This article gives an overview of what PIM is and how it can be used to manage product information.

What Is PIM?

PIM stands for Product Information Management. It is a business system for business users such as marketers, product owners, and product managers, which enables the creation of marketing and sales information for products.

With PIM, business users can streamline and automate the creation, enrichment, translation, and publication of product information and content. It’s the key to providing an exceptional customer experience in a global, omnichannel market.

A PIM solution allows your team to move from product data to Product Story. The below picture describes the product journey from data to story, an story that your audience understands.

The PIM Process

A PIM system supports the entire flow of marketing and sales information for a product. There are
four important stages in the PIM process:

Supply 

In this initial stage, basic product data is extracted from systems like ERP, PLM, and CRM into the PIM system. In the case of a retailer, product data may also come from product
suppliers.

Enrich

In this second stage, you create a product ‘story’ for each product. Many different users will collaborate to produce the best possible product information by adding text, descriptions, images, videos, documents, specifications, and customer testimonials to generate the optimal content to make the product appealing.

Plan and Release

In this third stage, the release strategy and timing for publication of the information is planned. This is the stage where the product marketers combine different products into assortments, groups, looks, showrooms, campaigns or other targeted offerings aimed at certain channels and customer segments or groups.

Publish

In this final stage, the product information is pushed to different channels, such as eCommerce, mCommerce, Print, POS, advertisements, email marketing, and in-store displays to drive interest to the attracting and converting channels for the marketed products.

Further Reading

Get the datasheet and learn more about what Product Information Management (PIM) is in this article.

inRiver and the PIM Process

Getting Started Videos

E-commerce Glossary

inRiver Terminology