The situation is changing rapidly. What started with one human somewhere has spread to 150+ countries across the world, and WHO has declared this as a pandemic.
The impact of COVID-19 (CoronaVirus) is going to (or has already) affected businesses worldwide. The sales have dropped. Footfalls are at an all-time low. Website traffic has shrunk. The phone is hardly ringing for B2B merchants. The situation across the world is… um, we all know. And let’s hope things turn well soon.
Retailers and manufacturers, both big and small, online and offline, are in a sphere of uncertainty, not knowing what lies in the future for their business. But does that mean companies can stay at peace until the situation normalizes? Definitely not. Because rain or shine, the wheel has to keep spinning – online stores and places where your products are listed have to be continually updated, even in times like these.
With remote working in place, are you wondering how it is possible to keep all things updated? Read on, and we will take you into the world of PIM to show how it can be done.
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What is PIM?
Product Information Management (PIM) is a storage system, using which you can maintain and manage all your company’s product data, from WHEREVER you are.
You can integrate PIM with your online commerce channels (Magento, BigCommerce, Shopify, Adobe, WooCommerce, etc.), ERP systems, printing catalogs, shopping places, data sources, software systems, and everywhere your products/product data is put.
PIM also works as a multichannel marketing tool that gives you full control over how you express your products or services to the world.
If you have a complex product information setup, if you want to streamline your product data, if you want to sell globally to scale your business, if you want to send your products to market faster, and if you want to do so many things, more to improve your sales – well, hands down, it’s high time for you to adopt PIM and offer an exponential customer experience at every touchpoint.
COVID-19 Effect on Businesses
No one would have expected 2020 would be like this. This breakdown was unexpected and took the whole world to a pause mode. The business operations have stopped. Airports have closed. Borders are blocked. People are in a panic. And whatnot. No doubt, COVID-19 is going to take a toll on the majority of businesses during this lockdown.
While the whole world is hoping things will be alright soon, can the business owners and stakeholders also stay afloat with hope? Well, you know the answer – definitely not. To keep businesses running, hopes alone will not do. We need plans, action plans that can derive the best of any circumstances and help serve the customers. Brands have to adapt and be flexible to meet the ever-changing needs. Is your business ready?
If you are selling your products online, we are sure you’d have so much work behind the screen that neither the website visitors nor the buyers see. But in times like these, do you know having a PIM system will streamline your whole business and make the process efficient.
How PIM helps businesses during COVID-19?
If you are selling your products on various platforms, the content that supports your products must be accurate, reliable, and attractive. People from different parts of the world are seeing and placing orders based on the description you provided on the product page. It cannot be misleading or incomplete if you want to succeed in the long-term.
Now, given the situation, we will explain how you can keep every product updated with rich content and assistance of PIM. And know how PIM helps.
- Complete Focus On Online Stores Now
With cities under lockdown and people being asked to #StayHomeStaySafe, chances are bleak for buyers to go out and buy what they need. Hence, online stores would be their preference right now. More people will soon be depending on online stores for purchases.
Make sure your online store is fully updated and up-to-date. You would not want to be losing prospective customers, especially at this point. Short and long descriptions, specs, images, reviews, and abundant content such as a demo video or a 3D image… Give as much information as possible so they will not have a second thought of buying elsewhere.
- Send To All Channels From PIM
Time is a crucial factor now. Well, not just now. Anyways, if you want to change the data of a particular product or add a new product, what do you do? Do you edit/add in all platforms your product is listed?
Say, you are selling a product on five platforms. Do you manually change in every platform? If the answer is yes… um, we feel sorry for you. Maybe you should have known PIM earlier.
Nevertheless, better now than never. With PIM, you can send ALL the product data to all places where your products are listed. This way, you can save time, loads of time. All you have to do is: Integrate your marketplaces with PIM. The rest is quick magic.
Efficient Marketing With PIM, Now And Ever
“Duh? Efficient marketing, really? In times like this?”
No matter how world-class your products or services are, if you are not reaching out to the world and letting them know about the wonder you possess, it is no good news.
And yes, we stand by what we say: you can do marketing more efficiently with PIM, now and ever. How many times have you searched for any particular images or content? What you thought would take a minute to find, took ages? We all would have gone through that phase.
But with PIM, reduce the time for searching, reduce the time for editing, reduce the time for collecting, reduce the time for sending to all channels, reduce the time for publishing. Why? Because all that you need to design and do your marketing activities are stored in a single storage system in PIM that can be accessed by all (or by those you give access).
No need to publish content manually and specify their attributes on each channel anymore – data collected, sorted, and verified data could be published with just one click, from anywhere you are.
This way, you don’t even have to wait for your graphic designer to send some images. You know where you will get the files you want. Cool, right? Use flexiPIM, it’s cooler.
- Minimize Manual Effort
Over the past few weeks, as concerns over COVID-19 have grown, companies asked employees to work from home. While work from home is a boon for some and a bane for some, let’s not talk about it. However, it would make a good topic for a debate show. Just saying. 😉
Okay, so how does PIM reduce manual effort? Well, this is how.
With PIM connected to all the channels where you are selling goods, the wheel keeps spinning, and things get synchronized automatically without less (or no) manual effort.
All you need to do is set up once and feed the necessary details whenever necessary; PIM takes care of the rest. Automate your tasks and focus more on your business goals because it is crucial now more than ever to finalize how your business is going to wade the storm that looms ahead.
- Sell Worldwide With PIM
The best thing about selling online is, you can sell your products online anywhere across the world. If you developed a niche for yourself in the current place where you are selling or if you just want to offer your products in places where they need the most, then this is the time.
But how do you do that? Because a feature of PIM lets you!
flexPIM’s Multi-language feature lets you translate the product data in 150+ languages that you need – titles, descriptions, short notes, features, and all. Localize them and start selling in new places.
And the best part, it does not cost a dime making you save costs, you save time as a feature does things for you, and you get to greet a whole new audience.
Are you ready? Es-tu prêt? Siete pronti? Oletko valmis? Sind Sie bereit?
Bulk Upload
Sometimes there arrives a situation where you have to upload a massive amount of product data into the channels? You can upload all files at once, in a few clicks. Saves a lot of time.
And sending your products to the market gives you a competitive advantage over other competitors. Why delay things when you can upload in one shot, edit in one go, and launch on the go.
Oh, yes, as easy as it sounds!
Want to learn more or have any questions? Let’s talk. We’d love to.
