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 an Excel spreadsheet, images in shared folders and translations in email threads with an agency.
As long as the catalog is small and few people are involved, this setup can seem good enough. Over time, though, products, variants, languages and channels multiply. A change that should take a few minutes has to be repeated in several files. Before publishing a new product record, you need sign-off from different departments. No one is fully confident they’re looking at the latest version.
The problem, then, isn’t simply “having a lot of data.” It’s turning that data into complete, reliable information that’s ready to use wherever you present or sell your products.
That’s 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 sites, marketplaces, B2B portals, catalogs and other channels.
In 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, technical data sheets, certifications and manuals;
- translations and content for different markets;
- mandatory information for a channel or category;
- the 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 by the people and channels that need it.
How it works in practice
The process can be summed up in four steps.
- 01
1. Collect the information
The PIM receives data and content from the sources the company already uses: ERP, databases, spreadsheets, technical systems, image libraries or other applications.
- 02
2. Organize and enrich it
Information is linked to the right product and structured according to your catalog’s logic. The team can add descriptions, images, documents, translations and details specific to a market or channel.
- 03
3. Check that it’s 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’s keeping the others from going live.
- 04
4. Distribute it
Once approved, information is sent to destination channels in the required format. If a data point changes, you update it where it’s 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; the ecommerce site also needs images and more straightforward 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’s the difference between PIM, ERP and Excel?
A PIM doesn’t necessarily replace the tools you already use. It does 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. But it isn’t usually designed to easily manage marketing descriptions, images, translations, product record completeness and different requirements for each channel.
Excel is a flexible tool. It can work well for a simple catalog. As versions, users and destinations multiply, though, it gets hard to keep track of 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 will be used.
It’s not about choosing which tool is “better,” but about giving each one the job it was designed for.
When you really need a PIM
There’s 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.
That said, there are some recurring warning signs.
- 01
Information is spread across too many places
To complete a product record, you have to search through the ERP, files, folders and email, or ask several people for data. Piecing the full picture together takes time and increases the risk of missing something.
- 02
It’s unclear which version is correct
Different copies of the same file are circulating, or departments have conflicting data. 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 the ecommerce site, the B2B portal, distributor files and marketplace feeds. Every new channel adds more work and more room for error.
- 04
Publishing a product takes too long
The product is ready, but its information isn’t. Images, descriptions, translations or certifications arrive at different times and there’s no shared view of what still needs to be completed.
- 05
The catalog and variants are growing
Managing product 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, the technical department, ecommerce, sales and external agencies all work on the information, but responsibilities and approval steps are unclear.
- 07
You’re 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 listings, outdated documents, conflicting descriptions or incorrect compatibility information can make choosing harder and lead to requests for clarification, 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’s how the company governs product information.
When it may not be necessary yet
A PIM isn’t always the first investment to make. If you have few products, almost no variants, a single market, one channel and infrequent updates, a simple, well-organized process can be enough.
Adopting a new system before a real problem exists risks adding structure where it isn’t needed.
So the right question isn’t “Is our company big enough for a PIM?” It’s “Is the complexity of our information slowing work down, increasing errors or limiting our ability to grow?”
What changes for people who work on products
The most visible benefit isn’t having “another database.” It’s making everyday work clearer.
With a shared foundation, people spend less time searching, comparing and copying data. They know what’s complete, who needs to step in and which products can be published. Marketing, sales and ecommerce work more independently, without involving IT in every routine update.
When you open a new channel, you don’t have to rebuild the catalog from scratch. The foundation stays the same; what changes are the destination’s requirements.
The result is a more predictable process: fewer manual checks, fewer hidden steps and more time to improve content quality.
A PIM isn’t just a technology project
Installing software doesn’t automatically fix incomplete data or messy 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’s why the choice shouldn’t be based on features alone: what also matters is the system’s ability to adapt to your product structure and to the people who will use it.
How to tell if it’s 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 which version of each piece of information is the latest?
- Can you immediately see which product records are incomplete and what’s 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 isn’t enough to justify a PIM project. But if the same difficulties keep coming up in several areas, it’s worth analyzing the process as a whole.
Get organized before complexity decides for you
You really need a PIM when managing information starts to slow people down, increase errors or hold back growth in new markets and channels.
It doesn’t eliminate product complexity. It makes it manageable: it brings together what’s fragmented today, clarifies what’s missing and lets people work from a shared foundation.
That’s 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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