MDM PIM: Product Information Management: E-commerce Strategies

 MDM: The catalyst for retail success in 2010 and beyond. 

In a recent analyst insight published on SupplyChainBrain.com, “there are three important areas in which retailers can improve their supply chains and reach future success as consumer confidence returns”: reducing costs, reducing inventories, and reviewing and realigning logistics networks.  A master data management platform can help achieve all three of these goals:

 Cost reduction: “By eliminating redundant positions, re-thinking the organization structure, and reducing unnecessary costs, retailers are stronger.”   

An MDM platform helps streamline and automate processes that leverage product data so retailers can reduce headcount and re-deploy human resources to other areas.  It eliminates many of the costs of integrating multiple back-end systems in order to aggregate product data. And it radically reduces the time and hassle of cleansing and managing product data from their vendors and suppliers. 

 Reduced Inventories: “Several retailers did not survive the recession due to their high inventory levels and inability to adapt to demand changes. Moving forward, successful retailers will be agile with their inventories...”  

Poor inventory management is a known result of inaccurate product data.  An MDM platform ensures that all product information is accurate for more efficient inventory management, better control over seasonal and promotional products, and a measurable reduction in inventory levels with fewer stockouts. 

 Logistics Networks: “A realignment of the logistics network can yield significant cost savings and service benefits.”   

The success of a logistics network optimization initiative depends on accurate data.  But such initiatives can generate tons of data, perhaps as much as 150,000 records.  Any inaccuracies in that data need to be addressed and corrected.  MDM expedites the process of gathering the data from multiple disparate sources and helps ensure data quality and enforce data governance so that the data is reliable to begin with. 

Retailers who take this analyst’s advice to heart should consider putting muscle behind their efforts with a master data management platform for product data and related digital assets.