The company produces and sells optical equipment and measuring devices: microscopes, telescopes, binoculars, night vision devices, laser levels, endoscopes, electrical measuring devices, various sensors, etc. In total, more than 10 thousand SKUs. We have already written about how the storage of product data was organized and how it has changed over time. The current version of the custom PIM system is an analogue of PostgreSQL on Bitrix, which stores products, their descriptions in different languages, descriptions for different sites (B2B and B2C, mono- and multi-brand stores), instructions, certificates, images, product properties, warehouse/salon addresses and other information. The administrative panel is used to manage this array.
Construction marketplace
The company is an omnichannel retailer. Buyers can make a purchase in any way convenient for them: through a contact center, website, mobile app or store. The company has created a system of free user services that help customers solve problems at any stage of repair, as well as a knowledge base with advice, instructions and materials from experts.
As is often the case, much of the work involved in managing media and product information was done manually. It was slow, labor-intensive, and error-prone.
The implementation of the PIM system allowed us to consolidate data in one place, get rid of a significant amount of routine manual work and errors. aruba email list But most importantly, partners received convenient personal accounts for working with the supplied product range. Automation and reduction of time for data processing allowed us to expand the range. Turnover for individual categories increased 3-5 times.
What to choose from
Russian Pim-systems
Ensi is a comprehensive solution that, in china numbers addition to PIM, includes: a product description and characteristics generator based on photos, functionality for generating product offers with dynamic parameters, connectors to popular marketplaces, and the ability to configure access rights to system components. The platform is free.
Tochka is a service for managing products on marketplaces. Features: transferring cards between marketplaces, generating barcodes, making changes simultaneously on all platforms, analyzing the completeness of information, bulk loading, product analytics, etc. The cost of the license depends on the number of orders, 5 days are given for testing.
OpenPIM is a PIM system designed main seo trends today specifically for small and medium businesses with typical functionality, except for workflow and supplier account. Features include setting up restrictions when creating hierarchy levels and assigning attributes to dependencies. There is no built-in support for trade offers (product options), they need to be implemented through a data model. You cannot generate files derived from existing ones (for example, images with a different resolution or format). Data completeness analysis is not a feature out of the box and needs to be configured. The source code is open, there is a demo version.
There is also Brandquad, catalog.app, Compo Pim. The last one has an online calculation of the implementation profitability.
Foreign Pim-systems
The most famous players in the PIM systems market are: Pimcore, Akeneo, Marketprovider, Catsy, inRiver, PIMworks, Syndigo, etc. The most popular is Pimcore.
The product has been developed since 2010 and is a combination of PIM/MDM/DAM subsystems, i.e. it was created not only for managing product data. It covers most of the necessary business functions out of the box, but requires some improvements to match a specific business model and Russian realities. In particular, it does not have ready-made connectors to popular Russian marketplaces. They can be found in the community, but Pimcore does not control the quality of the code of such extensions.
If we talk about the applicability of the platform, then:
- This is a great PIM system, not entirely user-friendly, but very flexible in terms of settings;
- an average MDM and DAM system in terms of capabilities, which has more functional Russian analogues. For example, there are basic capabilities for converting photos and videos to meet the requirements of the sites, a built-in photo editor, search by metadata, but there is no external part necessary for distribution and monetization of content. Therefore, a photo bank, periodical or other owner of commercial content will prefer a specialized solution;
- It is better to choose something else as a CDP (Customer Data Platform), DXP (Digital Experience Management) or E-com platform.
Who is Pimcore suitable for?
The system is suitable for companies of any scale and with any number of sales channels. It is considered a good choice for aggregators, marketplaces, distributors and manufacturing companies. It is especially important that the Community Edition already has functionality sufficient even for very large implementations and can be deployed on the enterprise server.
Cost of the license
Three tariffs, the cost depends on the functionality.
The free Community Edition does not support PXM (Product Experience Management)/AXM (Application Experience Management) functionality, integration with Russian marketplaces out of the box, LDAP/SSO authorization, visual process editor, document flow, additional functions for uploading product information. There is no user support. The number of installations is limited.
The monthly cost of the extended version —
Enterprise Edition — starts from €1,600 per month, paid annually. Includes all Pimcore functionality, user support is available, but the number of installations is limited. Direct delivery of Enterprise and higher licenses to Russian companies is not possible. If you do not want to study the legal consequences of schemes with purchasing a license through Kazakhstan or Dubai, then the best option is to use the Community Edition and ready-made modules from the community or add what is needed. It is cheaper.
Unlimited Subscription —
The maximum version of Pimcore without restrictions on functionality and the number of installations within one organization. The cost is from €6,400 per month. Of particular value in it are document management and a visual connector editor, but they can be written by developers to order (50-100 hours).
