For a long time now, companies have used more than one channel. The number of touchpoints a customer or potential customer can use to come into contact with a company is growing continually with the digital movement. Across all channels – in online shops, in catalogues or at the point-of-sale – the customer expects consistent information on products. A product information management system (PIM system) can support companies in living up to their customers’ expectations. However, before a company implements all product data centrally using a PIM, there are some aspects that must be observed. This means that simply acquiring a PIM is not a guarantee for smooth multi-channel communication. The appropriate processes and methods are required and implementation should be carried out successively and according to an agile procedure. And management should prepare the employees for the change in a timely manner. Moreover, the goal should not be to find one system than can do everything, rather to connect various systems with each other. It is important to specify a leading system from which point all further systems and channels are linked up. This guarantees the required level of flexibility. Furthermore, a well thought-out authorisation concept is of great significance as well as a well-developed multi-channel strategy which links up the individual channels in the PIM. Only this way can companies take full advantage of a PIM and provide customers with consistent customer experience at all touchpoints.

Abstract from the SDZeCOM Whitepaper: “Efficient product communication in multichannel – and the 8 Most Frequent Errors During Multi-Channel Communication.”

Download: www.sdzecom.de/wpmc (in german)

Picture credit © stokkete-fotolia.com