What Does a PIM Solution Do?

For manufacturers, one of the most important pieces of your tech stack is a PIM. A Product Information Management (PIM) solution gives you a place to store, organize, and manage your product information. But what exactly does a PIM do, and how is it different from other digital platforms that deal with products, like eCommerce solutions? Understanding what a PIM is and how it can help your business is essential to growing your operations and improving your product processes.

What Is the Purpose of a PIM?

Product information management, or PIM, is a software solution that helps businesses manage all types of product information. The product information stored in a PIM is required to market, sell, and service products. A PIM solution will centralize all product information in a single location. This allows it to be effectively managed and accessed by multiple authorized users within the organization. PIM gives you the capability to be in control of product data and organize it in a way that works best for your business.

What Does a PIM Solution Do?

A PIM solution is used to centrally store and manage all types of product data. Product data can refer to many different types and formats of information. For example, product data can include product descriptions, SKU, pricing details, special features, product ratings, classifications, related products, warranty information, product benefits, dimensions and schematics, functionality details, and more.

Product information can also refer to any digital assets that are related to the products at hand. Those might include things like product photos, how-to videos, owner’s manuals, spec sheets, and other relevant files. These items are part of Digital Asset Management or DAM. DAM functionality can be built into a PIM system, such as Lumavate, to help boost its effectiveness and value in your business. DAM makes your PIM even more robust and supports the creation of digital experiences that can be used to help bolster sales and marketing efforts.

A product information management software solution typically allows multiple users to log in and access or update product data in real-time. That helps reduce time-consuming back-and-forth to find files and makes it easy for your entire team to find the information they need without special permissions or multiple sets of login information. It also ensures that everyone is working with the same data set and information. The PIM becomes the single source of truth for all product information.

Why Do Companies Need a PIM?

Most companies have their product information stored in inefficient solutions. Businesses keep product data stored in spreadsheets, or located within various file folders on the company network or on someone’s hard drive. Assets like product images may be stored in multiple locations, or even be on a camera file and not accessible on any network. All of this makes it fimpossible to effectively manage all product data and update it accordingly.

Think about it. Let’s say you need a spec sheet for a product so you can use that information in a sales meeting. But you don’t have that file, so you email around the company to find out where that file is located. By the time you track it down, you realize that it is outdated and only has information from the previous product model. You then need to start your journey again to find the right file, or try and make updates yourself. In the end, the process was long, complicated, and inefficient.

A PIM system avoids all of that miscommunication and running around and provides a centralized location with accurate, up-to-date information on all of your products. PIM software helps you improve brand consistency by making certain that everyone is working with the same set of information. It also makes it easy for multiple users to manage product data within your business, so details can be updated in real-time.

Is Shopify a PIM?

When looking at PIM tools in market, many businesses wonder if they already have one with the Shopify platform. After all, Shopify provides areas for you to upload product data and adjust product descriptions. It’s a place where people outside your organization can explore your product catalog and learn about product details. But is Shopify a PIM?

The clear answer is no. Shopify is an eCommerce solution that often contains product information such as product images, descriptions, and pricing details. But that product information is solely meant for eCommerce purposes. It’s customer-facing, meaning that it’s brief and to the point, providing the details that a shopper would need to know before making a purchase decision. But that surface-level information is not for sure by the entire organization and doesn’t give the full picture of your product data.

PIM software companies, such as Akeneo PIM, Salsify PIM, Plytix PIM, or Lumavate PIM, provide a solution for comprehensive product data and product digital assets. These data sets and assets are meant for use across an organization and can be utilized by multiple teams. The business uses product information for more than just eCommerce purposes, with sales, research and development, manufacturing, marketing, and more needing that information for various purposes.

A company that uses Shopify as an eCommerce solution should also look into the best PIM software 2023 options available to them. The PIM solution will effectively store and manage their product data at a high level, and then that information can be integrated into the Shopify platform for sharing eCommerce-related product information.

Of all the available PIM solutions on the market, none have the same level of capabilities and tools as Lumavate PIM. Lumavate PIM is part of a larger Product Experience Management Platform or PXM. Lumavate offers PIM functionality along with Digital Asset Management and a Digital Experience Platform. These tools come together to give you full control over your product information and help you make the most of your available product resources. Lumavate gives you the power to centralize the management of all your product data and related digital assets. Lumavate is also 75 percent more cost-effective than other PIM solutions, allowing you to feel confident in your investment and know that your PIM solution will provide the best results for your manufacturing business.