PIM KNOWLEDGE
In brief: ERP systems (Enterprise Resource Planning) manage a company’s business operations: purchasing, warehousing, production, sales and accounting. They are the primary source of master data for a PIM system, such as item numbers, prices and weights.
The ERP system manages everything needed for logistics and billing: item numbers, descriptions, prices, inventory, bills of materials, suppliers and orders. It usually lacks the capacity for marketing content: long descriptions in multiple languages, hundreds of attributes per category, images, documents and channel-specific content. This is where PIM comes in.
| ERP | PIM |
|---|---|
| Item numbers, prices, inventory | Descriptions, attributes, images, documents |
| Purchasing, warehousing, orders | Enrichment, translation, approval |
| Business documents and accounting | Delivery to online stores, marketplaces and print |
In most projects, an item is created in the ERP system and transferred to PIM. There, it is enriched and approved for use across channels. Prices and inventory levels often flow directly from the ERP system to the online store. It is important to define which system is the source of truth for each field. Read more in our article on PIM and ERP.
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PIM KNOWLEDGE
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