In this talk we will discuss what is a PIM and for which use cases a PIM can be your number 1 problem solver. Besides PIM Systems there are many other ways to centralize your Product Information. In some cases a PIM is over engineered and there are other solutions to get the job done. We will take a look at those Solutions starting with BI-Tools which help you to gather and consolidate Information from various sources to Magento Extensions that add missing functionality to your shop.

2. Today‘s Objectives
#1 Share basic knowledge about PIM
#2 Show other integration solutions
#3 When to use a PIM
#4 Motivate you to rethink your
process

3. Who‘s using a PIM
already?

4. What‘s the main reason
for a PIM
Shorten new Product Introduction
More time to sell those products

5. Benefits using a PIM
• Consistency
• Completeness
• Accuracy

6. Product Information
Management
PIM
Suppliers
Media Assets
ERP
External Data
Magento
Print Media
Mobile
Marketplaces
Collect Manage Deliver

7. PIM
Parts of a PIM
PIM

8. PIM as its best
Multi Channel
Attribute
Unstructured
Data
Classification
Language

9. PIM as its best
Workflow

10. Why reinvent the wheel?

11. Extract Transform Load
ETL
Web Service
Database
File
Message Queue
Web Service
Database
File
Message Queue
Extract Transform Load

12. When to use ETL
• Accessible data
• Minor content to add
• Quality of content is high
• No Workflows

13. Theory meets Reality
REALITY
CHECK
AHEAD

14. Data Cleansing
• There are always Exceptions
• No immediate Feedback
• Flag Problems solve them in bulk
• 94% of companies use spreadsheets*
to manage product information
* Source Ventana Research - Mastering Product Information

15. Benefits using
Spreadsheets
• Software is easily available
• Familiar Environment
• Easy to analyze
• Every System can Export to it
• Auto Generation of Attribute Values

16. Pitfalls using
Spreadsheets
• Collaboration
• Figuring out trusted source
• Difficult to import
• No immediate Feedback

17. Our Approach
• Excel as Backend Replacement
• Sync Service keeps track of changes
• Authentication against Magento
• Assistants give immediate Feedback
• Editors help working with data

18. • Enrich Data
• Data isn‘t complete
• Restricted Access
• Needs Approval
• Catalog changes
• > 3k products
• More than one channel
• Unstructured Content
• Attributes are not
present in Magento
• Different Classifications
A PIM is for you
CHANNELCATALOG
WORKFLOW

19. Benno Lippert
@bennolippert
www.cobby.io

20. Q&A

21. THANKS!!!

22. All trademarks used in this Slides are the
property of their respective owners, and
no affiliation between them and Benno
Lippert is expressed or implied.
Attribution according to CC
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/
• Slug - Jems Mayor – The Noun Project
• Rocket - Sebastian Viteri – The Noun Project
• Bible - Dan Hetteix – The Noun Project
• Wheel - Adam Terpening – The Noun Project