Amazon, eBay, OTTO, Zalando and bol.com have long been established sources of revenue for many retailers and brands. Gaining access to these platforms is rarely the problem. The challenge is supplying the data: each marketplace requires its own mandatory fields, categories and image formats, across hundreds or thousands of products.
Managing this data in Excel spreadsheets or directly in an e-commerce platform wastes time and introduces errors. Listings are rejected, information conflicts across channels, and new products go live later than planned. A PIM system addresses precisely these issues. Product data is maintained centrally, once, and then delivered to each marketplace in the right format.
PIM vendors such as Akeneo, inriver and Pimberly offer ready-made connectors to the major marketplaces. Specialists such as Salsify and Syndigo go a step further, showing how your products actually appear on retailers’ sites.
Less effort. Product titles, images, prices and technical specifications are maintained in one place. When something changes, the updated data is sent automatically to all connected marketplaces. No one has to enter the same change five times.
Better listings. Complete, consistent information makes products easier to find on marketplaces and reduces returns. Particularly with large product ranges, this can determine whether an item appears on the first page of results or goes unnoticed.
Define export formats. Specify the fields, categories and languages each marketplace needs. Amazon requires different information from Google Shopping or bol.com.
Automate updates. Synchronisation between the PIM system and the marketplace should run automatically. Otherwise, outdated data can remain online for days after a price change.
Use validation rules. Have the PIM system check that all mandatory fields are complete before exporting. This reduces rejected listings and follow-up queries from the platforms.
“Two-thirds of consumers abandoned a major purchase last year because product information was missing or inaccurate.”
In marketplace operations, a PIM system is not just a database running in the background. It is essential to presenting a product range accurately across multiple platforms at the same time. It distributes, updates and translates product information, prevents conflicting details and shortens the time to the first sale. For businesses looking to grow on Amazon, OTTO or Zalando, a central source of data is hard to do without.
Want to know how well your product data is prepared for marketplaces? Get in touch, and we will review your marketplace strategy in a brief conversation.
More on this topic: Salsify · Syndigo · Plytix
Matthias Kant is Managing Director of Digitize! GmbH, the company behind PIM-Consultants. Previously, he worked in marketing for the Independent Aftermarket at Continental and as a project manager and partner at the Droege Group and KMC Marketing Consultants. Today, he provides vendor-neutral support to manufacturers and retailers with PIM selection and PIM implementation. More about the team
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