What is PIM (product information management)?

PIM: definition and purpose

Anyone who sells many products often maintains information two or three times over: in the merchandise management system, in the online store, in Excel sheets for resellers and in the catalog. A PIM system provides a central data source for this. Product texts, attributes such as dimensions or materials, images, data sheets and translations are maintained, checked and approved there.

The PIM then distributes the data to all channels, each in the right format. This saves work and prevents the same item from being described differently in the store than in the catalog. Variants such as sizes and colors can also be consolidated clearly, and new channels such as another marketplace are connected faster because the data already exists.

How a PIM works with ERP and store

The roles are usually clearly split: the ERP or merchandise management system holds item numbers, prices and stock. The PIM enriches this master data with marketing and technical information. The online store, marketplaces or reseller portals pull the finished data via interfaces. So the PIM is not a competitor to the ERP but complements it.

Important functions are a flexible attribute model, workflows with approvals, completeness checks, multilingual support and imports from supplier data. In technical industries, classifications such as ETIM or ECLASS come in. Well-known systems include Akeneo and Pimcore. Depending on scope, a PIM is used as a cloud service or run on your own servers.

Real-world example: a wholesaler with thousands of items

A wholesaler of electrical supplies carries several thousand items and supplies tradespeople through an online store, a marketplace and a printed catalog. Suppliers send data sheets in different formats that employees transfer into spreadsheets by hand. Errors, missing images and inconsistent descriptions cost time and revenue.

With a PIM, supplier data is imported and checked automatically, missing details are flagged and approval takes place centrally. The data then goes simultaneously to the store, marketplace and catalog. New items are ready sooner, and the quality of the data rises measurably.

Limits, common mistakes and imple­menta­tion

A PIM pays off mainly with many items, many variants, several channels or languages. With a small range, a well-maintained store is often enough. The biggest risk lies not in the technology but in unclear responsibilities: who is responsible for which attributes, and who approves?

Nano Concepts connects PIM, ERP, store and marketplaces via interfaces and develops custom imports, validation rules and export formats when standard solutions are not enough. Together with you, we first clarify which attributes your customers really need and which data is already clean, so the PIM is not overloaded with unnecessary fields.

• Define a uniform attribute model before the import
• Clarify responsibilities for data and approvals
• Check data quality regularly with completeness rules
• Plan interfaces to ERP, store and marketplaces from the start
• Start with one product group and then expand