Features

In brief: Some PIM vendors use “features” to refer to attributes that apply only to part of the product range, such as “screen size” for monitors only. Other systems call them class attributes or category-specific attributes.

Global and specific attributes

There are two types of attributes in PIM. Global attributes apply to all products, for example item number, name, brand or weight. Specific attributes, referred to here as features, apply only to certain classes or categories: a refrigerator has a usable capacity, but a vacuum cleaner does not.

Why the distinction matters

If every attribute were assigned to every product, face masks would have hundreds of empty fields, and completeness checks would be meaningless. Specific attributes ensure that each editor sees only the fields relevant to the product, and the PIM system can measure data completeness by category.

Example

An electronics retailer has 30 global attributes and 10 to 60 specific attributes for each product group. A television is assigned screen size, resolution and HDR standard, while headphones are assigned form factor, battery life and noise cancellation. Industry standards such as ETIM or ECLASS already define these class-specific attributes.

See also

• Properties / Attributes
• Classifications
• Values
• Data model
• Product data quality