The need for a PIM in an e-Commerce World
E-Commerce and web content management systems are not designed to be product information management solutions. They are best used to:
- Display product information
- Offer up-sell and cross-sell options
- Deliver a shopping cart experience
- Personalize the shopping experience to maximize sales
Mobile solution let you close the loop between catalogs, in-store promotions to intrigue potential customers. However, the mobile channel is becoming an increasingly important marketing channel on its own right.
E-Commerce solutions are a vehicle to deliver consistent product information to the web. While some non-product related content could be managed in the e-Commerce solution, product related data, as well as the processes around the data – i.e. data aggregation, management, enrichment, and selection of product usage – should take place out side an e-Commerce system in a Product Information Management solution.
Benefits of PIM to e-Commerce & mobile Integration
By managing and enhancing online promotions in a PIM, product owners can easily synchronize and re-purpose promotions with other marketing channels like in store flyers, catalogs, etc. This ensures marketing consistency for both product presentation and price. Data changes are made in one location and communicated to each channel. This reduces the need for re-keying and eliminates redundancies between users and departments.
E-Commerce and mobile are much more agile channels than print marketing. A website is available 24/7 – worldwide and text messaging is widely used today. Thus the ability to select replacement products once an item is sold out, or to offer up-sell and cross-sell options is crucial to increase sales. Managing this process in a PIM enables product managers to analyze product promotions and sales across multiple channels from one central PIM, rather than within many different applications.
The usage of a PIM with e-Commerce integration lets merchandisers and product managers:
- Deliver an entire product hierarchy from the central PIM
- Select up-sell and cross-sell items and link them to the primary item
- Validate and preview all content delivered prior to going online
- Deliver special images, videos and 3D views for online only
- Create web and mobile only copy that is consistent with copy used for printed promotions
To learn more about the integration of LAGO with e-Commerce applications, click here.
