Tomorrow has to be faster than yesterday. Many companies are focusing on getting to market quickly and they consider time-to-market as an important competitive parameter. One of the major advantages of a Product Information Management (PIM) system is that it reduces time-to-market.
Because a company wants to move its products faster from concept to introduction on markets, this among other things has an impact on marketing, which must keep up and deliver the necessary marketing.
The need for speed is evident in many ways, for example, when companies stop producing major annual catalogs because they become obsolete far too quickly in relation to the products and the customers’ requirements. The strong increase in interest in e-commerce is also evidence of the same development. By offering its products in an online store, a company can always have an updated presentation of the products available online, and it becomes easy for the customer to carry out self-service as quickly and efficiently as possible.
A time-consuming task for marketing
Some of the B2B companies that have started using e-commerce in recent years have discovered that succeeding in e-commerce is not a simple discipline.
The requirement for speed and rapid time-to-market can be difficult to deliver, at the same time you have to ensure that the customer is provided with the completely correct purchasing experience in the online store. When we shop online, we expect that we can find all of the information that we need quickly – from product images to technical specifications and actual stock status. For many companies, this information is spread across several systems, and acquiring it can be a difficult and time-consuming task for marketing.
By Using a PIM system, products are ready for e-commerce more quickly
In the current scenario, a PIM system will be a great help. The PIM system gathers the product information in a singe central system and this becomes “a single source of truth” in relation to the use of product information in all of the marketing and sales channels.
Because the product department and marketing department’s work is based on the PIM system, marketing can begin to create marketing materials at the same time as the product department is taking care of the final details. Marketing can create a product on the online store and make it ready for publication, even though there are yet no translations, product photographs, etc., and even when the product is still not registered in the ERP system.
Once everyone in the company has delivered the information that is necessary for publication, the system will state that the product is “ready for the online store”, which means the product can be published on the online store directly from the PIM system.
Close integration between PIM and e-commerce saves time
Close integration between the e-commerce platform and the PIM system is also a great advantage when changes have to be made to the products.
Rather than having to go into the online store to correct information, for example, by uploading a new image, all you have to do is simply upload the image in the PIM system. The new image will then be automatically distributed to the online store and all of the other relevant channels, so for example, the product sheet will also show the new image.
Using a PIM system, the company can optimize the time that is needed for the basic processing of product information, so that marketing can deliver things faster and have more time to develop creative campaigns.
Help your customer - Download our white paper
Do you want to learn more about how a PIM system can help you to succeed in e-commerce? Download our white paper ‘A CMO’s Guide to Online Store Success Using PIM’.
