As the demand for omnichannel marketing increases, marketing and content operations teams are reevaluating their software stack. Too many retailers and FMCG brands are held back by legacy systems that are no longer fit for purpose.
Top-performing retailers and manufacturers know that Digital Asset Management and Product Information Management platforms are essential for an efficient content supply chain. They integrate PIM and DAM to create more efficient workflows and gain their competitive advantage.
Here’s an overview of what you need to know – so you can decide if PIM-DAM integration is right for your retail or FMCG business.
What is DAM?
A Digital Asset Management system is a marketing platform that streamlines how you store, search, retrieve and publish digital assets. It’s a single source of truth that houses all your content assets – such as illustrations for packaging and POS, product images and video, logos and more – so creative teams can easily find what they need to create artwork.
Tagging and keywords, taxonomy and advanced search functionality bring up digital assets within seconds, reducing time wasted searching for assets.
A Digital Asset Management platform is essential to an efficient content supply chain because it accelerates creative workflows. Through software integrations, it seamlessly delivers digital assets to design programs such as Adobe Creative Suite, web content management systems, CRM and more. While automatic renditioning means users can easily convert master assets to the exact format, color profile and cropping they need for the particular channel.
A DAM-PIM integration is popular in retail and manufacturing because it ensures that digital assets are always synchronized with the most up-to-date product information.
What is PIM?
PIM stands for product information management. If DAM is the home of your digital assets, PIM is the home of your product information. Product descriptions, pricing, specifications, ingredients, packaging copy…. it all has its home here. Where DAM manages (primarily) visual content, a PIM manages (primarily) textual content.
Like DAM, a PIM is a centralized platform that ensures consistency across channels by providing a single source of truth – but in this case for product data. Integration can allow your PIM to automatically receive this information from suppliers.
PIM and DAM – better together
Today’s omnichannel retail environment requires massive amounts of digital content – to feed demanding shoppers and hungry publishing platforms. And that requires a lot of manual work to keep product information up-to-date and in-sync across physical and digital platforms.
Integrating a Product Information Management system with a Digital Asset Management platform accelerates this process. It creates an always-in-sync source of information and automation for creative professionals – reducing inefficiencies, manual data entry and duplication of effort in siloed teams.
From a Cornell University study shows that more than four in 10 workers (43%) spend too much time switching between different tools to get their work done. Software integration reduces that friction.
With time saved from manual processes and wrestling with spreadsheets, creatives can spend more time on creative storytelling, brand building and mastering the omnichannel environment.
Discover four reasons Why NOW is the right time for retailers to prioritize PIM-DAM integration.
PIM and DAM for retail
Consumers expect a seamless shopping experience across devices and platforms. Retail has already witnessed the rise of e-commerce and app shopping. Now shoppable social media is a growing trend that increases the importance of channels such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Pinterest.
To remain competitive, retailers must be available on more channels than ever before. But to remain profitable, they must accomplish this within budget.
Ambitious retailers are looking to PIM-DAM integration to deliver operational efficiencies that allow them to increase their content creation capacity without overburdening their resources. The motto: Create an efficient content workflow that delivers cost savings and protects profit margins.
Building a strong brand is a cornerstone of successful retailers because it keeps customers coming back for more. This lowers customer retention costs and increases lifetime customer value. A PIM DAM integration can help build a strong brand by supporting storytelling excellence, brand consistency and increased reach.
A combination of PIM and DAM even helps support customer service. How? By providing your customer service team with searchable support videos and resources to immediately share with customers online – via email or through an online branded portal. This helps improve customer satisfaction and reduce returns.
Learn more about the financial and operational benefits of PIM and DAM integration.
PIM and DAM for FMCG/Producers.
Manufacturers of consumer products with associated packaging often have very complex content supply chains – which means they are also excellent candidates to benefit from PIM-DAM integration.
FMCG organizations typically have multiple products and different stages of the product life cycle – and thus need marketing materials for multiple platforms, as well as packaging. Moreover, there are multiple routes to market – from wholesale and retail to their own direct-to-consumer (DTC) channels.
And then there is the importance of accuracy, consistency and clarity on packaging and product information – for example, allergens in ingredient lists, or information about certifications/industry standards.
This content chain may consist of multiple brand managers and content teams, so there is a high risk of siloed departments and duplication of effort. This can lead to wasted resources at one end of the risk spectrum – and errors and inconsistencies with serious consequences at the other.
A PIM-DAM integration ensures that marketing materials, POS and packaging are always up-to-date – using the right product information and digital assets approved at a given time. It reduces the risk of manual data entry and duplication.
It also streamlines the content supply chain in FMCG and allows creatives to focus on creating compelling campaigns for any product, on any platform, at any stage of the lifecycle – rather than checking data accuracy and cross-referencing across multiple platforms.
Find out how to best prepare for PIM + DAM integration with step-by-step tips from our software integration experts.
If you want to learn more about the benefits of integrating PIM and DAM, you’ll find everything you need to know in our Ultimate Guide to PIM-DAM Integration.
Would you like professional support in planning and implementing a PIM-DAM integration in retail or manufacturing, then contactQonqord’s team of friendly experts.
