The problem often arrives before the name
You may never have heard of a PIM and still have a problem that a PIM can solve.
It happens when product information starts living in too many places: codes and prices in the ERP, technical specifications in a database, descriptions in a spreadsheet, images in shared folders and translations in emails exchanged with an agency.
As long as the catalog is small and few people are involved, this setup can seem enough. Over time, though, products, variants, languages and channels grow. A change that should take a few minutes has to be copied across multiple files. Before publishing a new product page, you need sign-off from different departments. No one is fully confident they are looking at the latest version.
The problem, then, is not simply “having a lot of data”. It is turning that data into complete, reliable information ready to use wherever you present or sell your products.
That is where a PIM comes in.
What is a PIM, in simple terms
PIM stands for Product Information Management—the management of product information.
A PIM is the system where you collect, organize, complete, check and prepare the information needed to present and sell your products. It becomes the shared reference point from which you distribute up-to-date content to ecommerce, marketplaces, B2B portals, catalogs and other channels.
Within a PIM you can manage, for example:
- codes, names and categories;
- features and technical specifications;
- variants, accessories and product relationships;
- short and long descriptions;
- images, videos, data sheets, certifications and manuals;
- translations and content for different markets;
- mandatory information for a channel or category;
- completeness and approval status of every product record.
Not all of this information originates in the PIM. It can come from the ERP, technical databases, suppliers, files or other business tools. The PIM brings it together, gives it a consistent structure and makes it usable for the people and channels that need it.
How it works in practice
The process can be summarized in four phases.
- 01
1. Collect the information
The PIM receives data and content from sources already in the company: ERP, databases, spreadsheets, technical systems, image libraries or other applications.
- 02
2. Organize and enrich them
Information is linked to the right product and structured according to the catalog logic. The team can add descriptions, images, documents, translations and details specific to a market or channel.
- 03
3. Check they are ready
Completeness rules and approval workflows help identify what is missing before publication. It becomes easier to know which products are ready, which are still in progress and what is preventing others from going live.
- 04
4. Distribute them
Once approved, information is sent to destination channels in the required format. If a data point changes, you update it where it is governed, without manually correcting every single destination.
Imagine a company that makes power tools. The same model can have different power ratings, voltages, accessories and certifications depending on the version and market. The B2B portal requires detailed technical data; ecommerce also needs images and more accessible copy; each marketplace imposes its own fields and categories.
Without a PIM, these combinations are often rebuilt every time. With a PIM, they all start from a shared, controlled and adaptable foundation.
What is the difference between PIM, ERP and Excel?
A PIM does not necessarily replace the tools you already use. It performs a different job and connects to them.
The ERP mainly manages business operations. It can hold item codes, prices, availability, orders and logistics or administrative information. It is not normally designed to easily manage commercial descriptions, images, translations, record completeness and different requirements for each channel.
Excel is a flexible tool. It can work well for a simple catalog. When versions, users and destinations grow, however, it becomes hard to control relationships, responsibilities and changes. Files multiply and the structure often depends on rules known only to a few people.
The PIM governs the information used to present and sell the product. It connects different sources, maintains a reliable foundation and prepares content for the channels where it must be used.
It is not about choosing which tool is “better”, but assigning each one the job it was designed for.
When you really need a PIM
There is no universal threshold of revenue, headcount or number of products beyond which a PIM automatically becomes necessary. The decisive factor is the complexity people have to manage.
There are, however, some recurring signals.
- 01
Information is spread across too many places
To complete a product record you search across ERP, files, folders and email or ask several people for data. Rebuilding the full picture takes time and increases the risk of missing something.
- 02
It is unclear which version is correct
Different copies of the same file circulate, or data disagrees between departments. Before using a piece of information, you have to check who updated it and when.
- 03
Every change is repeated manually
The same change has to be applied to ecommerce, the B2B portal, distributor files and marketplace feeds. Every new channel adds work and the chance of error.
- 04
Publishing a product takes too long
The product is ready, but its information is not. Images, descriptions, translations or certifications arrive at different times and there is no shared view of what still needs to be completed.
- 05
The catalog and variants are growing
Managing families, configurations, accessories and compatibility becomes difficult with isolated rows in a spreadsheet. A structure that describes product relationships reduces duplication and inconsistencies.
- 06
Several people work on the same content
Marketing, technical office, ecommerce, sales and external agencies all touch the information, but responsibilities and approval steps are unclear.
- 07
You are entering new markets or channels
Each destination requires different languages, units of measure, taxonomies, formats or attributes. Building every version from scratch slows expansion and makes consistency harder to maintain.
- 08
Errors reach the customer
Incomplete product pages, outdated documents, conflicting descriptions or wrong compatibility can make choosing harder and lead to clarification requests, complaints or returns.
- 09
The company depends on the memory of a few people
The process works because someone knows where to find files, how to interpret them and which exceptions to apply. When that person is unavailable, work slows down or stops.
If you recognize more than one of these situations, the problem is no longer a single file: it is how the company governs product information.
When it may not be necessary yet
A PIM is not always the first investment to make. If you have few products, almost no variants, a single market, one channel and rare updates, a simple, well-organized process can be enough.
Adopting a new system before a real problem exists risks adding structure where it is not needed.
The right question, then, is not: “Is our company big enough for a PIM?” It is: “Is information complexity slowing work down, increasing errors or limiting our ability to grow?”
What changes for people who work on products
The most visible benefit is not having “another database”. It is making everyday work clearer.
With a shared foundation, people spend less time searching, comparing and copying data. They know what is complete, who needs to act and which products can be published. Marketing, sales and ecommerce work more independently, without involving IT in every routine update.
When a new channel opens, you do not have to rebuild the catalog from scratch. The foundation stays the same; the destination’s requirements change.
The result is a more predictable process: fewer manual checks, fewer hidden steps and more time to improve content quality.
A PIM is not just a technology project
Installing software does not automatically fix incomplete data or confused processes.
For a PIM to work, the company must decide:
- who is responsible for each type of information;
- which data is mandatory;
- who can edit, review and approve;
- when a product record can be considered ready;
- how exceptions and updates should be handled;
- which systems feed the PIM and which receive the information.
These decisions are part of product governance. The PIM makes them visible and enforceable, but they must reflect how the company actually works. That is why the choice should not be based on features alone: the system’s ability to adapt to your product structure and the people who will use it matters too.
How to tell if it is time to evaluate one
You can start with a few very concrete questions:
- How long does it take to publish a new product or correct an existing one?
- How many people, applications and files need to be involved?
- How often is the same data copied or reformatted?
- Do you always know the up-to-date version of every piece of information?
- Can you immediately see which records are incomplete and what is missing?
- Could you add a new channel or language without multiplying the work?
- Would the process still work if the people who know it best were unavailable?
A single critical answer is not enough to justify a PIM project. If difficulties repeat in several areas, however, it is worth analyzing the process as a whole.
Bring order before complexity decides for you
A PIM really matters when managing information starts to slow people down, increase errors or block growth in new markets and channels.
It does not remove product complexity. It makes it governable: it collects what is fragmented today, clarifies what is missing and lets people work from a shared foundation.
That is exactly where openlane starts: helping you organize, check and publish product information with a tool that adapts to how your company works.
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