What is PIM?
PIM – Product Information Management – is the system that centralises, structures, and distributes all your product information. But it's also more than a system. It's a way of thinking about how you work with product data.
Quick facts about PIM.
PIM solves the problem of product data scattered across multiple places – Excel, ERP, email, and people's heads
A PIM system integrates with your ERP, e-commerce platform, marketplaces, and every channel you sell through
PIM is as much a strategy and a way of working as it is a system
A PIM implementation is never truly "done" – it's an ongoing effort, just like everything else in the business
Definition: PIM – Product Information Management
PIM stands for "Product Information Management" and can refer to both a system and a discipline for how you work with product information. In short, it's a system for collecting, enriching, structuring, and distributing product content across different formats and channels.
PIM explained with Lego.
Imagine you collected Lego as a kid. You bought sets, built things, half-demolished them, and eventually everything ended up in three bins – all mixed together. Large pieces, wheels, windows, doors, different colours – jumbled up. One day you want to build something new. Fine, but now it takes three times as long because you have to dig out the right pieces from the pile.
The solution? You get some boxes and sort everything out. Large pieces here, wheels there, transparent pieces in their own box. Now it's quick to find what you need, and you can build faster, better, and without the frustration.
"Lego in this context is product information and product data. Instead of diving straight into a pile of information and hoping for the best, you get the right boxes and organise things first."
– Daniel Jansson, PIM architect at Cypoint
👉 That's fundamentally what PIM is. Your products carry an enormous amount of information – marketing copy, images, technical specifications, documents, dimensions, materials, certifications. Today, that information probably lives across a mix of Excel files, ERP systems, email threads, and in someone's head. PIM is the system and the strategy that brings order to that chaos.
How does PIM differ from ERP, CMS, and e-commerce platforms?
It's a common question – and a good one. The answer is straightforward: every system should do what it does best. ERP is excellent at orders and inventory. Your e-commerce platform is excellent at presenting and selling. But neither of them is built to create product information. That's PIM's job.
From raw data to finished content:
🏭 ERP – Purchasing, inventory, planning, orders
🕸️ PIM – Enriches, structures, distributes
🛒 E-commerce & CMS – Presents, sells, converts
PIM – the hub at the centre
Think of PIM as the hub at the centre of everything – the system that connects with everything else and holds the single source of truth for your product information. The ERP sends in raw data, PIM enriches and structures it, and finished content gets distributed to all your channels.
Without PIM, product data typically ends up being created in the wrong system – in an ERP that doesn't support the right language layers, or in the web store that can't handle complex relationships. And then it gets manually updated in four places every time something changes.
Create/enrich product content:
❌ ERP | ⚠️ Ecom/CMS | ✅ PIM
Manage multilingual data:
❌ ERP | ⚠️ Ecom/CMS | ✅ PIM
Distribute to multiple channels:
❌ ERP | ⚠️ Ecom/CMS | ✅ PIM
Complex product relations:
❌ ERP | ⚠️ Ecom/CMS | ✅ PIM
Content workflows:
❌ ERP | ⚠️ Ecom/CMS | ✅ PIM
Stock, orders, purchases:
✅ ERP | ⚠️ Ecom/CMS | ❌ PIM
Present & sell to customer:
❌ ERP | ✅ Ecom/CMS | ❌ PIM
Why PIM? From nice-to-have to must-have.
PIM has long been seen as a tool for large companies with massive product catalogues. That picture no longer holds. The combination of increasing regulatory requirements, more sales channels, AI, and intensifying competition means that structured product data is a business-critical asset – regardless of company size.
1. EU requirements and greater transparency
More and more directives are coming from the EU around transparency – covering materials, origin, and product characteristics. PIM is the system best suited to collecting and distributing that information. It's moving from being an advantage to being a requirement.
2. Expansion into new markets and channels
This is often where things get critical. When you need to launch in a new market or sell through a new channel – and all your product information suddenly needs to exist in German, in the right format, adapted to that channel's requirements. Without PIM it's a manual nightmare. With PIM it's a process.
3. AI requires structured data
There's a lot of talk about the benefits of AI right now, but what people often forget is what AI actually needs in order to deliver. LLM models need structured specifications to interpret products and compare them with each other. PIM provides that foundation.
4. AI in PIM - a match made in heaven
And conversely: AI is an excellent collaborator inside a PIM system. Generating product descriptions, running bulk translations, quality-assuring content – these are tasks AI is genuinely good at. PIM provides the structure. AI removes the heavy lifting.
Signs that you need a PIM.
Product data has a habit of outgrowing the structures around it. It quickly turns into chaos – and that's not a sign of poor organisation, it's a sign the business has grown. But at some point, you need to do something about it.
📂 Product information lives in multiple places
Some in the ERP, some in Excel, some in an old presentation no one can find anymore. The classic sign. You know the information exists – but not exactly where, in which version, or whether it's up to date.
📞 You call that one person
There's always someone who "keeps track" of the products. That knowledge lives in individuals' heads, not in a system. It's fragile – and it doesn't scale. It's one of the clearest signs that the structure isn't holding up.
🖋️ Changes are made manually in multiple places
A price changes. Now it needs updating in the webshop, in the catalogue, in the price list, in the newsletter. It takes time, and errors creep in. Multiply that by hundreds of products and it starts to cost a lot.
🐌 Time to market is too long
You know a new product is ready from the supplier, but it takes weeks before it's live across all sales channels. Every day of delay has a cost. Without a structured process and a central system, content gets stuck in bottlenecks.
😐 PIM is just a place where we paste text
That's a direct quote from an actual PIM user – and it's painful to hear. If that's how you experience your PIM system today, it's probably not the system that's the problem. It's how you're using it. You're not getting close to full utilisation, and there's real potential to unlock.
🌍 You're planning to expand
If you're planning to open in a new market, launch a new sales channel, or move from B2B to B2C within the next one to two years – start thinking about PIM now, not when the crisis has already hit. It's much easier to tackle proactively.
"Not everyone needs a PIM system right now. But everyone needs a data model – some kind of product structure – to prepare for a potential system down the line. Never start too complex. Get going, keep it simple, and build on it from there."
– Carl Torgnyson, PIM expert at Cypoint
🚨 You need a PIM now
Product data is scattered and unmanaged
Manual updates in multiple places
Expansion is planned within 12 months
You sell in more than 2 channels today
Customers complain about incorrect product info
🧱 Start with the structure
You are in an early growth phase
The assortment is still manageable
Expansion is further away
Set up your data model now anyway
Document what your product data looks like
🔍 Review existing PIM
The system is being used as a copy-paste dumping ground
Users aren't seeing the value
You're not getting close to full utilization
The business has outgrown its current setup
New tech requirements demand new integrations
Common questions about PIM.
Quick Q&A for those who want to know more
Your ERP is your business system – it handles purchasing, inventory, planning, and orders. It's built for transactions and business logic, not for creating and distributing product content. PIM is built specifically for product information: enriching, structuring, and sending data in the right format to the right channels. They complement each other, and a PIM typically integrates with your ERP as one of its primary data sources.
It depends on where you are. Many e-commerce platforms have built-in product modules that work well for simpler needs and for getting started quickly. What you typically lose compared to a dedicated PIM system is flexibility in data modelling, support for complex relationships, content workflows, and distribution to multiple channels. If you sell across more than one channel, have a large assortment, or are planning expansion – a dedicated PIM is worth looking into.
For dedicated PIM systems, licence costs typically run into the tens of thousands of euros per year, depending on the system and tier. That's just one part of the picture – factor in implementation and ongoing development too. The most useful question to start with: what's it worth to actually solve this problem? That gives you a reference point for what a reasonable investment looks like.
A typical implementation takes 3–6 months, but it varies considerably depending on complexity, what your product data looks like today, how many integrations are needed, and how much you choose to improve along the way. Going faster or slower than that doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong. A PIM implementation is also never "done" in the traditional sense – it's something you continuously develop and improve.
No, but the need is more pressing for companies with large or complex assortments, many sales channels, and a need for multilingual data. Dedicated PIM systems generally suit mid-sized companies and above. There are simpler solutions for smaller companies, and many e-commerce platforms have built-in product modules that can go a long way. The most important thing is to start thinking about product data structure early – regardless of whether you're ready for a full PIM system or not.
Start with your business, not with a system. Ask yourselves: what do we want to achieve? What problem are we trying to solve – and what's it worth to solve it? Define your product data and your data model. Understand your channels and what product information needs to look like in each one. Then, with that picture clear, start looking at which system best fits your needs. Starting with the system and working backwards is a common mistake that makes the whole project harder.
More about PIM.
Guide for a successful PIM-implementation.
A brief overview of the solution and the highlights of Struct PIM.
What PIM can do for your e-commerce.
JULA customer case. How we helped Jula with the implementation of a new modern PIM.
Six benefits of Struct PIM according to our developers and users. Six benefits of Struct PIM according to our developers and users
How Struct's pricing model and license costs work..
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