversion rates, lower operational costs, and stronger market positioning, resulting in a tangible boost to their bottom line.