A staggering 46% of companies that don’t have a single source of product information or product information management (PIM) solution use Excel spreadsheets to manage product data. Why does this matter for companies pursuing scalability? Because scalability is built on a foundation of robust product information, and without the right PIM solution, companies manage this data manually. Extended time-to-market, inaccurate product data, repetitive manual efforts — the list of implications of not having a PIM is long, and all these factors impact scalability.
On the other hand, with a reliable PIM system, businesses can focus on scaling up in the following ways:
- Expand product assortment to meet growing customer demands
- Extend reach to new marketplaces and sales channels
- Reach new geographies
- Develop capabilities to deal with a larger volume of products
How PIM Software Drives Scalability
PIM software (provided you pick the right one) creates a centralized repository for product data that helps streamline data onboarding, normalization, enrichment, and distribution. It leverages automation to cut out repetitive manual tasks, boosting productivity and efficiency. AI and ML drive automation to help teams work faster, smarter, and better, saving valuable time to focus on core competencies.
As a single source of truth, PIM software helps ensure that product data is always up-to-date, accurate, and accessible to all the stakeholders that need it. It ensures high product data quality while also accelerating speed-to-value with automation. Security, validation, and governance mechanisms ensure this quality is maintained through the product data lifecycle.
PIM software has great options to integrate with multiple sales channels, such as marketplaces, to expand your brand footprint effectively. Different sales channels have varying standards and requirements. PIM helps organizations automate product data transformation to meet these standards, doing so with high accuracy and speed. This ensures that you empower your customers with the best product information and an unmatched omnichannel experience.
With high-quality data available at speed and scale, the power of automation, and reach to a much wider audience through new sales channels, product information management truly drives scalability from the ground up.
Here’s a quick summary of everything PIM can do for your company’s scalability goals:
- Centralize data management
- Manage product catalogs with high efficiency
- Enhance omnichannel experiences
- Accelerate time-to-market
- Improve workflow and collaboration
- Drive personalization and localization efforts
Learn more about how to make the most of product data with PIM, MDM, and AI/ML.
Drive Scalability with Product Information Management Best Practices
Getting started with your product information management journey to drive scalability may seem daunting to begin with, but follow these ten simple steps, and you’ll be well on your way:
1. Identify your goals for scalability:
What are you looking to achieve with PIM implementation? Entering new markets, improving operational efficiency, expanding product assortment, enhancing customer experience, or all of the above?
2. Pick the right PIM solution:
With the myriad of available options, you need to evaluate which solution fits your requirements the best. Look into aspects such as usability, scalability of the solution itself, security, integration capabilities, and training and support.
3. Build a product data model:
Create a data model that fits your business objectives by identifying product attributes, relationships, hierarchies, etc.
4. Onboard and normalize:
Migrate your existing data to the new PIM software and normalize it to the established data model. At this point, ensuring accuracy, completeness, and consistency is critical. At the same time, you must also get rid of errors and duplications.
5. Implement data governance:
Establish robust rules to ensure data integrity at scale and volume. You also need to ensure that you assign the required data stewards to ensure compliance and conduct regular audits to uphold governance practices at all times.
6. Enrich product information:
Think customer. Whether it’s product titles, descriptions, or other media such as images and videos, enrich products with everything you consider essential to your customer’s buying journey.
7. Leverage syndication:
Identify channels where you want to sell your products and configure your PIM software to efficiently distribute product information to these channels. This can be driven by templates and automation.
8. Focus on collaboration and workflow optimization:
Leverage the features and functions of your PIM software to drive cross-functional collaboration and efficiency. These solutions are usually ideal to ensure that your teams don’t work in silos, and workflows are optimized for best results.
9. Unleash analytics:
Maximize your PIM tool’s reporting and analytics capabilities to ensure that your scalability activities are on course. You can leverage valuable insights into product performance, conversion rates, data quality, and hoards of other metrics to gain a unified view of the larger picture.
10. Never stop improving:
Keep a close eye on PIM processes based on market changes, feedback, and evolving scalability requirements to make the most of the solution. Ensure that your PIM tool gives you the flexibility to fine-tune your data model, workflows, and other aspects to ensure you’re always on the top of your game.
Get these steps right, and you will find it easier to expand product offerings, reach new markets, and deliver customer experiences for the win!
Is your PIM software checking all the boxes?
About Pivotree: Pivotree designs, builds, and manages frictionless commerce experiences for brands and their customers around the world. We provide end-to-end solutions and services in Commerce, Data Management, and Supply Chain for hundreds of brands globally.