According to a Google survey, commodity information influences the buying decision of roughly 85 percent of shoppers. This means that accurate, consistent, and compliant details are vital for success in the cutthroat e-commerce market — and that’s where PIM solutions come in.

A PIM solution can make all the difference in managing your commodity details to attract customers, enhance productivity, and boost profits. But it’s not just any PIM tool that can give you the best results; you need a top PIM solution on the market. 

In this blog post, we’ll give a comprehensive definition of a PIM solution and provide five top PIM tool evaluation processes you can employ to find the best solution. 

Read on.

What Is PIM Solution?

A Product Information Management (PIM) solution is software that aids companies in the centralization and management of their commodity details across several channels. 

With a PIM solution, e-commerce companies can collect, organize, enrich, and distribute their info consistently and efficiently. This results in improved customer experience, increased sales, and reduced costs associated with managing product data. 

In order to identify the best PIM solution for your company, you may need to consider the following top PIM tool evaluation steps: 

• Research suitable PIM solution dealers
• Assess the top PIM needs of your company
• Narrow down your selection
• Invite your shortlist for a presentation
• Make a final decision

We’ll discuss these top PIM evaluation steps in the next section.

Top PIM Tool Evaluation Process #1 Research: Identifying Relevant PIM dealers

Your very first step is to research potential PIM solution dealers to identify those that offer products that fit the needs of your company. 

This also includes comparing their PIM feature set, advantages, and disadvantages in order to get an idea of what you’re getting into. You should also consider factors such as your budget and technology needs (i.e., in-house solution vs cloud-based). You also want to put your overall geographic strategy into consideration, especially if you are looking to target an international market (i.e., localization and translation management features). 

A good place to start this top PIM evaluation process is by checking out third-party review sites. These sites could be helpful for creating a PIM solution dealer list or offering PIM solution recommendations. Keep in mind, though, that these sites only recommend paid members.

With the insight gotten from this research, you can start to narrow down your PIM dealer choices.

Top PIM Tool Evaluation Process #2 needs: Developing A Comprehensive needs Matrix

Once you have done this basic research, it’s time to assess each PIM solution provider individually against your company needs to determine which solution is best suited for your operations. 

You may want to start by defining the top PIM needs for your company to ensure that every eventuality is taken into account. Make sure to analyze your current and future product range, data needs, and top PIM must-have/ nice-to-have features, and consider factors such as technical support, ease of use, and scalability. 

It is a good idea to involve stakeholders in this PIM solution criteria selection stage. The product manager, management, marketing, store administration, support team, and order fulfillment will have insights that will help in defining the top PIM needs for your company. 

All these details put together will help you make an informed decision about which PIM solution to choose when it comes time to sign a contract; otherwise, you run the risk of being locked into a bad deal after signing up with someone who doesn’t offer the right PIM software for your company.

Top PIM Tool Evaluation Process #3 Shortlisting: Narrowing Down Potential PIM dealers

Next, you should shortlist potential eCommerce PIM dealers. This process involves holistically looking at each PIM solution dealer, their strengths and weaknesses, as well as narrowing them down according to the top PIM needs you already outlined in your matrix, such as functionality, ease of use, and scalability.

For example: 

• Which dealer offers a PIM solution that does not require a steep learning curve? 
• Which one is easy to use for employees? 
• Which dealer has the top PIM feature set and great customer support? 
• Which PIM solution offers scalability features for future growth? 

All these questions need to be answered when creating a shortlist of PIM solution dealers.

Out of your list, identify three to five top PIM providers that best answer these questions.

This way, you can quickly identify the top choices in PIM solutions.

Top PIM Tool Evaluation Process #4 Workshops: Assessing PIM dealers’ Solutions Through Presentations

The next step in our top PIM tool evaluation process is to invite the shortlisted PIM solution dealers for a visit, where they will be asked to present their solutions in more detail. These PIM vendor workshops will be the perfect opportunity for each one to highlight the major PIM use cases and how they address your top PIM needs. 

Before inviting them over, remember to get a blueprint of checklists, questions, and top PIM needs from your internal stakeholders who will be using this product. The workshops will also give you a good opportunity to test drive the PIM solution, checking out to see if the features and functionalities will work for your operations. 

It will also give you the opportunity to determine the real issues and pains, if any, that your team will face using the PIM solution. 

This important step will help in bringing the decision-making process closer to a conclusion.

Top PIM Tool Evaluation Process #5 Negotiation: Making the Final Decision

In this last top PIM tool evaluation stage, you will weigh up all of the info you have gathered and use it to make an informed decision. Be sure to evaluate the PIM pricing plans and onboarding process of your preferred PIM solution dealer. This includes looking for any extra charges, such as PIM implementation and training expenses, to ensure the final cost is suitable for your budget. 

Next, look into the dealer’s customer support and service. Any PIM system is only as good as its support structure. Make sure the PIM solution provider offers 24/7 customer service in case of any technical issues you may face in the future. 

Last but not least, remember to look into the scalability of the PIM solution for the future. Your top PIM needs may change, so it’s important to choose a solution that is able to handle any new PIM needs that you may have down the road.

Hopefully, the 5 top PIM tool evaluation steps covered in this article will give you a good starting point. To quickly recap, the top PIM evaluation steps you can use to decide on the ideal dealer and PIM solution for your company are:

1. Identify relevant PIM solution dealers.
2. Assess your company’s top PIM needs and develop a needs matrix.
3. Narrow down potential PIM software dealers, considering factors such as functionality, ease of use, and PIM scalability.
4. Invite the shortlisted top PIM dealers to a workshop.
5. Make a final decision.

Conclusion

PIM solutions can have a major effect on your ability to manage commodity details, and choosing the wrong one can cause a whole slew of problems, from technical issues to customer dissatisfaction. That is why it’s essential to properly assess the various options, ensuring you can find the best PIM solution for your needs.