Glossary A–ZLetter P
PIM (product information management)
A PIM system is central software in which a company maintains all its product information, such as names, descriptions, technical attributes, images, variants and translations, in order to publish it to every channel.
PIM stands for product information management.
The online shop, catalogue, marketplaces and increasingly also in-store screens draw on the PIM. A product advisor, an endless aisle terminal or a shelf screen can obtain attributes and images directly from it. When a detail changes, it is the same everywhere, and nobody has to copy texts for the screens separately. Prices and stock levels, by contrast, usually come from the merchandise management system.
Operators should check whether the product data is suitable for screens: images for the online shop are often too small or in the wrong format, and descriptions too long for the reading time of a passer-by. Dedicated fields in the PIM for short texts or screen images help. Images should be copied into the signage management system rather than loaded live from the PIM for every display, so that the screen still shows something without a connection.