In the complex landscape of B2B sales, managing extensive product data and supplier interactions effectively is crucial for success. E-Startups Kenya offers insights into leveraging Product Information Management (PIM) solutions to optimize your B2B marketplace.
What is a PIM?
Product Information Management (PIM) is a tool that centralizes and harmonizes all your product information from multiple sources. This software facilitates easier management of your products across both online and offline channels, enhancing data accuracy and consistency.
Features of B2B Marketplace
Quick Order
A fast order is without a doubt the most significant and crucial element of any B2B store. As a B2B supplier, you must be able to give a rapid order with the product name and SKU search.
B2B clients may order the product by using the fast order form and supplying the SKU or product name.
Price List
Any B2B store has a significant pricing problem. In every B2B system, pricing is quite complicated. A comprehensive module for such price difficulties must be available in a B2B business. We referred to it as a pricing list.
B2B eCommerce businesses, unlike B2C eCommerce sites, require a very complicated and functional pricing structure example pricing based on customer groups, pricing based on quotes, and pricing based on categories, etc.
Quote System
A quote is an important element of any business-to-business store. There is no B2B Shop without a quotation system.
The quotation system must be highly versatile, and it must include all types of quotation-related capabilities, such as file attachment and custom file upload.
Sales Representative
A sales representative is not included in many typical B2B businesses. Several businesses even produce quotes and RFQs without using a sales representative.
Quotes should, ideally, include sales representatives. The fact that in medium and large-scale stores. Without a sales representative, it is difficult to convert a sale.
Suppliers Microsite
It’s also critical to provide a microsite option for vendors. When you have a B2B marketplace like Alibaba, this is much more crucial.
Using a microsite for a supplier or business. Vendors can give a variety of information about their products, as well as information about their firm and trade practices.
What is PIM?
Product Information Management (PIM) software will make it easier for you to create, collect, and manage product information for both online and offline catalogs.
PIM can be used by retailers and as well as brands to strengthen supplier relationships, and eCommerce managers can use it to get a full picture of the impact product data has on sales.
However, data governance teams can benefit from using a PIM tool to track and meet compliance requirements.
hy B2B Marketplaces Need a PIM System
B2B marketplaces face unique challenges, such as managing extensive product lists and maintaining data uniformity across multiple seller interfaces. A PIM solution ensures data consistency and quality, providing a single source of truth for all product information, which is crucial for:
- Managing Bulk Product Data: Simplifies handling large volumes of data across various categories and suppliers.
- Organizing Digital Assets: Efficiently manages an array of digital content such as images, manuals, and videos, enhancing product listings.
Transparency between Departments and Teams is Lacking
Large corporations face a well-known challenge in terms of business communication. Departments tend to become isolated as a company grows, failing to share information, tools, goals, and priorities.
Inefficiency and as well as duplicity in the workplace result from these communication barriers.
Users from different departments will be able to communicate easily once you’ve implemented open-source PIM software.
furthermore, It becomes easier for them to keep others informed about important tasks and deadlines, reducing team member confusion.
Spreadsheets that are Prone to Errors and Manual Tasks
If your company still uses spreadsheets, you’re probably aware that maintaining them is inconvenient and time-consuming. Uploading thousands of product data into a spreadsheet by hand takes hours and is prone to errors.
Spreadsheet accuracy can be improved by using an open-source PIM system. You can bulk-enter product data and as well as create workflows with PIM.
- Improving Inter-departmental Transparency: Facilitates better communication and data access across different business units.
- Reducing Manual Errors: Minimizes the risks associated with manual data entry and management.
- Streamlining Product Catalogs: Makes it easier to manage updates and maintain accuracy across extensive product ranges.
The Best Tools for Your PIM B2B Marketplace
It depends on how quickly you want to get started and what you want to accomplish, but when it comes to PIM systems for your marketplace, there are two clear leaders:
Akeneo
Akeneo PIM is a simple-to-use PIM that streamlines all of your processes. It will centralize all product data and collect, disseminate, and as well as enrich product data more efficiently. It’s simple to incorporate into other systems and tools.
Here are five of the most important benefits of Akeneo PIM for an online business.
Product Experience is Improved with Akeneo PIM
PIM customers may utilize Asset Manager to manage and convert product-related digital assets in order to offer powerful, tailored product experiences in the online shop.
Additionally, it improves API-level connectivity with current DAM–Digital Asset Management systems, allowing you to link assets to product catalogs.
The Conversion Rate has Improved
More sales and fewer returns result from better product information. Conversion rates improve by up to 56 per cent, according to Akeneo’s data.
Publication and Versioning
Given the potential for several users to work on a project at the same time, maintaining an audit trail of modifications and edits is critical for both team members and end-users to guarantee that the most correct data is published.
Akeneo makes Localization and Translation simple
With Akeneo, you can simply translate and localize product information before pushing it to the appropriate sales and eCommerce channels.
Using a Single Sign-On
The single sign-on functionality is extremely useful for users who access and administer several Akeneo apps.
Users may log in to numerous apps with a single set of credentials, and they can also create an Identity Provider, which gives higher-level users the power to authenticate other users’ identities and grant or restrict access to the appropriate applications.
Entities of Reference
Reference entities in Akeneo’s Enterprise Edition allow users to link goods that have common characteristics or qualities, making the product enrichment process more efficient.
To guarantee that all essential data is available, each entity might have many properties.
Pimcore
- Open-Source Flexibility: Offers extensive customization options to tailor the PIM to your specific requirements.
- Comprehensive Data Management: Combines product information management with digital asset management (DAM), ensuring comprehensive data coherence.
- Multi-Channel Capability: Facilitates product information dissemination across various e-commerce platforms efficiently.
Conclusion
A robust PIM system is not just a tool but a strategic asset in today’s data-driven market environment. For B2B marketplaces, leveraging a PIM solution means more than just managing product information; it’s about transforming how you interact with your sellers and buyers, enhancing overall operational efficiency and driving business growth.
Discover how E-Startups Kenya can help implement a PIM solution tailored to your B2B marketplace needs, ensuring your operations are as efficient and effective as possible. Contact us today to learn more about our services and how we can assist in the growth and scalability of your business.
