Product information management⏐PIM with Vaimo

One PIM system to rule all your product data

Are you curious about what a PIM system can do for your ecommerce business? More and more merchants come to us with a need to improve their internal processes around product information management systems and to find a way to provide more consistent product information to end customers.

A PIM system helps ecommerce businesses collect, enrich, and store their product information in one place. A PIM system becomes the single source of truth for product data, helping align all teams and departments around a shared platform. Once in the PIM system, the product information can be published effectively through multiple sales channels.

What is a PIM (product information management) system?

PIM stands for Product Information Management, or the central management of product information needed for various external and internal channels, like online stores, ERP systems, printed catalogs, etc. PIM systems support the complete process of creation, enrichment, planning, and release of product information in all necessary channels.

Our PIM success stories

Kekkilä-BVB

Discover how Vaimo helped Kekkilä-BVB go from manual to automated product management with Akeneo Enterprise Edition.

View project
Normet

Discover how Normet, a leader in underground mining, enchanced its operations with Vaimo's quotation tool and Akeneo’s PIM solution.

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Calex

How did Calex go from scattered product information to a centralized data hub? Our case study takes you behind the scenes of our PIM project.

View project

FAQs: How a PIM system works

How does a PIM system work?

The PIM system integrates data from your PLM (product lifecycle management), CRM customer relationship management, ERP (enterprise resource planning), and other systems. The PIM system processes the data simultaneously and eliminates the need to enter or update information manually. This decreases errors and redundant tasks.

How does a PIM import data?

The PIM imports data through XLSX and CSV files and pre-built connectors.

How does a PIM onboard products?

Your product data is onboarded directly from suppliers in your format.

How does a PIM onboard digital assets?

The PIM connects to DAM systems for images, videos, and documents.

How does PIM help you distribute product information?

Your staff then distributes your product information into catalogs and connects the catalogs to channels. From there, your staff organizes the data in a manner that various departments can easily digest. This helps your teams obtain the product information as fast as possible. This also boosts productivity by decreasing bottlenecks and eliminating data silos.

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What can you do with a PIM?

Your employees can use a PIM system to:

Link images, documents, and media to products
Centralize and sanitize product data
Enrich product descriptions and specifications
Track progress and product completion
Build business rules with IF and THEN statements
Categorize products and files
Manage relationships between products
Create and publish product sheets
Manage and prepare data for sales channels
Build custom product feeds

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What types of companies should implement a PIM system?

A PIM system is perfect for your company if you relate to the following:

You handle complex product content and product relationships
You have a high number of stock-keeping units (SKUs)
You sell products and services through multiple channels
You collect data from multiple suppliers
You require accurate product information for use by multiple teams
Your teams face an abundance of repetitive or manual tasks
You expand or update product offerings several times per year

Vaimo has integrated many PIM systems for businesses from diverse backgrounds, sizes, and industries. Check out our clients’ stories below.

Visit all Vaimo PIM case studies »

What are the benefits of a PIM system?

+ A single point of storage

A single point of storage for all of your product information that can be used across different platforms, mobile applications, point of sales, and any other system within your infrastructure

+ A solid integration

A solid integration that will update your ecommerce platform with product data, with the bonus of freeing up your ecommerce platform’s resources

+ Diverse types of data

A great advantage to an omnichannel merchant that sells products with different types of data (specifications like sizes, colors, technical details, and more)

+ User-friendly environment

A more user-friendly environment than a typical ecommerce platform can provide for content management teams

+ Enter data only once

The opportunity to enter product data into your PIM system only once; it’s not necessary to repeat the process with other systems, as every platform in your infrastructure will use the same data

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Who benefits from using a PIM system?

Sales teams that need both accurate and updated product data at all times
Ecommerce managers that need to provide the latest content updates and ensure a consistent and quality UX (user experience), all while increasing conversion rates
Marketing teams that need to create and modify campaigns across multiple channels
Your shoppers who want up-to-date and descriptive product information

Does a PIM system integrate with Adobe Commerce?

Yes, a PIM system integrates with Adobe Commerce, allowing flexibility and usability of data across different systems. Installing a PIM solution is a specialized integration that supports efficient workflows.

A PIM integration aims to:

Ensure that the data within the PIM system is structured in a way that makes it easy to extract
Ensure that the data is highly usable
Ensure that the data is easily manageable in the target systems, such as print, digital customer channels, digital internal channels, and source systems like ERP and data warehouses

Vaimo has worked with the Adobe Commerce platform for over 15 years. We possess a deep knowledge of the platform, the history, and the processes to build a rock-solid integration that suits your unique business needs.

Visit our Adobe Commerce/Magento page »

Does a PIM system integrate with commercetools?

A PIM system goes together with commercetools like butter on a roll. Vaimo built a microservice to simplify this integration – the Vaimo PIM Connector for Akeneo and commercetools.

With Vaimo´s new microservice, brands with an existing Akeneo PIM installation can migrate the model structure and content with the push of a button. With the Vaimo PIM Connector, you can immediately set up a complete catalog from an empty commercetools instance.

Vaimo partners with Akeneo and commercetools to bring digital commerce businesses the best-of-breed platforms and tools. The new Vaimo PIM Connector microservice ensures a seamless experience for companies using services by Akeneo and commercetools.

Go to the PIM Connector »

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Get to know our PIM products

Vaimo PIM Connector

The Vaimo PIM Connector allows brands with an existing Akeneo PIM installation to migrate their model structure and content into the commercetools ecommerce platform at the push of a button.

With the Vaimo PIM Connector, you can instantly create a complete catalog from an empty commercetools instance. The Vaimo PIM Connector ensures a seamless experience for companies using both Akeneo and commercetools services.

Vaimo PIM Connector »

Vaimo GS1 Connector

The GS1 standard was developed to boost operational efficiency, improve data accuracy, enhance customer satisfaction, and facilitate access to global markets. Vaimo now offers the Akeneo community a seamless connection to the GDSN network for smooth information exchange with other GS1 members.

Powered by Vaimo’s Connectmach microservice framework, the GS1 connector enhances efficiency while remaining cost-effective, providing an affordable solution for optimized operations.

Vaimo GS1 Connector »

Why do I need an expert to build my PIM integration?

An expert integration is needed to secure the proper communication between a PIM system and target systems. Directing data to your target systems is an exact science because the data structure differs across systems. This means that the raw data from various systems does not fulfill the minimum requirements of a PIM system.

A PIM system does not recognize configuration attributes, nor does it possess the ability to tweak them. An expert integration ensures that your PIM system speaks the same language as all your other systems that feed it data. At Vaimo, we have broad experience integrating PIM systems with your ecommerce platform. Our expert teams deploy integrations across industries in the B2B, D2C, and B2C arenas.

If you’re curious about where your organization stands with product information, take our free quiz below. Our PIM experts tailored our free quiz to help you understand how a PIM system implementation can help your business, and how to take the next steps.

Take the pimometer quiz »

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How Vaimo boosts online sales using a PIM system

Why should you consider Vaimo as your PIM Solution partner?

Vaimo has a strategic partnership with Akeneo and works with inriver, market leaders for PIM software and cross-channel commerce solutions. This allows us to implement the inriver Product Marketing Cloud and Akeneo Open-Source Solution to merchants around the globe.

We can provide merchants with the best PIM solution depending on their needs, preferences, and budget—whether the open-source Akeneo platform or the inriver Marketing Cloud enterprise platform. Our in-house experience with various ecommerce platforms and other backend systems means we can take on PIM projects with merchants with platforms like Demandware, Shopify Plus, Oracle ATM, IBM Websphere, and more. We want to help you implement a PIM solution in a way that guarantees benefits for your digital commerce solution. Let’s discuss how we can make a PIM system work for your business!

Send a message to our PIM experts

We are strategic partners with Akeneo and we work with inriver, companies that are market leaders for PIM software and cross-channel commerce solutions.

To learn more and discuss the different opportunities, reach out to our team today. We look forward to helping you create outstanding customer experiences.

Contact us

PIM - Product information management