To be dependent – it doesn't sound particularly nice right off the bat. Nevertheless, your customers can easily be "dependent" in a good way, if you are a marketing manager giving them a unique buying experience each and every time they do business in your webshop.
Not only do they like your products, they also like the feeling of effortlessly clicking around to quickly find exactly the wine-red woolen winter coat of a very specific brand, which they would like to get a better look at.
The many appealing pictures, detailed descriptions, sizing wizard, laundry tips and not least clear information on shipping and returns, mean that they can safely decide to buy.
And at least as important:
- Satisfied customers come again
- They will recommend your webshop to their networks
But how can this desirable situation be achieved, without the webshop becoming a full-time job for the whole marketing department? One option is to let a product information management system – known as a PIM system – help keep track of product, especially if your webshop caters to many markets in many different languages.
The PIM system as a switchboard for all product information
For you as a marketing manager, it’s all about optimizing the webshop as well as possible, so that this sales channel delivers the budgeted results. Your customers should have an easy time finding what they are looking for, and they should be able to find answers to all the questions they may have prior to a purchase.
There are many tools to achieve the result, but handling product data is one of the most important, since it is the basis for creating a coherent product presentation across product categories, language and other dimensions.
In the PIM system, you can structure the product information in just the way you want it to appear in the webshop. You no longer have to go into your e-commerce platform in order to rearrange the products’ order or remove or add products or product data manually. It is all handled in the PIM system, and the changes are automatically reflected in the webshop (and in all the other sales and marketing channels you choose to link together with the PIM system), because the systems are 100% integrated with each other.
The PIM system acts as a central source for all types of product data, and is the only place where you need to maintain product data.
With PIM you create the optimal online shopping experience
In addition to offering your customers the product information they need, you will save untold time and effort when you link PIM together with e-commerce because, for example:
- You manage all product data from one place
You don’t have to look for new product information in a lot of different places and then typing them into your e-commerce platform in different languages. All the latest data are managed centrally from the PIM system in all the languages, and the changes can be published in your webshop completely automatically.
- You organize the products according to customer needs
In the PIM system, it is easy to create product categories and structures that are reflected directly in the webshop, and make sense to customers when they click around to find the desired products. In this way you also free yourself from the structure of the ERP system, which is built up on the basis of the company's needs, not those of the customers. - Customers can easily search and filter
With perfect product data as a working basis, you ensure that customers will be presented with all of the relevant products, when they search and filter webshop products by size, color, technical specifications, category or other parameters. At the same time, you have a full view of where you are missing product data, as well as the ability to ensure data consistency, e.g., that the length is always given in centimeters. - Unique product data sheets printed in your layout directly from the webshop
The PIM system's print module also gives your customers the ability to download individually customized PDF documents with information about the products they are interested in. The documents are based on templates developed in the PIM system, so they always appear uniform and in the layout the marketing department has decided on.
Detailed product information is "addictive". When your customers have become accustomed to being spoiled with the data they need when they shop with you, they will be less likely to seek greener pastures.
Would you like to know more? Download white paper
Would you like to know much more about how a PIM system can help you succeed in e-commerce? Download our white paper ‘A CMO’s Guide to Online Store Success Using PIM’.
