E-Tailers: How DAM and PIM Deliver Automated Content Experiences
Table of Contents
Introduction What Makes PIM Important? This is Where a DAM System Comes In Enrich Your Customer’s Journey with DAM and PIM Conclusion 3 5 8 10 11
Introduction
As of 2021, there are 2.14 billion digital buyers worldwide, of which 230 million are from the US.
If you’re not in the market of e-commerce and retail – perhaps you should be?
The number of digital buyers can clearly allude that maintaining the attention of customers in a digitally crowded marketplace is no easy feat. Even 46% of customers - who consider shopping as their cardio - research products online before making a purchase. So, the management of product information and digital content is now critical more than ever to deliver the best quality content and customer experience before and during the buying process.
When there’s a rise in one market, you can expect a chain reaction from others – and with 230 million potential buyers, who wouldn’t want a taste of that? But we digress.
The mentioned chain reaction quickly followed suit in the technology industry as e-tailers have become dependent on cloud technology to support the operational scalability and efficiency of their marketplaces - as well as enabling personalized customer experiences.
This is where Digital Asset Management (DAM) and Product Information Management Systems (PIM) come in. Both serve as cloud-based platforms but the sweet spot is combining them into a duo powerhouse working together to deliver seamless automated-content experiences.
3
Introduction
In this e-book, you’ll learn the importance of both DAM and PIM and how they create a connected experience across the customer’s journey.
Starting simple: What are DAM and PIM?
DAM platforms are more focused on centralizing and sorting displaced digital assets to streamline workflows and collaboration that are commonly used by studio professionals, marketers and other creatives alike. They deal with high-quality and high-volume imagery, videos graphics or other non-textual media.
If this part feels familiar, scroll down a little.
A Digital Asset Management (DAM) system’s core purpose is to manage digital content such as images, videos and other rich media.
PIM systems, however, are more targeted to retail and e-commerce industries to manage the product information of those high-volume and high-quality products throughout multiple channels.
A Product Information Management (PIM) system’s core purpose is to manage the data of products in marketplaces to ensure that the information displayed remains accurate and up to date.
Both these platforms go hand-in-hand when managing their digital or product assets and share key similarities in terms of their solution offerings against industry challenges.
4
What makes PIM important?
Product Information Management
is essential given that ‘quality ‘e-tail’ content extends beyond simply delivering beautifully-produced visuals to buyer-process endpoints. To hold and inform attention through to the point of sale, quality e-tail content must also deliver meaningful product information alongside visual content aesthetics. For that to happen well, vast product datasets must be efficiently managed.
Product data is used to describe the products and include essential specifications such as the: stock keeping units (SKUs), weight, colors, sizes, and other specs.
A legacy example could be this; when customers shop at bricks-and-mortar stores, the information of cost and size on the price tag or the text displayed on promotional banners. Just two simple examples of product information.
‘Onlining’ retail products onto digital e-tail marketplaces forces product information to play a stronger roleparticularly to compensate for products that customers have been used to touching, feeling and considering upfront in physical stores. Clarity, accuracy and efficiency are key in delivering product information. That’s especially true given that 26% of online shoppers feel that product information is ‘the most important attribute’ when deciding to buy from online outlets.
The typical types of product information that customers look for are:
type
product description
reviews
methods
5
• Product
• Detailed
• Pricing • Customer
• Shipping
• Payment methods
What makes PIM important?
What else does PIM do?
While PIM’s basic function is to manage product information, help merchandisers meet customer productdemands and streamline workflows among teams, these are just the basic, top-line objectives.
the need to manually update each portal – saving tons of time.
Improved customer satisfaction
Product information plays a large role in a brand’s image.
Here are some others:
Multilingual PIM
A multilingual e-commerce store is a great way to expand your market and introduce your products to new customers outside of your country.
Conversely, it also means that there are various online portals and content data that need to be managed in different languages. It can become challenging when the product information is not being managed optimally. However, PIM allows you to integrate the translations into the various platforms and cancels
Simply providing the customer with rich information (that PIM provides) on a product that they need, can build trust and reliance – it means that your brand can offer them what they need, when they need it.
Eliminates human errors
If you’re still working on ancient workflow methods, (i.e. spreadsheets), there’s always the risk of a product’s information being captured or updated incorrectly. The sheer amount of time spent manually creating and updating product sheets and the collection and analysis of data - can have a detrimental impact on productivity.
6
What makes PIM important?
With PIM, you can filter, sort and bulk edit your products to streamline the updating process. This is especially handy when your brand is running promotions or deals that require product data to be refreshed frequently.
Market positioning
When you produce great quality content, it increases your chances to rank higher in search engines to attract a wider audience.
But there is another important element that can elevate a market and customer experience even more – the production of high-quality visual content.
One of e-tailers’ biggest challenges is the transformation of product data with visual content.
However, more than 87% of online shoppers consider clear product images to be essential during a shopping experience.
PIM can track any ROI generated from customers that purchased a product from your brand during an organic search on Google. PIM offers a myriad of solutions and benefits to markets that aim in improving their customer’s experience while also converting customers based on clear and up-to-date product information.
7
This is Where a DAM System Comes In
There is a significant overlap between DAM and PIM where they both act as a ‘single truth repository’ for digital assets and product information as they both can:
Here is what a DAM does differently
• Accelerate the production and distribution process of assets
• Centralize content and product assets
Simply integrate with other systems to automate workflow
While the PIM stores the product information of those assets, a DAM helps to store the visual content of various products by grouping and categorizing them.
DAM also integrates other workplace systems used in an organization to create a central platform.
• Maintain brand consistency and highquality output of assets
• Break silos and enforce collaboration among teams and stakeholders Streamline workflows
Metadata: DAM optimizes the searchability of the products or product categories with smart metadata and enables product owners to tag the products’ images, videos, catalogs, and other digital content with metadata’s custom schemas.
8
This is Where a DAM System Comes In
This makes products easily locatable that increases workflow, collaboration and fast stracks the content distribution onto multiple online platforms.
A DAM can further enrich the data and insights of a PIM as a DAM’s metadata can track the metrics of product performances to identify highperforming visual assets. Smart integrations: PIM only allows the integration of an organization’s existing product management system, e-commerce stores and other Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software.
However, a cloud-based DAM with Application Programming Interface (API), can also integrate software such as:
• Project Management Systems
• Traditional Digital Asset Management Systems
• Email Management Systems
• Content Management System
And of course, Product Information Management Systems
By integrating DAM and PIM systems, e-commerce and retailers will have all their digital assets and products in one centralized location that can drive an effective and enriching digital experience among customers, as well as teams through the streamlining of workflows and fast-tracking of distribution times.
9
Enrich Your Customer’s Journey with DAM and PIM
They say that to create an exceptional customer experience, you need to create a meaningful interaction and listen to what your customers’ needs are - and then implement them. In turn, you get customer satisfaction and brand loyalty with a boost in sales.
that will indicate any gaps within a customer’s journey, as well as any successful patterns which you can maximize on other campaigns.
Whether it is incoherent product data, or poor visual content - DAM and PIM will be able to spot these out.
Consider the integration of DAM and PIM as the communication portal between you and your customer. Every digital transaction from a customer, and even if there is none, is their way of informing you of what works and what does not work in your marketplace. This data information is captured and analyzed in DAM and PIM systems.
By capitalizing on your customers’ behavioral data, analytics and measurements from both DAM and PIM systems, you will be able to analyze and identify trends among consumers
10
Conclusion
If you have either DAM or PIM as part of your tech stack already, you’re already halfway there in elevating your marketplace and customer experiences. DAM and PIM are a powerful duo that gives a holistic experience when scaling product information, customer experiences and the management of product and digital assets coupled with streamlined workflows.
The integration of DAM and PIM systems together will enable markets to keep ahead of customer demands and stand out in a crowded digital market.
11
About globaledit
Since 2003, Globaledit has been a trusted partner to major brands in retail, fashion, health & beauty, entertainment and ecommerce. Our creative asset management platform creates efficiencies in photo production workflows and processes, making it an essential collaboration platform for creatives.
Globaledit is part of the CoCreativ. CoCreativ is a Creative Content Agency Studio Network dedicated to providing scalable creative solutions through Content Agency strategy, creativity, and execution. We serve the industry, along with their brands and agencies, by delivering end-to-end Content Agency solutions to create and run programs at scale, more efficiently.