Carrying a Wide and Shallow Inventory Assortment
Nowadays your sales are processed through a number of channels. Be it online, 3rd party marketplaces or just the good-old brick and mortar retail store, having an efficient and effective system manage these orders with your warehouse is more crucial than ever. PIM allows for one smooth and streamlined communications between your sales channels and inventory.
Disadvantages of Multi-Storefront Software
Multi-storefront software responded to the first instances of these channels opening up to businesses. Unlike a PIM they focus on one end of the order process rather than bringing the whole system under one digital roof. This software tends not to be so user-friendly, so it can be very time consuming and prone to errors. Manual entry is not easy to work with and when your orders come in multiple formats, they can be tricky to process and receive without mistakes.
With this type of system, you’ll often find your employees are stretched thin with your resources quickly lacking. This will ultimately lead to disruption in your overall customer service. These systems require a lot more time and resources to work with compared to PIM systems, especially when it comes to inventory management and communicating with the warehouse. You’ll need to invest more in training your employees more intensively.
You will also find these systems do not mix too well with applications integrations, which are imperative for things like offers of promotions. It can take hours to implement these over your channels, opening up windows everywhere for mistakes. With a PIM however, all it takes is a few simple clicks.
Why use a PIM?
PIM systems allow you to centralize your sales channels and inventory for a more streamlined retail offer. The software will speed up the overall efficiency of your operation allowing for a more positive shopping experience for your consumers. Thanks to a central ERP system that your multiple sales channels go to, it is much faster to find and process your orders due to the consolidation of order data. You can efficiently distribute and share the information across the channels that you are using so that all information is updated at a single time. All of this comes together to ensure better inventory management.
PIM systems offer efficient data delivery, too. You can quickly update all information across the board, no matter the business system or channel. You can organize information on services or products for your clients, making it easy for them to find what they need. Only enhancing the customer experience is enhanced
This system offers easy integration. You will quickly integrate with ERP, ESB and other enterprise systems or any third-party systems that you utilize. Communication between the systems is seamless and it is easy to tackle all required tasks as they are necessary.
You can see that compared to multi-storefront and similar software types, PIM is superior for maintaining store inventory. It allows you to accurately track what you have available and it ensures greater accuracy. It also makes it easier for your customers to get updated information about the services and products offered, improving the overall customer experience.]]>
