What Is PIM (Product Information Management)?
Updated October 2026
Short answer: PIM (product information management) is software and a process for collecting, enriching, approving and publishing product information from one central place. A PIM system holds every product’s attributes, descriptions, specifications, images, documents and translations, and sends complete, consistent content to your website, marketplaces, retailers and catalogs.
If you sell more than a handful of products through more than one channel, you have probably felt the problem a PIM solves: product data scattered across spreadsheets, the ERP, shared drives and email, with every channel showing something slightly different. This guide explains what product information management is, how a PIM system works, what data it manages, who needs one and how to get started. For the full picture, see our product information management guide.
PIM: Quick Summary
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| What does PIM stand for? | Product information management |
| What is it? | A central system for managing and publishing product information |
| What does it manage? | Attributes, descriptions, specifications, variants, relationships, images, documents, translations, channel content |
| Who uses it? | Product content, eCommerce, marketing and category teams, plus suppliers and agencies |
| Where does the data go? | Websites, marketplaces, retailers, data pools, print catalogs, sales tools |
| Who needs one? | Companies with many products, attributes, channels, languages or suppliers |
| Examples of PIM software | Pimcore, Syndigo, Akeneo, Salsify, inRiver, Stibo STEP, Plytix |
What Is a PIM (Product Information Management)?
Product information management is both a discipline (how a company owns, improves and shares product data) and a type of software (the PIM system that makes it practical at scale). A PIM becomes the single source of truth for everything a customer, distributor or marketplace needs to know about a product (see a general definition of PIM).
Not sure yet whether you need one? Take the free Do I need a PIM? check.
A PIM is not an ERP, a DAM or an eCommerce platform, although it connects to all three. The ERP still owns item numbers, prices and stock; the DAM can own large media libraries; the eCommerce platform still runs the store. The PIM owns the product content in between.
How Does a PIM System Work?
Most PIM systems follow the same five-step flow:
- Collect. Product data comes in from the ERP, PLM, supplier files and portals, spreadsheets and existing websites, through imports, APIs and connectors.
- Structure and validate. Data is mapped to product families, categories and attributes. Validation rules check formats, units and required fields, and flag gaps and errors.
- Enrich. Teams and suppliers add marketing descriptions, specifications, images, videos, documents and translations. Automation and AI can draft content and fill standard attributes, with human review.
- Approve. Workflows route products through review steps. Completeness scores show which products are ready for which channel.
- Publish. The PIM sends channel-ready content to your website, marketplaces, retailers, data pools such as GDSN, print catalogs and sales tools, in each channel’s format.
What Information Does a PIM Manage?
| Type of data | Examples |
|---|---|
| Identifiers | SKU, GTIN/EAN/UPC, manufacturer part number |
| Descriptive content | Product names, short and long descriptions, bullet points, SEO titles |
| Technical specifications | Dimensions, weight, materials, performance values, units, classifications such as ETIM, ECLASS or GS1 |
| Variants and relationships | Size, colour and style variants; accessories, spare parts, bundles and kits; up-sells and cross-sells |
| Digital assets | Product images, lifestyle photos, videos, 360 views, manuals, data sheets, certificates |
| Localisation | Translations, market-specific values, regional assortments |
| Channel content | Marketplace titles and attributes, retailer templates, category mappings |
| Compliance data | Safety data, ingredients and allergens, certifications, regulatory attributes |
Why Do You Need a PIM?
Without a PIM, product data usually lives in many places and is copied by hand. That causes the same problems in almost every company:
- Slow launches: new products wait for descriptions, images and specifications to be collected.
- Inconsistent channels: the website, marketplaces and retailers show different names, specs or images.
- Rejected listings: retailers and marketplaces reject products with missing or wrongly formatted attributes.
- Wasted time: teams spend days cleaning supplier files and updating the same data in several systems.
- Returns and complaints: missing or wrong product information leads customers to buy the wrong product.
A PIM fixes these by giving every product one approved record and publishing it everywhere automatically.
Benefits of PIM
- Faster time to market: products go live as soon as their content is complete, not when someone finds time to copy it.
- Better data quality: validation rules and completeness checks catch errors before customers see them.
- Consistent omnichannel experience: every channel gets the same approved information, adapted to its format.
- Easier expansion: adding a marketplace, market or language becomes a configuration task, not a project.
- Less manual work: imports, automation and AI take over repetitive data entry.
- Better collaboration: product, marketing, eCommerce and suppliers work in one system with clear roles.
Read more in the benefits of PIM. In our projects, a global industrial solutions leader improved data accuracy by 85% and cut manual work by 70%, and a leading European jewelry brand reduced product launch delays by 41%.
Who Needs a PIM?
Types of companies
- Brands and manufacturers that sell through distributors, retailers and their own channels.
- Distributors and wholesalers that onboard product data from many suppliers.
- Retailers and eCommerce businesses with large or fast-changing assortments.
- B2B companies with complex technical products, customer-specific catalogs or dealer networks.
See how PIM works in your sector: eCommerce, manufacturing, distribution and retail.
Teams that use it
| Team | How they use a PIM |
|---|---|
| Product management | Own product data and specifications, and plan launches |
| Marketing and content | Write descriptions, manage images and translations, keep the brand consistent |
| eCommerce | Get complete, channel-ready content for the store and marketplaces |
| Sales | Use accurate product information in quotes, proposals and catalogs |
| IT | Integrate the PIM with ERP, eCommerce and other systems, and manage security |
| Leadership | Track launch speed, data quality and channel growth |
When to consider a PIM
- You manage more than a few hundred products, or many attributes per product.
- You sell through more than one channel, language or market.
- Launches are delayed by product content.
- Several teams, suppliers or agencies edit the same product data.
PIM vs Other Systems
| System | What it manages | How it relates to PIM |
|---|---|---|
| ERP | Transactions: items, prices, stock, orders, finance | Sends item data to the PIM (PIM vs ERP) |
| DAM | Digital files: images, videos, documents, rights | Supplies assets linked in the PIM (PIM vs DAM) |
| MDM | Core master data across many domains | Governs the core product record (PIM vs MDM) |
| PLM / PDM | Product development and engineering data | Sends released product data (PIM vs PLM, PIM vs PDM) |
| PXM | The product experience on each channel | Builds on PIM data (what is PXM) |
Key PIM Features to Look For
- A flexible data model for product families, attributes and variants
- Imports, supplier onboarding and validation rules
- Completeness scores per channel
- Workflows, roles and permissions
- Digital asset management, built in or connected
- Localisation and translation support
- Channel exports, syndication and APIs
- Automation and AI-assisted enrichment
See the full list in PIM features that matter and compare platforms in best PIM software.
Types of PIM Software
| Type | What it is | Often a fit for |
|---|---|---|
| Open-source PIM | Platforms such as Pimcore and Akeneo with a free edition you host yourself (subject to licence conditions) and paid enterprise editions. See open-source PIM compared. | Companies that want control, flexibility and no per-user licence on the free edition |
| SaaS PIM | Hosted subscription platforms such as Salsify, inRiver, Syndigo and Plytix. | Teams that want a vendor-managed platform and fast setup |
| Enterprise and multi-domain | Platforms such as Stibo STEP and Pimcore that combine PIM with MDM and DAM. | Large organisations with complex data across several domains |
| Built-in product catalogs | The product features of an eCommerce platform or ERP. | Small catalogs sold through one channel |
How AI Is Changing PIM
Most PIM platforms now include AI features. Used well, they speed up enrichment rather than replace the team:
- Drafting descriptions from structured attributes, in your brand’s tone, for each channel and language.
- Extracting attributes from supplier PDFs, data sheets and images.
- Classifying products into categories and standards such as ETIM or GS1.
- Finding quality issues such as missing values, outliers and duplicates.
AI works best on clean, structured data, with a human review step before anything is published. Read more about AI product descriptions at scale.
Common PIM Mistakes to Avoid
- Treating PIM as an IT project only. The business needs to own the data model, roles and quality rules.
- Copying spreadsheets into the PIM. Redesign product families and attributes for how customers search and compare.
- Skipping data ownership. Decide which system and which team owns each field before you integrate.
- Migrating everything at once. Start with one channel or range, prove the value, then scale.
- No governance after go-live. Keep quality rules and roles alive; see product data governance.
How to Get Started with PIM
- Audit your product data. Where does it live, who owns it, and what is missing for each channel?
- Define requirements. Products, attributes, channels, languages, systems to connect and users.
- Choose a platform. Shortlist two or three and test them with your own data.
- Plan the implementation. A focused first release typically takes 3 to 6 months; larger programmes run in phases over 6 to 12 months or more.
- Start small, then scale. Launch one channel or product range first, then add more.
Our free PIM buyer’s guide walks through each step, and the PIM cost calculator gives a first budget estimate.
How Credencys Helps with PIM
Credencys is a product data consultancy with 15+ years of PIM experience. We are a Pimcore Strategic Partner with 80+ certified Pimcore experts, and a Syndigo partner, and we give independent advice on other platforms. Our PIM services cover strategy and platform selection, implementation, integration with your ERP and eCommerce systems, data migration and ongoing support. For example, a leading US wholesale distributor upgraded its Pimcore platform with us and made backend processing 40% faster.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is PIM in simple terms?
PIM, or product information management, is a central system where a company keeps all the information about its products, such as descriptions, specifications, images and translations, and from which it publishes that information to its website, marketplaces, retailers and catalogs.
What is an example of a PIM system?
Common PIM systems include Pimcore, Syndigo, Akeneo, Salsify, inRiver, Stibo STEP and Plytix. They differ in data model flexibility, syndication, deployment and pricing model, so the right one depends on your products, channels and team.
What is the difference between PIM and ERP?
An ERP manages business transactions such as items, prices, stock, orders and finance. A PIM manages product content such as descriptions, attributes, images and channel-specific data. Most growing companies use both, with the ERP feeding item data into the PIM.
Do small businesses need a PIM?
Not always. A small catalog sold through one channel can often be managed in the eCommerce platform. A PIM pays off when you add channels, languages, suppliers or many attributes, and there are affordable and open-source options for smaller teams. See PIM for small businesses.
How long does it take to implement a PIM?
A focused first release typically takes 3 to 6 months; larger programmes run in phases over 6 to 12 months or more. Discovery takes a few weeks and gives you a firm plan.
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