With the ever growing number of internet users, the opportunities for eCommerce businesses are also increasing, but at the same time, a lot of new challenges emerge as well.
Today’s consumers are more aware than ever before and they do significant research before buying anything online or offline. So, they explore multiple shopping channels and marketplaces before making an actual purchase.
In order to maximize your profits, your business must sell through multiple channels, i.e. your ecommerce website, Amazon, Shopify, Google Shopping, and beyond. If you have a couple of products to sell, it might not be an issue to distribute tailored product information on various channels, but when you sell a great deal of products online, managing product information on all these channels separately can be quite time consuming.
This is where a retailers needs foolproof product information management system to manage product information across all platforms.
What is a Product Information Management System?
A Product information management system provides a single repository for storing all outgoing product data, so you can distribute the platform specific product information across various channels from a single dashboard. You can find an efficient PIM tool at Widen that will enable your team to easily upload, edit, and distribute product-level data across all of today’s major sales & distribution channels.
Does My Business Really Need an Information Management System?
PIM systems are generally used by large e-commerce businesses, but if your startup or small business has any of the following attributes, getting a PIMs is a must.
- Complex content
- A high number of SKUs
- Data collection from multiple points
- Products that are constantly shifting or changing
Using a product information management system right from the beginning can place your startup on the growth track early and you can have significant competitive advantage in marketing.
How Can Product Information Management System Help My Small Business?
Product information management system can drastically improve the workflow, hence your team can do more work in less time and the time you save from laborious tasks can be utilized for other areas, i.e. customer happiness, and business growth.
That’s why information management for business is crucial if you want to keep track of all of your data and utilize it in the right way.
Here are the major benefits of integrating a PIMs:
- It makes data collection virtually effortless, i.e. by automating the manual data processing.
- Reduces the chances of errors hence, you ensure data entry accuracy.
- Increases the productivity among departments by improving the data entry efficiency.
- Information sharing between multiple teams become quick and so you can take timely decisions.
- Your sales team can work independently and more efficiently, as they do not need the assistance of product development team and vice versa.
- Makes your business expansion hassle free.
- Saves a lot of time, money and effort.
- You can grow and expand your business faster than the competitors.
How to Find the Right Product Information Management System?
Luckily, there are many product information management systems available in the market already, however, choosing the right one requires parallel research. Each PIMs has its own strengths some drawbacks (maybe), so before you start looking for one, make sure you know your requirements well.
Knowing the particular requirements you can make the selection process fast and easy.
In general, a good product information management systems should offer:
- Integration with existing eCommerce system.
- A great deal of channels.
- Analytics to assess the performance of products across various channels.
- Planning tools to prepare for upcoming seasonal sales.
- Multiple languages for regional sales.
- Efficient support to help you when needed.
- Customization.
- Compliance with industry regulations and data security.
These are just a few general features of a good product management system for a startup or a small business. Depending on your requirements you may look for additional features too.