What is PIM?

PIM stands for Product Information Management.

It can be either a process or a system.

What is a process?

„A process is a series or set of activities that interact to produce a result; it may occur once-only or be recurrent or periodic.“ says Wikipedia

So what is PIM as a process?

„Product information management refers to a set of business practices that assist in managing information needed for marketing and selling of products through organization’s distribution channels, so that relevant, accurate, complete product information (like product specifications, technical specifications, sales statements, product lifecycle information, product metadata information, collected from almost every department of a company) could be delivered consistently to any customer touchpoint. It helps organizations in becoming quicker, more compliant and consistent by allowing efficient and easy flow of product information from supply chain to commerce and finally to consumers.“ says Pimcore

Let’s focus and rephrase the underlined sentence: „PIM is a set of practices that help you manage information needed to sell products„.

What is PIM as a system?

„A product information management (PIM) system is the one that collects, consolidates, enriches, and manages product information in a single place, to create product catalogs, disseminate, standardize, and manage the delivery of your product information to different selling channels.“ says Pimcore on the same page

So PIM system is a place where you collect data, enrich them, create a catalog out of a group of products and it helps to share it with other systems. (e.g. CMS for your website or B2B product catalogs)

To summarize it: PIM as a process helps you get the right data to sell products. PIM as a system is a tool that helps you do it.

>> But wait, I don’t have a PIM system.

Note: No AI tool was used to create this page