So, you have an e-commerce business—and it’s booming. Your appetite for scaling grows alongside the climbing number of purchases made through your website. But are your processes fit for scaling to match? 

Excel spreadsheets, manual product updates, and CMS workarounds can only take you so far. Once you surpass 10,000 SKUs, you need a different approach that handles duplicates, errors, and overall publication hassles. This is where PIM systems come in.

So, what is a PIM system, and how does it work? How useful is PIM for e-commerce businesses? How can centralized product content help turn your online store into a marketplace? We’ll answer these questions and more in this article.

What is PIM?

PIM stands for product information management and is essentially a system that helps businesses collect, manage, and distribute product data from a single source of truth. So, instead of juggling product titles, descriptions, and images across spreadsheets, ERP software, and CMS platforms, you can use a single PIM system for centralized product data management.

In addition to ensuring omnichannel product consistency, PIM systems also make it easier to push product data to wherever it needs to go: your website, marketplaces, print catalogs, or mobile apps.

Who is PIM for?

Not every business will benefit from a PIM system. However, if your catalog exceeds 10,000 SKUs or you operate across multiple channels and markets, then the need becomes clear. Use cases include:

• Owners of large e-commerce projects who are overwhelmed by messy spreadsheets and need a scalable, structured setup.
• Retailers planning to expand their product range or launch on new marketplaces.
• Teams managing large product catalogs across multiple sales channels (websites, marketplaces, apps, etc.).

Speaking of teams, PIM is especially useful for growing e-commerce teams, since it gives marketers, merchandisers, developers, and support agents access to accurate, up-to-date product content. Without a system like this, your team may face problems like:

• Product details stored in disconnected files and systems
• Descriptions that vary across channels
• Prices out of sync
• Specs that are incomplete or outdated
• Constantly duplicating work or performing repetitive actions

If these issues persist, you risk frustrating your team members and confusing your customers. The latter is especially important since 70% of online shoppers say product content can make or break a sale.

To give you a more specific idea of how e-commerce businesses can benefit from centralized product information management, here are some real-life examples:

• A leisurewear brand can use PIM to launch seasonal collections faster across all sales channels with consistent product content.
• A cosmetics company can localize product data and ingredient information for different markets to scale globally.
• A furniture retailer can manage customizable products and keep pricing, dimensions, and images synced across marketplaces.
• An electronics supplier can automate spec sheets and improve filtering accuracy to boost conversion on their DTC website.
• A sporting goods store can streamline onboarding for third-party brands and ensure catalog consistency across its growing marketplace.
• A home appliance distributor can push updated product information and manuals to both B2B and B2C platforms in real time.
• A pet supplies e-store can manage high product turnover and quickly tag and group similar products for upselling and smoother navigation.
• A tool manufacturer can standardize reseller feeds and ensure that SEO-friendly listings are pushed to Amazon, eBay, its own website, and more.

Overall, if your team spends more time fixing data than introducing new products, it’s probably time to invest in PIM.

7 signs your business has outgrown Excel or a basic CMS

Businesses often underestimate how much messy product data holds them back. But if you find your marketing team digging through folders for product photos or your e-commerce team delaying launches because key information is missing, you’ll see that things can be done much more efficiently.

Many e-commerce businesses start with Excel or use their ERP systems to manage product data. And that’s absolutely okay—if spreadsheets work for you, then, by all means, keep using them. But there’s a tipping point where things start falling through the cracks.

• 1

  Product launches are painfully slow

  When adding a new product takes days because data has to be manually entered, verified, formatted, and re-entered into multiple systems, it means you’ve outgrown spreadsheets. A centralized system like a PIM can automate this entire process.

• 2

  Your team is constantly duplicating work

  If marketing, sales, and operations each maintain their own product files, there is likely no common product database with exhaustive descriptions for different roles. Consequently, they will all have a slightly different angle on the product.

• 3

  The number of mistakes keeps growing

  As your SKU count reaches 10,000 (or even 5,000), it becomes impossible to manage product variations, categories, and descriptions manually without compromising accuracy and quality. Mistakes like this can cost you money—and future sales, since, according to Statista, 56% of e-commerce customers have made a return specifically because the item did not match the description.

• 4

  You’re selling across multiple channels

  When you’re manually doing all content population and formatting on your website, marketplaces, and a mobile app, it’s time for automation. PIM lets you standardize and spread content to all channels from a single place.

• 5

  You’re going global (or multilingual)

  It can be confusing to manage product information in multiple languages and currencies using spreadsheets or a generic ERP. A PIM makes it easy to localize content (translate and adapt it to local terms, measurement units, or behaviors) while maintaining consistency.

• 6

  Your ERP wasn’t built for content

  ERP systems are great for handling your resources and transactions, but they weren’t designed for product storytelling. So, if your ERP stores product names, SKUs, and prices, but can’t support images, descriptions, metadata, and marketing content, it’s time to add a PIM to the fold.

• 7

  Onboarding new products or vendors is painful

  If integrating a new supplier’s catalog takes weeks (often due to formatting mismatches, duplicate fields, or inconsistent data), you need a PIM system that can automate product import from vendors.

As Mykola, the product manager at HootCore, puts it: “At some point, managing 30,000-40,000 SKUs through CMS or ERP becomes more a sign of pain than progress. That’s when companies come to us.”

The benefits of PIM systems

Product information management systems automate routine tasks and reduce dependency on spreadsheets. Thanks to product information standardization, they ensure listings are complete, consistent, and SEO-optimized, which improves your products’ time to market. Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of PIM.

Centralization

Centralized product data prevents errors, reduces miscommunications, and ensures consistency across platforms. A PIM system centralizes all product-related data and assets in one controlled, accessible location.

Omnichannel product content consistency

Consistent, accurate product listings lead to higher trust, fewer returns, and improved conversion rates. A PIM system can automatically transform one set of product data into channel-ready content for each destination.

Improved product discoverability and SEO

Poorly structured product data (like missing attributes or duplicate naming conventions) leads to broken filters, irrelevant search results, and lost customers.

But PIM systems support strict categorization, controlled vocabularies, and allow the use of SEO-optimized titles, tags, and descriptions, making your products easier to find for both customers and search engines.

Better customer experience

Customers want clear specs, high-quality images, and accurate availability. Indeed, Google Consumer Insights claims that 85% of shoppers find product information and pictures very important to them when deciding which brand or retailer to buy from.

PIM enables media-rich content (videos, comparison charts, FAQs) and ensures that updates (e.g., price, stock, labels) are shared instantly to all customer-facing touchpoints.

Automation and scalability

Product information management systems automate repetitive tasks, such as categorization, attribute mapping, translation workflows, and even discount labeling. They allow businesses to grow their catalog, expand into new markets, or onboard new vendors without increasing their headcount.

Globalization made easy

If you're operating internationally (or plan to), a PIM system can help you manage multiple currencies, units, tax codes, and regional product rules. It serves as a single place for storing all translated content, supporting region-specific rules, and tailoring outputs for local marketplaces.

Governance, validation, and compliance

PIM systems provide structured validation workflows, approval hierarchies, and audit trails to ensure that the product information you’re about to publish is complete, accurate, and compliant with various standards (food labeling, safety regulations, environmental disclosures, etc.).

Smooth integration with the rest of your tech stack

Modern PIM systems allow clean, real-time data flow and connections between systems and tools such as ERP, CMS, CRM, DAM, OMS, marketplaces, and marketing tools. HootCore, for example, integrates with Magento, Shopify, BigCommerce, Amazon, Meta, and Zendesk.

How PIM works in practice

Allow us to break down how PIM systems work in practice, from day-to-day operations to large-scale product and catalog management:

• Collecting product information from multiple sources. A PIM gathers all data (even if it comes in different formats like CSV, XML, JSON) and maps it into a structured model with defined fields (e.g., title, SKU, brand, dimensions, specs, etc.).

• Structuring and standardizing product information. Teams use preset templates and logic to ensure that no product goes live without meeting content and structure standards.

• Enriching and enhancing product content. A product manager might bulk-edit descriptions, add lifestyle imagery, and preview how a product listing will look on Amazon or the brand’s mobile app.

• Publishing and distributing content to channels. Your marketing team updates product photos in the PIM, and within minutes, those images are live on your website, Amazon store, and mobile app.

• Managing product updates and lifecycle. If a supplier updates product specs or a law changes labeling requirements, the PIM can make and push compliant updates at scale, instead of one channel at a time.

Now, let’s look at HootCore as an example of a product information management system. It was designed to help retailers move away from ad hoc product management and embrace centralized, scalable processes. Here’s what that looks like:

• Product creation and enrichment. You can generate new products based on attributes and assign specific characteristics to each item, or use our flexible product templates for sellers.

• Data import from multiple sources. You can add product information from external feeds, an FTP, Google Feed, databases, or other sources.

• Product publishing. You can push products to websites, apps, aggregators, and social media from HootCore.

• Automated feed generation. Instead of exporting product data from your storefront (like Magento), you can generate accurate, structured feeds for Google Shopping and other partners directly from the PIM.

• Category management and filtering. You can automatically manage product taxonomy for marketplaces, create category trees and custom filters.

• Process automation. You can use business rules to automate product changes, updates, and workflows.

• Back office integrations. You can sync with ERP systems, APIs (such as Amazon, Meta, and Zendesk), and CMS platforms like Shopify, Magento, or BigCommerce.

With HootCore, your team can manage bulk actions, repetitive tasks, and discount campaigns with minimal manual input. For instance, a category expert in power tools can define that any Hilti product should be tagged as “heavy-duty.” This knowledge can then be turned into an automated rule, ensuring consistent classification across thousands of Hilti products, articles, updates, and more.

Scaling starts with structure

PIM systems organize product data, protect your brand, keep teams in sync, and give your customers the clarity to hit that “Buy” button. Whether you're struggling with product content, preparing to expand, or transitioning into a marketplace model, systems like HootCore PIM can keep everything running smoothly.

FAQ

What makes HootCore PIM different from managing product data in spreadsheets or a basic CMS?

HootCore PIM replaces scattered spreadsheets and manual CMS updates with a centralized system designed for scale. It automates product creation, categorization, and publishing across multiple channels — making it ideal for e-commerce businesses with large catalogs and multichannel strategies.

Can HootCore PIM integrate with my existing ERP, CRM, and eCommerce platforms?

Yes! HootCore PIM offers flexible API connectivity, allowing seamless integration with systems like Shopify, Magento, ERP solutions, and other third-party platforms to ensure smooth data synchronization.

Is HootCore PIM suitable for my business?

If you manage more than 10,000 SKUs, sell across multiple marketplaces, or plan to scale globally, HootCore PIM is built for you. It’s especially valuable for growing e-commerce teams that need to localize content, onboard suppliers, or expand product lines without compromising speed or quality.