Product Information Management: what is PIM?

Product Information Management: what is PIM?

Product Information Management: what is PIM?

Product Information Management blog SeeCommerce

Hey there! In this article you will find an overview of the world of Product Information Management.

You’ll find out what the acronym PIM stands for, understand the meaning of the term Product Information Management, and learn about the benefits of a team adopting PIM software. Let’s get going!

Product Information Management: what is PIM?

Let’s start with the acronym: PIM stands for Product Information Management.

In IT circles, the acronym is rather well known because it denotes a widespread type of software that, as you might guess, enables the management of product information.

In addition to being an IT solution, Product Information Management is also a process, establishing the optimal flow by which companies should govern their product data.

What is meant by Product Information?

Product Information means any data useful for identifying, describing, promoting and selling an item in the company’s assortment.

This information consists of a set of attributes (common to a product category or the entire assortment) and their value (data), which varies from item to item.

example of different kind of product information PIM

In the simple example in the table above, all attributes are in common with the “Shoe” and “Jeans” categories except Fitting, which pertains only to pants.

Of course, product code, size and color are just a few examples of attributes, the number of which can range from a few dozen to several hundred, depending on aspects such as product type, geographic markets and sales channels.

The key role of product data

A product’s information is crucial to shopping, especially online.

In general, there are statistics galore attesting to the importance of product data in the e-commerce world. For example, according to research, 94% of consumers abandon a purchase because of irrelevant search results.

Product sheets with up-to-date information are crucial for an omnichannel shopping experience, because they avoid destabilizing the user when switching from one channel to another.

In addition, curated and engaging descriptions provide many other benefits: from optimal search engine placement (SEO) to consolidating brand perception in the marketplace and reducing returns and negative reviews.

Impact of data information on bad reviews

Merchandise that does not conform to descriptions (and photos) is among the top causes of negative reviews in various industries, such as toys (23 percent), jewelry (17 percent), fashion and beauty (12 percent), and food (4 percent).

What does it mean to manage product information?

Having grasped the importance of product data, we must now ask what it means to manage it.

In general, all those activities aimed at ensuring that product data are integral, consistent, searchable, up-to-date and accessible on the journey from business management to sales channels, B2B or B2C, online but also offline, fall under the PIM umbrella.

A long and varied journey, which is why product data management (from English Product Information Management) is an activity to which disparate teams in the company contribute.

Who manages product information in the company?

In structured companies that also sell online, E-Commerce and Digital Managers are among the key figures in PIM Product Information Management.

Their figure, among other things, is called upon to organize product content and monitor its distribution to end channels. Product information management, however, is influenced by and impacts the operations of many other teams.

Copywriters and translators, for example, enrich product data derived from management systems such as ERP, with catchy, multilingual descriptions.

If the PIM approach is quality, it also improves the consistency and effectiveness of Marketing‘s content strategy activities, just as Sales can rely on consistent information at all times.

What a PIM software is for

The number of stakeholders and the extreme importance of product information to the market amplify the volume of activities required, elevating the teams’ dose of manual labor.

It is at this juncture that technology provides valuable support.

Sometimes labeled Product Information Manager, a PIM software addresses two of the main needs of any company: reducing manual labor and increasing sales.

How does PIM software work?

First and foremost, a Product Information Management software acts as a link between management systems and end channels such as websites, portals, e-commerce and marketplaces.

In addition to providing continuity to the information flow, a PIM centralizes data favoring searchability, transforms it on the basis of automated rules, and enables its storytelling to be enriched with descriptions, images and videos.

What benefits does PIM software provide

The introduction of a Product Information Management solution centralizes every piece of data, preventing its dispersion, loss and misalignment. In addition, a PIM cuts down on manual labor and reduces errors resulting from copy-paste typical of non-digitized environments.

No more scattered Excel spreadsheets, then, in addition to instant publication on web channels, which shortens Time to Market, the time it takes to reach users to products, campaigns or collections.

You can go even further than a PIM — with a PXM.

Remember: in addition to product data, a customer’s experience also comes through other factors. That is why the focus should shift from product information management to Product eXprience Management.

Product catalog: 7 issues solved by a PXM

Product catalog: 7 issues solved by a PXM

Product catalog: 7 issues solved by a PXM

Product Catalog automatic SeeCommerce

The product catalog is a tool that is as essential to selling as it is onerous to produce and update, especially for businesses that sell online.

A PXM software is an indispensable ally in zeroing in on operations and amplifying the benefits that come from the flow of creating, publishing and updating the product catalog.

In this article you will find out how.

Product catalog: what it is by now we all know just that

You certainly don’t have to be a salesperson, marketer or e-commerce manager to know that a product catalog is a neat collection of photos and information about a company’s assortment.

A catalog may include all or part of products, have a limited duration (as in the case of fashion and its seasons), target exclusive markets, or be intended for multiple channels.

It is this latter aspect that we will focus on most in this article.

Catalog management in the omnichannel era

We don’t want to repeat the spiel you’ve probably read everywhere by now, but it’s the truth: digital has revolutionized purchasing processes and, by extension, catalog management.

As a result, when it comes to product catalogs, the spotlights are almost always on the content of site, e-commerce and marketplace pages, which require massive levels of instantaneity and consistency that, without proper support, result in a lot of manual labor.

Automated catalog: present and future go through here

The heterogeneity and large number of communication and sales channels have high operational costs and probability of error in the catalog production flow, favoring the growth of PXM software.

Not surprisingly, the market for Product eXperience Management, solutions that help companies deliver an omnichannel product experience to customers, is estimated to be growing at a compound average annual rate of 18.2 percent and an estimated value of 6.3 billion in 2028.

annual value PXM global market product catalog

Among the main benefits of a PXM platform is the reduction of operational work, guaranteed by the automatic publication of the catalog and related product sheets. But there is much more.

In the following paragraphs we will explore 7 problems that can be solved with an automated catalog.

#1 Stop copy-pasting Master Data

Master Data (or Master Data) is so-called product master information and typically resides in enterprise management systems such as ERP software.

Some Master Data flow directly into the product sheets: this is the case, for example, with the product code (such as EAN). Others, however, must be adapted depending on the publication channel.

This is the case with size: if the company sells online in different geographic markets, the size of the same item will vary depending on the country for which the product sheet is intended. In the absence of digitization, manual labor and the risks of error, with wide and deep assortments, rise.

Product Data Transformation SeeCommerce

Solutions such as a PXM with which to automate product uploads facilitate Master Data management because they automatically populate e-commerce and marketplaces with data streams from ERP, delivering them directly or transforming them.

Transformations are made possible by rules, by which the most advanced PXM tools allow the same data item to automatically take on different values based on the catalog for which it is intended.

#2 The creation of Editorial Data accelerates

The flow of creating a product catalog is not limited to flowing downstream Master Data from the ERP but also includes planning, writing and distributing Editorial Data.

While Master Data is informative in scope, Editorial Data is more commercial in nature, as it promotes product storytelling.

Master Data and Editorial Data Product Information Management

Copywriters and translators-even from ERP data-enrich existing information and generate new information, such as marketing descriptions. Creative flows that, with manual management, occur in a fragmented way and with inefficient replication for each channel and catalog.

With PXM software, the development of Editorial Data accelerates because it gives the various teams a single workspace in which they can plan their various activities and say goodbye to Excel spreadsheets.

In addition, thanks to the rules already mentioned, it is possible to pre-populate some fields with data combos found on tools such as ERP or PLM to make the work of language and word experts more agile.

3. No more hours thrown into categorizing products on each channel

Categories are valuable guides to the customer experience.

However, they risk increasing time to market, especially in companies that are not very digitally structured and have many products to promote in different sales channels.

The same item, in fact, might be categorized differently on different catalogs, depending on the structure of the various marketplaces or on brand choices; in fact, among our clients‘ e-commerce, there are realities that differentiate categories depending on thegeographical area of reference.

Product Catalog management example SeeCommerce

A PXM solution, thanks to configurable rule engines, zeroes out the time spent (or lost) categorizing products.

Having established the trees of the various catalogs, for example, the most powerful tools automatically assign items to the various catalogs (and their categories) based on the value of one or more product data.

 

4. Cross-selling and up-selling take off

An automated catalog does more than just reduce promotional costs and time.

By digitizing the creative flow as you can with PXM software, in fact, you can leverage rule engines and automatically associate multiple products with each other, creating bundles of items or purchase suggestions featured on site and marketplace pages to elevate the average shopping cart.

 

5. No more delayed campaigns

The introduction of a Product eXperience Management solution also impacts collaboration between even very different teams. Customers who have chosen SeeCommerce, for example, leverage its Attribute Planning to schedule workflows.

product catalog tasks

To give an example, for each catalog it is possible to set the dates for photo shoots (aligned with the logistical flows involving the physical arrival of the products) and, cascadingly, those for post-production activities, copy enrichment and, finally, catalog publication.

The main benefit of scheduling activities is to avert misalignments between departments and delays along the process, the main cause of slowed market launches, with what that does to the business.

6. Populating views becomes a breeze

So far we have talked largely about data but the other half of the apple, indeed, of a product sheet is undoubtedly photos, videos, documents–in a word: media (or digital assets).

Front, back, still-life: the views of a single product are numerous, and often a shot will vary in size, format, or background color depending on the target catalog.

A PXM solution also optimizes this flow, which, done manually, requires intensive editing activities, by automatically optimizing the specifications of a media.

Another major time benefit is provided by automated product-content association. SeeCommerce, to do this, leverages the naming convention; the system is instructed to recognize file nomenclatures and instantly associate them with a specific product.

This makes it possible to retrieve, at the search stage, not only all the information in an article, but also the digital assets that represent it. Without the need for any manual activity.

7. The demise of misaligned catalogs

Last but not least: updating. How many times does it take to touch up that data, remove that one too many line spacing, update that inaccurate shot? Let’s answer together: too many!

A PXM software also takes care of this aspect, which, moreover, is essential to be able to speak for real about automatic publication of product sheets.

With SeeCommerce PXM, you don’t need to access the back-end systems of e-commerce or portals to update a piece of information or content, because the tool integrates with your end channels and distributes the most up-to-date version of data and media to the front ends of your digital storefronts in real time.

seecommerce centralization pim dam pcm pxm

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Digital Product Passport: the EU regulation explained easy

Digital Product Passport: the EU regulation explained easy

Digital Product Passport: the EU regulation explained easy

Digital Product Passport header SeeCommerce

Between now and 2030, the EU ESPR Regulation will come into force, which, among other measures, includes the Digital Product Passport (or DPP).

What is the Digital Product Passport? What sectors does it cover? What impacts will it bring with it? In this article we take stock of the situation.

Digital Product Passport: what is the DPP

Let’s get straight to the point.

The acronym DPP stands for Digital Product Passport is a digital register containing a variety of information related to the value chain of an item.

Soon, European companies will have to accompany each product with a detailed list of data on its lifecycle, from production to recycling, through repairability and disposal.

Digital Product Passport: how does it work?

The fruition of DPPs will be clearer from the moment they see their full implementation, but it is likely that standards already in the market such as QR codes will be exploited to access a product’s digital passport.

Once scanned, the code will return to the consumer a set of detailed data on materials, composition, production cycle, varying from sector to sector.

What are Digital Product Passports for?

To understand the purpose of the digital passport produced, it should be mentioned that it is part of the ESPR regulation, approved in spring 2024.

ESPR stands for Ecodesign for Sustainable Product Regulation, a regulation that is part of the Green Deal, a package of EU initiatives to reduce emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030.

ESPR’s focus is to extend eco-design to most products on the EU market in order to reduce the environmental impact of their lifecycle, as is already the case with household appliances.

In addition, ESPR introduces new requirements and standards regarding durability, reparability, energy efficiency and recycling of items in order to counter planned obsolescence and promote circularity.

In this context, the DPP will serve as an informational reference point:

  • for companies, which will have a lever of objective and concrete transparency
  • for consumers to make more informed and green choices
  • for the authorities-who by receiving the data to display in their portals-will be facilitated in controls and increase consumer confidence.

… okay but what about the competition?

Indeed, in the free market, companies’ duties of transparency may collide with the protection of competition.

The broad informational scope of the DPP, could compromise the confidentiality of strategic data, such as those related to production and procurement flows.

For this reason, the Legislature clarified that of all the information included in the DPP, only some will be accessible to consumers, while others will be accessible only by parties witha “legitimate interest,” as determined by the Regulation itself or by the Commission.

Digital Product Passport sample information

When will the Digital Product Passport be mandatory?

At least two steps are planned before the DPPs come into effect:

  • the European Commission will present a three-year work plan in 2025, establishing the types of products affected by the regulation
  • defined the types of products, a delegated act will be made for each of them, which will enshrine what data each sector must adhere to.

There are currently no firm dates, but it is reasonable to assume that digital product passports will come into effect before 2030 (for some sectors as early as 2027).

For which areas will the DPP requirement be triggered in the first place?

From an initial analysis by the European Commission, the product categories first affected by the new Digital Product Passport will be batteries, textiles, electronics and construction.

Battery companies, for example, as of February 1, 2027 will have to prepare a DPP that includes information on the durability, performance and CO2 impact of each product.

In turn, it is likely that the Digital Product Passport – precisely because of its goals of ubiquity – will be extended to any other commodity sector, with a few exclusions (which will apparently cover food items, animal feed, and pharmaceuticals).

What technology will the Digital Product Passport be based on?

Rumors agree that the technology that will enable the emergence of DPP will be blockchain, which is known to offer a digital infrastructure that provides security, transparency and immutability of every record entered by the various actors in an information chain.

By the way, digital passport in luxury fashion already exists

Fashion, particularly that which occupies the highest end of the market, has always been a forerunner of major digital developments.

Not surprisingly, it has also moved ahead at this juncture, through a consortium and voluntary membership project called Aura Blockchain.

The platform, developed by such giants as LVMH, OTB, Cartier and the Prada Group, offers traceability that shields consumers from counterfeits.

Tod’s, for example, has embedded an NFC (Non-Fungible Token) tag in its Di Bag that leverages the Aura project’s blockchain to return data to the customer-who scans it with his or her smartphone-that attests to the authenticity and provenance of the bag’s materials.

Tods digital passport of nfc products

DPP: will companies need ad hoc software?

The management of DPP is closely related to that of product information and, in particular, its centralization, enrichment and delivery.

In view of the new obligation, it is clear that companies that are unstructured from a Product Information Management point of view will be able to seize the opportunity to equip themselves with PIM software-or better yet, PXM software.

Conversely, companies that have already embarked on such digital paths will need to ensure that the tools in use support the management and propagation of DPP data.

Our platform, for example, is SaaS, offers a hyper-flexible data model, and, thanks to APIs, delivers product content (data and media) across any channel. Key features to comply with future DPP obligations.

From regulatory obligation to business opportunity

DPPs are much more than a regulatory requirement.

Digital Product Passports, in fact, can be a useful tool for sharing information and documents that enrich the product experience through certified attestations of a brand’s quality authenticity.

It is also a democratic tool for promoting sustainability actions because the data travels on a third-party-guaranteed circuit, making it easier to detect greenwashing phenomena.

Last but not least, it can facilitate the sale of additional services or products such as repair, disposal, maintenance and repair items.

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PXM software: quick and comprehensive guide

PXM software: quick and comprehensive guide

PXM software: quick and comprehensive guide

PXM Product Experience Management Blog Cover

Hey, there you are.
If you’re here you want to learn more about what PXM means, an acronym that stands for Product eXperience Management, a term also used to define a type of software.

Well, you’ve come to the right place!
At the end of this article you will find out everything (or almost everything) you need to know about PXM tools: what kind of software it is, what it is for, who uses it, what benefits it offers.

PXM: what does Product eXperience Management mean?

The acronym PXM stands for Product eXperience Management and is used to refer to the process by which a company manages the customer’s Web experience on the channels where it sells its products.

It is an aspect firmly connected to CX (customer experience) and, by extension, to business.

Data related to customer experience and its impacts on business in the context of PXM

The main objective of the PXM approach

The main task of the PXM approach is to provide customers and potential customers with consistent, engaging, and personalized product Web experiences.

If the previous sentence should seem ambitious and generic to you, it is normal.
Delivering a prestigious Customer Experience is a desire that is easy to hatch but not easy to materialize.

So what?

Where do you start to elevate the Product Experience?

There are really so many factors at stake: from the quality of the product (or service) to the responsiveness of the web pages, through the timeliness of logistics and the friendliness of customer service.

Without detracting from the aspects mentioned above, however, there is one that is particularly important because of its constant presence along the Customer Journey, the journey that leads a user to become a customer.

It is the wealth of data and assets that describe and represent the corporate assortment.

The key role of product information and media in PXM

The successful completion of a Google search, zooming in on an e-commerce product in detail, comparing an item with competing items in a marketplace, and playing guide tutorials for use or assembly.

Different activities, alternating along the online purchase path, united by the constant presence of information, shots and videos that promote, describe and narrate the products, which are essential for the customer to know and understand their value.

Not surprisingly, in 70 percent of cases, product content is considered crucial toe-shopping(Forbes).

Moreover, inaccurate data and assets, in addition to reducing the chances of selling a product, are the second most frequent cause of returns (30 percent), preceded only by returns from damaged items (39 percent).

Beyond the Excel sheets and silos of DAM and PIM software

However, the need for instantaneousness of various digital channels, especially in realities with sizable volume assortments, requires significant manual efforts that are often synonymous with errors and inconsistencies.

An alternative to Excel sheets and hours of copy-pasting is to rely on ad hoc software to manage product information (the PIMs, Product Information Management) and others to manage digital assets such as photos and videos (the DAMs, Digital Asset Management).

While good allies for product experience, choosing two separate tools elevates the risk of duplicate content, as well as inflating integration and licensing costs.

Why does PXM = DAM + PIM?

Product eXperience Management (or more simply PXM) software complements-and often exceeds-the functionality of DAM and PIM software, with the goal of governing product information and content from a single platform.

The convergence of information assets provided by PXM software ensures IT cost savings and elevates process agility because it centralizes end-to-end flows of creation, post-production, enrichment and approval of product card and catalog content.

Difference between PXM Product Experience Management, PIM Product Information Management e DAM Digital Asset Management

How PXM software works

Mainly, a PXM software supports three types of macro-flows:

 

  • centralizes.
    Integrating with systems such as ERPs, a PXM collects all product master data, eliminating the risk of information fragmentation and cutting down search time.
    Moreover, through ad hoc configurable rules, it can transform them automatically;
  • manages.
    A PXM software allows different teams to plan activities and collaborate from a single tool.
    It also fluidizes key processes such as data enrichment and translation as well as media review and approval;
  • delivers.
    A PXM software supports the product content supply chain up to the last mile, i.e., when all the components of a product sheet are ready, enabling-through APIs or integrations-the publishing of content to various enterprise channels.

Who needs PXM software

There are many business figures that benefit from the introduction of PXM software.

Primarily E-Commerce and Digital Managers, who can rely on a constant and consistent automated flow of data and product media to websites, e-commerce, marketplaces.

Moving up the content production chain, a PXM software is a valuable shared space for specialized figures such as copywriters, translators, photographers, and post-producers, who in the platform-as well as working-can request feedback and collaborate with colleagues.

In addition, Marketers and Sales also benefit from a PXM, which serves as a repository and center for sharing information, shots, product videos, but also brand and institutional videos.

What benefits does PXM software provide

Managing product data and media assets with a Product eXperience Management solution offers a variety of benefits.

From a customer experience point of view, a PXM feeds real-time catalogs and product sheets with up-to-date data and quality media distributed at peak performance, fostering a satisfying browsing and shopping experience.

Satisfaction also spreads among teams, who with PXM software can automate redundant manual tasks and always be in control of what and how the brand is communicating in any web channel, having the ability to make timely updates or changes.

Finally, automation and control also shorten Time to Market, averting delays in campaigns and launches, guaranteeing business performance, emphasized moreover by reduced IT costs.

Introducing the new Media Library 2.0

Introducing the new Media Library 2.0

Introducing the new Media Library 2.0


SeeCommerce PXM is evolving with exceptional news: p
erformance enhancements and advanced features that take content management to the next level. 🚀

SeeCommerce is a comprehensive platform that combines the functionality of PIM and DAM in perfect synergy, enabling optimal control of the entire content lifecycle. From the creation of catalogs, through product information to editorial content, whether text, media, technical information and documents, SeeCommerce PXM governs all this information by facilitating its management and contributing to the improvement of Brand reputation.

Today the bar is raised even higher with the new Media Library 2.0, an area where all of the Brand’s editorial files reside that can be archived, tagged, shared and distributed on external platforms, eliminating the problem of duplication.

But how does Media Library 2.0 change?

Performance: Improved performance enables everyday tasks to be carried out even faster, thanks to superior technical optimization and the introduction of new micro-functions that greatly facilitate daily operations.

Brand & Touchpoint: We have dedicated a section that allows direct management of portals (such as Press and Trade portals) and external corporate archives, offering the ability to create folders, subfolders, upload and move files securely, thanks to the associated permissions, without burdening the portal or generating duplicate files.

Corporate: Not just sharing between internal and external users on the platform, but an area completely dedicated to business content that can be used by everyone. Designed to contain material that can be consulted by the entire organization.


And much more:
There is no shortage of broader features such as metadata management that allow customization of assets with specific information.

Media Library 2.0 represents a key area that, together with the Product section, enables a complete 360-degree view and management of Brand content.

Contact us to discover all the benefits of SeeCommerce.
Our team of experts is at your complete disposal.