By Malik Azeez, Director of Product Information Management
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Product Information Management (PIM) are working hand in hand. Through the power of AI, leveraging traits of the human mind to problem solve and learn from external experiences, and PIM, systematizing an organization’s product data, organizations can autonomously organize product data to reduce a significant amount of manual effort.
Key market players in AI recognize the impact this capability synergy can have and continue to launch new and innovative solutions. Informatica’s latest Product 360 release leverages AI-powered classification capabilities and further enables enterprises to accelerate performance. Product matching software offered by companies like Price tends to use API solutions for price comparison enabling enterprises to make better merchandising decisions. UiPath continues to receive funding for the development of AI-driven products and have now raised a total of $1.2B.
What does AI-powered PIM mean for the average Joe?
The pandemic has affected multiple industries in ways from which recovery can be a very tedious task. Yet it also happens to be one of the reasons why some industries expected to lag in their digitalization journeys are now a part of the thriving digital community. These digital “moves” are key as to why people are now more inclined to contactless methods of purchasing.
This brings us to another important question – “How is contactless shopping possible?” Unfortunately, there are many cracks in convenience that keep people from fully leveraging contactless shopping – without much information of the product to be bought people are evidently hesitant to purchase. This is where AI-powered PIM comes into play. Well-established and new retailers need a reliable source to provide consumers with well informed, trusted details on products – information up front means no regret later! Thanks to technology like AI-powered PIM (even amidst this pandemic) global retail ecommerce sales have seen economic growth of 16.5%.
PIM’s critical functions in ecommerce
We’re well aware that ecommerce is a practice that requires high speed and therefore a framework that can effectively support the production and enrichment of data for individual products has been created. Product information that is both informative and is of some monetary value makes all the difference in an online store. To simplify PIM’s support of ecommerce:
- Instantaneous processing and importing of supplier data
- Control of how data is organized and presented in relation to advanced search and filtering
- Efficient handling of product images, videos and other information
Another important aspect of product information syndication and mastering is how Product Data Syndication (PDS) also contributes towards the rapid, seamless, and effective delivery of product data to external networks and marketing ecosystem partners. Online retailers and distributors benefit immensely from extensive data syndication because it opens up new revenue sources, speeds up the addition of new items, and increases the appeal of merchandise.
PIM will be the business application that behaves as a bridge between product authoring collaboration, data syndication to external systems, and distribution networks, while also providing MDM tools with accurate product content to keep the Product Golden Record up to date. MDM may also be used to complete the content data mastering process.
PIM can act as a shared product content management tool with more information about the products, variants, and assortments, while MDM can be used to analyze how many products the business produces.
PIM leverages AI-driven systems to support its work in supplying data to ecommerce platforms.
These AI-powered tools work collaboratively with PIM to drive as much product information as possible, “learning” about customer needs as they search through products. In the background, the collected learning data is analyzed and converts into customer suggestions, providing them with relevant product options. The AI systems enable exceptional customer experience, ultimately leading consumers to conversion.
Vendor and platform AI-PIM activity
Ecommerce platforms like Amazon and Flipkart jumped onto this digitalization combo as soon as AI-powered PIM gained industry footing. These two websites are now some of the most successful ecommerce sites thanks to their move.
PIM vendors have begun to evolve their solutions enabling merchants to craft a product experience instead of simply managing products. Informatica’s Claire engine provides recommendation services during product classification (i.e., matching SKUs to an appropriate hierarchy). Stibo Systems utilizes omnichannel analytics to offer the next best action in a customer’s journey or product perusal. Akeneo’s Franklin empowers merchants with a library of 50 million products that contain technical product information for product catalogs.
How can AI-powered PIM drive growth in your organization? Reach out today to speak with one of our experts!