B2B is also no longer possible without PIM

When you talk about Product Information Management (PIM), the emphasis is often on B2C. But B2B e-commerce is growing enormously at the moment. This also increases the need for B2B to create better product information and make it accessible to new channels.

For the chain of manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers, e-commerce brings new challenges that PIM can help solve. These parties all have their own challenges, especially in industries where there is no industry standard. Is your company active in an industry where an industry standard for product information is already used? Congratulations! Then it will probably be a lot easier for you. In this article we focus on manufacturers, or brand owners, who are active in a sector in which an industry standard is not common. And there are quite a few.

Brand owners lack control

Popularly speaking, digital product information is nothing more than the digital twin of the real, physical product. But for many manufacturers, the digital sister is often the neglected child of the real product. However, as a manufacturer it is wise to also pay attention to its digital sister: digital product information. Especially when it comes to durable goods that are not purchased frequently. Because there is a good chance that the ultimate buyer of your product will first orientate themselves online, where the digital sister will have to hold its own. The information must be attractive, current and complete. And of course your product information must also be SEO optimized. The latter especially if you, as a manufacturer, want to sell the product directly to the consumer via your own online brand store (the Direct-to-Consumers trend).

Immediate danger

Good product information does more than just increase the chance of successful conversion. There is also a direct danger in neglecting product information as a manufacturer. There is then a real chance that a link in the chain, for example a retailer, will work with the information about your product itself. As a manufacturer, you therefore relinquish control over the presentation of your product on online channels such as web shops, product feeds, search engines, newsletters, digital shelf cards and marketplaces. As a result, violence can be done to the presentation of your products. In the areas of correctness, attractiveness, completeness, image/professional presentation in text, images and video. And ultimately, of course, also the overall image that you want to convey as a brand.

Big challenge

Your big challenge as a brand owner is therefore to optimally present your products in the sales channels of your partners such as retailers. A number of specific challenges from B2B practice:

• Outperform competitors: When the product information you send is incomplete or not attractive, there is a much greater chance that such a retailer or reseller will tinker with your product. Prevent this. You do this by ensuring that the product information you send contains good and multiple images, has the correct and complete set of specifications and has attractive descriptions. Do this structurally better than your competition. Do you want to go one step further? Then see if you can add information about the application of a product, customer reviews and USPs. Please note, of course you pay close attention to how you pay attention to a product. This does not make much sense for a set of tie wraps costing € 0.69, but of course it does for high-end office furniture, for example.
• Media: For the vast majority of product groups, multiple images work wonders. Not just to stimulate sales. But also to prevent bad purchases that result in customer dissatisfaction and returns. Tip: the experience that our customers have gained over the years is that it can even be worthwhile to make a 360 degree video per product for some product categories. This prevents returns.
• Classification: As obvious as it sounds, make sure that each product is always assigned to a product group. Are you active in an industry where industry standards are common? Preferably also use that classification structure for your export. There is a good chance that your customers are familiar with that structure and actively use it. This in turn reduces the chance that your products accidentally end up in the wrong structure, for example in the webshop of one of your customers. Another practical tip: do not continuously change your product groups in your export. Changes in the classification structure of exports lead to a lot of adjustment work by your customers, which is prone to errors. Which can lead to your products appearing in the wrong category on price lists or web shops, or no longer appearing at all.
• Bundles: Do you want to increase your margin when selling through third parties? Then see if you can create a predefined bundle from two or more articles. This of course has its own item number, its own image and description of which products are included in the bundle. It is of course important that you put together the bundle from items that you can actually deliver and handle administratively in your own systems.

A good PIM solution offers opportunities for these challenges

As a brand owner, it is important to position your products in your distributors' sales channels, the way you want as a brand owner. Take that digital sister seriously. It pays. If you follow the above advice, you are definitely on the right track! This greatly reduces the temptation for a seller to adjust the product content you have provided. After all, you provide quality product information to your customers that they can rely on.

Trust is still the basis of trade. If you want to prevent this from burdening you with all kinds of extra work and checks, then spreadsheets are no longer your friend. A good PIM system that allows you to tailor your product information to customer groups and then automatically publishes it to these customers is your new best friend.