The 5 steps to selecting a PIM system for your webshop

Digitizing and online shopping are here to stay, and companies are opening new online stores as never before - both in the B2C and B2B markets.

As a webshop administrator, however, you will soon discover that a large part of your working hours are spent just keeping all the product information in the shop updated. Especially when new products arrive in a steady stream and changes to existing products must be handled too.

Consequently, many webshop admins soon start searching for a Product Information Management system - also called a PIM system – to reduce their workload and ensure that the shop is always up to date. Especially if your products are very complex and you sell them in many markets and languages, the PIM system can help make your life with e-commerce much easier.

But which PIM system is the best choice for your online store? And for your entire business?

Below we take you through the five steps to follow to make sure you choose the PIM system that best suits your business goals. You see, not only your webshop is important. In order to get the most out of your PIM solution, you should think about optimizing key parts of your business processes as well.

Be analytical before choosing a PIM solution

We often learn that we just have to get started when we want to digitize, but with PIM, it’s not a matter of just choosing a system and getting on with it.

You have a golden opportunity to automate and streamline manual procedures, but you need to get it right, to be analytical and think carefully because you are changing key business processes.

How to find your PIM system for e-commerce in 5 steps

1. Business first, PIM technique later

The first step of the process is not all about your webshop. When you implement a PIM solution, you also have a golden opportunity to optimize key parts of your business processes, so it is important that you spend time defining the changes you would like to create with the project.

2. What are your business requirements and processes?

The second step is also not specifically about the online store, because now that you have defined the overall objectives for the PIM project, it is time to focus on your specific business requirements.

Describing the most important business requirements will give you a list of requirements that you can use to compare different PIM solutions.

3. Choose a PIM system with full integration

Now it’s time to look for the best PIM system for the job. It makes sense to go for a PIM system with a connector that specifically fits your online store, so that the integration is as plug-and-play as possible.

Then you should look at whether the PIM supplier can document experience with other e-commerce projects with stores of your type and optimally with the other important systems in your IT infrastructure.

4. Evaluate the PIM system’s features against your business requirements

Now it’s time to delve deeper into the technique and look at how well the selected PIM systems meet your other business requirements and processes.

What you should focus on here is naturally defined by what your analysis in Step 2 has unearthed. Some of the obvious requirements to consider include:

• Should the PIM system support different types of online stores (for example B2B and B2C)?
• If you print catalogs, does the PIM system integrate well with InDesign, which can optimize that part?
• Should the PIM system support the ability of several employees to enrich and approve product information in parallel?

 5. Choose a PIM supplier who understands your business

The PIM system does not implement itself, and you can be sure that things will happen during the project that will require you to make new choices. Therefore, it is important that you can rely on a supplier and an implementation partner who understands your business.

Download our guide:
'Choose the right PIM system for your online store'

Get much more detailed knowledge about the five steps in this guide, in which we thoroughly review what you should emphasize and which pitfalls you should avoid when looking for the most suitable Product Information Management solution.