The PIM system ensures that all data can be managed from one platform and distributed across all channels. This is necessary because the amount of product data has increased considerably in recent years. On the one hand, this is due to the long-tail approach, whereby web shops are also showing more and more articles that they do not have in stock themselves, but are supplied by suppliers. On the other hand, because consumers want as much relevant information as possible before they make a purchase. With only a concise product description you can no longer make it today. Customers also want to see various photos, instructional videos and perhaps even alternatives or combination items of the product.
Many companies are increasingly able to meet their customers in this respect. A pitfall, however, is that the product information is stored in different systems, resulting in fragmented information. Not only does it take extra time to find and use the desired data, it also increases the chance of errors. Product Information Management systems therefore increasingly form the central link between the various systems, such as the accounting program and the online marketplace.
Difference between ERP and PIM systems
ERP and PIM systems are similar because they both automate how you sell something, but the difference between an ERP and PIM system is that ERP is mainly thought from the administrative point of view and a PIM from the marketing point of view. For example, ERP is focused on the handling of transactional data. It automates data that occurs once in time and always goes through the same steps. Think of the product price, specifications and variables such as stock status. After the order, for example, a pick instruction, a waybill and then an invoice will be issued. A PIM system does not offer an accounting process, but is a marketing application without transactional data. With Product Information Management, the additional product information is recorded and distributed to channels such as a webshop, in a folder or as a catalog to a comparison site.
An ERP provides all the data to realize a sale from an accounting point of view and all steps are clear to everyone. It becomes different when we look at the information about the product. It is easy to disagree about the marketing of a product. Denk aan de noodzaak of inzet van verrijkringen als productvideo’s, extra uitgebreide omschrijvingen, of andere productinformatie. You can record the choices between how you manage each product. For example, you may enrich articles that you sell a lot with extra content, because you earn back these production costs, but not with long-tail articles that you sell no more than once a year.
In a small organization you can easily decide this yourself, but managing your product information is a world in itself in complex organizations. A PIM system can also play a role in the distribution of product information. For example, that you want to use specific enrichments on your own webshop, but do not want to share them with an online comparison site. In addition, the sales department may describe products differently than the purchasing department, or the marketing department may prefer to show products based on certain themes rather than in the order that emerges from the ERP. With PIM you can not only make the product data unambiguous, but also manage all additional product information.
