PIM systems have fast become an essential element of commerce, particularly for businesses with complex channel structures or those with several departments providing or working with product data through different business workflows.

PIM systems provide a central repository for product information, a single true source, and the tools to set up efficient workflows and processes for your business to operate like a well-oiled machine in managing products through their lifecycles.

Challenges with PIM systems

Some challenges come with PIM systems both in their implementation and ongoing management that can limit the value a PIM should provide. These are not to do with the functioning or quality of the software - but the crucial and unavoidable considerations of sourcing and aggregating product data to feed into a PIM and keeping that data up to date as products change over time.

What is product data?

Product data is all of the information that is available about a product. This information can be read, measured, and structured into an understandable format using product data transformation and management. The data for each of these products is made up of a collection of product attributes. 

Vesta eCommerce and PIM systems are both tools used for product information management, but they perform very different functions within the process of managing product information for eCommerce.  The key differences between Vesta and PIM include:

Onboarding and Cleaning vs Managing

Vesta onboards vendor products and cleans product data using automation, whereas PIM systems give you a centralized place and tools to work with your existing product data and feed it to multiple channels.

Increase Product Range vs Increase Listing Channels 

With Vesta, you can grow your business by growing your product assortment, as Vesta’s tools enable you to significantly increase your range size. Differently, PIM systems allow you to grow your business by listing existing products on more channels.

Very Large Product Catalogs vs Specialised Stories For Small Ranges

Vesta allows you to clean high volumes of product data (100’s of thousands of products) ready for your eCommerce site (or PIM), whereas PIM allows you to enrich and create product stories and experiences, generally for smaller numbers of products. 

Take a look at the infographic below for further clarity on the differences between Vesta and PIM solutions.

Are you are implementing a PIM system, or do you have one already running? A critical consideration in PIM implementation is sourcing, cleaning, and preparing your product data before it enters the PIM.