The process of managing and improving product information and digital assets to offer an engaging product experience is called Product Information Management (PIM).
Product information management consists of a set of business practices that are used to manage information that is necessary to market and sell products and services across the different distribution channels of an organization.
PIM systems ensure that product information such as product specifications, technical specifications, statements concerning sales, information about the lifecycle of products, and product metadata information, can be delivered to the customers.
PIM aids in successful sales of products across different sales and marketing channels by easing and improving the flow of product information from the supply chain to the final customers. It is an effective solution to manage product data on one centralized platform.
This blog will touch upon the importance of PIM systems, the benefits of information sharing to Retailers, and why Kytes is the go-to solution for information sharing.
Why Product Information Management Matters
With the advent of technology surrounding communication and the internet of things, data is growing at a very fast pace. This has resulted in the origin of new sales channels and an increase in the speed of services. Amidst this, retailers need to have a solution similar to a centralized inventory warehouse. PIM offers inventory management for retailers all under one roof.
Businesses can launch products into the market with detailed product descriptions, pictures, attributes, etc., with the help of PIM systems. PIM systems can help you formulate a product catalogue as well as effectively manage and populate product data and information on all your sales and eCommerce channels.
Incorporating a reliable Product Information Management system will help you move products smoothly across all sales channels. Using a PIM system will ensure a smoother and streamlined work process, content and motivated employees, lesser product returns, a boost in inventory turnover, and a more profitable business.
What Does Product Information Management Do?
PIM software manages product data by aiding retailers, wholesalers, and merchants by centralizing technical and marketing information concerning their products. It assists in extracting, managing, and prioritizing data, as well as translating and enhancing product information.
Here is a brief discussion about how a PIM system works and what it can offer your retail business.
1. Collection and Extraction of Data :
Product Information Management systems collect data from supplier databases and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. It scrapes product data from the sites of suppliers who have permitted the same. It can also collect data by importing data in different formats and standards like CSV, API, XML.
2. Consolidation and Control of Data :
PIM systems create a “golden record” as a single source of truth for every product. You can clean and choose the data you intend to integrate into your product catalogues and define how you want to prioritize the data emanating from different sources. The collected data can be consolidated into a taxonomy.
3. Enrichment and Translation of Content :
Your content can be enriched by incorporating your products with marketing and technical data using PIM.
PIM systems optimize data to maximize sales and conversion. They can help classify products and associate them with catalogues. The data that has been collected can be translated into different languages. The product lifecycle, workflows, and audits can be managed, and the data quality can be improved.
4. Distribution Across Channels :
Collected data can be managed and spread across multiple sales and device channels. With PIM, you can choose which data/catalogues you want to distribute across which channel. The selected data can be sent to web-to-print software for printing catalogues.
Benefits of Information Sharing for a Retailer
It was observed in a recent survey that 9 out of 10 retail leaders believe that sharing information betters product data management, customer experience, and time and cost-efficiency. A few benefits of information sharing are detailed here:
1. Superior Data Management :
Usage of obsolete product management methods like Excel, PDF, etc., is extremely time-consuming, inefficient, and disorganized. Data tends to be scattered and is difficult to locate and maintain. This leads to inaccurate and inefficient data management.
PIM systems can help you systematically and efficiently manage all your product data in a centralized database. Thus, organizations can distribute and share accurate and relevant data across different channels in a time and cost-efficient manner.
2. Improved Data Quality :
Converting visitors into buying consumers is possible only if the quality of your product data is good. The number of consumers who interact with products to make purchasing decisions will increase if product data quality is high.
PIM solutions aid in managing data and media quality checks. An interactive user interface coupled with a robust PIM system will result in the generation of a flawless data set and increased data quality which can be spread across varied channels and sources.
3. Enhancement in Efficiency and Productivity :
Using a PIM system eliminates the time consumed in updating product information manually from different sources and reduces the frustration around product data management.
Investing in PIM can help you divert such time into more productive tasks. The system can handle product information collection, editing, and management under one roof and distribute the updated information across different channels.
4. Improving Customer Experience :
With PIM systems, customers have access to detailed, relevant, and up-to-date product information that they can compare with other products and platforms.
This reduces shopping cart abandonment, product returns, and complaints. New products reach customers sooner, and customer experience becomes more consistent and improved.
5. Time Efficiency :
Time spent on redundant tasks is saved and redirected into more important work. The need to update data constantly and manually is eliminated. This prevents data management frustration.
6. Cost Efficiency :
Overhead expenses can be reduced with the implementation of PIM solutions. PIM systems connect to your enterprise, suppliers, vendors, and distributors. Operational and supply chain costs can also be eliminated with PIM. Damaged items can be easily identified and removed by suppliers, and user experience is thus improved.
7. Improved Integration :
PIM solutions offer you the choice to integrate enterprise systems like CRM, ESB, ERP, BI, and other third-party applications. PIM systems with an approach driven by API and flexible architecture can be of great help with this.
All product management tasks can be accomplished with more efficiency if PIM solutions are leveraged to seamlessly communicate with other applications and software used by your retail business.
8. Improved Sales :
PIM also works with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and generates more traffic, leading to higher conversion rates. It was found that better product information increased conversion rates up to 56%.
In addition, the use of optimized names, descriptions, and specifications for products is necessary to cross-sell and upsell effectively.
Conclusion
Product data management is key to content distribution across various channels and platforms to improve customer conversion rates.
Kytes offers retail and FMCG firms the solution to educate retail sellers, distributors, store staff, salespersons, premium buyers, as well as end-customers about your product by creating a brand experience.
With Kytes, you can share content with your retail staff, impart pre-training and post-training, and keep the supply chain informed about your products.
Kytes is thus your ultimate go-to to create an end-to-end brand experience, solidify customer loyalty, efficiently engage with media and regulators, and train persons involved in the supply chain at a very reasonable price.
