With online sales growing by 49% annually since 2020, it is clear that businesses and marketing teams should be equipped with efficient tools to meet the growing demands of online shopping and deliver a satisfactory customer experience.
One of the challenging areas for marketers and business owners is managing an immense amount of product information that needs to be passed through multiple channels, teams, distributors, retailers and so on. If not managed properly, it can affect overall sales.
The concept of Product Information Management is increasingly becoming popular when it comes to e-commerce, digital marketing, product sales strategies and omnichannel presence.
PIM solutions are designed to overcome product management challenges and help businesses take a leap forward digital transformation. Implementing an efficient PIM system can make easy for sales and marketing teams to collaborate better and make your business future-ready.
Let’s dig further into how a PIM can improve your ROI
#1 Increase Employees Productivity
In retail commerce, managing large volumes of complex data is often part of the day-to-day process. A PIM system facilitates seamless collaboration across your internal and external teams and enable them to work from a single place. It reduces the time spent on collecting data, preparing spreadsheets and making amendments manually.
The teams feel less stressed out and can save precious time, which they can devote to improving sales activities and marketing campaigns. A productive worker can generate tangible results that can contribute to the growth of the business. In simple words, the effective use of time and resources can ultimately lead to better business performance on the whole.
#2 Faster Product Launches
You can launch your products much faster with an efficient PIM solution in place. A centralized PIM system covers the product details, technical details and sales process among many things. This enables faster product launches across multiple sales channels, such a se-commerce, m-commerce and retail outlets.
Moreover, a PIM enables quickly spreading of the news about new product launches by instantly updating the data and distributing them to all the appropriate channels. Faster product launches can give you a competitive edge and unlock many sales opportunities.
#3 Easy Multi-channel Selling
A PIM system also enables easy multi-channel selling. Today’s buyers demand a seamless shopping experience no matter where they wish to shop from. That means whether they are browsing e-commerce store, social media or marketplace, it should make no difference.
Selling on multiple channels and delivering the same user experience is also known as an omnichannel approach. In simple words, if the product data is centrally managed, all the teams can focus in their respective sales channels. More sales channels means your customer has more chances to make a purchase from you.
#4 Enhanced Data Quality
A product data includes product descriptions, photos, videos, SKUs, barcodes, price and many other attributes that complete a product. With a reliable PIM system, it is possible to manage a number of product data in a single repository that can be accessed by multiple teams. Any authorized person can add, update or delete product information, which will immediately reflect at all places.
This ensures the same data is presented on all the channels, and thus, reducing the risk of mismatch product details that may put off a customer. Conversely, more consistent product information can create an exceptional brand image.
#5 Reduce Returns
Given the surge in online shopping, product returns have also increased, costing retailers about 20 to 30% of the product sale price. One of the major reasons for product returns is incorrect or incomplete product information. This includes items not matching the description, incorrect size information, price difference or insufficient description.
All these lead to higher product returns. A PIM tool can help decrease returns by standardizing product information that assures the completeness and accuracy of data, enabling customers to make a well-informed purchase decision. The end result is a smoother sale and a more satisfied customer.
#6 Higher Average Order Spending
With accurate information on every product, customers can find all the information and get answers to their questions they need to feel more confident about their purchasing decision.
When customers feel more confident about the product content they see, they tend to spend more, and can even choose a slightly expensive product, given that they are provided with adequate information. They won’t feel a need of going elsewhere because they are satisfied with the information you provide, and hence, they are more likely to purchase from you.
#7 Reduce Management and Maintenance Costs
Having a single and centralized product information management system for all product content and all channels can cost far less than having multiple systems. It also saves you money by reducing the amount of time employees spend on maintaining the system and managing products manually.
With PIM, there is one authoritative data set to maintain. It also decreases training time for employees to learn different systems. Conversely, learning PIM is not that difficult and requires little training. This will reduce the cost overhead and allow you to set competitive pricing, so you can close more deals faster.
#8 Reduce Costs Within The Supply Chain
If you are running multi-channel e-commerce and have thousands of products in your inventory, you know that data in your supply chain need to handled carefully as even the slightest mistake can lead to greater confusions. A PIM tool can help you improve efficiency and management of the product information within the supply chain.
It eliminates the need of manually entering and updating the data at every stage. Since the data is maintained in a single repository, the data quality remains intact, accessible and accurate at all times. This reduces the operating costs and make the entire supply chain process more cost-efficient.
#9 Monitor and Optimize Product Performance
A PIM system lets you monitor real-time performance of each product or service on every channel. It can give you an insight into what products are performing well, what products need attention for a particular channel, your target audience, their average spend and Muchmore.
This enables you to make strategic business decisions that can help improve operational efficiency, product management and marketing campaigns, leading to higher sales and revenue.
Conclusion
To summarize, implementing PIM can bring positive ROI for retailers dedicated to selling items, as it improves overall quality of the product data, brand reputation, customer shopping experience and sales generation. PIM can transform the product information from being a burden to one of the company’s greatest assets.
You may read more : Top 4 Reasons You Should Use PIM for Your Business
