What is Product Information Management (PIM)?

As product catalogs grow and channels multiply, managing product data manually or across disconnected systems becomes unsustainable. Businesses turn to PIM software to solve this complexity. At its core, PIM software is a centralized platform to manage, organize, improve and syndicate your product data.

This could include technical product specifications, instructions, marketing descriptions, digital assets like photos and videos—and anything else that consumers may need to know about your product.

Whether you sell through ecommerce platforms, marketplaces, print catalogs or retail stores, PIM ensures your product data is accurate and tailored to each channel’s requirements.

The main function of PIM software is to enable businesses organize product data in an efficient and easy-to-access, end-to-end platform.

This includes:

• Centralizing product information
• Managing product data points and assets
• Streamlining data enrichment
• Enabling smooth product content distribution

Here’s what that looks like in practice.

Centralizing Product Information

PIM creates a centralized hub where all product data lives—typically on a cloud-based, AI-powered platform. This eliminates silos between departments and reduces the confusion of managing multiple spreadsheets, documents and databases by hand.

When your product team updates a product specification, for example, that change automatically flows to your website, mobile app, print catalog and marketplace listings—ensuring consistency across all channels.

It also keeps team members on the same page, so no one’s left in the dark when it comes to quick-moving product pivots and updates.

Managing Product Data Points and Assets

Aside from text-based product information, PIM platforms can organize, manage and distribute the visual assets that drive conversions—think photos, videos and other visual documentation pieces.

This might include:

• Traditional product photos or lifestyle photos
• Product renderings or 3-D modeling
• Product videos and tutorials
• Manuals, instructions and spec sheets
• User-generated content, like reviews or FAQs

Why is advanced content asset management so important? A 2024 report found that 40% of surveyed consumers want to see full, 360-degree photos and videos of products online.

Having an effective way to manage more complex and nuanced digital assets will only be more important in the future.

Streamlining Data Enrichment

Creating persuasive product content is time-consuming.

And managing data? That’s even more of a drain on time and resources. A 2019 State of Data Science and Analytics report found that data workers in various industries spend 90% of their time on the preparation and organization of data rather than finding insights that make the data valuable and actionable.

To save time on repetitive data-related tasks, PIM systems provide tools to efficiently add and enhance product information:

• Bulk editing capabilities let you update hundreds of products simultaneously
• Workflow management helps coordinate tasks between team members
• Validation rules ensure that product listings meet quality standards before publication

When these changes are instantly reflected on various platforms and channels in real-time, it saves hours of time that can be spent on more essential tasks.

Enabling product content distribution

Today’s consumers engage with brands across numerous touchpoints, devices and channels. PIM systems deliver consistent product information to platforms like:

• E-commerce websites and mobile apps
• Print catalogues and marketing materials
• Online marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart and eBay
• In-store and offline product displays
• Social media channels
• Local distributor networks

Rather than managing separate information silos for each channel, a PIM system can update and organize product data once and publish it everywhere. This can eliminate discrepancies and errors that may confuse customers or damage your brand reputation and cohesiveness.

More than 70% of consumers are considered “omnichannel shoppers,” which means they use more than one channel while shopping for products, reported Harvard Business Review.

In a commerce landscape where brands are expected to be everywhere at once, managing data is more critical—and difficult—than ever before.

At the same time, consumers are more conscious of the products they invest in and pressures to meet quickly moving consumer trends keeps businesses fiercely competitive.

Here’s why effective PIM is essential to a retailer’s bottom line.

Customer Expectations

Modern shoppers demand comprehensive product information before making purchase decisions. According to one study, 87% of consumers rate product content as important when deciding to buy.

Channel Proliferation

The average retailer now sells across numerous channels, from their website to various marketplaces and social platforms. A 2023 multichannel marketing report found that larger retailers with more than 200,000 products advertise on an average of 13.8 channels.

Each channel has unique format requirements, character limits and content specifications. Manually adapting product information for each destination is no longer feasible at scale.

Time-to-Market Pressures

Because of consumer trends and economic patterns, product lifecycles are accelerating, particularly in industries like fashion and apparel, consumer goods, electronics and cosmetics and personal care.

Getting new products to market quickly with complete, accurate information provides a competitive edge that directly impacts revenue.

Numerous reports have shown that a lack of accurate or complete product information can lead to lost sales and disillusioned customers. Having an effective PIM strategy in place can tangibly improve bottom-line revenue by also improving the customer experience.

Key benefits of PIM include:

Enhanced Productivity and Efficiency

Using PIM can reduce time spent managing product data, which leads to faster product launches, fewer returns and supply chain errors and even reductions in product returns thanks to more complete and accurate content.

These efficiency gains translate directly to bottom-line results.

Improved Data Quality and Consistency

PIM systems enforce data standards and validation rules that eliminate common errors:

• No more inconsistent naming conventions
• Automatic verification of required attributes
• Quality scores that highlight incomplete product information
• Elimination of duplicate product entries

According to Garnter findings, poor data quality can cost some businesses an average of $12.9 million annually.

When product information is accurate and complete, not only does customer confidence increase and return rates fall, but internal operational costs decrease as well—creating a twofold benefit to your bottom line.

Accelerated Time-to-Market

Getting products to market faster directly impacts revenue.

PIM can improve product launch times by:

• Streamlining new product introductions across teams, geographies and categories
• Enabling simultaneous channel publishing
• Facilitating faster catalog updates
• Adapting quickly to seasonal product transitions

Simply put: the financial impact of speed can’t be overstated.

In seasonal and trend-driven businesses, every day of delay in getting products online can represent lost sales opportunities and long-term customers.

Even for evergreen products, faster market introduction means earlier revenue generation and competitive advantage, particularly in fast-moving sectors like fashion, electronics and consumer goods.

Better Customer Experiences

Complete, accurate product information directly improves the shopping experience:

• Detailed specifications and localized content enable customers make informed decisions
• Rich media assets provide the visual confirmation shoppers need
• Consistent information builds trust in your brand
• Advanced filtering options make product discovery easier

In an era where customer experience has overtaken price and product as the key brand differentiator, these seemingly small improvements create major competitive advantages.

They translate into tangible business outcomes: higher conversion rates, larger average order values, reduced cart abandonment and increased customer loyalty that drives repeat purchases.

Expanded Market Reach

With properly structured product information, expanding to new channels becomes significantly easier:

• Quickly meet the data requirements of new marketplaces
• Launch in new geographic markets with localized content
• Adapt to emerging sales channels like social commerce
• Supply complete product feeds to retail partners

In today’s rapidly evolving retail landscape, agility is essential.

This channel-ready flexibility allows businesses to pursue growth opportunities without the traditional data bottlenecks, testing new markets with minimal additional investment and responding to emerging channels faster than competitors still struggling with manual processes.

There’s no shortage of PIM platforms on the market. And although their capabilities vary, most end-to-end PIM solutions include all or most of the following features.

Data Collection and Integration

Modern PIM systems connect seamlessly with existing business systems:

• ERP integration for core product data and inventory levels
• PLM connections for technical specifications and compliance information
• DAM (Digital Asset Management) integration for product images and videos
• FMS (Feed Management Solution) integration for automated product feed distribution
• Supplier portals for vendor-provided product information

Rather than replacing your existing systems, an end-to-end PIM enhances them through intelligent integration.

These connections establish automated data flows that reduce manual entry and keep information current across systems, breaking down information silos that often plague organizations with legacy infrastructure and disparate software solutions.

Data Enrichment

Creating compelling product stories requires specialized tools:

• Attribute management for organizing product characteristics
• Classification systems for proper product categorization
• Bulk editing interfaces for efficient updates
• Content completion scoring to ensure thoroughness

What distinguishes modern PIM systems is their user-friendliness.

The best solutions make these potentially complex tasks intuitive for both technical and non-technical users, with visual interfaces that simplify attribute management and content enrichment without requiring specialized database knowledge or coding skills.

Workflow and Collaboration Features

Product information often requires input from multiple departments:

• Task assignment functionality to coordinate team efforts
• Approval workflows to maintain quality control
• Notification systems to keep projects moving
• Change tracking to document updates

Cross-departmental collaboration is often where traditional product information processes break down.

These workflow capabilities transform product information management from a series of disjointed email exchanges and spreadsheet handoffs into a structured, efficient process with clear accountability and visibility into bottlenecks.

Channel Management

Distributing product information requires sophisticated output capabilities:

• Channel-specific templates that format data appropriately
• Publishing schedules to coordinate releases
• Syndication tools that push updates to all channels
• Format conversion to meet various technical requirements

The diversity of sales channels today presents a technical challenge that manual processes simply cannot meet efficiently.

This channel management functionality ensures consistency across all customer touchpoints while respecting each channel’s unique requirements, whether that’s character limits for marketplaces, image specifications for social media or structured data for Google Shopping feeds.

Analytics and Reporting

Data-driven optimization requires visibility into PIM performance:

• Completeness reports to identify information gaps
• User activity tracking to monitor productivity
• Channel performance metrics to identify successful content patterns
• Digital Shelf Analytics (DSA) to track product visibility, pricing and competitor activity

Without proper measurement, product improvement is largely guesswork.

These analytics capabilities enable teams identify patterns, spot problems before they impact sales and continuously refine their product information strategy based on quantifiable metrics rather than assumptions, creating a cycle of ongoing optimization that compounds over time.

PIM not only provides brands with upfront data consistency but also allows them to complete the product feedback loop by receiving insights and information that can be used for future product changes.

Despite its powerful reach and impact, PIM systems aren’t just for large, global commerce brands and retailers. In fact, even small companies with limited product offerings can leverage the efficiency PIM offers.

Typical PIM users might include:

• Retailers with thousands of SKUs across ecommerce and physical locations
• Consumer goods brands managing seasonal collections, packaging changes or regional requirements
• Manufacturers with technical product specs and distribution partners
• Distributors and wholesalers consolidating product data from multiple suppliers
• Marketplace sellers needing to syndicate product content to multiple third-party platforms
• Marketing and ecommerce teams seeking better collaboration and efficiency

If your product content lives in too many spreadsheets, if your teams are duplicating efforts or if launching new SKUs is slower than it should be—PIM can bring order to your content chaos.

Having an effective PIM strategy goes beyond data consistency. The end result, when PIM is managed properly, is an enhanced user experience that gives your customers exactly what they’re looking for.

By providing accurate, consistent and updated information, you create a superior shopping experience that’s less likely to result in consumer frustration, abandoned shopping carts and lost sales.

Forward-thinking organizations view their product information as a strategic asset rather than an operational burden. When properly managed, rich product content becomes a competitive differentiator that drives business growth.

Companies that invest in PIM are investing in their ability to adapt quickly to market changes, expand to new channels and deliver the product experiences customers increasingly demand.

Fragmented or inconsistent product data information can result in revenue loss, poor shopping experiences and distrust in even the most well-known consumer brands.

If inefficient product content is holding back your brand’s performance, Centric PXM™ delivers the structure and speed you need to stay ahead. Our AI-powered end-to-end platform goes beyond basic PIM to focus on what really matters: creating a superior shopping experience that turns customers into lifelong advocates. Centric PXM is designed to manage, organize, enrich and distribute product content at scale—all while giving you the power to personalize customer experiences for thousands of channels and touchpoints. Whether you’re launching a new line of products or scaling globally, Centric PXM provides the agility, accuracy and automation modern commerce—and educated consumers—demand.

Request a demo of Centric PXM today to discover the possibilities of truly unified product data.