In retail, there are so many things about a product to manage: SKU, pricing, description, barcode, photos, technical data, suppliers, vendors and so on. The faster your business grows, the more complex it becomes to manage product data efficiently.
You might be struggling to manage a countless number of product spreadsheets and updating product information manually. As a retailer, maintaining accuracy and consistency of product data is important for attracting, converting and retaining customers with your brand. However, with massive amount of data and retail channels, it can become overwhelming to manage product data.
The absence of a centralized product information management system can hurt business in many ways. That’s when you will need a PIM for retail to improve your processes, enhance customer experience and drive business growth.
In this post, we will learn about how a PIM solution helps retailers overcome daily product data challenges and boost their sales.
Common Challenges in the Retail Industry
#1 Rising customer demands
The modern customers are tech-savvy and they are always looking for the best option. As the retail market is highly competitive, a product or service can easily fall behind if it doesn’t meet customers’ expectations.
Retailers must provide everything a customer needs, from items available in stock, to complete and accurate product information, seamless buying process, fast delivery options and a responsive customer support service.
#2 Inventory management
Maintaining accurate inventory is crucial to ensure customer satisfaction and avoid stockouts, which can hamper a retailer’s reputation. There has to be a system for tracking inventory across all sales channels, which gives a unified view of the available items in stock.
#3 Double and multiple data entry
If you rely on spreadsheets to store data, you might know how cumbersome and time-consuming it is. Manually updating data of thousands of products can hours, and is prone to errors. Individual teams working on different sets of data can also create huge communication gaps, and it becomes difficult to track if someone tampers with your data.
#4 Product returns
Product returns are a nightmare for any business. When a retailer fails to maintain an accurate product information, it can lead to product returns. That is because a customer makes their purchase decisions based on the product information and description you provide. With growing product data, it becomes difficult to manage a large amount of SKUs and making sure all product data is up-to-date and accurate.
#5 Managing multiple sales and marketing channels
As the business branches out to multiple channels, it becomes more challenging to manage the consistency and flow of information across all channels. Managing a large amount of product information for different channels has certainly become more time-consuming.
How a PIM Plays a Crucial Role In Retail Success
#1 Deliver an omnichannel customer experience
If you want your customers to shop from you, you need to make their entire shopping journey fast, convenient and fuss-free. Fail do so and even the most loyal customers will go elsewhere.
Implementing a PIM in your retail business can take your customer experience to the next level. With PIM, customers can find the right products, view product details and place an order more quickly.
In addition, it will make easier for the product managers to update data, freeing up more time so they can focus on delivering high-quality customer service. A PIM will increase both conversion rates and customer satisfaction.
#2 Speed up presence in the market
In the fast paced online retail market, real-time solutions are critical to its success. In order to stay competitive, it is essential to send automated and quick updates across all channels. How you respond to changing customer demands and product launches determines your future in the market.
A PIM can help you provide real-time updates and streamline repetitive tasks, allowing you to have fast access to the market. A PIM also allows you to create and upload product catalogs and share across all sales channels. The quicker you introduce products in the market, the better sales opportunities you can have.
#3 Better cross-sell and upsell opportunities
When data resides in multiple systems, there are high chances of outdated information being shared across different channels and teams. An efficient PIM system integrates data from all sources into a centralized system, and thereby, assisting in offering consistent and personalized customer experiences.
Using PIM, retailers can find what customers are interested in and can send personalized product recommendations based on their preferences. This will not only deliver more personalized shopping experiences, but also generate more revenue.
#4 Achieve your retail sales goal
While the US e-commerce sales surge by 37% in the 2020, it is evident that retail e-commerce is the future of shopping. However, accomplishing your e-commerce goals can be challenging.
With PIM, you can reduce the risk of redundancy and error in the content, allowing you to focus more time on growing and expanding your business. A PIM, thus, solves all product data related problems, so you can launch products faster in the market and reach your e-commerce goals.
#5 Expand your business into new geographies
Selling in your locality is no longer enough if you are looking to grow your revenue. Since a large number of people are inclined to buy from regions outside their home country, having a multilingual store with product content in respective language is essential.
A PIM can be used to store multilingual translations of product data, such as titles, descriptions and prices. Selling in multiple countries increases your chances of attracting more customers from different geographies.
#6 Boost your SEO strategy
Over 90% of all website traffic is received through search engines, which makes it vital to optimize your site for increasing visibility on the search engines. A PIM for retail helps you improve SEO strategy by providing keyword-rich product information for multiple platforms. This increases your store’s visibility on the search engines, and hence, increasing your chances of attracting prospective customers.
Final Thoughts
Retailers are under constant pressure to satisfy customer demands for convenience and speed. Using a PIM is one of the effective ways to create a solid and centralized foundation of the product information that delivers satisfactory shopping experiences.
Implementing a PIM is a smart business investment that can go a long way in bringing considerable business benefits, such as higher customer satisfaction, better brand reputation and boost in revenue.
