PIM systems are crucial to the management of product information within a company, by providing a single source for all your data which can be organised, edited and exported. Whether you’re just starting a business or you’re already the market leader, a Product Information Management system will vastly improve the way your business runs.

Here are five of the biggest benefits of a PIM system:

1. Better organisation of product data

One of the greatest problems for manufacturing and retail companies is the organisation of complex data for thousands of products, which is sometimes required to meet international standards.

A fully integrated PIM system will store all the required information for every product in one place, with a user-friendly category menu and search function to find any data you need. This saves employees thousands of hours rustling through old sheets of paper or scrolling through Excel when they need some technical specifications.

2. The ability to restrict access to information

In small to medium-sized businesses, access to product data may need to be closely controlled. During development, if the data of certain products are easily accessible, they could find their way into the hands of competitors.

An effective PIM system allows you to restrict access to product information. You can implement various security features, such as admin-only access to ensure that sensitive information isn’t widely available. 

Robust permission systems are especially important when it comes to large, multinational businesses with complex product lines. Our permissions system is very granular and can be set for individuals or teams. You can specify which attributes can be edited, which channels can be seen and whether users can import or export data. You can even specify which settings they have control over, such as editing families, attributes, tags and relations. Some users can even be given view-only access to the data. For example, the design and marketing teams may need to view product descriptions to work on designs and advertisements, but they won’t need to edit anything within the PIM.

This means you can easily manage the workflows within the PIM. Individuals can edit the data and change whatever they are given permission to change. However, another individual can be given permission to have the final say on publishing the changes.

3. Increased customer satisfaction

Research suggests, 90% of people use customer experience as a factor in deciding whether to do business with a company. I know I’m in that 90%.

There are multiple ways in which a well-integrated PIM system improves customer satisfaction, but here I will focus on how it eliminates mistakes. Having one source of truth for all product information means clients will never get out-of-date information about an item, or be waiting a long time for it. Any employee who needs it has access to product information and can provide it to customers whenever required.

Embarrassing mistakes around product data will be history with a fully integrated Product Information Management system, increasing the likelihood of repeat trade.

4. Compatible with the biggest eCommerce Platforms

With eCommerce businesses, we know having clean, easy-to-navigate, and information-rich product pages across the various marketplaces vastly improves the customer experience. Having a PIM system allows you to store all that data and simply export it to Amazon, Shopify, SquareSpace and wherever else, meaning you can easily provide all the information a potential buyer might want.

For the purpose of this article, I’ll focus on Amazon. Amazon has strict guidelines on product information:

  • You need a product identifier (EAN or UPC).
  • Titles can only be a maximum of 200 characters.
  • The information must not be time-sensitive. 
  • Descriptions must be under 2,000 characters. 

The list goes on. Quite a long way actually.

Listing a product on Amazon is time-consuming. If your product information is all over the place, the time it takes to add each item grows. 

Product titles, descriptions, identifiers and all the information required to add an item to Amazon, are stored in systems such as OneTimePIM. So the transfer of information from your PIM to Amazon, or any other major eCommerce marketplace, is seamless and far less time-consuming. 

The OneTimePIM system uses clever API connectors to link with Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento. That means the product information and images in the PIM can be synced up with all your sales channels. So any changes in the system are reflected across your eCommerce sites automatically, once they are published.

5. Reduces stress for employees

The last reason here isn’t so easy to calculate, but it is perhaps a result of all the points listed above. A stress-free and motivated workforce is absolutely crucial to the success of your business.

Nobody wants to be fishing through ten different spreadsheets to find a product’s unique identifying number or having to ask the marketing department if they have the most up-to-date product description.

Salespeople want to spend their time selling products. Advertising executives and copywriters want to spend their time being creative. Product developers want to spend their time developing new products. 

If you have a complicated and chaotic system for managing product information, it will get in the way of people doing their job. Easy access to information will have a positive effect on employees, as well as the bottom line of a company.

 

A fully integrated Product Information Management system such as OneTimePIM, will vastly improve the efficiency of your company and increase customer satisfaction. Fill in your details to secure a free guided demo and see exactly how OneTimePIM can help you.