The PIM system for your product data

What is PIM?

A PIM (Product Information Management) system can simply be described as a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system for your online store’s product data. With the help of a PIM system, data can be managed, configured, structured, enriched and translated .

By supporting product management and marketing, you can create a product experience that meets customer expectations across channels. It helps companies collaborate and map workflows and approval processes.

Do you want to prepare your product data more effectively for output in different sales channels and have a better overview of the future? Contact us for an initial discussion about your PIM solution.

Why is a PIM it worth using?

A Product Information Management (PIM) system is a very useful tool to effectively serve the multitude of systems, channels, and touchpoints in an ever-changing environment, and to prepare content and data for the channel in the best possible way and still make it available in a coordinated manner. The ability to maintain centralized data not only saves time and money, but also ensures a fast time-to-market in e-commerce, which has a positive impact on sales. Therefore, a PIM solution for managing product data is always a strategic decision for a company.

With igniti you have a PIM agency at your side that stands for agile PIM project management . A PIM project is implemented by us through workshops in which we build on each other’s topics. For each e-commerce PIM workshop we conduct with you , there is preparation and follow-up work to ensure smooth progress. Between the workshops, we work with you and the data on a PIM test instance and develop the perfect agile PIM solution together!

At the beginning of a PIM project with igniti there is always a kick-off meeting to get to know you as a company and the structure of your data around the existing systems. After taking stock of the existing data sources and sales channels in your company, we create the basic concept for the e-commerce PIM system . In the subsequent scoping workshop, we define the scope of the project and determine which tasks and processes will be handled by the PIM system in the future. Once these steps are complete, we work with you to define the catalog structure and data model. Once these hurdles have been overcome, igniti designs and implements all interfaces to third-party systems in which product information is generated or consumed.

After the first agile workshops with igniti and a large amount of coffee, the next steps towards a fully-fledged Product Information Management system for your B2B or B2C online shop and all other output channels are further workshops with increasingly intensive cooperation. Processes and a data model around the assets are defined . Subsequently, the migration will be started. After these important preparations on the way to a successful e-commerce PIM system, you as a company can put your new data processing into operation.

Once your Product Information Management system is up and running, you will be able to process, centralize, enrich, and display your product data from existing data sources for the appropriate sales channels. PIM project management is not complicated, but it is complex .

Who works with a PIM system?

In short, content, product, and e-commerce managers, as well as marketing and sales. The work steps are divided into enriching and consuming processes.

An example of a PIM system:

1. 1. The product innovator creates their initial ideas for the data in the PIM.
   2. The information is then reviewed and possibly adjusted by engineers. The new product goes into production.
   3. During production, more product characteristics (product data) is created.
   4. The first prototypes of the product are tested by the laboratory and certificates are issued, which are also stored in the PIM.
   5. An external photo agency creates product images, which are also loaded into the PIM.
   6. Finally, marketers create advertising and descriptive texts.

All this information is now customized and transferred to the respective sales channels.

The PIM selection is large – Which PIM systems are represented on the market?

Each vendor has its own approach to the PIM database. For example, while most applications deliberately do without price list maintenance, other systems deliberately integrate it. There are industry-specific and industry-independent vendors, as well as open source and proprietary PIM applications.

There are also major differences in usability (from highly intuitive systems to very outdated interfaces), user and role management, add-on modules such as file managers, and process integration (such as workflow integration).

The following PIM systems are available:

• Akeneo
• Contentserv
• Datafactory by Stünings
• eggheads Suite
• ESIGN
• Computer science
• MasterPIM
• Pimcore
• Stibo Step
• Medici Street

and many other systems.