E Commerce & Product Information Management

January 26, 2012 Leave a comment

Product information management solutions are much more than a product data repository or central product data base. Take a look at this vendors offering:

PIM: central repository for product information.
DAM: Digital Asset Management
Syndication: Product information publishing to e commerce, print, ERP, partners like Amazon, Google, Ebay and more.
Workflow: Process flow to alert and notify users when changes are made to product catalog.

The first three are offered by most MDM for Product providers. Vendors like Heiler and Riversand. The workflow engine is not integral to these vendors data model. It is an off the shelf OEM’d product bolt on. And the magic of real time data driven portals?

Most vendors do not provide the magic juice, a portal framework. This framework, a content management infrastructure, creates portal based applications to leverage that leverages product data. Here are just a few usages of a Portal Framework:

Supplier Portals: Supplier self-service for product upload, product updates and edits. Role based access to supplier product data.

E-Commerce Sites: product information is posted from live data sources to web. Absolute real-time accurate product date presentation to customers for purchase.

Print Portals: Distributed sales force and sales channels customize marketing materials with Web to Print.

Dealer Portals Product information is presented to dealers, e tailers and retailers, accurate and real time.

Portal Framework usage can increase the payback of a PIM or product information management solution. Make sure your vendor has this ability.

Filed under ecommerce, MDM for Products, Product Information Tagged with , ,

Testosterone for E Commerce Business

January 25, 2012 Leave a comment

Testosterone, a type of anabolic steroid, is not a monster maker. Not on it’s own. Hard work and dedication combined with testosterone pays of in muscular growth and higher strength.

Product information management is testosterone for e commmerce. Why you ask?

Well, PIM or product information management is the architecture that fuels the ecommerce engine. Hard work by merchandisers, marketers and e commerce people lay the ground work. Yet ecommerce sites fueled with accurate, up to date product information, rock.

Imagine building a million dollar house and skimping on the foundation. Imagine an athlete that can bench press a car, with little skinny legs. Now imagine an e commerce site, with all the bells and whistles, with lousy product information management. Like squirrels under the hood of a fast looking car, people run ragged putting supplier catalogs into usable format for web.

 

Filed under MDM for Products Tagged with , ,

Print Catalog Project

January 25, 2012 Leave a comment

A business, and industrial manufacturer has a product data problem. Sales partners, sales teams and resellers use a 6 year old catalog in the field. Yes, I said six years.

The print catalog, some call the big book is older than some new entrants into this manufacturer’s market. What to do.

Put in charge of this project, a new Director has found a full plate. First, sure the new project is started yet buy-in from the business and from IT is low at best.

The director sees the issue; disparate product data all over the place. Residing on many systems and laptops. Marketers fight hard, each day, to mine, find, cleanse and enrich product data for the simplest task.

Publishing product information to web, to print and to partners is slow and painful. Product data edits, like image changes, attribute addition and deletion, happen in one place, in a silo. Federating product data to systems like ERP, is not done.

The product data mess grows and grows each day. My recommendation is PIM, or product information management. Central database of accurate product data, which can be used, would be the end game.

To be used, are the operative words. Gaining a central database of clean, accurate product information will enliven merchandising, marketing and sales.

Filed under MDM for Products Tagged with , , ,

Product Information Management Free e-Book

May 20, 2011 Leave a comment

Getting PIM project buy-in is never easy. PIM leaders must possess a maverick attitude. Often, I see men and women running project management, marketing and merchandising departments, winning this battle based on eye opening business cases. PIM ROI is real and I have earnings reports from customers proving this. Now for the mavericks out there thinking about PIM a new ebook has arrived. This ebook called “Preparing for PIM,” was published by a leading MDM for Product Information Solution provider, Enterworks. This guide is for folks that need product information management tools; The business people that gather, manage and publish their company’s product information. This PIM e-book lights the path to MDM for Product success. Get yours here:

Filed under manufacturing, MDM, Multi Channel Sales, PIM, print publishing, Product Information Management Tagged with , , ,

Product Information Management Software RFI Template

May 19, 2011 Leave a comment

Get a Free Product Information Management RFI Guide Loaded with Best Practice PIM Functionality.

Enterprises that can quickly transform product data into rich, selling product information have competitive advantage over enterprises fighting product data each day.

Transforming product data to rich, selling product information is key to delighting customers and to keeping sales healthy.  Often, gathering product data from suppliers and internal systems to publish to e commerce sites and to print is a slow, painful process.

Retailers and etailers have many suppliers. And the market may change each day. Product attributes like price, color, size, availability, fit, capability, may change daily. And getting e commerce changes done, can eat time and cost sales.

If an Enterprise sells thousands of products into a fast moving marketing like apparel, electronics, and consumer goods, and if the product management process is slow and painful, a Product Information Management solution will offer high return on investment. 

Product information management smooths business processes like product edits, new product introductions, data governance and data enrichment Best of breed product information management solutions contain workflow engines that power and improve business processes like product lifecycle management.

Integrated workflow pushes work to designated users, using alerts and notifications, to speed business processes, to increase efficiency and to increase sales.

Now you can speed up the vendor selection process. Base lining your product data requirements is done for you.

PIM-Data.com is offering a FREE RFI/RFP guide to all enterprises seeking a product information management solution. This guide is full of rich functionality detail describing best of breed product information features. This guide is built to serve as a starting point. Project teams can use this road map to save time and kick start the PIM selection process.  

Much information is given to you. General Instructions, PIM and Multichannel Publishing overview and all these chapters:

Product Information Management

Search

Digital Asset Management (DAM)

Multichannel Publishing and Syndication

Product data system integration

Web-to-Print Portal

Work flow Management

Web Content Management

E-Commerce

Portal Framework for marketers, sales teams and more…

Support questions, training questions and technology questions are covered with intelligent questions all seeking a PIM solution can use. Important vendor questions are also supplied plus a reference section. All a Project Information team needs is to apply this template to their business. Please get your FREE copy right here:

Filed under catalog, data quality, ecommerce, ecommerce software, MDM, Multi Channel Sales, PIM, product catalog, Product Information Management Tagged with , , , , ,

7 Must Knows before Investing in Product Information Management

May 3, 2011 Leave a comment

Implementing product information management or PIM for short, offers choices. Some are confusing. Focus on low hanging fruit is my advice. Here are 7 things to know:

  1. Find Vendor Expertise:  Vendors are good at demo gymnastics. When given a short time to demo, vendors can come up w/ stuff that looks good. Focus on references. Talk to companies that use and have been using the vendor tool to make sure. Trust but verify vendor speak and credentials.
  2. Seek and find Flexibility: Scalability extensibility are key. Map the vendor solution to existing business process and see how it shapes up. Avoid big bang deployments, Vendors’ speak “Holy Grail,” yet find a tool which can be phased, eating low hanging fruit first. Shed a brite lite on the data model. How flexible? Can hierarchies be built and edited? Can your existing data model be used?
  3. How Open is the PIM solution? : Old news. Proprietary vs. Open technology. Put straight, open is easier to adapt and integrated to apps being used now. Does PIM application use proprietary database? Is routes of PIM in catalog management vs. ecommerce? Find out.
  4. Data Sources and Where are they? : The biggest challenge to a PIM deployment are data migration and data integration. Learn all data sources. Map out flows, in and out. where are images? How is product data received and enriched to product information? Do this first or find a vendor that knows this stuff and will help map, on their dime.
  5. Detailed Statement of Work: Get details on precise PIM implementation steps and time frames. Important. Through reference details, learn what was promised by the PIM vendor and what was delivered. Beware low ball services estimates. Dirty trick is to low ball for favorable position and then to come back to well.
  6. Prove Value: Is vendor willing to contractually baseline delivery?
  7. Risk Mitigation: Is vendor willing to work on a pricing model to mitigate risk and to find ROI faster?

    Filed under MDM, Multi Channel Sales, PIM, print publishing, Product Information Management Tagged with , , ,

    Product Information Management RFI Template

    July 15, 2009 Leave a comment

    Simplify Enterprise Product Information Management

    Retailers and e-tailers can boost sales and cut costs by deploying a product information solution. Product information management or PIM tools, when deployed, inject new life into merchandising and marketing departments in retailer and e-tailer enterprises. Supplier catalogs can be uploaded fast. New product introductions are real-time and best of all product edits are simple to do.

    Richer Customer Experience

    And the customer experience is richer. Item searches never miss. The product catalog can be greatly enhanced with richer many more products and richer descriptions and item offerings. Cross sells, substitutes and up-sells are easy. Catalogs can be created quickly and product data sheets are on-demand. And all item data is accurate; descriptions, pricing, images and more. This cuts way down on order errors which cost money to fix.

    PIM Technology Features

    A good PIM solution will get product data, cleanse, and enrich product data in a snap. Putting new products on an e-commerce site is immediate. This boosts sales and competitiveness. Product classifications and taxonomies are organized to enhance search-ability. The best PIM solutions have advanced work-flow streamlines the product management business process easier and will alert product managers to anomalies. The benefits of PIM are high, if done right.

    PIM Request for Information Template is Provided to all Professionals

    PIM-Data.com, a MDM/PIM think tank, has put together PIM questions which should be part of a request for information process. This paper will help the retail and e-tailer put together a full RFI document. The questions provide by PIM-data.com are a baseline and specific business need questions are added. This is a must have for retailers and e-tailers that are thinking about starting a PIM solution evaluation. Just some of the detailed RFI questions are:

    >> Attribute Management: Questions about attributes, change management, and complexity of attributes.
    >> Classification and Hierarchies: How are products classified?
    >> Catalog Management: Capabilities for managing catalogs…. And much more…

    How to Get this Free RFI Template

    This RFI template is simple to get; email to info@pim-data.com w/ RFI in subject, or call us at 214-432-6189 or fastest way, use our easy web form right here:

    http://www.pim-data.com/?q=rfi_template

    When the form is submitted a re-direct goes right to the RFI template.

    This RFI template is offered free and with zero obligation.

    About PIM-Data.com

    http://www.PIM-data.com is a master data management and product information management website offering MDM and PIM best practice strategies and solutions. The company is made up of master data professionals from industry and the solution community. Located in Dallas, TX. The web site http://www.pim-data.com provides a forum for Business and IT professionals to post MDM queries. The queries are answered by our team of MDM professionals.

    Filed under MDM Tagged with , ,

    New RFI Guidelines for MDM and PIM solutions

    December 9, 2008 1 Comment

    PIM-data.com, a MDM and PIM strategy website, has just released a new MDM request for information (RFI) guide to help enterprises frame baseline vendor questions for MDM solution vendors. This guide has queries and answers to help the MDM solution seeker funnel to a shortlist quickly.

    PIM-data.com has just released a new guide which will save enterprises time and cost in framing an MDM solution plan. This new guide will help answer: “Where can I get data on master data management solutions, which can manage multi-domains like customers, suppliers, parts and more, which will fit our business, and will meet our requirements?”

    The recent Gartner summit in Chicago described the MDM solution space as fragmented. Many vendors can only do certain aspects of a full MDM enablement strategy. Some vendors model customers, some model products. Only a few can deliver an architecture an enterprise can grow with and which can model multi domains. And most vendors will tell you that there solution is “multi-domain” yet this is not the case. This Guide, in clear question and answer format, helps you diagnose the best MDM solution providers for your enterprise.

    This free guide, in a spreadsheet format, delivers over 150 detailed RFI questions which need to be explored. The guide is in RFI or RFP format; a list of categories and questions reside on the left side of the guide, and the answers are posed on the right side of the guide. Categories include:

    *** Taxonomies, Classifications, hierarchies
    *** Attribute management
    *** Data Aggregation
    *** Data Governance
    *** Data Quality Management
    *** Advanced Work Flow

    If your company is considering MDM or PIM solutions this guide can assist you. The guide is full of best practice queries and answers which may help your MDM enablement process and guide you to a vendor shortlist quickly.

    This guide will be sent to you, FREE of Costs.
    Please email to info@pim-data.com to request your copy.
    Please call 214-432-6189 for your requests if you prefer.

    About PIM-Data.com

    PIM-data.com is a MDM and PIM best practices forum and blog which covers MDM and PIM best practices and solution providers.
    PIM-data.com is located in Dallas, Texas.

    Filed under PIM Tagged with , , ,

    Slash Cost of Product Information Data Publishing

    November 7, 2008 Leave a comment

    Print publishing is often time consuming and limited. Catalogs can take several months to prepare for pre-press and are limited to current data at the start of this process. Many catalogs, far too many, come fresh in the box from the printer loaded with dated and inaccurate information. Dynamic print publishing, working with a product information management solution speeds this process. With a push of a button, maybe two buttons, you can print a catalog. Our clients tell us to expect these benefits with a PIM/Publishing solution:

    • Fast – automated product information updates from your Suppliers.
    • Normalization and transformation of product data is automated.
    • New products and updates are made available to your enterprise in near real-time.
    • Your Corporate design is maintained across divisions and locations.
    • Universal application, available to all administered users, for use in mult formats, (Indesign, Quark)
    • Decentralized handling, users can work locally and publish to a central repository.
    • A central database or repository is maintained with accurate product information.
    • Can be integrated with CRM to do customized campaigns.
    • 80-90 % Reduction in lay-out and pre-press time and cost.
    • Production of comprehensive and customer specific catalogs.

    This solution is not your old print publishiing software. Or a static hard to use software tool. Technology has made big gains pulled by ever increasing new product flow and product update demands. Present your partners and customers with a rich, real-time product offering, include bundles and assortments. Make your company’s products ‘Stickier” and boost your profits.

    product information management

    product information management

    Filed under PIM Tagged with , , ,

    Speed up Sales with Good Product Data

    April 9, 2008 Leave a comment

    The best way to streamline product data management may be to install product information (PIM) software. A good PIM solution can acquire product data from all systems, including your suppliers and disparate internal systems and safely secure it in one place. Product data acquisition can be pain free and is fast. Product data is put in one place that can be found by marketing teams so they can do work. Marketing teams can now manage and transform product data into sales driving web catalogs and print catalogs and sales material. This one place is accessible to all marketing teams, localized to different locations around the world, so all marketers can add value. Price changes are easy to edit, data transformations like building taxonomies and re-classifying products is simple to do. Sizzle and sales teeth can be applied to long and short product descriptions and sales materials gain a professional look and feel.

    Filed under MDM for Products Tagged with , , , ,

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