Head of Community at Creative Force
Head of Community at Creative Force
Making products as tangible to an eCommerce customer as they are for the brick-and-mortar browsers sounds great, but is it realistic? How do businesses manage so much product information when more products are sold online, and across more channels, than ever before? How do businesses post their products quickly enough to keep labor costs reasonable and eliminate go-to-market delays? What tool or subscription could take some of the headaches away?
Start by adding a product information management (PIM) solution. We curated a list of the best PIM software for eCommerce with data and a quick introduction to what it's all about below!
What is Product Information Management Software?
Product data management is the pulse of any eCommerce ecosystem. In today's market, customers are bombarded with countless options and the pressure is on for businesses to make each product shine. The challenge lies in keeping product descriptions, images, and pricing consistent across every touchpoint while keeping up with the demands of a constantly changing market. This is where PIM software comes into play. The best PIMs on the market offer a powerful solution, granting businesses and marketers the ability to take control of their product data from a single centralized location.
With a PIM, users can manage, upload, update, and export data for all your products across all channels, streamlining the process of product information management. Imagine businesses being able to quickly and easily update product descriptions, images, and pricing without worrying about inconsistencies across different platforms. No more manual data entry, no more spreadsheet chaos, and no more frustration trying to keep up with the demands of a fast-paced market. A PIM offers a solution that allows businesses to focus on what they do best, while the software handles the heavy lifting of data management.
With a PIM platform, businesses can:
- Maintain real-time inventory, avoiding delays in shipping due to product availability
- Organize product photos with zoom capability, as well as videos, associated with each item
- Automate product introduction tagging (i.e., rich alt text) for easy categorization and for SEO benefits
- Keep accurate measurements, sizing charts, and garment care info attached to each item
- Supply brand information that’s intentional and consistent among all products
- Control multi-channel updates from a centralized tool
What is the Best PIM Platform for Me?
Many eCommerce customers would be helped by a PIM platform, so we’ve taken the time to highlight 19 of the best PIM providers that help eCommerce clients. This is an unbiased list (displayed in alphabetical order) and compiled solely based on our research without any financial incentive. However, collaboration is always welcome, feel free to reach out! Content is available to be updated at any time!
1. Akeneo
This fast-growing software company offers an open-source PIM that makes catalog management far easier. Designed for retailers and brands in B2C and B2B,—it’s used by the likes of Fossil and FabFitFun—Akeneo notes the importance of a PIM system for fashion companies.
They currently have over 500 enterprise customers and on their website, it states that they're "an omnichannel commerce solution that turns browsers into buyers."
Relevant customers: Staples, Fossil, FabFitFun, Forever 21, and more
Akeneo.com
2. Brandquad
Brandquad, a PIM used by Dior and Estée Lauder, promises to “simplify your work with suppliers and help improve conversion in eCommerce” with a PIM that allows suppliers to upload product data through a Supplier Portal. This system reduces errors and makes data collection three times faster, Brandquad claims on its website. This PIM comes with eCommerce analytics that helps managers filter and examine current sales results and search for growth opportunities in the market.
Relevant customers: Dior, Estée Lauder
brandquad.io
3. Contentserv
Along with offering master data management (MDM) and marketing experience management (MXM), Contentserv supplies PIM services to its 300 customers in 89 countries, including its partners in fashion retail.
Relevant customers: Lacoste, Asics, Mizuno, Porsche
contentserv.com
4. DeSL
DeSL advertises itself as offering web-based solutions for fashion, apparel, textile, and footwear content and touts its PIM service as a way to eliminate data silos, save time while maintaining quality, improve customer experience, and integrate a flexible, high standard system.
Relevant customers: Nike, Target, L.L. Bean, Old Navy, Under Armour, Nautica, American Eagle
desl.net/solutions/product-information-management/
5. inRiver PIM
Describing their service as “adaptive for marketers and structured enough for data governance,” inRiver offers a PIM service that makes omnichannel content management easy. Their client list spans manufacturing and retail, including global brands such as New Balance and Cartier.
Relevant customers: New Balance, Cartier, Bacardi
inriver.com
6. Katana PIM
Want to get your separate stacks of data unified within one system? Katana allows you to upload Excel, XML, and CSV files into its clean, user-friendly interface, where you can collect, check, and publish content. The system lets you sort and bulk-edit your products by categories, manufacturers, or attributes. Need omnichannel capabilities and collaboration? Katana’s interface lets you publish product information to more than 90 channels.
Are you worried that migrating from a manual process to a PIM will interrupt your day-to-day operations? To that, Katana, on its website, makes a promise: “Our team is here to help you upload and organize all your data within Katana as fast as possible. We're here to assist you 24/7—so your internal workflow is streamlined and you don't waste your employees' time.”
Relevant customers: Foodelicious, TipPoint, Polewolfkatanapim.com
7. Kontainer
We know it mainly for its DAM capabilities, but Scandinavian company Kontainer, which counts multiple European fashion brands among its customer base, offers PIM services as well, promising data “easily delivered to resellers and online webshops via integrations, online access or manual export.” Kontainer bundles its DAM services into its PIM packages, so if you need both services for example, this could be a big selling point for you.
Relevant customers: Baum und Pferdgarten, GOSH Copenhagen
kontainer.com
8. Lectra Kubix Link
Lectra’s cloud-based product lifestyle management system, Kubix Link, serves as a PIM, DAM, and more. Kubix Link is unique on our list because the entire platform is specific to fashion retailers, manufacturers, and brands. The system’s interface, with a UX hailed by Lectra as “strikingly familiar,” offers powerful navigation and easy integration with Excel, InDesign, and Illustrator, as well as real-time sync with IT platforms.
Relevant customers: Corneliani, Pomellato
lectra.com/en/products/kubix-link
9. OMIO by Retail Assist
Another PIM system that targets the fashion industry, OMIO, produced by Retail Assist, leverages the company’s 20-plus years of retail sector know-how into a PIM platform that promises to boost accuracy, performance, and improve SEO.
OMIO uses artificial intelligence to save you time when uploading several products. Its AI recognizes similar products and populates ideal data fields for you during mass uploads.
Wonder if it’s worth your time and money? OMIO has an ROI calculator on its website to help you make the call.
Relevant customers: Pizza Hut, Jigsaw, Morphe, Hobbycraft
omio-retail.com
10. Pimcore
Counting major fashion brands such as Gant and Shoes.com among the clientele that also includes behemoths such as Burger King and Audi, Pimcore is an open-source PIM for mid-sized and large businesses. Pimcore is a platform that can populate data to commerce channels, mobile apps, and even digital signage, all from one platform.
Relevant customers: Gant, Shoes.com, Burger King, Audi, T-Mobile
pimcore.com
11. Pimberly
Boasting a client list that includes multiple UK-based fashion brands and eCommerce platforms, Pimberly offers both PIM and DAM services for retailers, manufacturers, and distributors. At a wide range of pricing models, Pimberly has plans for 50,000, 100,000, 250,000, and unlimited SKUs per year.
Relevant customers: Gill, Bombinate, Arthouse, Meri Meri, Ellis Brigham Mountain Sports
pimberly.com
12. PIMworks
PIMworks is a product experience management software that is designed for retail clients, like Gap and Belk. Its ready-to-use templates make it easy to manage content across many channels from one cloud-based service.
Relevant customers: Gap, Belk, Amazon, Sears, eBay, Car Toys, Ace Hardware
pimworks.io
13. Plytix
Plytix PIM is a next-generation PIM specially made and priced for SMBs in the retail industry. Plytix is a single source of truth that helps teams manage and syndicate product information at scale, allowing you to get your products to market faster and smarter. Not only is Plytix known for its easy-to-use interface, but this PIM provider is also known for its whiteglove onboarding and dedicated customer service.
Depending on what plan you choose, you can tailor your PIM to however you need. If you just need access to a powerful PIM, the free plan is your go-to. If you want e-catalogs (Brand Portals), PDF templates (Product Sheets), or product feeds (Channels), then you can choose the best paid plan for you starting at $450 per month.
plytix.com
14. Quable PIM
Counting Champion and Hanes among its client base, Paris-based Quable offers PIM and DAM services independently or within its broader PXM suite. It promises omnichannel information management, real-time acquisition of supplier data, and optimized translations for international audiences.
Relevant customers: Champion, Hanes, Burton of London, Berluti, Wonderbra, Bioderma
quable.com/en
15. Sales Layer PIM
This SaaS-based PIM promises simplicity yet sophistication, and the fastest implementation on the market. Sales Layer’s client list of retailers, manufacturers, distributors, and major brands includes Reebok, Columbia, and New Era.
Relevant customers: Reebok, New Era, Columbia, Hitachi, Le Coq Sportif
saleslayer.com
16. Salsify
“Leading brands use Salsify's content management platform to power eCommerce growth,” boasts the website of an industry-leading PIM and DAM provider used by Asics, Rawlings, and more. Use this cloud-based, centralized location to manage assets related to your brand, lifestyle, product, and channels. Select among hundreds of built-in tools to customize the platform to your business and its partners.
Relevant customers: Asics, Rawlings, Coca-Cola, L’Oreal, Bosch
salsify.com
17. Stibo Systems
Stibo Systems recognizes how eCommerce customers, such as fashion and apparel companies, “need to dramatically accelerate vendor data onboarding, efficiently expand product assortments, and deliver it all in the form of a consistent, engaging, personalized, transparent, channel-agnostic experience.”
Referring to its service as “PIM, evolved,” Stibo Systems’ Product Master Data Management promises “data-driven insight and growth,” like predefined and custom user-defined attributes; intuitive UI to boost productivity for buyers, merchandising, quality assurance, marketing, imaging, and warehousing; and a self-learning PDS system.
Relevant customers: Adidas, Wyndham, Kellogg’s, Best Buy
stibosystems.com
18. Syndigo
According to Syndigo’s site, “Today’s shoppers need product content that replicates an online fitting room experience and realistic expectations of what apparel will look like on their bodies—ultimately empowering better buying decisions.”
Syndigo should know about that fitting room experience. The Chicago-based company that offers store design and floor planograms also provides PIM and eCommerce analytics to help you make your online customer experience as nuanced as your in-store visits.
19. Unbxd
Express and The Children’s Place are among the brands that trust Unbxd, a supplier of AI-driven PIM, browse, and recommendation services. “Unbxd PIM software relies on smart, self-learning algorithms that accelerate data type matching and attribute mapping to rapidly complete large volume data imports,” the company site reads.
Relevant customers: Express, The Children’s Place
unbxd.com
In Summary
A PIM system is one of the best solutions for managing and organizing product information. With a single centralized platform, it offers a variety of tools to manage and enrich product data to reach the desired outcome of providing accurate and consistent information to all sales and marketing channels. A PIM solution can effectively manage complex product information, streamlining the process and allowing for the seamless flow of content across different teams and systems. Whether you're looking to manage data for a small product catalog or a large enterprise, a PIM system is the ultimate management solution for product information.
With a number of choices, finding the best PIM provider that matches your company’s needs should be easy. You won’t be the leader who scrambles frantically because you have no sense of inventory or the one who pushes away would-be customers because of incomplete or inaccurate metadata or analytics on any of your channels. You will be the model of efficiency, setting the standards as you go.
Read the descriptions, go to the pages, and find which would work best for you. And if you're also interested in Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, we've highlighted a number of our favorites, here.
