Managing product data is a crucial challenge for any company seeking efficiency and consistency. Are you ready to transform the way you manage your product data but don’t know where to start? Follow our advice to succeed at every stage of your PIM implementation project.
What is a PIM and why do you need one?
A PIM is a solution that makes it possible to centralise, organise and enrich your descriptive product data. It acts as a genuine backbone for your marketing, e-commerce and IT teams. Thanks to this tool, you simplify the information management process, gain time-to-market, avoid silos and ensure complete consistency across all your distribution channels, whether online shops, marketplaces, social media or physical catalogues.
What are the concrete benefits of a PIM?
A PIM offers concrete benefits that transform the way you manage your product information. First of all, it saves you valuable time by centralising all your data in a single place. No more duplicates and no more lost information! Your data becomes more consistent and enriched, which improves its quality and relevance across all your media.
This leads to a better e-commerce conversion rate, better internal and external communication and increased productivity.
Faster time-to-market
By centralising and structuring your product data, a PIM speeds up the preparation of your products for sale across all your channels. You can therefore launch new collections or adjust your range for specific markets in record time. What’s more, it makes it easier to update product information quickly (descriptions, characteristics, translations), giving you valuable agility to respond to strategic changes or market demands.
An improved customer experience
Thanks to enriched, consistent product data, you offer your customers clear descriptions, quality visuals and information that is always up to date, thereby improving their shopping experience.
Optimised processes and internal collaboration
By automating repetitive tasks (such as assigning categories or sending files to partners), a PIM allows your teams to focus on higher value-added activities. A PIM eliminates silos between departments. Marketing, IT and B2C and B2B e-commerce teams work on the same platform, encouraging collaboration and transparency.
Fewer errors and fewer product returns
A PIM considerably reduces errors linked to inaccurate descriptions or missing data. Consumers find products more easily thanks to filters and facets. It also reduces product returns caused by unmet expectations, cutting your logistics costs and improving customer satisfaction.
Easier international expansion
A PIM simplifies the management of multilingual content and market-specific information (currency, units of measurement, local compliance), making expansion into new countries smoother.
The key steps to a successful PIM implementation
Every PIM implementation project is unique. However, a clear methodology will help you structure your project. Here are the main stages:
1. Analyse your needs and your current data
Even before choosing a solution, the first step is to carry out as precise a review of the current situation as possible. The aim? To understand how your data is currently organised and to define your objectives. Here are the questions to ask yourself:
- Which processes do you have in place (who does what, when and in which tool)?
- How do you currently manage your product information (existing tools)?
- Which information silos are holding your teams back?
- What are your ambitions (productivity, multichannel, internationalisation, fewer errors)?
This analysis will allow you to obtain a realistic roadmap and will lay the foundations for a successful PIM implementation.
Numendo tip: create a map of your existing data flows in order to identify the gaps. Numendo can support you in this audit in order to align your needs with a vendor’s expertise.
2. Choose the right PIM solution
There are many PIM solutions on the market today, each with its own specific features and advantages. To make the right choice, it is essential to take several criteria into account:
- Modularity: can the solution be integrated easily with your existing tools (ETL, ERP, CMS, DAM)?
- Scalability: will it be able to keep up with your growth and the evolution of your needs?
- Ease of use: will your teams be able to take ownership of it quickly after training?
At Numendo, we work with leading technology partners such as Akeneo and Quable, recognised for their ability to meet companies’ varied product data management challenges.
Why Akeneo? Akeneo stands out for its robustness, its scalability and its intuitive interface, which make it an ideal solution for centralising and enriching product data. Whether for complex catalogues or omnichannel strategies, Akeneo enables smooth, high-performance management suited to companies of all sizes and sectors.
Why Quable? Quable combines flexibility, performance and simplicity, offering a solution perfectly suited to companies’ needs, whatever their maturity or sector of activity. Thanks to its modularity, Quable integrates easily with existing ecosystems, such as your ERP, CMS or DAM. Its scalability and its intuitive interface make it a valuable ally for supporting growth and facilitating adoption by your teams.
As a certified partner of both Quable and Akeneo, Numendo has mastered these technologies and supports you at every stage of your project: from migrating an existing system through to the full integration of the solution. Drawing on our expertise in consulting and integration, we help you choose and deploy the PIM or DAM solution that will align perfectly with your context, your strategy and your objectives.
3. Design a suitable architecture
Once the solution has been chosen, the design phase begins.
To start with, it is a matter of identifying the connectors needed to integrate the PIM with your other tools, such as your e-commerce platform or your CRM. If your e-commerce site runs on PrestaShop, we have developed a Quable x PrestaShop connector.
Work on modelling your data begins in parallel — a key stage of the project before integration work within the information system.
Next, you need to design workflows suited to the specific needs of your users, whether data managers, marketing teams or e-commerce managers.
Finally, data-cleansing work is essential in order to guarantee consistency and enrichment before the data is integrated into the PIM.
It is also important to properly assess the support required for your PIM tool to be used well. To that end, the Numendo teams have mastered the product lifecycle in the broad sense, from ideation to product development (PLM), enrichment and sales.
Does this approach seem complex? Don’t panic!
At Numendo, we run design workshops to analyse your data and co-create processes with your teams. Whatever your level of maturity with PIM & DAM tools, Numendo is there to onboard you, coach you and support you throughout your Quable integration project.
4. Implement methodically
Implementing a PIM requires meticulous coordination in order to ensure its success.
To that end, a good approach is to establish a precise schedule that includes deliverables at each key stage. The various types of testing make it possible to detect and fix any problems before final deployment. Then, setting up a pre-production environment is essential in order to validate configurations and guarantee that everything works perfectly before the official launch.
Numendo tip: adopt an agile methodology where possible, as Numendo does with its Agile Squads, so that you can adjust your priorities quickly during the project. Monitor the overall progress of your project very regularly.
5. Support the change
A PIM will not transform your processes without internal buy-in. Change management therefore plays an essential role in the success of its implementation. It is important to communicate clearly with your staff, explaining the concrete benefits they will be able to derive from the PIM, whether in terms of time savings, simpler tasks or improved data quality.
Wondering how to get your teams to adopt the new tool fully? Involve them in the project very early on. Training also plays a key role. By passing on the necessary skills to your staff, you give them the means to master the PIM and to be fully autonomous as soon as it goes live. A team that is listened to and trained is a confident team, ready to make the most of this new solution.
Finally, follow-up should not be neglected. Regularly gathering feedback from your teams makes it possible to adjust configurations, improve the user experience and ensure lasting adoption of the system within the company.
Need a partner to make your PIM implementation project a success? Contact Numendo today and benefit from our expertise for a smooth, high-performance deployment thanks to our trusted partners.
FAQ: everything you need to know about PIM (Product Information Management)
What is PIM?
PIM (Product Information Management) is software that makes it possible to collect, enrich and distribute a company’s product data. It guarantees optimised management of product information by automating updates and ensuring consistent distribution across all digital and physical touchpoints.
What is a PIM used for?
A PIM is used to structure and centralise all the data relating to a company’s products. It makes it possible to ensure the consistency and quality of information (descriptions, images, prices, technical characteristics) across all sales channels. It also facilitates collaboration between marketing, product and e-commerce teams.
Why use a PIM?
A PIM (Product Information Management) is used to centralise, manage and distribute product information across several channels (e-commerce, marketplaces, catalogues, ERP, etc.). It makes it possible to improve data quality, reduce errors and speed up product time-to-market. It is a key tool for companies that sell products across several channels and want to optimise their product information management.
Who uses a PIM?
A PIM is used by several profiles within a company:
- Marketing teams, to manage product pages and ensure consistent communication.
- E-commerce managers, to synchronise product information across websites and marketplaces.
- IT and data teams, to structure data and guarantee its quality.
- Product managers, to enrich descriptions and improve the user experience.
Any company that sells products online or across multiple channels can benefit from a PIM.
How do you integrate a PIM with Numendo?
Numendo, an integrator of PIM solutions, makes it easier to connect and synchronise product information with the company’s various systems. Thanks to its native connectors and APIs, Numendo ensures smooth integration of the PIM with ERPs, CMSs, marketplaces and other e-commerce platforms. This approach guarantees centralised data, consistent distribution across all channels and optimised management thanks to validation workflows.
Why put an information system in place?
Putting an information system in place makes it possible to centralise, structure and secure a company’s data. It facilitates decision-making, improves productivity and reduces errors caused by scattered information. An information system is essential in order to ensure effective data management and to optimise internal processes.
What is a PIM module?
A PIM module is a specific piece of functionality built into product information management software. It might be an ERP connector, an automatic translation tool, an image optimisation module, or validation and workflow features designed to improve collaborative management of product data.
