By Vivek Manu
There’s hardly any doubt today that a Product Information Management (PIM) system is essential for organizations in industries like retail, manufacturing, eCommerce to speed up their digital transformation. For instance, in eCommerce, research shows that the online retail sales figure is expected to reach 7 trillion U.S. dollars by 2025 globally, due to a strong correlation with constantly improving internet access, especially in ‘mobile-first’ online communities. Therefore, integrating a PIM system with CRMs, OMS or ERPs will ensure product information remains accessible across various commerce touchpoints. It will help businesses modernize operations, enhance customer experiences, and drive sustainable growth. Moreover, PIM leverages product data insights to deliver targeted product recommendations and tailored marketing campaigns.
Therefore, aligning a PIM system with existing systems becomes an essential way forward for any organization looking to scale up. Besides, being technologically well-equipped has always been a critical deciding factor in an organization’s digital journey. Among the many ways through which organizations innovate, a PIM implementation plays a pivotal role in facilitating a seamless experience for customers.
The Role of PIM in Digital Transformation
A PIM system unifies data, improves efficiency, and enables personalized, data-driven customer experiences across all channels. It encompasses every piece of information about a product, including descriptions, specifications, attributes, guides, and more. It enables companies to capitalize on products faster and increase their customer lifetime value (CLV).
As a result, it will make businesses future-ready with their capabilities to optimize productivity and ensure business stability. Let’s take a look at a few ways a PIM system serves as a booster for digital transformation with the help of an eCommerce use case:
1. Centralized Data Management
Studies show that 71% of customers view in-store inventory online – reflecting a pressing need for centralized data management. A PIM system helps manage product data safely in a single system. It organizes data from various ERPs, CRMs, and CMS sources. It can manage and streamline vast datasets, reduce errors, and automate tasks related to product information management. With its structured and organized repository, a PIM system will ensure that data remains accurate, relevant, and easily accessible.
By shifting from decentralized to centralized product data, online stores will have a unified view of data, which can enhance their decision-making, improve customer experience, and help with the business’s online presence, ultimately increasing their competitiveness in the global market.
2. Omnichannel Readiness
Omnichannel readiness is an organization’s ability to weave consistent experiences across all touchpoints by integrating and synchronizing businesses’ various shopping channels through which customer interacts with them. Thus, customers experience a streamlined eCommerce journey. A recent study showed that companies with highly personalized omnichannel customer engagement strategies witnessed a 10% increase in their average order value.
A PIM system enables organizations to create an integrated customer experience across all channels by standardizing and optimizing product information. For example, a fashion eCommerce store can improve customer experience by incorporating digital assets such as images, videos, and animations to create a 360° view across all the platforms, ensuring customer retention.
3. Adaptability to Dynamic Markets
Today, navigating market volatility is a critical capability. Organizations must adopt emerging technologies and business models to thrive. A PIM system can provide an agile and adaptive framework that meets the immediate needs of enterprises. It synchronizes the entire product value chain around one source of information, which is updated continuously and accurately.
In addition, PIM consolidates product data and keeps it up-to-date which can offer them a competitive advantage. Moreover, keeping up with the changing market conditions will help businesses become resilient. For example, with PIM implementation, marketers can quickly adapt to new marketing campaigns and product promotions based on the latest trends. Customers are continuously kept updated on accurate product information, thus reducing return rates and enhancing sales.
4. Enhanced Collaboration and Workflow Automation
Workflow automation uses the right processes and software to modernize the operation of a store. It promotes real-time collaboration, increases efficiency, and improves organizational communication, powering digital transformation. A PIM system facilitates seamless collaboration among cross-functional teams and breaks down silos with role-based access control, versioning, and approval workflows.
A sound PIM implementation ensures everyone has access to the same data, promoting better communication, shared insights, and coordinated efforts. This enables all departments to work efficiently toward common goals, ultimately contributing to a more responsive and empowered organization. With a PIM solution, a retailer can create and maintain customized workflows, distribute tasks efficiently, and automate product coordination.
5. Improved Customer Experiences
Through its customer-centric approach to information, a PIM system helps tailor marketing messages, recommendations, and promotions to cater to the individual preferences of customers.
Sound product data influences decision-making processes, product development strategies, and overall business operations, ensuring long-term success in the digital age. With a PIM implementation, all the relevant data will always be online, up-to-date, and consistent, reducing online shopping cart abandonment. Put differently, a PIM solution will enable eCommerce solve customer experience challenges such as fragmented customer data and inconsistent product information with a unified view and proper handling of product information.
6. Scalability and Growth
As businesses scale and the amount of data increases, existing systems should be able to support financially feasible, high-quality product information management across multiple platforms. This would result in improved data literacy, quicker decision-making, and achievement of desired business goals. With an extensive localization process, data quality monitoring, and multichannel publication, companies can set the groundwork for scalability and growth.
PIM solution facilitates quick and easy onboarding, validating, managing, localizing, and publishing of product information across multiple sales channels, making scaling up less complex. It stores data independently from the channel, providing managed and trusted data to websites, commerce systems, mobile apps, print, and digital signage, etc., thereby allowing businesses to scale up easily.
7. Data Governance
Various regulations and policies govern data management across the company hierarchy which includes access rights and authority Hence, establishing data governance rules is crucial in ensuring that an organization’s data stays safe and reliable to drive goal-aligned, tangible outcomes. It also means harnessing the power of technology to optimize operations, gain deeper insights, and deliver superior customer experiences without compromising on security.
By establishing robust data governance policies and streamlined data validation, a PIM system helps with well-regulated data, product quality assurance, and security measures. It further offers a product data governance framework to streamline workflows, consolidate data sharing, and ensure product-related data security, integrity, and regulatory compliance.
On a final note,
With the right solution implementation partner, a PIM system can be leveraged to its full potential in driving digital transformation by enhancing business continuity, building operational efficiency, and improving customer experience. Companies can not only export product descriptions to social channels and online marketplaces but also scale in a systematized manner, thereby elevating their brand presence and recognition.
(The author is Vivek Manu, Sr. Vice President PDES Center Head (Noida) at Happiest Minds Technologies, and the views expressed in this article are his own)
