When you look at the definitions of Product Information Management (PIM) and digital transformation, there are loads of cross-overs. As digital transformation gains more traction from businesses of all sizes, more investment will be geared towards future-proofing. So, it’s unsurprising that 50% of IT spending will be dedicated to digital transformation initiatives by 2024.
When embarking on or refining your digital transformation journey, technology will be front and center of your thought process. Of course, every business has its different requirements, so the same will apply to your tech stack. Therefore, choosing solutions that are right for you will be key to any successful digital transformation strategy.
In eCommerce, it’s even more important to carefully consider your tech stack as it directly impacts your overall success. This is where the discussion about PIM and digital transformation comes into play, so let’s dive in!
What is Product Information Management (PIM)?
Product Information Management (PIM) provides businesses with a central repository for all product data needed to effectively market and sell products online. PIM connects with any number of internal and external systems enabling you to gather, store, manage, enrich, and distribute product information and digital assets from one central hub. Overall, it enables eCommerce businesses to create a single source of truth and to ensure accuracy and consistency across all sales channels
PIM is fast becoming an indispensable tool for eCommerce businesses looking to scale and grow. With PIM, you can totally streamline processes and automate up to 80% of manual tasks relating to product data management. In other words, this gives you more time to focus on wider business objectives, such as improving the customer experience.
PIM gives you the power to nail a super-effective omnichannel strategy and create consistently amazing product experiences across all channels. Moreover, you can incorporate hyper-personalization into your eCommerce strategy by linking with Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to make intelligent product recommendations.
What is digital transformation?
Digital transformation is the process of leveraging digital technologies to create or change business processes. One of the main objectives of an effective digital transformation strategy is to improve efficiencies, drive innovation, and add value. Streamlined processes lend themselves to a future-proofed business, which is essential in any fast-paced environment such as eCommerce.
Many manual processes hinder growth and don’t favor scalability. For example, managing product data in spreadsheets or across multiple disparate systems is incredibly time-consuming and labor-intensive. To add to that, it often leads to human error and inaccuracies. This negatively impacts the customer experience you deliver and may deter customers from shopping with you again.
In short, digital transformation changes the way you operate and alters the way you engage with team members, customers, and technology as a whole. It’s all about future-proofing your business, all while improving the employee and customer experience. While technology is clearly a vital element of any digital transformation strategy, people will always play an integral role in driving change.
The link between PIM and digital transformation
Digital transformation focuses on improving internal processes to in turn improve employee and customer experiences. This is also one of the main benefits of having a solid Product Information Management system in place. So, it’s no wonder the two go hand-in-hand.
To conclude, PIM enables you to boost operational efficiency, reduce costs, speed your time to market, and improve the customer experience. All of these factors are intrinsic to digital transformation initiatives, so it’s no wonder more and more eCommerce businesses are adopting this technology.
Check out this infographic for the full low-down on the relationship between PIM and digital transformation!
Big-ticket events like COP26 and Earth Day gaining more prominence, so it’s no surprise businesses are upping their sustainability standards. Currently, there’s a vast array of reporting standards relating to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices. However, as soon as the last half of 2022, the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation will set out new frameworks.
This will coincide with the formation of the new International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). By steering away from the alphabetic soup of current reporting standards (GRI, SDGs, TCFP), companies can prevent double reporting and simplify the process for good. Overall, the objective of these new frameworks is to facilitate consistent and comparable reporting across the board. Important to note is the need for the standardization of data.
To add to that, the EU Commission launched the Circular Economy Action Plan1 in 2020. This will be a total overhaul of how fashion and apparel businesses operating in Europe design, produce, market, sell, and dispose of their products.
So, just like with the new IFRS Sustainability Standards, businesses will need to clearly communicate sustainability practices with in-depth, quality data. The hope is that these new product information requirements will prevent fashion and apparel businesses from Greenwashing. Most importantly, these new initiatives pave the way for businesses, consumers, and investors to put green practices at the core of their decision-making.
Now, let’s delve a little deeper into what these changes mean for businesses in the fashion and apparel space. We’ll also look at the role of Product Information Management (PIM) solutions in this new age of data transparency.
It’s time to change the way you work. Full stop.
The introduction of these new legislations inevitably means you’re going to have to change the way you work. From sourcing materials to designing products and marketing them in a way you know will guarantee a sustainable end of life, a total revamp of processes is in order. If we take it step-by-step, here are some of the key things that are going to be top of mind every step of the way:
Sourcing materials:
Sourcing materials often leads to some of the highest emissions from fashion and apparel businesses. For instance, the fashion industry alone accounts for 20% of the world’s wastewater. Not to mention the carbon-heavy processes associated with treating, dyeing, and transporting textiles and components. Adopting a circular economy starts at the very beginning of the product development lifecycle, and customers (and investors) will likely want eyes on the information relating to these processes.
Designing products:
Fast fashion is one of the main culprits in the “take-make-dispose” mentality that massively contributes to huge amounts of waste, otherwise referred to as the linear economy. As the old saying goes, quality over quantity is where it needs to be. It’s time to embrace a new era of products that are designed and built to last. Furthermore, the end of life of clothing and footwear items needs to be considered at the design stage to ensure we can get the best possible value from all the resources we use.
The way you market:
Greenwashing is a term regularly thrown around in the fashion and apparel industry, and the aim of the new sustainability standards is to put an end to this. People are doing more and more research around the green credentials of the products they’re buying, or the company they’re going to work for or invest in. They want solid proof that they’re contributing to the solution, not the problem, in doing business with you. This is where you can really leverage your product data and digital assets to tell your sustainability story. Give your customers, employees, and investors the solid proof they’re looking for when checking out your ESG goals.
The end of life of products:
Around 60% of clothing items end up in landfills. Adopting a more circular economy is what we all need to aim for to ensure this is no longer the case. The good news is that there are lots of things companies and consumers can do to move away from the linear model. As an example, fashion and apparel businesses can explore the use of recycling end-of-life products to create new ones. Where possible, you should always be arming your customers with all the after-care information they need. This could range from how to repair items, or how best to take care of items to ensure they get the best possible use from them. Again, this is where meticulous management of your product data will be key!
How far off are we from new sustainability standards?
1: Direct emissions a company has control over i.e., onsite energy use, and fuel consumed by company vehicles
2: Indirect emissions used by companies such as electricity, heating, and cooling
3: Indirect emissions caused by a company’s operations like waste generated in manufacturing and production, logistics, employee commuting, and goods and services used by the business
Often, Scope 1 and 2 emissions are much easier for a business to regulate and report on. As such, around 40% of retailers surveyed are on track to meet these goals. Understandably, scope 3 emissions are much harder to control which is why less than 20% of retailers are on track to reduce these.
Although this highlights a need for retailers to drastically change some of their core practices, there are encouraging statistics emerging that indicate change is happening. For instance, around $8.5 in supplier contracts were canceled in the UK alone amid ethical and sustainability concerns. All in all, over 70% of businesses are on the same page when it comes to sustainability. They agree these initiatives will drive value in the long term, be that from a customer, employee, or investor perspective.
What do environmentally savvy customers want to know?
New legislation and reporting standards mean businesses need to provide more granular detail around their products as a whole. This massively benefits businesses that are championing green initiatives as this is fast becoming a key focus for many consumers.
For those looking to make environmentally sound purchases, you need to provide them with detailed information so they can make informed buying decisions. Some of the details they’ll be looking for might include the following:
Pre-purchase information:
How products are sourced and what they’re made from. This may include things like the working conditions in factories and along the supply chain. It will likely include details of product transportation and logistics, like product air miles, etc.
Key product details:
This is where it can get very granular. To be truly environmentally friendly, you need to give details on every single component of a product. This may include the materials used, the methods of extracting the raw materials, the dyes used – the list goes on! Overall, it’s best to provide as much detail as possible to offer that extra layer of reassurance.
Delivery details:
It’s great buying sustainably sourced and manufactured products, but it’s pointless if masses of Co2 are emitted upon delivery. This is where it’s important to highlight the different delivery options you offer. Important to note that you need to let customers know how long environmentally friendly options will take if there is a significant difference.
Post-purchase considerations:
To ensure customers the most from their purchases, let them know what they can do to look after their products to extend their lifespan as much as possible. After-care instructions or how to repair garments will move consumers towards a more circular mindset. You could also consider offering a repair service to further extend the lifespan of products.
How you can step up to new sustainability standards with PIM
Businesses with existing sustainability reporting processes in place will likely find these new changes much easier to deal with. If this is the case, it’s also likely that surfacing the details environmentally savvy consumers want to see will also be easier. But where does PIM come into this, I hear you ask!
Well, there are powerful tools that will help you standardize product data to meet new reporting standards. These come in the form of workflows where you can specify rules for what product data should look like. This will mean that, regardless of how many data sources you have, you can ensure consistency and conformity across your entire product range. What’s more, you can create data sets in line with your specific business requirements which will further reinforce accuracy and consistency.
From a customer perspective, workflows will also be super handy. This is because they will give you full visibility over the accuracy and completeness of product data. Furthermore, you can specify which bits of product data you want to publish to different sales channels. This might include videos showing workers in factories, or of your products being produced.
Not to mention, you have huge storage capabilities within your PIM. As such, you can store, manage, and distribute all sorts of media files that showcase your green credentials. Anything ranging from images and video to PDF documents showing regulatory compliance and industry-standard certifications. These huge storage capabilities also enable you to store the vast array of details environmentally savvy consumers want to see. From pre-purchase right through to post-purchase, you can serve them all the details they need to make ethically responsible purchases.
We’ve got a dedicated whitepaper on how you can leverage your product data to meet new sustainability standards. Follow the link below to access yours free today!
If your eCommerce sales strategy doesn’t already include a Direct to Consumer (DTC) strand,—you could be missing out. As one of the biggest retail trends that is shaking up the way huge brands like Nike do business, DTC can be successfully used to help grow your business.
As with any new sales strategy, it’s important to consider the advantages and disadvantages before you take the plunge. In this article, we’ll explore what DTC is, why a growing number of brands are adding this model to their strategy, and how you can successfully start selling directly to your own customers.
What is DTC?
DTC stands for Direct to Consumer. You might also sometimes see it referred to as D2C. DTC allows you to connect directly with your customers instead of relying on reaching them through an intermediary like marketplaces.
Why do brands go DTC?
While DTC has been a solid sales choice for many years, the COVID-19 pandemic certainly accelerated its popularity. With store closures and supply chain issues disrupting the ways in which brands can successfully serve their customers, Direct to Consumer offers a way to connect directly with your target market on their terms. Three in four consumers say they like to buy directly from a brand. Moreover, 82% say they are more likely to become loyal to an eCommerce business they have a direct relationship with, according to research from Linnworks. By 2023, DTC eCommerce sales in the US are predicted to reach $174.98 billion, up from $129.31 billion in 2021.
DTC can, and should, be a complement to your other sales channels. It helps you develop a rounded, multichannel sales strategy, with omnichannel at the core, that meets your customers where they want to shop. Recent research from Linnworks found that 76% of customers say a convenient shopping experience is their key priority. And DTC channels can help you deliver what your customers want.
Benefits of DTC
Offering your products directly to your consumers brings great benefits that can help boost business growth and customer lifetime value. Here are some of the main advantages of this strategy.
Retaining your customer data
Online privacy is becoming more important to consumers. With third-party cookies being phased out by the majority of internet browsers, many eCommerce businesses are looking for new ways to connect with future customers. DTC fills that gap by allowing you to collect first-party data from your own website. By dealing directly with your customers, you have full control of the information they decide to share with you.
Control over the customer experience
When a consumer shops through your own branded website or app, you have full control over the entire customer journey. By providing a personalized experience, you can offer a seamless shopping experience. Overall, this will be far more likely to drive customer retention by converting one-time purchasers into loyal, repeat customers.
Diversify your sales strategy
If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that having a diverse sales strategy is essential to success. Customers these days expect your products to be available where they want to find them. DTC offers a distribution model that’s less reliant on third-party sellers, including marketplaces and retailers. By taking advantage of multiple sales channels, you can offer the flexibility and convenience that consumers demand.
Challenges of DTC
While everything about DTC so far sounds pretty awesome, there are of course some challenges that come along with this strategy. These certainly shouldn’t put you off from adding DTC to your sales channels. For long-term success, you need to consider overcoming these challenges first.
Inventory management
Depending on how you decide to manage your DTC interactions, your inventory management may need an overhaul. If you traditionally relied on marketplace sales, then certain stages of the customer journey, like order processing, packing, and distribution, are often handled by the marketplace. Adding a DTC strand means you may need to pay more attention to managing your inventory and orders across multiple sales channels.
Financial investment
DTC may seem like a relatively low-cost strategy but when you look at the details, the financial investment can soon add up. You’ll have a range of costs to consider, including:
Setting up an eCommerce website
Driving traffic to your site
Investing in technology and IT
How to sell Direct to Consumer
Before you launch any DTC strategy, the first thing to consider is how you’ll successfully manage multiple sales channels. Not having control over your inventory across different channels can lead to major problems. This includes things like overselling, stockouts, and not having any data to help you grow your business.
With 43% of retailers using more than four tools to manage their inventory and fulfillment across multiple sales channels, there’s a lot of potential for inefficiencies, complications, and errors. The answer is to implement a single, easy-to-use platform.
This is one of the most effective and efficient ways to take control of your sales across DTC and all other channels. Using an automated, centralized inventory and order management system like Linnworks can help:
Improve business performance
Increase operational agility
Improve the customer experience
Reduce costs
Provide full visibility over inventory
Offer access to detailed data
Many businesses are starting to realize the need for increased control over their sales. So, it’s hardly surprising that 92% of retailers intend to invest in technology over 2022 to help them better manage processes.
Adopting a Multichannel mindset
DTC comes with many benefits, but for the best business growth, it’s always best to integrate this into your wider sales channel strategy. You should have omnichannel at the core of your strategy, — complementing your own website with other channels. Consider blending a range of sales channels, including a range of marketplaces and possibly social platforms.
Adopting a flexible, multichannel approach like this means that you’re never reliant on just one sales channel, but you can also meet all your customers when and where they’re ready to make their purchase. A Total Commerce strategy like this helps you take advantage of every sales opportunity.
Transitioning to Total Commerce
Customers want to shop on their terms, and successful retailers understand they need to bring their brands to the customer. Adding a Direct to Consumer component to your sales strategy optimizes your ability to create a seamless shopping experience for all customers.
While there are some challenges with DTC sales, the majority of these can be overcome by choosing to use a centralized order and inventory management system that offers insightful data to help you grow your business. DTC doesn’t have to be complicated, and by choosing the right tools, you can make the most of a sales strategy that offers huge potential growth for your business.
Linnworks connects, manages, and automates commerce operations, powering businesses to sell wherever their customers are and capture every revenue opportunity. With Linnworks, integrate your commerce technologies into one central system and scale up quickly with automated workflows and insights. Find out more at www.linnworks.com.
Spring is springing! After short days and dull weather, we’re all eager to pack away the winter warmers, embrace longer days, and (hopefully) more sunshine – though, for us Mancunians, that’s not guaranteed…
Spring is synonymous with new beginnings with bursts of life and color. So, what better way to welcome the new season than to have your product pages flourishing with exactly that – life and color! Luckily, Digital Asset Management (DAM) will turn this into a lovely spring walk in the park.
Spring also houses some noteworthy dates, like Mothering Sunday, Easter, and Father’s Day, which are big-ticket items for the eCommerce calendar. This adds to the importance of having flourishing product pages that provide an unrivaled customer experience. In this blog, we’re going to talk about how you can make the most of your digital assets to create amazing online experiences, as well as improving your online conversion rates.
The importance of digital assets in the buyer journey
The human brain processes images and video a lot better than text (up to 60,000 quicker!) so making sure you’re creating a visual experience is key in providing a great customer experience.
Research shows that one of the first things your customers will look at will likely be your digital assets. Having a variety of high-quality images and videos will put you in good stead when they come to make their purchasing decision. Provide a full overview and bring your products to life. Front, back, and side shots and, when it comes to clothing, videos of how the garment falls when it’s actually worn are all a must!
How to use image and video in the buyer journey
There are different ways of using digital assets throughout the different stages of the buyer journey to turn a browser into a buyer. As well as showcasing your products, images and video are a great way of telling your brand story. They enable your customers to create that deep and meaningful relationship with your brand. Product videos are also a great way of demonstrating how a product works and how to use it. Think tutorials, styling tips, lifestyle shots, and how-to guides to give your customers all the confidence they need in their buyer journey.Not to mention, videos can massively boost your SEO. Customers spend more time on your pages, which is an important ranking factor. Furthermore, video is classed as “premium content”, so product pages featuring video will often be prioritized by search engines.
Check out our Ultimate Guide to SEO for eCommerce whitepaper for a deep dive into PIM and SEO best practices
Create amazing product pages for a competitive edge
Making sure your product images & videos look on point throughout your eCommerce site is obviously really important, but think about third-party marketplaces, too.
On Amazon and eBay, competitors may well be selling a similar product, even imitations. A comprehensive set of digital assets will enable you to give that extra layer of product information. It also reassures buyers of your products’ quality and authenticity.
On Amazon, you can have up to seven product images whereas eBay allows up to 12. If those product images and videos are varied i.e., from different angles, high-quality, and show a lifestyle shot, you’re likely to get a better listing and create a good competitive edge. Make sure your product images are high resolution. Your customers should be able to zoom in to get the best possible customer experience.
Some examples from our lovely customers!
Office Team:
FurnitureBox:
Digital asset management – DAM, that’s the dream!
The above is all well and good, I hear you say, but how does it work in practice if you’re managing thousands even millions of SKUs? Fear not – the Pimberly DAM makes digital asset management an absolute dream!
Be gone the days of storing your digital assets in different locations. Bring everything together in one place in the centralized hub that is Pimberly, at no extra cost. This means all your colleagues, clients, and suppliers have controlled access to everything they need. Our digital asset management feature is designed to store any number of file formats. That ranges from image, video, PDF’s or any other documentation you require.
Bring your product pages to life
You can easily add color to your product pages by automatically linking your digital assets to your products. Provided there is a unique identifier, Pimberly automatically allocates the relevant digital assets to the relevant product. You can view all digital assets on one page, with infinite scrolling. There is also a uniquely designed interface that displays animated collage and grid views. This means you can quickly get your hands on what you’re looking for.
Pimberly also automates the conversion, re-sizing, and renaming of digital assets to fit the requirements of the different channels you’re selling through with the channel configurator. This drastically reduces the manpower behind making sure your products are always accompanied by the highest-res, highest quality digital assets.
Personalizing the customer experience depending on demographics, geographies or the markets you’re selling into is crucial to get the best possible results. We recognize this, which is why Pimberly gives you the power to store different images for the same products. Think high vis jacket – you can choose to display a different image for a construction sector worker than you would for someone in the security sector. You can also use AI to create automatic tagging of images. This means you can show more relevant content when displaying “shop the look” or upsells and cross-sells.
In eCommerce, planning ahead is key. “Lock n’ load” campaigns well ahead of time to have more scope to focus on other business objectives. For each campaign, you’ll have a different set of product descriptions and digital assets. Store them in Pimberly and automatically publish them on the date you specify. Your campaign-ready product descriptions, digital assets, and prices will automatically publish on that date, for whatever amount of time you choose to determine.
Find out more about perfecting your product campaign planning with PIM
All in all, using DAM simplifies the way you populate your product pages with images, videos, and much more. Follow suit with Spring – make your product pages flourish with more life and color with digital assets that will dazzle and delight.
Whether you want to build awareness around a new product launch on social media or want to clear the maximum amount of products at the optimal prices on marketplaces, Product Information Management (PIM) software will help. Any revenue generation campaign requires a huge amount of planning and extensive management. From fixing campaign goals to defining the marketing strategy, multiple departments need to collaborate to ensure you generate the best possible results. A tricky task if the right technologies aren’t in place.
That’s why PIM will help you perfect your product campaign planning and management. It acts as a central hub where you can store, manage, enrich and distribute all the creative assets needed to effectively market and sell products online. To add to that, all teams can access everything they need as it’s all in one place, so you can truly champion collaboration. Massive storage capabilities enable you to lock n’ load all your campaign assets well ahead of time.
Let’s break it down and take a look at how PIM will help you nail your product campaign planning and management.
Speedy new product launches
New product launches can account for up to 25% of a company’s revenue and can massively strengthen customer retention. However, 79% of products aren’t launched on time due to the required product information and digital assets being stored in disparate systems. The solution? Store everything in one place so it’s ready to launch at a moments’ notice and gain vital extra selling days.
Having this oasis of product data essentially means you can:
Quickly get new products to market with totally streamlined approval processes to gain vital extra selling days
Create consistency across multiple channels to ensure you’re not causing customer frustration with incorrect data or confusing brand messaging*
Position yourself as the go-to eCommerce business where customers know they can find everything they need
Clearing old stock & selling at the right price
Businesses can pay up to 30% more than the stock’s value simply in carrying costs alone. So, clearing old stock is high on the list of priorities. However, selling EOL or dead stock can be tricky. Sometimes, lower prices can have a detrimental impact on your brand image.
As such, clearing old stock is often done through marketplaces to mitigate this. The good news is setting this up within your PIM is super quick and easy.
Find out more about how easy it is to set up new sales channels with PIM
Now, the wonders of PIM don’t just stop there. Powerful automation, with lifecycle stages and workflows, give you the ability to:
Determine when products should be pushed to discount sales channels (such as marketplaces) once stock levels reach a certain point
Automatically apply different discount rates depending on stock levels so you can sell the optimal number of products at the best price
Use scoping functionalities to ensure you meet the requirements of the clearance sales channels you’re publishing on
Campaign management and planning that generates real results
Generating great results from your campaigns will ultimately depend on the quality of the product experiences you provide. For instance, depending on your target audience, you may want to serve different segments personalized digital assets and product descriptions. These could vary depending on the use case, age, gender, and ethnicity. PIM’s vast storage and scoping features enable you to do this easily. Your PIM will also connect to any translation tools you use if you sell to multiple geographies. As such, you can tailor product descriptions and product data (price, sizing info, etc.) to the different regions you sell to, guaranteeing great online experiences.
Celebrating the Wonderful Women in the Pimberly Network
International Women’s Day is celebrated every year on March 8th. It’s an opportunity to recognize the great cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements of women around the world. While there is still much room for improvement, strong action is being taken to close the global gender gap which currently sits at 68%.
What is the global gender gap?
The global gender gap encompasses various elements designed to measure gender equality, such as:
If you speak to any woman in any industry, it’s highly likely they will have faced some form of discrimination at some point in their career. So, raising awareness with initiatives like International Women’s Day is pivotal in making real change happen.
We’ve reached out to the wonderful women of Pimberly and our network to get insights into some of the common challenges women in male-dominated industries face on a regular basis. They also talk about some of the women who’ve inspired them over the years and offer advice to any young woman looking to get into the tech sector.
Sally Hayes, VP Delivery – Pimberly
Which women inspire you and why?
Michelle Obama: “Friendships between women, as any woman will tell you, are built of a thousand small kindnesses… swapped back and forth and over again.”
Why? She was the first African American First Lady who was successful in her own right as a lawyer and writer. A strong leader, an advocate of wellbeing and education, and her global reputation is completely uplifting.
What’s been the biggest professional challenge you’ve overcome?
My biggest professional challenge was implementing change within a team that didn’t want to change. There was no process or framework to deliver projects professionally. The ‘do what you need to do to get clients onboard’ mentality was fine short-term. However, longer-term this would restrict our growth, and our ability to scale. They regularly tried to prove the process wouldn’t work. Some days I wanted to give up, but I can be stubborn…. especially when I truly believe in a business, the product, the people, and my own ability to deliver. I’m pleased I never gave up!
What are some of the common challenges you’ve come across in the tech sector?
As a woman in tech, often you aren’t heard. In the early years, I found I had to work twice as hard as some of my male co-workers. I often could do a better job, but it was never recognized. I started as a telephony engineer and was blonde back then – not that that should matter, but you can imagine the abuse I used to receive when climbing under desks with my screwdriver and other tools! The sexism was horrific back then, thank god that has improved over the years.
What’s your proudest professional achievement?
Becoming VP at Pimberly – by far! So proud, so humbled, so grateful.
What would you say to your 10-year-old self?
Nothing is more important than empathy, remember to love yourself as much as you love others.
What would you say to women looking to get into tech?
Be brave!
Kirstie Buchanan, Growth & Partnerships Director – CTI Digital
Which women inspire you and why?
My sister Kim Gray, Champion of Diversity & Inclusion and also an instrumental part of the team who created the City Gives Back project which launched in the City of London during Covid. She always led from the front in very male-dominated sectors. Her work ethic is second-to-none!
What’s been the biggest professional challenge you’ve overcome?
Earlier on in my career, I relocated from London and moved from full-service advertising to pure-digital. It was very challenging, but I wouldn’t change a thing.
What are some of the common challenges you’ve come across in the tech sector?
The lack of women within key roles in the digital sector is changing, but slowly. I know some brilliant female developers. By working with grassroots programs, we can educate girls aged 14 years upwards of the diverse opportunities within the world of digital. There also needs to be an educational piece for parents. They need to know where they can go for support and advice as there are companies that champion these opportunities – I know CTI does.
What’s your proudest professional achievement?
I am fortunate to have several. One was being able to share the news that CTI had received £25m investment. I’m also privileged to work with dream brands such as Visit Britain, and winning Drum Awards for Digital Industries (DADI) for Creative Direction was also a highlight.
What would you say to your 10-year-old self?
Take a deep breath, and enjoy every opportunity that comes your way.
What would you say to women looking to get into the digital sector?
Why wouldn’t you?
Nikki Ratcliffe, VP Marketing – Pimberly
Which women inspire you and why?
I don’t really look to anyone to inspire me. I am very driven and constantly want to be better at everything I do. I tend to look to myself for this rather than others. I particularly admire women leaders as I can relate to the journey they’ve been on. Many of them, like me, are juggling a very busy work/home life. That said, I’m inspired by Sheryl Sandberg for what she has achieved in terms of philanthropy, her career, and the voice she has created for women in tech.
What’s been the biggest professional challenge you’ve overcome?
There are challenges every day!
What are some of the common challenges you’ve come across in the tech sector?
When I first entered the tech sector, I struggled with it being a male-dominated industry. I think this was more about my perception rather than any specific bad experience in relation to being a woman. I do however think that men generally appear more confident than women and this can be intimidating. I can be a bit of a perfectionist, and I’ve had to learn to loosen up a little and not take things (or myself) too seriously.
However, some of my biggest supporters and mentors in my career have been men (as well as women).
In this sector, there is always someone who knows more about the tech than you. The people I’ve worked with are also very passionate about the tech, and happy to share their knowledge – all you have to do is ask. The most important thing is to be clear on what you need to know to excel at what you do, then to have faith in yourself.
I think there is a trend with women I’ve worked/work with. They feel they have to work harder in order to prove themselves. I’ve certainly felt this myself. Men generally seem to have a more laid-back attitude to work (not to say they don’t care) but they take it more in their stride. I’d spend hours preparing for what I was going to say for my first board meetings, only to realize I was doing this due to a lack of confidence and it was unnecessary. Once I got past this, I felt much more at ease. If you’ve got to where you are, it’s not just because you earned it, you deserve to be there.
What’s your proudest professional achievement?
Being part of Pimberly from the very start and seeing it grow to what it is today. I feel very lucky to work with such a great team of talented people. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for them.
What would you say to your 10-year-old self?
When you see an opportunity to thrive, don’t listen to the voice in your head that says you can’t do it – jump straight in. Be brave and never be afraid to ask for help.
What would you say to women looking to get into tech?
I’d say to go for it. It’s an exciting, fast-moving industry with lots of interesting dimensions to it. I’ve always been fascinated by tech and love being in this environment.
Don’t be afraid of being the only woman in your team or department. As well as your talent, you have a unique voice that will bring significant value to your team, company, workplace, and culture.
Check out any local networking groups to connect with peers in a similar position. I’ve found this very empowering as well as learning lots.
If you or anyone you know is looking to kick-start a career in tech, know that it is possible, and the options are endless. Why not head over to our careers page on this International Women’s Day to check out the opportunities there are to start, develop, or grow your career in tech!
Looking to kick-start your career in tech? Get in touch about any of our roles at recruitment@pimberly.com
Your products are your pride and joy, right? So, it makes sense to present them in the best possible light across all your channels. Creating the perfect product page is an essential part of making your products resonate with your customers. Here are tips and tricks that will lead them to believe that they must absolutely buy what you are selling.
Is it time you got serious about your business growth strategy? At Pimberly, we live and breathe business growth. An effective eCommerce tech stack and efficient business processes are some of the core pillars of growing your eCommerce business, which is where PIM makes an entrance.
Because product information plays such a crucial role in eCommerce success, you need to streamline the management process. If you’re looking to expand your offering, or extend your reach to new channels or geographies, deploying a PIM is essential. Powerful automation means you can reduce over 80% of manual tasks. Say goodbye to duplicated workloads and concentrate on growing your eCommerce business.
Here’s a handy infographic that shows all the different ways PIM streamlines and automates product data processes
Global eCommerce and cross-border activity represent huge opportunities for businesses. Recent research from DigitalCommerce360 shows that cross-border purchases are becoming more and more common, with 51% of consumers saying they plan to purchase from retailers in other countries. You can also increase sales by between 10-15% by going global. Overall, cross-border and global trade is definitely on the rise, growing by 14% annually (wowzah)!
The world is your oyster
For Gill Marine, the world is now its oyster. Pimberly has enabled Gill Marine to totally champion its international eCommerce operations. Operating across 35 different countries in four different languages, they needed a robust solution to back them.
One really notable international milestone they reached was the launch of Gill Fishing. Fishing is BIG in the States, and they wanted to jump right in. The team at Gill came to us with a very specific project in mind, and they wanted to move fast.
With the help of Pimberly, a dedicated eCommerce site was built in-house and from scratch. This saved them loads of time and money. In less than one month of starting the project, they were already processing their first orders.
Keen to find out more on Gill Marine’s PIM journey?
Localization is an absolutely essential part of your international growth strategy. Your customers want to have product information available in their language. They want to see sizes and measurements that make sense to them and pay using their own currency.
Manage all this with a dedicated PIM solution. Store, translate, enrich and distribute your product data across all channels, in as many different languages as you need. You can also store all prices in the different currencies of the countries you serve.
Because there are vast differences from region to region, it’s important to tailor your product descriptions and digital assets to suit different needs and cultures. Scoping features enable you to do this quickly and easily. You can also focus on creating localized SEO strategies by linking to your keyword tools to give your products an increased reach.
Dig a little deeper in global PIM prospects in this blog
Bring disparate systems and siloed product information together in one centralized hub – your PIM platform. 79% of products don’t launch on time because of these barriers to growth. Across industries, new product launches can account for 25% of revenue. This is why it’s so important to get your product launches right.
Being able to quickly onboard new products or launch a new product range brings about so many opportunities to boost sales. The more variety you have, the more your customers will be browsing. Offer kits and bundles to jump on up-sell and cross-sell opportunities. When done right, you can create great customer experiences and significantly increase your sales.
Find out how you can create product pages that convert browsers to buyers
Our customer, Bombinate, has massively expanded its product range with the help of Pimberly. It divided its time to market by 10 in just one month after implementing Pimberly.
Another customer of ours that drastically reduced time to market is Arthouse. The team used to spend at least a week locating and preparing digital assets ahead of a new product launch. With Pimberly, they were able to do this in just 15 minutes!
Regatta also reaped the rewards of the Pimberly platform. Product ranges change, and those changes need to be managed efficiently across all channels. Before Pimberly, it used to take three weeks for product changes to reflect. The changes made now reflect pretty much instantly.
Time-saving PIM prospects
PIM gives you a centralized hub for all your product data and digital assets. Because everything is gathered, stored enriched, and distributed from one place, your team has full visibility and can collaborate effectively.
Data from multiple feeds can be easily imported in any format, giving you the power to create a single source of truth. When it comes to expanding or updating your product range, you can do this really quickly with Pimberly’s functionality.
Use lifecycle stages and triggers within Pimberly to determine the status of your products. With visual dashboards, you can easily identify where products are up to in the launch phase. These triggers powerful automation enable you to set requirements that need to be met before the product moves through the process. Workflows automate this process, meaning you’ll never launch a product with missing information.
When you’ve got updates to make, it’s crucial these are reflected as soon as possible across all your channels. Your customers need up-to-date product information to make informed buying decisions. API’s collect product information from multiple data sources and you can carry out bulk updates in Pimberly which reflect almost instantly. This saves you heaps of time, and it also means your customers always have the most accurate and complete product data.
You can also manage your digital assets with speed in Pimberly. With unique identifiers, you can automatically link your digital assets to the related products. We also use the power of AI to automatically identify what is in an image and it even recognizes faces, so you can filter by model name. Say goodbye to the days of having to manually name every single asset you use.
Time to get serious about your business growth strategy
Pimberly is a cloud SaaS software solution, so why not give it a grow with PIM! We’re with you every step of the way, from implementation right through to when you’re live and kicking. Our dedicated team of in-house developers will always be on-hand to make sure you get the best possible use from the platform. The advantages of a SaaS cloud-based PIM are vast and totally complement ambitious business growth strategies.
Having an in-house development team means there are no limits as to what we can do and we’re on a continuous journey of improvement. We work on an 80/20 split when it comes to developing the Pimberly platform. 80% of this is driven by what our customers want from the platform to overcome the unique challenges they face.
Because everything is stored in the cloud, your team can access everything they need at any time, from anywhere and on any device – provided you have an internet connection. The cloud also has unlimited storage, meaning you can store as much data in Pimberly at no extra cost and you’ll always have a backup. It’s completely scalable and the platform grows with your business.
We like to say that Pimberly is super secure, super powerful, and super duperly user-friendly. You have speedy processing times with no bottlenecks, which guarantees you always have efficient workflows running.
There’s no time like the present
Powerful tech solutions have facilitated so much innovation. As we all strive to innovate and improve, there is a massive opportunity for businesses to completely redesign the way they work.
As we all look towards a brighter future, it seems apt to think of a brighter future in terms of our offerings. Some key trends that are likely to drive business growth in the future include:
Better customer experiences
Personalization
Developing digital transformation strategies
Data-driven decision making
All of these things can be achieved with a powerful PIM solution like Pimberly. What drives us is giving our customers the ability to create strong relationships with their customers. We give you the power to truly leverage your product data. With deeper insights, you can personalize experiences and use data to drive your decisions.
Having more time, flexibility and agility are all conducive to scaling and achieving business growth. When it comes to your eCommerce operations, you can get serious about your growth strategy with PIM.
How Liferay and Pimberly offer the perfect solution
By Kurt Dressel, Digital Commerce Lead at Liferay
When our customers in the manufacturing and distribution sectors consider implementing or re-platforming their B2B eCommerce systems, they often ask whether they also need a Product Information Management (PIM) platform.
Many leading B2B eCommerce platforms, including Liferay DXP, include extensive product catalog features. These are optimized for the complex enterprise requirements of manufacturers and distributors. For instance, there are capabilities to manage multi-layered products which include specification variations by industry and geography.
Furthermore, you can create product bundles, i.e. define products that are made up of a variety of sub-components to configure the complete product. There is also multi-lingual support for marketing descriptions and the capability to manage a variety of image and video content. Many eCommerce platforms will also provide some facilities to export product data to third-party marketplaces.
So, given these extensive capabilities, why would you need a Product Information Management (PIM) system as well? If you’re only selling a limited range of products via your online store, offering one or two languages and currencies, your eCommerce platform may fit your use case. This is especially true if you’re only managing a small number of simple products. Even more so if there aren’t frequent product updates and/or substitutions.
However, if you’re selling a large number of complex products in multiple geographies, and currencies, an eCommerce platform won’t suffice. It’ll also be challenging to “syndicate” subsets of your products either to your sell-side channel partners or to various marketplaces. Unlike PIM, eCommerce platforms are not built with growth and scalability in mind when it comes to managing product data. Overall, it’ll be a lot more labor and cost-effective to add an enterprise PIM like Pimberly to your digital ecosystem.
PIM for B2B eCommerce
In most B2B eCommerce scenarios, the eCommerce platform is integrated with the customer’s CRM and ERP. If the data quality is poor and you need to connect other applications and processes, a PIM will be key.
To improve the customer experience, you need to ensure data is clean and of a high standard. Often, B2B eCommerce businesses will need to make significant data enhancements to ensure this is the case. PIM systems totally streamline all aspects of product data management processes, automating up to 80% of manual tasks.
In more complex B2B scenarios, a PIM will give you the ability to quickly and easily reach more sales channels. As a result, you can reach new customers and increase your sales. It will also provide user tools that automate the more laborious aspects of managing a product catalog. For instance, you can define product “parent and child” relationships. Bulk updates automatically make changes to your product data in real-time. These then reflect across all related specifications and descriptions.
If you’re selling to different geographies, you can integrate your PIM with translation services to automatically translate product data. Lastly, printed catalogs and product data sheets are still an important part of marketing and customer support strategies. Pimberly’s Automated Product Data Sheet and Catalog functionalities take care of this for you.
They use the data and digital assets stored within your PIM to create totally accurate and up-to-date printed materials. These are great for sharing data in an attractive format with your B2B customers. Moreover, they’re great from a compliance perspective for manufacturers that need to provide in-depth product details when shipping or exporting.
Do you need a PIM?
Always look a the big picture when you’re considering starting your PIM journey. It’s often best to deploy a PIM to start with and replace your eCommerce platform at a later date. In any event, it’s a good idea to get some outside advice from an experienced eCommerce consultancy or system integrator. They will help you work through the options and costs to determine the best solution for your business.
If your requirements include both PIM and Self-Service B2B eCommerce, you’ll find a seamless integration between Liferay’s Digital Experience Platform (DXP) and Pimberly. In short, we offer an economical and comprehensive solution for almost any type of manufacturing or distribution business.
Here’s some further reading on how to leverage your product data to create amazing B2B eCommerce experiences
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Businesses can pay up to 30% more than the stock’s value simply in carrying costs alone. So, clearing old stock is high on the list of priorities. However, selling EOL or dead stock can be tricky. Sometimes, lower prices can have a 
*https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics
