The demand for PIM software has been on the rise in recent years, with experts forecasting its market share to reach $59.25 billion by 2027. According to allied market research, the retail segment accounts for the biggest share of the global PIM market, thanks to the industry’s increasingly complex distribution and supply networks. This article explores the top reasons why organizations are integrating PIM software in their business processes.

What is PIM Software?

PIM stands for product information management system, a business tool that centralizes product and digital assets data management for streamlined delivery in multiple online selling platforms. PIM solution has been around for a while, helping businesses enrich thousands of their commodity catalogs with relevant content on time and grow to unprecedented heights.

Continue reading as we elaborate the PIM system meaning in detail and explain 6 reasons why the PIM solution is vital for retail businesses in this digital era. Here is what you should know about the PIM solution.

PIM Software Enhances Efficiency and Productivity

The PIM eCommerce solution definition stated above gave you a hint that the PIM software is geared towards driving productivity and operational efficiency. A PIM Software offers a centralized hub where merchandizers can instantly retrieve relevant info about a particular commodity. Unlike manual processes, the PIM software enables your team to not lose time trying to locate, sanitize, or piece together scattered commodity data from disparate data sources.

Moreover, the PIM software enables you to import the commodity info or digital assets from unlimited sources, whether internal or external. The PIM solution can retrieve data from PLM systems, spreadsheets, supply data feeds, or ERP systems. Such a level of efficiency provided by the PIM software ensures that your commodity info database is continuously enriched and eCommerce-ready for distribution.

Another way through which a PIM solution enhances efficiency and productivity is through automation. The PIM software can be integrated directly with the ERP system for automated reception and transfer of commodity data. With an automated process and consistent output your team will find the PIM solution helpful as they can:

• Use the PIM solution to avoid wasting time fixing errors or content redundancy

• Use the PIM solution to manage and share growing supplier data efficiently

• Use the PIM solution to communicate effectively, thanks to centralized info

• Use the PIM solution to spend more time on core business functions, such as scaling and customer experience

All these efficiency and productivity benefits, thanks to the PIM software, solve nearly all the frustrations that come with handling commodity info manually. The PIM solution provides more free time that your team can utilize to focus on innovation, strategic organization, or meeting marketing requirements.

Here is another benefit for PIM software:

Consistency in Multiple Channels

Product information software gives you a centralized data point for handling, validating, enriching, and distributing the commodity’s data in multiple online selling platforms. The PIM software serves as a single source of truth that fosters consistency across the board. Moreover, a uniform database for all your commodity’s info, such as provided by a  PIM solution allows you to update the data as much as needed and share the new description, images, or extended attributes in multiple online selling platforms on the go.

For instance, a PIM essential feature that every retailer should watch out for is a digital asset management function. With a structured database and enhanced operational efficiency, a PIM software with this feature enables merchandizers to:

• Standardize metadata and improve its digital quality

• Use the PIM solution to edit bulk templates and publish the updated commodity info directly on the target channels

• Use the PIM solution to review and edit all digital assets in one location

• Use the PIM solution to see a 360-view of all your commodity’s info in multiple online selling platforms in a centralized data point

PIM Solution for Improved Customer Experience

Did you know that as much as 81% of your potential buyers will likely leave your retail website if there is inadequate commodity info? Generally, first-time buyers prefer to connect with business people through Google when looking for a new commodity. While doing so, they seek as much info as possible to compare competitive prices, explore varieties, or find a seller that delivers better after-sale services — which is where a PIM solution comes in.

If the buyer strains to find your commodity info because you don’t have a PIM solution, they’ll simply visit your competitor’s website and likely purchase from there if they find all the data they need. If that happens, high chances are that the competitor has a PIM retail tool/ PIM solution. With the PIM solution, you can centralize and standardize your commodity info for smooth delivery in all online selling platforms. In addition, the PIM solution will enable you to manage, update, and optimize commodity descriptions for all consumer touchpoints, whether web store, secondary marketplace, social, or CSEs.

Faster Time to Market

One of the benefits of a PIM solution is that it can help speed up your market presence. Time to market is a critical KPI for driving sales and revenues in the retail industry, which makes a PIM software so essential. As a centralized system, a PIM software allows you to access all your commodity marketing info in a few clicks—from taxonomies to basic data, sales enablement details, technical info, and digital assets. With the PIM solution, you can optimize the info for channel-specific distributions ahead of time. It has been proven that innovative PIM software can help new commodities launch on digital shelves up to 80% faster. PIM solution for eCommerce can aid merchants speed up the commodity launch process by:

• Automating the process of gathering commodity info from many internal and external data sources with PIM solution tools

• Providing management tools, validation workflows, and business tools in the PIM software

• Automating the commodity data distribution to many eCommerce platforms, marketplace listings, or mobile apps with the help of the PIM software.

By reducing the time to market of your commodity launch processes, PIM solution allows you to bag extra selling days and a significant competitive advantage over other merchandizers. The PIM solution presents an opportunity to claim a larger market share, improve revenues, and enhance customer satisfaction.

Reduced Costs and Improved Revenue

As noted earlier, PIM software automates redundant tasks to aid merchants improve efficiency and save operating costs. But on top of that, implementing PIM software integration can help them share accurate commodity info and cut the costs associated with purchase returns. For example, a recent study reveals that merchandizers who use PIM software systems benefit up to 40% fewer returns and see better conversion rates— up to four times. This shows that a PIM solution can save you from revenue loss, given that 2/5 of online orders are returned at an average cost of $25 each.

While saving costs, a PIM software can aid merchants to personalize commodity offers and drive sales. Personalization is what all giant merchandizers implement to drive sales. For instance, McKinsey notes that 35% of Amazon’s revenue is due to commodity recommendations. By having a PIM solution that seamlessly sources commodity info for referencing with eCommerce data, merchandizers can monitor buyer behavior and present them with offers on relevant commodities.

Another example of how a PIM system helps boost sales is through content SEO. A PIM software system helps merchandizers optimize their commodity content with keyword-rich info for greater visibility. Implementing SEO best practices in your commodity content with the help of PIM software is important, given that 93% of all web traffic emanates from search engines. With the PIM solution, you can distribute relevant content with popular keywords in all integrated channels to siphon potential buyers from general web traffic into your sales funnel. The more buyers you attract, the higher the sales and the revenues while using the PIM software.

Product Information Software for Easy Catalog Expansion

After understanding what PIM is, and leveraging the PIM solution to fix conversions, enrichment, automation, and accelerated time to market, you might now want to expand your market reach. PIM software can help you scale your catalog and explore endless selling opportunities with new dropshipping suppliers or even your own marketplace.

And an expanded catalog with better commodity lines means new revenue opportunities. For example, say a supplier wants to expand their catalog by 10,000 SKUs and usually generates $20 million with 50,000 SKUs. The additional SKUs will create a new revenue opportunity of up to $125,000.

Conclusion

The bottom line is every retailer, whether big or small, needs to take advantage of the best PIM software if they are going to stay relevant and beat the competition. We all agree that technology is inescapable; why should you hesitate to implement PIM software in your retail business as early as now? The retail segment faces a myriad of challenges—the last thing you want working against you is commodity data.

A PIM solution will optimize collaborative data enrichment by consolidating and handling commodity info in all online selling platforms. This, in return, translates to brand consistency, reduced time to market, revenue growth, and enhanced efficiency. All these benefits will help you win the battle of staying at the top!