Tired of answering the same product data questions? PIM systems make them disappear

Each day, teams in manufacturing and distribution struggle with chaotic product information, prompting them to revisit the same challenging questions:

• “Can somebody send me the most up-to-date description for this product? Mine is from March.”
• “Have we corrected this detail everywhere?”
• “Why does the distributor have different data than our website?”
• “Did we remember to send the new product info to every partner and region or just the key ones?”
• “Who changed this spec… and when?”
• “Which translation is correct for the German market?”
• “Does this product have all the required attributes for marketplace X?”
• “Which spreadsheet (and which version) has the correct attributes?”

They pop up in sales calls, email threads, slack channels, and meetings that were supposed to be about strategy but shifted into investigative work to locate the right data.

Repeating questions about product data are symptoms, not the real problem.

The problem is product information chaos that translates to lost time, lost trust, and even lost sales. Important details end up stored in siloed spreadsheets, shared drives, or individual employees’ heads, leading to endless hunting for answers. Five minutes before product launch, someone on your team is still scrambling to confirm a SKU or dimension. Different departments may unknowingly use different versions of data (marketing might pull from one spreadsheet, sales from another), creating a recipe for confusion and errors.

Let’s unpack what that actually means in practice, especially for manufacturers and distributors.

How PIM brings order – and answers – to growing pains in data management

For a specific group of managers, these recurring questions are no longer a concern. Implementing a PIM (Product Information Management) eliminates them entirely.

PIM = one place where you manage all product information used for sales and marketing, and from which you feed all channels. Typical things you keep in PIM include: names, descriptions, marketing copy, materials, certifications, images, manuals, safety sheets, translations, SEO fields, categorization, channel-specific rules and mappings.

Not “another IT system to maintain.”

Instead, PIM becomes:

• Your single source of truth for product data, making sure everything that faces the customer is complete, consistent, and up to date.
• The engine that pushes this data to e-commerce, distributor feeds, marketplaces, print catalogs, or internal tools.

It doesn’t just store product details – it also helps streamline and automate the work around information that teams typically do in spreadsheets, folders and emails. No more updating the same product description in five different places. 

With a PIM you do it once, and it’s done everywhere. That kind of integration means those earlier questions (“Have we corrected this detail everywhere?”) simply don’t arise.

Just as importantly, PIM imposes consistency and governance on your data. It can enforce data standards and validation rules, ensuring that every product entry follows the same format and completeness before it gets distributed. Think about things like dimension units or terminology – with PIM, you won’t have one team using inches and another using centimeters for the same item, or one description saying “navy blue” while another says “dark blue”. The result is error-free, consistent product data that can be shared across all platforms and customer touchpoints without the usual worries.

With a PIM you get:

⇨ Order instead of chaos
Structured, consistent product data that behaves the same across all channels.

⇨ Automation instead of manual copy-paste
Imports, exports, feeds, transformations handled by rules, not by people retyping.

⇨ A clear process instead of “ask around”
Defined ownership, workflows, and responsibilities around product data.

⇨ Faster sales instead of long “data prep” phases
New products and updates go live faster because the data is ready earlier.

⇨ Competitive edge instead of playing catch-up
When your content is complete, accurate and fast to market, you look more reliable than competitors who are still stuck in Excel.

See why adding a PIM system is a smart move, even when you rely on Excel or an ERP today.

Let’s connect this back to some of those repetitive, everyday questions from before – with a PIM in place:

❓ “Where is the latest product info?” – In the PIM, accessible to all. Everyone from marketing to sales to e-commerce pulls from the same up-to-date dataset, so no one needs to email around for “the latest spreadsheet.”

❓ “Is every channel updated?”, “Why is the old description still on the marketplace?” – The PIM software pushes the approved data and assets to each channel (website, distributors, marketplaces, print, etc.) in the right format, so you can be confident that all channels are showing the same correct info. Channel-specific rules are handled centrally (e.g., shorter titles for print catalog). There’s no need to manually re-enter data or double-check each platform.

Before PIM

• Website has one description
• Marketplace has a shorter one
• Distributor has an old one
• No one remembers which was updated when

❓ “Do we have the right image/specification?” – The PIM holds all those assets and attributes in one place, and typically includes version control and approval workflows. That means only the approved, current content goes out. Teams aren’t scrambling to figure out which image is final or which certificate is current – the PIM makes that clear.

❓ “Do we have all the attributes we need?” – With PIM, you can define completeness rules per channel to see at a glance which products are “ready for channel X”.

Before PIM

• You discover missing fields during import errors
• Sales pushes launch date back because “we’re still completing data”

❓ “Did we remember to send this to partner Y?”, “Who sent the B2B customer a catalog with outdated photos?” – The PIM ensures everyone who needs the data gets it. Whether it’s via an integration, an export, or a secure portal, the distribution is automated and targeted. Your partners can even be given controlled access to the PIM or receive scheduled data feeds, knowing they’re always getting the latest information.

❓ “Which version is correct?” – With one central repository, there is only one version that matters – the one in the PIM. If something changes (a new regulation, a spec improvement, a fixed typo), you update it in the PIM. This eliminates version mismatch issues like one team using an old Excel file while another has a newer one.

Before PIM

• “Ask Asia, she has the latest file.”
• “I think the product manager sent an updated Excel last week.”
• “Check the ‘FINAL_v7_final’ folder.”

❓ “Who changed this and when?” – PIM software provides user roles, workflows, approval steps so you can see history and roll back if needed. Changes are tracked automatically.

Before PIM

• You rely on file names and email history
  Everyone has editing rights to everything
• It’s hard to understand what changed and why

In essence, implementing a PIM transforms your product data from a messy, question-riddled chaos into a well-ordered ecosystem.

The cost of chaos

Manufacturing brands without a Product Information Management system often find themselves doing tedious, duplicate data entry for each channel, which wastes effort and still results in inconsistency and errors. 

In distribution businesses, managing thousands of SKUs via spreadsheets almost guarantees routine mistakes and omissions, causing breakdowns in the supply chain. If a distributor’s website has incomplete specs or an outdated image, customers lose confidence. Each instance of wrong or stale data erodes your brand’s authority and can make your product seem interchangeable with a competitor’s. Without a better solution, your team is stuck firefighting data issues instead of driving the business forward.

Learn 8 key arguments for using a PIM tool and see why alternative systems often fail to handle product data properly.

“But won’t PIM be a massive, risky project?”

What PIM solutions typically require:

1. Data reality check

• What product data do you have today?
• Where is it stored?
• Who uses it and how?

2. Decisions about ownership and structure

• Who owns product data?
• What does a “complete product” mean for you?
• Which attributes are standard, which are channel-specific?

3. Choosing and configuring the PIM

• Selecting the right platform (e.g., Pimcore, Akeneo, Ergonode or others)
• Modelling your product structure, attributes, categories
• Setting up workflows, roles, automations

4. Data cleaning and migration

• Consolidating spreadsheets and systems
• Fixing obvious issues (duplicates, inconsistent units, missing values)
• Importing into PIM with rules that will protect quality going forward

5. Integrations with your ecosystem

• ERP ⇿ PIM
• PIM ⇾ e-commerce / marketplaces / print / partners
• Adjusting data to each channel without losing the core truth

6. Training and change management

• Helping teams move from “send me that Excel” to “it’s in PIM”
• Making sure everyone understands the new, simpler process

PIM projects feel big because they touch many aspects and teams. With a clear plan and right partner, it is doable, and the work becomes a sequence of practical steps.

What if you do nothing?

• More products ⇾ more spreadsheets
• More channels ⇾ more copies of data
• More people ⇾ more conflicting edits
• More markets ⇾ more translations kept in random places

Eventually:

• Product launches slow down
• Errors reach customers and partners
• Internal trust in data drops
• You lose competitive speed compared to companies that have fixed their product data ecosystem

No more chaotic and unstructured product data management

No manufacturer or distributor should have to wrestle with disjointed, error-prone product information in today’s digital age. 

Implementing a PIM system means saying goodbye to the chaos and confusion that once surrounded your product data. Those nagging questions at the top of this article start to fade away. Instead of your team asking “Where is this info?” or “Is this correct?”, they’ll be executing strategies with confidence because the answers are readily available.

You’ll see the difference in day-to-day operations (fewer fire drills, more streamlined workflows) and in big-picture results (faster launches, improved customer trust, higher sales).

If you’re tired of answering the same product data questions again and again, maybe it’s time to change the approach. Let’s talk about your product data ecosystem and see if a PIM solution supported by AI is the right next step. We’ll map where you are, where you want to go – and if it makes sense, we’ll ride there together.

We take the time to learn your specific product data challenges and business goals. Are you struggling with a particular retailer’s requirements? Do you have complex technical specs that need special handling? Are you aiming to enter new markets in a year’s time? We factor all that in and design the solution that truly fits, using leading PIM platforms (like Pimcore, Akeneo, or others) as the foundation, and building the ecosystem around it that is clean, structured, automated, and ready to scale.