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Table of Contents

1. Common obstacles to product data management
2. Mo’ products, mo’ problems
3. The future of product data management (PDM) solutions

Surefront is a Unified Product Collaboration Platform with PIM, CRM, and PLM solutions. It's a centralized data home where stakeholders can freely share product information and assign access permissions. Most integrations are supported in Surefront, but none are needed. Our articles often focus on one aspect of our unified PIM, PLM, and CRM platform. With Surefront, each solution seamlessly works together to achieve a guaranteed 10x ROI for every customer.

The ability to quickly access product data is no longer just a “nice to have” thing for brands and retailers. It’s an industry standard. As customers continue to value product use cases over brands, data is taking center stage as an independent asset that’s critical to retailers’ ability to solidify sales.

In a recent Google study, 85% of shoppers said that product information and pictures are important to them when deciding which brand or retailer to buy from. So, why do so many brands fail to provide retailers with the product data and images that they need to sell products? The answer is more complex than it appears at first glance. The reason being that, without looking at an individual retailer’s supply chain, it’s impossible to know where product data is getting tied up. 

Let’s take a look at the most common reasons data becomes mired throughout the production, shipping, and sales processes. And how brands can remove the obstacles that prevent their teams from accessing the data they need. 

Common obstacles to product data management

If product data management were an easy process, every retail business would be doing it. But that’s not the case. Compiling, accessing, and sharing product data are some of the most time consuming hurdles retail businesses need to scale. There’s a reason the global product information management (PIM) market size is growing at the incredible CAGR of 20.33% between 2022 and 2030.

So why are brands and retailers investing a rapidly growing $15.49 billion a year into product information management alone? Because PIM helps them free essential product data from Excel sheets, emails, and text communications; instead putting product data in a safe, centralized hub where it’s always accessible to those who need it. 

At Surefront, we polled our platform users to see which issues inspired them to seek out a unified PLM and PIM. Here are three of their most common answers. 

• Not enough of a product overview to plan inventory effectively:

A huge part of planning inventory is identifying the gaps in existing and future offerings. Emails and spreadsheets don’t give brands the necessary overview to make informed purchasing decisions. That’s why an increasing number of brands are gravitating towards tools with an  integrated PIM and PLM to create their internal digital catalogs. 

• The right data isn’t available in real-time:

Product orders can take months to negotiate. In some cases, however, the sale is confirmed within the timespan of a single phone call. Production and sales teams need the ability to visualize, select, modify, and export data products in real time to function at maximum efficiency. Excel sheets just don’t cut it in today’s fast paced retail world. 

• There’s no insight into historical design and order data:

It’s no secret that historical data needs to inform purchasing decisions. But, all too often, brands and retailers only have a glimpse into design and order data from previous years. A lot of factors impact how well specific inventory items will perform, including weather events, local celebrations, and industry trends. All of these factors need to be taken into account to source effectively.

Mo’ products, mo’ problems

There’s a reason retailers try to avoid understocks. Product variety is a key selling point for the vast majority of customers. A whopping 88% of shoppers say that product variety is an important factor when choosing which brand or retailer to shop with. Retailers can’t afford not to stock the variety of products that customers desire, but they have to walk a fine line between overstocks and understocks to get there. 

Most retailers can’t afford to hire a data product manager. Even those that do hire a data product manager risk their new hire being mired in repetitive clerical tasks, rather than using historical data to strategically source inventory. When it comes to managing product data, the retail PLM and PIM that a brand chooses to onboard can be as important as the person that's assigned to the task. 

The reason? The applications for product information go a lot farther than just sourcing inventory. The right product lifecycle management solution can make any section of product data in your product information management system (PIM) accessible to anyone who needs it, at any phase of the product lifecycle. With a unified PLM and PIM solution, manufacturers and buyers can access data to confirm product orders. Retailers can access what they need to create successful displays on the selling floor. And marketing teams can access the right product data to create compelling, product centric campaigns. 

The future of product data management (PDM) solutions 

You don’t want your data to be siloed. Your company’s CRM, PIM and PLM solutions shouldn’t operate in a vacuum, either. Surefront is a unified product collaboration platform to power growth and ROI. Our patented PIM, CRM, and PLM solutions streamline the omni channel sales, merchandising and product development processes. By combining these essential functionalities, Surefront creates a single source of truth throughout your product lifecycle, sales and listing processes. 

The results? Up to 150% more revenue per employee and a 40% shorter product development cycle is just the beginning. Try our 10x ROI calculator to see your company’s potential profits. Or, skip the noise and book a custom demo with one of our unified product collaboration management experts today. The retail industry evolves quickly and has a lot of moving parts. We do all of the research, so you don’t have to. Stay ahead of market fluctuations, trends and new features by subscribing to our Unified Product Collaboration Management Blog.