Product Information Management (PIM) FAQs

If you use a next-gen PIM, then yes! Digital assets like images and even ad creative can be stored and linked to products inside a next-gen PIM. In fact, this is one of the reasons why the next-gen PIM was designed.

A new-gen PIM acts as a master product data hub, meaning it supports every type of data associated with your products, including:

• product descriptions and attributes,
• product visualization files (images, renderings and video),
• product categories and other tags,
• and more...

Any brand selling online (or brands selling on multiple channels) will face inaccurate, incomplete, and contradictory product information without a PIM. Either your data will be optimized for one channel but not another, or you’ll fall behind in product data optimizations as your competition routinely launches products faster than you.

A business needs a PIM for today’s level of e-commerce to efficiently manage product information as audio-visual-rich product data and the number of selling channels continue to expand.

1. First, determine what system(s) you currently use to manage data, like ERPs or manual spreadsheets.
2. Then, pool all your product data sources together (or connect them directly to your PIM). Use the PIM’s built-in data optimization and “clean up” tools to complete, correct and enrich data.
3. Finally, prepare exported files for any channel you plan to sell on.

A next-gen PIM increases efficiency to your e-commerce operations and brings built-in tools to your processes gain accuracy and conversion optimizations in product data. Product information kept in one place reduces human error and conflicting information. Creating a central repository in the cloud, also enables greater collaboration between departments.

A next-gen PIM is e-commerce specific, meaning it was designed for any brand with the intention to sell online. The nature of e-commerce today is highly audio-visual-rich as well as multichannel, and next-gen PIM software was designed to meet these unique needs.

An e-commerce brand uses a PIM to speed up time to market (an essential to be competitive online) as well as optimize product information to provide a superior digital experience. Optimizations are faster on a next-gen PIM because they’re guided with product data quality scores and simplified with bulk editing, static and dynamic lists, and other tools.

A next-gen PIM is based in the cloud, which means you can upload an unlimited number of SKUs and products.

A next-gen PIM, being cloud-based, is automatically updated by the provider’s programmers multiple times a month. Bugs are worked out, improvements go live, and changes are made without any disruption to your day-to-day.

A legacy PIM, on the other hand, is an "out of the box" solution that is installed and, invariably, falls out of date as quickly as something in e-commerce changes.

The Amber Engine PIM is cloud-based and quick to deploy. After a short onboarding period that lasts one to three weeks for most brands, a business’s entire catalog can be optimized for the superior digital experience within weeks. With other PIM products, this process takes months.

Most next-gen PIMs have security certifications from independent agencies that review software solutions. This ensures optimal protection for your product data.

A cloud-based, next-gen PIM only requires an internet connection. There are no software or operating systems "prerequisites."

A next-gen PIM includes three overarching functionalities:

1. Data importation and aggregation
2. Data organization and optimization
3. Channel-specific data exportation

Cloud-based, next-gen PIMs come with support as part of your subscription.

While the Amber Engine PIM is meant to hit the middle of the market (in price) while providing premium-level features and support, some may still find it expensive. The cost in isolation, however, doesn’t tell you much.

Instead, start by visualizing the following improvements to your day-to-day: you collaborate freely across departments, and everyone works with the same data. Joe Lopez one office over makes a change to one product, and that change is immediately reflected on your end. The customer service department down the hall only has access to view certain product attributes, and never to change them. At the end of the day, you learn that the primary platform you sell on has changed requirements for several key fields in product listings, but you don’t sweat it. With a couple “if/then” equations matching the basic Excel syntax you learned in ninth grade, you make the changes to the exact products on your devoted list for that seller. In a click, you export the updated data file, then upload it to the selling channel.

You get product launches done faster than the competition—and with a superior digital experience provided to boot. The increased efficiency and sales offset the cost of the next-gen PIM by anywhere from eight to 20 times for most brands.

Onboarding your product data into a PIM used to be tedious and time-consuming, but not anymore. With our dedicated support team, simple processes, and streamlined, next-gen PIM platform, you can expect to be onboarded in 2-3 weeks, rather than 3-12 months.

The simple explanation of what you need is this: You just need a data spreadsheet, and we can get you started.

If you're the type who likes to visualize processes in advance, here is the complete list of steps our onboarding team will walk you through:

1. Create users
2. Set Permissions
3. Prepare your data for import (spreadsheets, images, and other assets)
4. Import your data and assets
5. Establish your content rules (attributes/taxonomy)
6. Request your channel templates
7. Map your data to channels
8. Export data to your selling channels

Again, all you need to get started is a data spreadsheet. We'll guide you from there!

Data can be handled and optimized right inside the next-gen PIM, unlike any PIM before it. Even so, a brand dealing with thousands of SKUs could feel overwhelmed. Amber Engine offers data optimization services with 25, 100, or unlimited hours of data optimization done for you each month.

Perhaps you can relate to this scenario: It’s week four of your ERP implementation with no end in sight. Instead of getting your team onboarded by the end of the month, you’re hoping just to get the system fully integrated by the end of month three. You’re bitter that you had to hire third-party support just to get past the surprises that thwarted your efforts when you tried to implement the ERP yourself.

We’ve heard many horror stories like this one, and that’s why we do things differently with our next-gen PIM implementation process.

The Amber Engine PIM implementation process was designed to be easy, because we believe this is the biggest problem for most systems and software suites: your team doesn’t want or know how to implement and use them, so these systems don’t bring the ROI you’re due.

With Amber Engine, not only is the software easier to use, but the implementation process was designed to rally your team behind even easier roll-out. All you need to get started with the next-gen PIM is your data spreadsheets. Then, our process takes care of all of the following:

1. Creating users
2. Setting permissions
3. Preparing your data for import (including spreadsheets, images and other assets)
4. Importing your data and assets
5. Establishing your content rules
6. Requesting your channel templates
7. Mapping your data to channels
8. Setting up exports for all your sales channels

"Flat files in, flat files out"

We aren't a managed service, but our team does provide considerable hands-on support during onboarding. Your team will be responsible for importing the product information and maintaining it, but our customer service team is there for you to answer questions, conduct screen share education, and more.

There are no per-user fees on the next-gen PIM. Invite as many as you need!

While we can't make promises about the very long-term, it is not currently on our roadmap to limit the number of assets.