Why Your ERP Isn’t Enough to Manage Your Digital Catalog?
If you’re a business owner using an ERP to manage your digital catalog, you may be feeling that this tool isn’t sufficient to showcase your products the way you want. ERPs are designed to handle inventory management and process orders, but they’re not designed to display products attractively in digital environments. This is where PIM, or Product Information Management, comes into play.
Discover how PIM can complement and enrich your products in digital environments.
Discover how PIM can complement and enrich your products in digital environments.
PIMs are designed to complement and enrich a company’s product catalog before displaying them in digital environments, such as websites, apps, and e-commerce platforms. ERPs aren’t programmed to capture a variety of graphical resources, establish entity relationships, label products with “aesthetic” or subjective fields and/or metadata. PIM allows you to add a wealth of additional information to your products, such as visual resources, other files, entity relationships and labeling, subjective data, and metadata to enhance search engine positioning.
Visual resources are a fundamental part of presenting products in digital environments. ERPs usually have a thumbnail image per product, but PIMs allow you to add multiple images per product, detailed images (zooms, angled shots, artistic photography), environments, real projects, merchandising elements, and other features that make your products stand out.
PIMs also allow you to add other files, such as technical datasheets, videos, and links to high-quality files. Additionally, they enable you to relate products to series, environments, and other promotional elements to create a more comprehensive and easily navigable catalog. Metadata management (SEO) is also an important function of PIMs, as they allow you to enrich your products with information that websites or digital catalogs need to improve search engine positioning.
A PIM allows you to add a large amount of additional information to your products, such as visual resources, other files, relationships between entities and filters or subjective data.
A PIM allows you to add a large amount of additional information to your products, such as visual resources, other files, relationships between entities and filters or subjective data.
Integrating ERP with a PIM to enhance digital catalog management.
Integrating ERP with a PIM to enhance digital catalog management.
Ideally, the ERP should serve as the source of the Centralized Product Manager. Companies enter their new products into the ERP, inputting identifying values like code, name, stock, and price. Through an export/import or data synchronization system, this information should reach the PIM to enrich it with other data, images, related entities, etc., and make the product ready for use in digital environments. Xana Product Manager is an example of a PIM that can help you efficiently manage your digital catalog.
The management of the Centralized Product Manager falls under the responsibility of the marketing department or a similar department. The department has the independence to modify or expand needs, without depending on the IT department that usually manages the ERP. Therefore, the PIM offers autonomy and freedom to the marketing department responsible for enriching the product.
A PIM centralizes management and provides autonomy to the marketing department in charge of product enhancement.
A PIM centralizes management and provides autonomy to the marketing department in charge of product enhancement.
In conclusion, if you’re looking for an efficient tool to manage your digital catalog, a PIM is the best option. With it, you can effectively enrich your products and enhance the user experience on your website or digital catalog. Additionally, it allows you to work with more autonomy and freedom, without relying on the IT department. By using an ERP as the source of the Centralized Product Manager, you can ensure that all your data is centralized and updated in real-time. Harness technology to boost your sales and improve your customers’ experience. Try a PIM like Xana System and transform your digital catalog today.