April 2024 | October 2024 | 6 minute read | Product Information Management

Best PIM Software 2024: Top 5 Product Information Management Solutions

Best PIM for 2020: Evaluating the Top 5 Product Information Management Solutions

Hooray, here we are in 2024. Do you plan to make this your biggest year yet? Are you increasing profits, moving into multiple sales channels, expanding your product offerings, analyzing important sales and marketing metrics, and keeping all your product information up-to-date and accurate at all times? You've still got time!

Fortunately, there’s one tool that can help your ecommerce web store do all of those things, and if you want to crush your 2024 business resolutions, you’re going to want it. It’s called Plytix product information management (PIM) software.

For PIM newbies, though, making the leap can be overwhelming.

There are a lot of PIM solutions out there, so figuring out which one is best for your store’s needs is a big job. Plus, a lot of PIM solutions cost an arm and a leg. So, if you’re going to make that kind of an investment in your business, you’d better be certain you’re going to get the return you need to make it worth the cost.

That’s where we come in. If a new PIM solution is one of your business goals for 2024, we have the new information you need for the new year. This guide is all you need to learn the pros, cons, features, and selling points of the five top product database solutions on the market in 2024. Read on, and know you’re going to choose the PIM software your business needs to make 2024 your best year yet.

Why invest in PIM this year?

If you’re still on the fence, allow us to convince you that PIM software is the most important investment you can make in 2024—because, really, it totally is.

More than 64% of adults say they prefer shopping online because there’s more product information available to them there than it is in-store. But if you’re an ecommerce retailer or brand that offers more than just a product or two, keeping track of all that product information, keeping it up to date, making sure it’s all accurate, optimized for search and discovery, and pushing it to all your different sales and marketing channels is more work than anyone can do manually.

PIM software is absolutely necessary if you…

Offer more SKUs than you or your team can keep up-to-date manually
Market and sell your products in more than one channel (and if you don’t already do that, you should think about doing that right now)
Collect product data from more than one supplier
Need to be able to provide accurate, up-to-date product information across multiple people or teams
Regularly expand your offerings (or want to in the upcoming months)

Companies who already use PIM software have reported that they can get their products to market in 400% less time. They also see up to 50% more sales and up to 23% fewer product returns. These are huge savings!

On the other hand, global management consultants at A.T. Kearney found that companies that don’t do a good job of managing all that product information lose around 3.5 % of their sales each year. Is that what you want in 2024? No?

Then you need a PIM solution, and it’s likely that that solution is PIM software.

Meet the top players of the best PIM software

As mentioned, there are tons of PIM software solutions on the market, but we’re going to compare five: Salsify, Akeneo, Pimcore, inRiver PIM, and Plytix. For each software, we’ve compiled pros and cons, plus other important information that will help you decide which PIM tool is right for you and your ecommerce business.

Salsify: A feature-saturated, cloud-based solution

salsify_logo

Salsify is a cloud-based PIM software. It offers a pretty intuitive user experience that makes it simple to create a product and push it to marketing and sales channels. You can also get a 30-day free trial period with a guided demo, which allows you to try out this solution before you commit to its very hefty price tag.

Best for: Large enterprises with 500+ employees

Cost: Salsify doesn’t communicate prices online, but we interviewed some of their clients in 2019, and the lowest starting price we found was $24,000 per year.

Pros	Cons
All your product data in one centralized location You can import product information and assets from multiple sources It’s easy to push content in the correct formats to multiple channels Actionable analytics to help you track key sales metrics	For many businesses, Salsify is too feature-heavy. Beginners to PIM software, in particular, might find they're paying for features they don't use The bulk edit feature is difficult to use The price point doesn’t make this an appealing choice for small-to-medium-sized businesses

Akeneo: A PIM system built for large enterprises

Akeneo, with a high price point and a core system that allows you to purchase add-ons as needed, is definitely created for larger enterprises, rather than SMBs. The system is open-source, which means less tech-savvy users won’t be able to harness its potential and may be overwhelmed by the lack of structure.

Best for: Large enterprises with 500+ employees

Cost: Akeneo doesn’t communicate prices online, but we interviewed some of their clients in 2019, and the lowest starting price we found was $38,000 per year.

Pros	Cons
All your product data in one centralized location Asset manager can store and organize tons of information, including images and videos “History version reverse” allows you to see product revision history You can manage rights for different people and teams across the organization	The open-source model means that if you aren’t tech-savvy, you may struggle to take advantage of some features Import/export processes, permissions management, and other tasks aren’t as user friendly as we’d like to see Integrations aren’t always smooth The price point doesn’t make this an appealing choice for small-to-medium-sized businesses

Pimcore: The free open-source PIM is for tech-savvy enterprises

Pimcore offers a combined set of software for both product information management and customer experience management. It’s open-source software, which means it has the potential to be a powerful tool, but only in the hands of a company that has the tech experience to use it to its full potential. For the most part, the companies that will have the best experience with Pimcore are the ones that have the resources to employ a team of IT experts to assist with personalizing and running the software.

Best for: Large enterprises with 500+ employees

Cost: Pimcore is free to license whether you’re an individual or a large enterprise.

Pros	Cons
All your product data in one centralized location Cost makes Pimcore accessible to all businesses Data validation feature helps ensure product information is high quality	The open-source model means that if you aren’t tech-savvy, you may struggle to take advantage of some features Certain features, like image uploading, can be difficult and time-consuming to use

inRiver PIM: A customizable, cloud-based solution

InRiver PIM was created with small businesses in mind, but can now handle the needs of small to much larger enterprises. Users point to its flexibility as a feature that makes them love inRiver, but this PIM’s ability to grow with your business might not be there.

Best for: Small businesses

Cost: We couldn’t find any cost information online for inRiver, other than that users pay for the software on a subscription model.

Pros	Cons
All your product data in one centralized location Features are fast and customizable The user experience is sleek and straightforward	Extra apps cost more to add to the core software Managing your datasets gets more complicated as they get larger, so for businesses with a lot of SKUs, this might not be the best choice

Plytix: The all-in-one software that's affordable and easy to use

Plytix offers a PIM that’s powerful, yet easy to learn and simple to use. It was designed and initially priced for small-to-medium-sized businesses, but even large enterprises can take advantage of Plytix’s all-in-one, feature-packed software.

Best for: Enterprises of all sizes

Cost: Plytix offers fixed pricing plans, including a $450 Basic plan for businesses with up to 10,000 products. The plan includes unlimited users, files, and more. For businesses that need more than that, the Unlimited plan is $1650 per month. The beauty of Plytix is the module approach; you can also pick our Custom plan so you only pay for the outputs you use!

Pros	Cons
All your product data in one centralized location, accessible to unlimited users Intelligent data filtering that makes content management more efficient Ability to push accurate product information to multiple channels Price makes this software accessible to any business	No white-label option is currently available, but the feature is in development and coming soon

Which PIM will you choose?

Still not sure which PIM software solution is right for your business?

For more on why you need a PIM solution and choosing the software that’s right for you, check out our Ultimate PIM Features Guide to learn more!

Download a FREE guide to choosing the ultimate PIM solution

Frequently Asked Questions

The "best" PIM (Product Information Management) software really depends on your specific needs.

However, Plytix PIM stands out for its user-friendly interface, comprehensive feature set, and scalability, making it a great option for brands and retailers of all sizes. It allows for easy management of product information across multiple channels, making it a top choice for businesses looking to get their products out to market faster.

PIM is incredibly beneficial for managing large amounts of product information efficiently. It helps businesses centralize product data into a single platform, simplifying the process of distributing this information across various sales channels, websites, and marketing platforms.

This leads to improved data accuracy, consistency, and a faster time-to-market for products. Essentially, PIM is a lifesaver for any commerce business looking to improve their product information management process.

PIM stands for Product Information Management. It is a type of software that helps businesses manage a wide range of product data (such as descriptions, specifications, images, and pricing information).

PIM systems serve as a central hub for all product information, making it easier to distribute this data across multiple channels and platforms. The goal of a PIM is to improve efficiency, data quality, and consistency across your business.

An example of PIM software is Plytix PIM. Plytix offers a cloud-based platform where businesses can manage, optimize, and distribute their product information from one place. It allows users to create a centralized source of truth for their product data, which can then be shared with ecommerce sites, retail partners, and marketing materials.

Features such as digital asset management and product data syndication make Plytix a great PIM solution for online businesses.

Product Information Management