Product Information Management (PIM) solutions are used for the management of complex product information. The PIM tool's centralized product data facilitates accurate data sharing throughout multiple channels: all of your sales channels, marketing channels, and distribution channels will benefit from the right product information management system.

PIM software enables users to collaborate on the product content using a master data hub. This is a centralized system for collecting and distributing product information to all of the sales channels. That may include small and medium businesses, ecommerce businesses, or old school mom and pop shops. Any and all retail business users can benefit from a centralized data home.

Retailers prefer when you use Surefront's unified platform over a traditional PIM system. Your ability to easily curate the ideal showcases and quotes makes for a better user experience when negotiating prices, engaging in product customization, and finalizing deals.

Buyers who have experienced Surefront’s Unified Product Collaboration Platform have unanimously agreed that communication is far easier and more effective than email threads. As a brand who wants to sell more to your retailers, it behooves you to leverage Surefront’s added value for your retail partners.

Surefront allows retailers to better manage their categories. For more on category management, read our blog that gives the full rundown on how retailers use a category-oriented method of procurement to drive growth and perfect their assortments.

Whether you’re operating on the buying (retailer) side, or the supplier (brand) side of things, Surefront provides everything you need to efficiently and effectively bring products to market.

You don’t want your data to be siloed. Your company’s CRM, PIM and PLM solutions shouldn’t operate in a vacuum, either. Surefront is a Unified Product Collaboration Platform to power growth and ROI.

Our patented PIM, CRM, and PLM solutions streamline the omni channel sales, merchandising and product development processes. By combining these essential functionalities, Surefront creates a single source of truth throughout your product lifecycle, sales and listing processes.

So, what type of data is managed by your PIM platform? Here are some examples of data that's retrieved, synchronized, and stored in PIM software: Core product data (product name and descriptions), product attributes (SKU, costs, price), product specifications (size and warranty information), quality management data (testing and product specifications), emotional data, key features, and more.

Product Information Management (PIM) systems are used for the management of complex product information. The PIM tool centralizes product data and facilitates accurate data that's updated throughout all sales channels. PIM software is a means for brands to simplify their work, and it helps with e commerce websites in particular. Any good PIM system should help brands in these 5 areas:

1. Importing product data

   Taking raw data from different sources and importing that data into your central catalog is a critical function of any great PIM system. The Information Management (PIM) software should facilitate the addition of SKUs en masse along with all the relevant specifications and data that comes along with each SKU. No matter whether you’re importing from outside ERPs, spreadsheets, or your suppliers’ systems, your PIM systems should streamline and automate the process.
   
   Surefront features a Bulk Upload process that creates custom product listings for up to 10,000 products at once. That removes the workload and time sink of individually uploading those products off your team’s plate and frees up more time for other growth initiatives for your merchandising teams, sales teams, and eCommerce managers.

2. Organizing and classifying information

   Any good PIM software should give you the ability to organize your data in the method that works best for your teams. This should include Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) that eliminate the need for endless lines on spreadsheets that end up being useless.
   
   If you sell in the ecommerce space, the right PIM platform will drastically reduce the time it takes to upload product content to your ecommerce store or marketplace. Another way Surefront improves upon this common PIM function is the Bulk Edit feature. This allows you to edit product information on up to 10,000 items all at once, saving the time and effort of individually addressing each product.

3. Enriching, revising, and translating product information

   Enriching product data entails adding all product specifications, detailed descriptions, images and other visual media to your product content. The better enriched your products are with the most accurate aggregated data, the better your products will perform when later syndicated to your retail channels.

   Information Management (PIM) software should help your team store and organize the best product information for each SKU, and revise/translate that information when needed.

4. Facilitating data sharing and better workflow

   As PIM tools provide centralized storage of your important product data, they should also allow you to better access and share that data. Why keep product content in disparate locations, like individual drives and spreadsheets, when you can use information management PIM software to house all your product information in one place?

   With cloud access, all team members can retrieve the data they need without having to export and email files over and over again.

5. Syndicating data to retail channels

   One of the biggest challenges for a brand’s e commerce team is to manage and publish products to their various retail channels, as well as synchronize inventory data across channels. If you are looking for a great solution for automating this process, PIM software is designed to help. Your PIM system should help you take product information from your manufacturers and automatically format it to the requirements of your retail channels.

   
   All of these specific reasons for PIM software's existence point to one simple notion across the industry: the brands with the best product information will sell the most. This applies to the B2C performance of the products on eCommerce websites. Better product information will always win for the consumer.

   But that also means a higher demand from your retailers and a bigger opportunity for more B2B sales to your retail partners. For more tips on how to effectively sell more and bring products to market faster, check out our merchandising management blog.

Master Data Management (MDM) is often used interchangeably with Product Information Management (PIM). It refers to a comprehensive set of processes used to manage an organization's data assets, often referred to as "master data."

Master data refers to the core data entities that are shared across multiple systems and applications within an organization, such as customers, products, suppliers, employees, locations, and other key entities.

Quick sidenote: MDM and ERP systems are often used interchangeably, but the two are not the same. While MDM is accessible to all company employees and manages all of an organization's data, ERP systems are focused on company resources and business processes.

The purpose of MDM is to establish a single, trusted, and authoritative source of master data within an organization. It defines and maintains consistent, accurate, and up-to-date master data across systems, applications, and business units.

MDM typically involves the following key components and activities:

1. Data governance

   Establishing policies, rules, and processes for managing master data, including data quality standards, data ownership, data stewardship, and access controls.

2. Data modeling

   Designing a unified data model that represents the structure, relationships, and attributes of the master data entities.

3. Data integration

   Integrating and consolidating master data from various sources and systems, often through data integration techniques like data extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL).

4. Data cleansing and enrichment

   Identifying and resolving data quality issues, such as duplicates, inconsistencies, and missing values. This might involve: data profiling, standardization, validation, and enrichment using external data sources.

5. Master data repository

   Creating a centralized repository or hub that serves as the authoritative source for master data, so it can be accessed with maximum efficiency. Enabling easy access, management, and distribution of data to other systems and applications. This is what stops your team from relying on disparate tools.

6. Data synchronization and distribution

   Ensure that master data is synchronized, so you can distribute information to local and global markets in a consistent and timely manner, maintaining data integrity and coherence across your organization.

7. Data security and compliance

   Implementing security measures to protect sensitive master data and ensuring compliance with relevant regulations, standards, and policies.

MDM plays a crucial role in enabling organizations to leverage their master data as a strategic asset, supporting critical business processes, analytics, reporting, and customer-centric initiatives.

Digital Asset Management (DAM) refers to the practice of organizing, storing, and distributing data across multiple channels within an organization. A digital asset can be any type of digital file, such as product images, videos, audio files, usage data and more.

DAM systems are designed to provide a centralized and structured repository for product data management. They offer features and functionalities that facilitate the storage, organization, retrieval, and sharing of digital files. Some key aspects of Digital Asset Management include:

1. Asset organization

   DAM systems allow users to categorize and tag assets with metadata, such as keywords, descriptions, and usage rights. This helps in efficient search and retrieval of assets down the line.

2. Storage and version control

   DAM systems provide secure data storage. A DAM system helps brands manage data, ensuring data preservation and preventing loss. They often include version control features to manage different iterations of an asset and they usually provide historical data by tracking changes over time.

3. Asset discovery and search

   DAM systems typically have robust search capabilities, enabling users to find specific assets quickly using various criteria, including metadata, file types, dates, or custom tags.

   Whether a company needs to centralize their product stories, catalog management, or just needs a centralized dashboard for digital commerce websites before you distribute assets, DAM systems do it all.

4. Collaborative workflows

   DAM systems support collaborative workflows by allowing multiple users to access, review, and collaborate on assets simultaneously. They often include features like comments, annotations, and approval workflows to streamline the creative and review processes.

5. Distribution and publishing

   DAM systems facilitate the controlled distribution of assets to different channels and platforms. They may integrate with content management systems (CMS), social media platforms, or other publishing tools to automate the delivery of assets to specific destinations.

6. Rights management and permissions

   DAM systems usually include features for managing usage rights and permissions for digital assets. This helps in enforcing copyright restrictions, controlling access to sensitive assets, and ensuring compliance with licensing agreements.

DAM systems are especially valuable for organizations that deal with large volumes of digital product content. By centralizing asset management, DAM systems improve efficiency, enhance collaboration, and ensure consistent customer experiences across various channels.

Surefront DAM and MDM functionalities fall under the umbrella of our Product Information Management platform. With Surefront's extremely flexible PIM function, you don't need third party software to get the job done. Get ready to experience more profits and a happier retail team in a fraction of the time.