Put an end to the chaos of product information with an effective PIM system
For many e-commerce employees, Product Information Management (PIM) is a source of constant frustration. The data they must enter, verify its accuracy, and eliminate errors is enormous, and they must do so every day. A functional PIM catalog management System is a tool that not only helps them do their jobs better, but it also has an impact on the creation of a positive customer shopping experience, which in turn helps them sell more products and services.
What is product information?
Check out the product information before continuing to read about why it’s a good idea to invest in a eCommerce project management system (PIM).
Generally speaking, product information can be divided into three categories:
Selling price, promotional price, stock, shipping options, points of sale, and SKU are all important considerations.
Material, color, and other product characteristics are all considered to be physical information.
Marketing data includes images, videos, and descriptions, to name a few examples.
A state of emergency has been declared.
When viewed from the outside, this division does not appear to be particularly difficult. Assume that you have 30.000 products in your online store and multiply all of this information by 30.000. Keep in mind that each of these products has a distinct set of characteristics that should be considered.
Take, for example, a pair of sports shoes, which can have a minimum of 10–20 different characteristics (color, lining material, outer material, type of tying, foot size, the toe of the shoe, type of heel, photos, videos, short description, extended description, etc.). In some industries, the situation is even more difficult to navigate.
Furthermore, you must plan for the possibility that the number of products will increase as your organization grows. New channels of communication with customers will open up. In addition, you will need to translate all of the information into new languages. All of this will be required in order to successfully implement the omnichannel strategy.
The management of such a large amount of data appears to be a thankless endeavor, doesn’t it? That this is true will be confirmed by anyone who has attempted to manually organize product information received from multiple sources (such as e-mail, PDF, paper catalog, and so on) and failed (e.g. by entering it into a file in Excel).
It may come as a surprise to learn that someone is performing the task manually. Studies, on the other hand, show that businesses behave in this manner. According to a report published by Ventana Research in 2017, 48 percent of companies create product records manually, while 38 percent use spreadsheets to accomplish this. Product information management applications are used by only 28 percent of the companies polled, according to the results of the survey.
Furthermore, according to Ventana Research, spreadsheets are a source of errors in 90 percent of organizations that employ them. The task of managing data on such a massive scale is difficult even for the most efficient of teams. In order to complete this task successfully, accuracy and a high level of productivity are required. Inefficient and unprofitable, manually managing product information is a bad practice. As a result of long-standing practices, businesses waste time on activities that could have been automated years ago.
What is the significance of product information?
Product descriptions serve as the foundation for creating a positive shopping experience for the customer. When it comes to making a purchasing decision, 87 percent of consumers consider product information to be “extremely important” or “important,” regardless of where they purchase the product.
Consumers also stated that they abandoned their shopping carts because they couldn’t find enough information or details about the product on the product page (69 percent).
Every stage of the customer journey involves the dissemination of product information. It all starts with the search engine query, continues with the purchase, and ends with the process of building commitment to the company’s product or service. Photographs, videos, technical information, delivery information, and product stories are all required in order to effectively market your product.
The decisions that consumers make about what to buy are influenced by all of these factors. As a result, it is impossible to talk about creating an online shopping experience without bringing up the subject of product information.
Providing consistent information to customers through multiple channels, as well as offering omnichannel sales, are essential requirements. PIM systems allow for the management of information quality, presentation, and management through the use of a database. This is especially important when a large number of people and entities are relying on the information.
What exactly is PIM System?
This system is based on a centralized database, which is known as Product Information Management (PIM). Create and distribute product content through a variety of channels, such as e-commerce systems, mobile applications, websites, catalogs, and PDF files, among others.
Who should make use of product information management (PIM)?
The use of PIM Solution will be beneficial to large e-commerce entities, distributors, manufacturers, and businesses with multiple sales channels, among others. In fact, the larger your product catalog, the sooner you should think about implementing a product information management system to avoid being exposed to errors, repetitions, and inconsistencies in product information and to improve customer service.
Product information is causing some problems for some businesses right now. In a chaotic environment where the amount and incompleteness of information is a major concern, they must perform their duties. The solution to these issues is a product information management system (PIM), which improves and optimizes the work on product information.
Example?
Consider the following scenario: you work for a large online retailer that sells shoes from a variety of different manufacturers. Each of them sends you the information in a different manner than the others. It can be delivered via email, but it can also be delivered via PDF or spreadsheet, and it can even be delivered via a paper catalog. You should also keep the information about the suppliers in mind. This data must be processed and distributed manually if you want to make it available to the rest of the world.
What does it look like in real life? Individually, you enter data into the leaflet, Excel, stationary store system, and other systems, among others. You’ll need a lot of man-hours and (ideally) several pairs of hands to complete the processing of these data.
Is it really necessary to have a PIM system?
If your online store has only one sales channel and a limited number of product categories, you may not require a product information management system. For those who believe that their organization is struggling with information chaos while also wishing to grow, sell more products and services to more customers, explore new markets, and implement an omnichannel strategy, do not hesitate to begin looking for the best Ecommerce Product Information Management software for their company right away!
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