My father taught me a long time ago: Don’t pound nails with a screwdriver. Some version of this lesson has been taught to every child, mostly because we were busy wrecking our fathers’ tools by using them in ways that were not intended. Using the wrong tool not only does a poor job of pounding the nail, but also damages the tool.
Unfortunately, many Product Information Management (PIM) platforms want you to believe that their tool can be the screwdriver that pounds the nail. The lessons of our fathers are often forgotten when a screwdriver salesperson comes explaining the latest innovations in screwdrivers. The same is true for most PIM Salespeople: they will never tell you their tool is wrong for your business. They are in the business of selling PIM platforms, not solving your data issues.
There are three important things you should understand when investigating a PIM tool:
- How can highly adaptable PIM tools be bad for certain businesses?
- What are the different use cases, and how do they determine what PIM is right for my business?
- What questions should I ask when investigating PIM platforms?
Why Highly-Adaptable PIMs are Bad for Certain Businesses
Most PIM platforms pride themselves on their adaptability. From flexible data models and built-in integrations to customizable UIs and user portals, the current breed of PIM platforms promise that their adaptability to every business use case is their strength. In many cases, this is simply not true: Highly-adaptable PIMs take longer to implement, are more expensive to maintain, and limit your growth potential over time.
With decades of experience in PIM implementations, our stance on this isn’t hyperbole. Our combined teams have seen how flexible data models make standard integrations impossible, how custom UIs break down when more complex data models are applied, and how workflow and UI advancements perform better during sales cycles than they do when applied to real business ecosystems. This is exasperated by the fact that most PIM platforms today are more worried about PIM-adjacent functionality development than core feature development.
There are exceptions to this. Some PIMs platforms have taken the approach of limiting data modelling options, tying UI to data model more effectively, and focusing on true PIM use cases (De-dup, Merge, Syndication, and Golden Record) over fancy side projects (Digital Product Passports, Digital Shelf Analytics, CPQ, and Pricing/Inventory Modules). However, these are used against them in sales cycles and limiting and detrimental to your business even though your business use case set is not fully understood.
Integration Challenges
Another drawback of one-size-fits-all PIM tools is the potential for integration challenges. These tools may not seamlessly integrate with your existing systems and processes, causing disruptions and inefficiencies in your operations. Customization and integration often go hand in hand, and without the ability to tailor the tool to your specific needs, you may find yourself facing compatibility issues and data inconsistencies.
Cost Inefficiencies
While one-size-fits-all PIM tools may seem like a cost-effective solution at first, they can actually lead to cost inefficiencies in the long run. Since these tools come with a wide range of features that may not be relevant to your business, you may end up paying for functionalities that you don’t need. Additionally, the lack of customization and integration capabilities may require you to invest in additional tools or resources to fill the gaps, further increasing your expenses.
Limited Scalability
Businesses are constantly evolving and growing, and your PIM tool should be able to keep up with your changing needs. Unfortunately, one-size-fits-all PIM tools may not offer the scalability required to accommodate your future expansion. As your product catalog expands, your data management requirements become more complex, and a generic PIM tool may struggle to handle the increased volume and complexity of your data, leading to performance issues and limitations in your ability to scale.
Lack of Industry-Specific Features
One of the key advantages of using a PIM tool designed for your specific industry is the availability of industry-specific features. These features are tailored to address the unique challenges and requirements of your industry, allowing you to streamline your processes and improve efficiency. However, with a one-size-fits-all solution, you may miss out on these industry-specific features, forcing you to compromise on functionality and potentially hindering your ability to stay competitive in your market.
The Diverse Use Cases of Manufacturers, Distributors, and Retailers
Manufacturers, distributors, and retailers each have their own distinct requirements when it comes to managing product information. Each PIM platform on the market lends itself to only one or two of these use case domains. Let’s take a closer look at the specific use cases of these business types:
Manufacturers
Manufacturers typically deal with a large number of products and variations. They need a PIM tool that can handle complex product hierarchies, multiple languages, and various product attributes. Additionally, manufacturers often require advanced features around syndication and integrations.
For example, a manufacturer of electronic devices may have a product hierarchy that includes different models, variations, and accessories. They need a PIM tool that can easily manage these complex relationships and ensure accurate product information is available across all channels. The PIM tool should also support multiple languages, allowing the manufacturer to create product descriptions, specifications, and marketing materials in different languages to cater to their global customer base.
Furthermore, manufacturers often deal with frequent changes in product specifications and availability. They require a PIM tool that can efficiently handle these updates and ensure that accurate and up-to-date information is communicated to their partners and customers. The tool should also provide features for managing the entire product lifecycle, from initial design and development to end-of-life management.
Distributors
Distributors focus on managing and distributing products from multiple manufacturers. They require a PIM tool that can handle the ingestion of data from a wide variety of sources, all of whom do not agree on data transfer format, attribution, or terminology. Every file they receive is unique, making the ingestion of vendor data the number one challenge in distribution companies looking at PIMs today.
The distribution landscape has also shifted in the last 10 years, with an acceleration of that change coming from the pandemic disrupting most distribution models. Every conference dealing with distributors talks about e-commerce becoming a necessity to stay in command of their customers’ buying habits, and looking to AI as the “easy button” solve to their market share erosion and brand loyalty issues. Product data used to be an afterthought in distribution: now it is table stakes.
Retailers
Retailers deal with large volumes of products from various manufacturers and distributors. They need a PIM tool that can efficiently manage product catalogs, handle frequent product updates, and provide seamless integration with their e-commerce platforms. Retailers also require features such as product categorization, pricing management, and the ability to create compelling product descriptions and images to attract customers.
For example, an online retailer selling fashion apparel may have a vast catalog of products from different brands and suppliers. They need a PIM tool that can effectively manage their product catalog, including organizing products into categories, assigning attributes and specifications, and managing pricing and inventory. The tool should also provide features for handling frequent product updates, such as adding new products, updating pricing, and managing stock availability.
In addition, retailers need a PIM tool that seamlessly integrates with their e-commerce platforms, allowing them to automatically sync product information, pricing, and inventory across their online channels. The tool should also provide features for creating compelling product descriptions and images, enabling retailers to showcase their products in an appealing and engaging way to attract customers and drive sales.
Overall, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers have unique requirements when it comes to managing product information. Whether it’s handling complex product hierarchies, managing supplier relationships, or creating compelling product descriptions, a PIM tool plays a crucial role in helping these businesses effectively manage and distribute their products.
What Questions Should I Be Asking?
With all these complexities in use cases, you are probably wondering how to determine which PIMs are best for your specific business. This is an impossible question to answer without understanding your industry, your data challenges, your syndication needs, and your tech stack. However, there are questions you can ask that can sort out the good PIMs for your use cases from the poor performers. They include:
Accelerators
The first question you ask should always be, “Do you have accelerators specific to my business type?” The answer will always be yes, so you need to follow up with “What specific accelerators do you have”? Accelerators are designed to have a specific data model, integration set, and UI configuration for a specific set of use cases. They speed up the discovery process by turning it into a mapping exercise as opposed to a full technical implementation discussion. A PIM platform with an industry/business-specific set of accelerators has seen that business type, has implemented it, and has developed methodologies to apply that experience to future implementations. A PIM platform that cannot show you those accelerators likely hasn’t dealt with your business type enough to understand those challenges.
Integrations
One of the biggest lies PIM platforms tell customers is that they have integrations for their specific ecosystems that can be implemented without customization. Out-of-the-box integrations to CMS tools are the most common lie that is told. For most businesses, the data model they require in their CMS or ecommerce platform is significantly different from the data model they would put in PIM, AND significantly different from any syndication data models they would use, that it is impossible to build a single integration that can handle every use case. Aligning your data model in your PIM to your CMS is not the answer: This will cause issues when you attempt to collect that data from ERPS and PLMs, limit who you can syndicate to, and make users in the data collection process jump through hoops to tie it all together.
A PIM platform that is up-front about the fact that some customization will be required is more likely to be implemented in the time frame you have set out. A PIM platform that says their out-of-the-box integrations are sufficient is setting you up for cost overruns in your PIM implementation project. It honestly is that simple. The most honest of PIM platforms will recommend some form of middleware tool (like Boomi or Mulesoft) to manage your integrations, as this both simplifies your ecosystem-wide integration strategy and accelerates your abstraction from point-to-point integrations.
AI
The newest trend in PIM tools is incorporating Generative AI. However, AI can do so much more than just write titles and descriptions. It can validate that the image that is presented matches the data that has been entered for a product. It can auto-classify products so that your classification error rates decrease. It can auto-map outputs so that companies don’t have to spend weeks on mapping activities to output data from the system. AI should be an integral component of any PIM, and you need to see what their AI can do.
For the record, TrailBreakers maintains many AI Agents to perform these functions if your current PIM does not provide them.
In Summary
You should be skeptical about every promise made by the vendor of any software platform. Skepticism is healthy, as it forces the seller to prove the functionality they are showing your company actually functions in a way that will work for your business. That being said, sometimes it is just as important to understand who they have worked with before and how they solved those challenges as it is to solve your business challenges. Responses on an RFP are not enough to build the trust that the PIM platform you are looking at meets the needs of your business.