strategies to control omnichannel commerce with centralized product info
TRANSCRIPT
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Strategies to control omnichannel commerce with centralized Product
Information Management
Retailers across spectrums are facing a tough time creating brand loyalty. Multiple sales
channels, abundant product options and customization options have led to customers being
spoilt for choice and becoming highly price sensitive.
Competitive pressures are only mounting by the day with the emergence of many players,
both big and small, trying to tap the unlimited potential of omnichannel commerce. Product
Information Management thus becomes a prerequisite for omnichannel commerce
operations. PIM enables a single view of the deluge of product-related content available.
This helps in better decision making capability, operational efficiency and omnichannel
strategizing.
Centralised product information management can improve profitability, performance and
customer experience all at once. It is essential for product content expectations to be met
across channels for the success of the brand in the long term.
For omnichannel commercial success, the strategies to be followed with PIM are:-
Centralize - A central source of product content must be built in order to deliver the very
best content. In order to achieve this, the PIM software should necessarily have ERP
integration which would save brand owners the task of consolidating data from across all
departments. The data of product categories, product families, product images, product
attributes, product descriptions etc. would be included in one database and help do away
with unnecessary silos thereby feeding the print catalog software, web catalog software,
and other omnichannels.
Update - Product content, packaging redesigns, nutritional values etc. are constantly
changing. To top that the marketing department changes the message sent across to
consumers depending on the trends. With such constant updates, inaccuracy and
inconsistency can be a threat to brand integrity. Product information updates thus play an
important role in product content management in the omnichannel commerce scenario.
Flexibility and Scalability - Product information management must include strategy for
content creation, maintenance and distribution. Companies usually have varied kinds of
internal and external customers with different requirements. To account for the varying
needs, the content distribution system should be flexible enough to meet the customer
needs. With more and more channels for sales opening up, consumer demand for product
content is also increasing rapidly. Scalable and flexible content distribution is required for
data consistency and proper brand control. Questudio’s CatalogStudio helps manage
content and store them in a central repository.
Connect - It is essential for one's business to connect to one's customers across all touch-
points. A consistent experience regardless of the customer touch-point chosen can be
ensured with PIM. Making online and offline stores work seamlessly together drives
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revenue and sales. Complete integration of online and in-store systems would help one
experience greater commercial value. It would also help in tracking results through one
holistic omnichannel reporting and analytical capabilities. Print catalog software, web
catalog software, and Integration with ERP helps drive content to Omnichannel.
Communicate - In such times of omnichannel commerce, one cannot afford to ignore the
internationalised commerce. It becomes imperative for a company to use a PIM platform
that is capable of communicating in multiple languages, manage multiple currencies and
taxes. It must be able to conduct an interaction with other applications by importing and
exporting product, customer and order related data.
Thus product information management system allows businesses to operate their products
from a centralized location and publish their product range in their print catalog, mobile
site, ecommerce website, call center and other systems simultaneously for omnichannel
commerce.