What is PIM?

The world is full of buzzwords: Here we clarify what a PIM is and what significance it should have in the digital strategy of product-based companies

What is PIM? And how does a PIM help us in our daily work? This question is being asked by more and more companies that want to succeed with products in brick-and-mortar and online retail. Here, I will explain in more detail what it is, what advantages it has, and how it can find its rightful place in corporate strategy.

The term PIM – or what is PIM?

PIM stands for Product Information Management. A PIM is thus software or an application that holds product description data. This article does not claim to be a technical article on the topic of PIM. Rather, it is about explaining the significance of a PIM system today for many companies or what it should be. To illuminate this further, we first need to look at how product-based companies, primarily in FMCG, operate.

The organizational structure of brand manufacturers

Of course, one cannot generalize all manufacturers of branded products. Every company operates differently, not only in relation to cultures but also in parts to organizational structure. We have been working for many of these corporations for many years and not only gained insight into one company but have come to know a wide range.

If one leaves out the philosophy and self-understanding, only pure organizational forms remain. These are, in turn, relatively comparable. Brand manufacturers always have the interest in marketing their products through retail channels both offline and online. Since they usually do not have a direct sales channel themselves, this is classic trade theory. Manufacturers sell through distributors, who are in turn the customers of the brand manufacturers. Thus, there is a direct flow of data and communication between these two parties.

This can be very well observed in category management. The classic theory of the "shelves" and the "battle for the shelves" is omnipresent, and all structures have arisen from this mindset.

Digital has changed the perspective

As often happens, the digital business has called significant processes into question here too.

Issues such as search engines, SEO, availability, speed, time-to-market, and quality have become even more important. Particularly the PDP = Product Detail Page, which is the landing page of an online shop, has triggered a small revolution. But not only that, the LMIV, Food Information Regulation, and many other topics have ensured that product data management has become increasingly important.

What is PIM? Here you will find a good explanation. Why does this concern the organizational structure?

It's quite simple: In the past, everything was aligned with brick-and-mortar retail, which made the sales channel clearly defined. Content was needed for ads and brochures, perhaps the sales prospectus in-store, but not for digital channels. Image databases were used in marketing, if at all. Logistical data was held by the master data team. Sales had a CRM. The entire structure was maintained via SAP as ERP, and then there were various other systems. When thinking globally, it became immense. Many systems, many languages, redundant data everywhere.

Much of this is still the case today. And it is not so easy to change. Because the larger such a corporation is, the more it is defined by its hierarchies. No one wants to change structures easily. This quickly means losing power.

At its core, it is about becoming faster, more defined, and "easier". Having consultants who understand digital. Ideally, having people in management who can enforce it and have the right perspective.

Thinking digitally means understanding, alongside the technical know-how of possibilities, what revolution is underway. Many have not understood this, even today. Ask me how often I have been in companies where a new digital consultant was hired with the argument that they are young and know digital well. I was often looked at in shock because so much expectation was placed on this person, which was unattainable. As a result, we also became more of a digital coach than a digital agency.

Structures will adapt, but that takes time. And therein lies the danger for traditional companies. The arguments that we only sell 5% online don't help, as that is not so important. Disruption can mean that nothing is sold tomorrow. Among other reasons stated. So, becoming more flexible, faster, and also of higher quality concerning content is one key among many.

What is PIM? – The advantage of digital companies …

And by that, I do not mean Google, Facebook & Co, but retailers like Zalando, Flaconi, Amazon, etc., the companies that have been digitally born in retail. Their way of thinking was different from the beginning, giving them a decisive competitive advantage. They immediately knew what a PDP, SEO, or relevance is. They understand code & Co. and did not have to learn everything from scratch.

What is PIM? A PIM ensures that data from various systems is available in a single point of information.

The PIM solution now provides what today's sales channels demand. Good product data with high speed and optimal quality, made fully available in the exact format required by the respective customer. By this, I mean not only product information but also all visual materials such as images and videos. Because people are visual, they need images to imagine something, thereby wanting to buy. The texts bring people to the POS, especially online. The images/moving images sell.

That is why we developed two systems from the start in such a way that they can be optimally integrated. PIM and DAM, that is product and image data in one system, perfectly interconnected for distributing all data – also the marketing texts – where they are needed.