Selecting a PIM system – How do you Proceed?

A PIM (Product Information Management) system is essential for optimizing time-to-market and conversion rates through high data quality and preventing abandoned purchases in online stores. The PIM system is not just a technical system. It is a strategy for managing product data centrally and consistently. A good PIM strategy ensures profitable advantages and creates the basis for high-quality product content.

But how do you choose the right system for this strategy? You will find the answers to this challenge in a PIM system evaluation – and in this guest article.

The challenge of product data management

When it comes to product data management, many companies face the same everyday challenges:

• Important information about the same product is often spread across different systems. This results in lengthy processes and data silos.
• The initial creation of a new product usually takes place in a company’s merchandise management system, where pricing and master data maintenance are also carried out. This data is visually prepared in catalog templates and enriched with appropriate short texts, which are used for the print layouts. Optimizing these texts for search engines is usually neglected in the process.
• If further online marketplaces with impressive product data, there are usually no clearly defined processes, including quality control, in place for transferring the data to the appropriate templates.
• In addition to all characteristics, digital assets such as assembly instructions, quality seals, product images and videos, etc. also belong to products. In practice, however, these are rarely located in the same place as the product characteristics. Rather, they can be found on internal company network drives or other storage media, so that a clear assignment is only possible via the file name at best.

Each of these difficulties calls for a universal solution, for centralization, and for consistency. Good news for all companies whose staff are confronted with such problems in their everyday work: a PIM system does exactly that. As the hub for product data, such a system integrates itself into complex system landscapes, right at the center. This is where information from suppliers in merchandise management and production can be aggregated and enriched before being sent to various target channels.

But now let’s move on to selecting the right system. The rule here is not “the more expensive, the better.” Rather, in addition to the exact requirements for the system, it must be aligned with the company’s product data strategy and adapted to the following processes in the product data value chain:

• The collection of product data,
• the enrichment and creation of (channel-independent) information,
• the quality assurance of generated content, and
• the distribution of the finished product data records.

What to consider when selecting a PIM system

The project scope and objectives of the PIM implementation must be defined in order to create a catalog of requirements. This should cover both requirements that are likely to be common to many companies in most cases and specific requirements related to the data model or connection to specific target channels.

General requirements are likely to include the ability to maintain, manage, and retrieve all product information centrally in one system. A powerful search function enables all information to be found quickly. Clarity, ease of use, and convenient bulk editing should also be fundamental criteria.

There are numerous software providers on the PIM market. Therefore, the goal is to arrive at a shortlist as quickly as possible in order to compare requirements with features in a targeted manner. Often, just a few criteria, such as industry focus, price category, and a rough overview of the modules offered, are enough to filter the long list. It is advisable to have the system selection accompanied by an independent consulting service provider who can turn the relevant requirements into real use cases and evaluation criteria and knows how to quickly classify software providers.

The providers on the shortlist can then be compared in terms of the features they offer. To get the best match for your use cases, it’s a good idea to invite providers to come and show you their systems. The system demos will be more meaningful if the providers have the requirements in advance so they can prepare. You can then rate them using a points or school grading system, so you can see the best fit for your company in numbers. A consulting service provider will not only identify the “winner,” but also highlight various scenarios in which PIM systems from different manufacturers offer added value.

The first joint step in evaluating a PIM system for your company could be to hold a scoping workshop. This serves to further assess the current status of processes and systems and to define the scope and content of the project. The results are decisive for considering success factors that go beyond the evaluation itself. hmmh will be happy to advise you on how to proceed.

Selecting the right PIM system requires a range of skills and expertise. hmmh supports you with experts who have the technical know-how to work with automation platforms and PIM systems. In addition, we offer you 25 years of professional expertise in creating search engine optimized and empathetic text content for your products, services, or websites. This is the only way to ensure that the quality of your texts will convince your target audience.

How can we help you?

Would you like to know how a new PIM system can be introduced in your company? Our solution partner hmmh AG will be happy to advise you. We look forward to hearing from you.