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Buyer's Guide: Product Information Management (PIM)
Written by G2’s researcher using verified user reviews and product data, with no personal bias.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users commend the intuitive and user-friendly interface of Plytix, enhancing efficiency in managing product data.
Users praise the excellent customer support of Plytix Cloud PIM & DAM, highlighting their responsiveness and expertise.
Users highly value the automated features of Plytix, enhancing efficiency and organization in product management.
Users feel the limited flexibility in Plytix hampers creativity and restricts functionalities compared to larger PIMs.
Users note the feature limitations in Plytix Cloud PIM & DAM, desiring more advanced processing and analytics options.
Users notice missing features in Plytix, particularly in the DAM and PIM functionalities, limiting their operational flexibility.
Written by G2’s researcher using verified user reviews and product data, with no personal bias.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users appreciate the intuitive interface of Pimberly, which simplifies operations and enhances overall user experience.
Users praise the exceptional customer support of Pimberly, consistently helpful and engaged throughout their journey.
Users value the ease of bulk updates and automation in Pimberly PIM & DAM, enhancing productivity and data management.
Users find the learning curve challenging, with some features being confusing and time-consuming to understand.
Users experience slow performance with Pimberly, facing delays in image loading that hinder their workflow.
Users find the steep learning curve of Pimberly challenging, requiring significant time to master its workflows and functionalities.
Written by G2’s researcher using verified user reviews and product data, with no personal bias.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users love the ease of use of Sales Layer PIM, appreciating its intuitive interface and smooth onboarding process.
Users appreciate the intuitive interface of Sales Layer PIM, making it easy to use and centralize product information.
Users value the intuitive user interface of Sales Layer PIM, simplifying product management and enhancing efficiency.
Users note the missing features, such as branded PDF exports and language access, limiting functionality and integration.
Users note a steep learning curve for mastering Sales Layer PIM's extensive functionalities and setup complexity.
Users find exporting data confusing, often struggling to locate variant information and manage bulk changes effectively.
Written by G2’s researcher using verified user reviews and product data, with no personal bias.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users appreciate the responsive customer support of 1WorldSync, finding it helpful and easily accessible when needed.
Users value the ease of use of 1WorldSync, appreciating user-friendly features and accessible learning sessions.
Users find the 1WorldSync hotline extremely helpful, providing assistance that simplifies their integration experience.
Users find the learning curve for 1WorldSync steep, making initial setup and navigation challenging for newcomers.
Users face data management issues with 1WorldSync, struggling with manual updates and risk of lost progress.
Users find difficult learning curves in 1WorldSync, especially newcomers navigating errors and retailer-specific attributes.
Written by G2’s researcher using verified user reviews and product data, with no personal bias.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users find Syndigo incredibly easy to use, simplifying data management and enhancing their overall experience with great support.
Users praise Syndigo for its quick and helpful customer support, making data management easy and efficient.
Users find Syndigo to be incredibly easy and straightforward, streamlining data management and support experience.
Users face data management issues due to complex processes and lack of clear asset identification, complicating their experience.
Users find the learning curve steep for Syndigo, with complexities in understanding required information and format.
Users struggle with poor usability in Syndigo, facing complicated processes and an unclear user experience.
Written by G2’s researcher using verified user reviews and product data, with no personal bias.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users value the intuitive interface and seamless integrations of Akeneo PIM, enhancing product management and collaboration.
Users praise the ease of use of Akeneo PIM, facilitating efficient navigation and streamlined workflows.
Users value the seamless integrations of Akeneo PIM, enhancing functionality across various platforms and technologies.
Users face significant data management issues in Akeneo, including basic functionality and cumbersome asset handling.
Users find the missing features in Akeneo PIM frustrating, particularly regarding workflow and reporting limitations.
Users face complexity in Akeneo PIM's setup and asset management, leading to a challenging user experience.
Written by G2’s researcher using verified user reviews and product data, with no personal bias.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users value the ease of use of Quable PIM, appreciating its intuitive interface for efficient product management.
Users value the intuitive interface of Quable PIM, enabling seamless collaboration across departments and easy data management.
Users value the collaboration feature of Quable PIM, enhancing teamwork across departments for effective project delivery.
Users express frustration with limited flexibility in Quable PIM, impacting data export, API integration, and workflow continuity.
Users often experience slow performance with Quable PIM, resulting in frustrations due to latency and incomplete data access.
Users find the API limitations in Quable PIM hinder data accessibility and integration, causing operational challenges.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users appreciate the ease of use of Inriver, highlighted by its user-friendly interface and effective content management.
Users value the extreme flexibility of Inriver, enabling tailored data models to fit large organizational needs.
Users value the centralized product data management in Inriver, enabling extensive customization and reliable reporting.
Users find poor usability in Inriver, citing issues like narrow buttons and cumbersome save prompts as frustrating obstacles.
Users note a steep learning curve with Inriver, requiring technical expertise and leading to initial confusion.
Users find Inriver to be very expensive, especially considering additional fees and high licensing costs compared to competitors.
Written by G2’s researcher using verified user reviews and product data, with no personal bias.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users find Ergonode PIM incredibly easy to use, leading to high adoption rates among non-technical team members.
Users value the flexible asset management of Ergonode PIM, enabling easy adaptation to diverse product needs.
Users find the reliable and helpful customer support invaluable for setting up marketplace integrations effectively.
Users face a steep learning curve with Ergonode PIM, requiring significant effort to achieve optimal setup and functionality.
Users report that the complex setup requires significant technical expertise and time investment for proper implementation.
Users find the missing features of Ergonode PIM limit advanced customization and automation capabilities, affecting overall efficiency.
Written by G2’s researcher using verified user reviews and product data, with no personal bias.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users value the ease of use of Canto, enjoying streamlined collaboration and efficient digital asset management.
Users value the centralized asset management of Canto, enhancing accessibility and efficiency in organizing digital assets.
Users love the easy navigation in Canto, enabling quick access to product information and resources.
Users experience search difficulties in Canto, struggling with limited folder search functionality and buggy results.
Users find the missing features in Canto, such as better guides and content uploading, quite limiting.
Users find folder management challenging, with difficulties in downloading multiple files and organizing assets intuitively.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users appreciate the ease of use of SCAYLE Commerce Engine, streamlining workflows and enhancing campaign efficiency.
Users value the efficiency of SCAYLE Commerce Engine, allowing seamless operations and minimal maintenance effort.
Users value the seamless customer experience provided by SCAYLE, enhancing loyalty across mobile and desktop platforms.
Users find SCAYLE lacking in essential features for complex B2B needs and modular architecture compared to other platforms.
Users note the platform's limited flexibility, lacking tailored options for specific business needs, especially in B2B contexts.
Users find SCAYLE's limited options restrict flexibility, lacking the customization seen in other platforms.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users find Pattern PXM's ease of use exceptional, appreciating its intuitive interface and seamless organization features.
Users value the organized structure of Pattern PXM, enhancing collaboration and efficiency within teams through a unified hub.
Users appreciate the well-designed visual display of Pattern PXM, making it easy to find and manage projects.
Users find the price point to be slightly higher than competitors, which may affect their purchase decision.
Users express frustration regarding template issues, wishing for more customizable options to suit their specific needs.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users value the centralized storage for product data and imagery, enhancing integration with various retailers and marketplaces.
Users appreciate the centralized storage of product data in Salsify PXM, enhancing integration with retailers and marketplaces.
Users value the centralized product content management of Salsify PXM, enhancing consistency and speeding time-to-market across channels.
Users find it difficult to locate old images in the DAM, possibly due to lack of awareness of tagging features.
Users experience integration issues with certain retailers, leading to inconsistency and the need for manual follow-ups.
Users find it difficult to locate old images in the DAM, possibly due to unfamiliarity with tagging capabilities.
Written by G2’s researcher using verified user reviews and product data, with no personal bias.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users value the terrific customer support from Catsy, noting responsive and helpful assistance from their team.
Users appreciate the ease of use of Catsy DAM & PIM, facilitating efficient updates and data management.
Users enjoy the flexibility and comprehensive features of Catsy DAM & PIM, enhancing their workflow efficiency and collaboration.
Users experience a steep learning curve with Catsy, though the support team provides great assistance.
Users face integration issues that complicate initial setup, though support is responsive and helpful throughout the process.
Users are frustrated by feature limitations in Catsy DAM & PIM, especially regarding Amazon sync and product catalog updates.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users find Propel's ease of use incredibly beneficial, streamlining processes and saving valuable time in their operations.
Users appreciate the comprehensive eQMS solution of Propel, enjoying seamless integration and responsive support.
Users value the collaboration features of Propel, fostering alignment and transparency across teams for enhanced productivity.
Users experience slow performance in Propel, particularly with data retrieval and loading complex diagrams.
Users experience significant time consumption navigating Propel's busy interface and retrieving specific data.
Users find the complex setup cumbersome, with multiple steps needed for even simple updates to objects.
The importance of PIM software may not be so evident since other solutions can be used to manage products (such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), product lifecycle management (PLM), or inventory management solutions). Therefore, buyers must understand when they need PIM systems and why.
The main reasons why a company should use PIM systems are:
Buyers also need to understand where PIM fits into their software ecosystem and how it may overlap with other solutions. In a nutshell, product data is initially created using PLM or other design solutions. The data is then transferred to ERP to create bills of materials for production and determine each product's cost and price. When product information is imported into PIM solutions, most product details are already defined and will only change when the company decides to adapt its offering to changes in demand.
From a business perspective, it is essential to understand the role PIM plays in the lifecycle of a product and its stages: design, production, sales, after sales, and end of life. While this type of software can provide companies with valuable information at any stage of a product lifecycle, it is most beneficial after the product launch and during the sales and after-sales stages.
Finally, PIM systems should not be confused with:
Companies that sell a large number of products benefit most from using PIM software. PIM can also be handy for companies that sell many variations of the same products, such as multiple colors and sizes for the apparel industry
When companies need to manage hundreds or thousands of products, it is vital for them to have a central repository that contains all product details such as name, description, price, and physical characteristics such as volume, weight, or color.
Product managers use PIM to define and track products and categories of products. PIM also helps with managing the relationships between products. For instance, some products may be sold together as kits, while similar items may replace other products.
A company’s marketing department can use PIM systems to create printed or online catalogs. Marketing departments also need product information and images to create promotional campaigns or brochures.
E-commerce managers need PIM to ensure they make the right products, with the correct characteristics, available online. PIM also helps companies update their e-commerce stores with any changes they make to their products.
Manufacturing companies use PIM to sell their products on multiple channels, such as websites, e-commerce, or online marketplaces like Amazon and eBay. Manufacturers may also use PIM to transfer product information to other systems such as ERP or PLM.
Depending on your or the company's specific needs, G2 offers a variety of options for Product Information Management (PIM) platforms for small retail businesses. Here are a few top options:
These mobile marketing tools have one of the best capabilities for retail businesses.
Based on G2 user reviews, these are some of the best customer-reviewed PIM software:
While most PIM providers offer proprietary software, some vendors choose to build their solutions on an open-source model. Open-source vendors usually provide a community edition that is free to use and can be a good starting point for companies that may not want to invest significantly in this type of software. The drawbacks of community editions of PIM are that buyers need to manage the implementation and maintenance on their own and the solution is sometimes delivered on-premises, which means that it needs to be downloaded and installed on a server managed by the customer.
From a functional perspective, some vendors focus on PIM only, while others offer related modules or solutions such as digital asset management. There are also business intelligence (BI) and data management vendors who adapt their solutions to compete with PIM providers.
The following features are must-haves for an effective PIM:
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For buyers with more complex needs, the following features may be hugely beneficial when used in conjunction with the features described above:
PIM software can be complicated and challenging to maintain, especially when the system is installed on-premises, and the buyer is responsible for the IT infrastructure needed to run the solution. Even cloud-hosted PIM software may be challenging when it is delivered as a mix of separate solutions that are not tightly integrated.
Integration with other solutions, such as ERP or e-commerce software, is critical for companies using PIM systems. How product information is transferred between PIM systems and other software can significantly impact sales and revenue. The ideal data migration should be completely automated; this is not always the case, which can cause errors. For instance, if pricing information is inaccurate, companies may lose money.