Widen Launches Product Information Management (PIM) Solution

Combined with digital asset management (DAM), PIM centralises product data, keeps information accurate, and speeds up product launches across multiple channels

Widen has launched a PIM solution that enables brands to assemble and distribute marketing copy, specs, and assets with the Widen Collective. The PIM software joins Widen’s flagship DAM solution, offering a unified toolset for managing product data across multiple channels, addressing the risk of inaccuracies from disparate teams. The combined DAM+PIM platform will help companies in manufacturing, consumer goods, and retail accelerate product launches and ensure the accuracy of their product listings around the web.

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Widen’s DAM+PIM solution centralises product information and content in one system. The PIM tool collates product information, such as technical specs, sizes, and colours from an enterprise resource planning (ERP) or product lifecycle management (PLM) platform, into the Collective®. There, marketers can:

• Assign creatives to produce marketing copy, photos, videos, etc. based on accurate information
• Automatically route creative proofs for feedback, review, and final approval
• Attach brand-approved, localised content to each product listing
• Syndicate final product data to e-commerce sites, websites, and print publishers

Today, most brands manage product information using spreadsheets, ERP systems, and PLM tools that reside in product departments. The resulting handoffs between product teams, marketers, creators, and e-commerce managers require redundant data entry and increase the risk of inaccuracies. Marketing teams are therefore liable to commission marketing copy and other content based on faulty information.

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The key is that every piece of information associated with a product lives in one master profile: the Collective. This eliminates redundant data entry, introduces self-serve access to product information, and speeds up distribution. There’s no more uploading and downloading assets to multiple systems or dragging various files into a maze of shared folders. If product information or content is updated in the master profile, the data can be syndicated again from this one location, saving time and ensuring accuracy.

“Online, the information and content you provide to e-commerce sites, reviewers, influencers, and other publishers ultimately shape perceptions of your products,” said Jake Athey, VP of Marketing & Customer Experience at Widen. “The accuracy of that data and the quality of the content both make a tremendous impact on purchase decisions. Products are becoming information, and the brands best able to manage that information will have an edge in e-commerce.”

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