Is your product data holding you back? The market is changing, becoming more unified, and consumers expect consistent interaction with your brand across their devices, social platforms, online-marketplaces and ecommerce websites. A PIM (Product Information Management) system can help you manage product data that is accurate, consistent and is clearly articulating your brand messaging across these channels.

What is a PIM system?

A Product Information Management, or PIM, system acts as a single source of truth for your product data. Your product titles, descriptions, attributes, merchandising copy, product imagery and so much more is centralized, sanitized and localized before being pushed downstream to SFCC, marketplaces, marketing tools, ERP, or any other systems critical for driving customers to your products.

Benefits for SFCC Customers

Product Data Accuracy and Consistency

A PIM system centralizes and sanitizes your product and merchandising data, keeping it accurate and consistent across sales channels - including your Salesforce Commerce Cloud site.

Here are some reasons this is important.

• Reduces Errors: Eliminates inconsistencies and errors that can occur when managing product data manually, or in multiple systems and spreadsheets.
• Consistent Messaging: Keeping your data in one place means that the data is in sync between channels, and customers see consistent and accurate product data wherever they interact with your brand.
• Streamlines Updates: Keep your channels updated through product feeds and APIs, making sure the most up-to-date data is available instantly, everywhere.

Faster Time to Market

With a PIM system, your users can quickly and easily bring new products online in Salesforce Commerce Cloud. 

Some ways to improve efficiency:

• Efficient Data Management: Centralized data means that products can be updated or created in one place and instantly pushed everywhere.
• Automated Workflows: Import and export data on an automated schedule and cut down on manually syncing data across channels.
• Better team collaboration: Allows your merchandisers, content-creators and designers direct access to upload or create the pieces of product data they are responsible for.

Multichannel and Marketplace Experience

SFCC might be your consumer website platform, but your customers are also using channels like amazon, walmart, and social media to interact with your products. A PIM allows you to manage a broader reach with less manual workarounds or duplicate work.

Some advantages are:

• Consistent Messaging: Maintains consistent product messaging and branding across all channels, including your Salesforce Commerce Cloud store.
• Personalized Experiences: Some PIM systems allow for personalized and tailored content based on your users browsing and purchasing history.
• Increased Customer Engagement: Allows your customers to interact with your product data in their own language and in the platforms they choose.

Improved Workflow and Collaboration

Integrating a PIM system with Salesforce Commerce Cloud improves collaboration across teams and streamlines workflows.

Key ways this happens are:

• Centralized Platform: Provides a central platform for managing product data, allowing teams to collaborate efficiently.
• Role-Based Access: Offers role-based access control for data security and can allow for approval processes.
• Audit Changes: Tracks changes and provides audit trails and version control, increasing accountability.
• Scalability and Growth

A PIM system supports scalability and growth by efficiently managing increasing volumes of product data as your business expands on Salesforce Commerce Cloud.

Consider these aspects:

• Handles Large Product Catalogs: Effectively handles large numbers of products with complex category relationships, options, and variations.
• Supports Growth: Quickly get new channels, new categories or new localized markets up and running.
• Adapts to Change: Flexible data models allow you to shift your merchandizing strategy quickly and reflect those changes across platforms.

How to know when it’s time for a PIM

Here are a few ways you can tell if your business is ready for a PIM:

• You maintain or manage hundreds of products, with a large number of variations or options, manually across multiple brands or locales.
• You are bogged down fixing data issues or inconsistencies and can’t find time to properly merchandise or create compelling content.
• You have one or more spreadsheets or antiquated systems housing your product data shared across multiple platforms.
• You struggle to get the content, images and specifications from team members in a timely manner to meet product launches or promotions.
• You are expanding to new markets, new sales channels, or are introducing new platforms.

Salesforce Commerce Cloud is a powerful digital platform for online retail, but it is not meant to be a product data warehouse. Adding a PIM system to your Salesforce Commerce Cloud ecosystem improves product quality, promotes collaboration, and can accelerate growth, with consistent and accurate data wherever your customers interact with your brand.  

Demand can help you identify and implement the right PIM solution tailored to your business needs—reach out today to start optimizing your product data strategy.