PIM and/or DAM: Which Is Right for Your Business?

Summarize this article

A few articles ago, we talked about Digital Asset Management (DAM) and how it helps you centralize your digital assets, improve your users’ experience and, ultimately, your customers’ experience. But do you need a PIM to have a DAM? And conversely, do you need a DAM to have a PIM? Can you use just one or the other? Here is everything you need to know about how these tools complement each other…

Why a PIM? Why a DAM?

Today, companies (especially in e-commerce) handle countless pieces of product information and digital assets. They accumulate, store, organize and harmonize this content as best they can so they can use it as efficiently as possible. Two key tools help them do it: Product Information Management (PIM) and Digital Asset Management (DAM).

Both are part of an asset management approach, but each has its own specific features.

What makes a DAM different

A DAM, or digital asset manager, lets you centralize, store and share assets in an organized, secure way. It is a tool that makes exchanges between employees and third-party users easier and smoother. And it simplifies the distribution of assets to customers.

Digital assets:

Visuals (photos, packshots, 3D…), motion files (videos, motion design…), technical files (plans, instructions…), marketing and sales materials (campaign assets, POS displays, brochures…), administrative and legal documents (rights assignment contracts, standards…).

These digital assets may be intended for internal or external use. They abound in e-commerce (products or services) and in any business that involves managing large numbers of files (media agencies, marketing, communications, PR…).

A DAM can also automate many asset processing tasks (naming, format, dimensions…), as Scaleflex does with Filerobot, for example. Users become more efficient and can focus on other tasks, to the benefit of the customer experience.

We cover DAM in more detail in a separate article.

What makes a PIM different

A PIM, for its part, is the ally of a successful product experience. It is a collaborative tool that centralizes, harmonizes, contextualizes and distributes all the information related to a product catalog.

Product information:

Product identifier, specifications, sales description, technical description, logistics information (storage, handling, shipping…), visuals (photos, packshots, 3D…), motion files (videos, motion design…), technical files (plans, instructions…), marketing and sales materials (campaign assets, POS displays, brochures…).

A product information manager can be used for both print and digital catalogs. It enables retailers to deliver complete, high-quality multichannel product information. And to keep improving it!

Employees get detailed product information. Likewise, consumers can access product information such as dimensions, composition, availability, delivery time…

Common ground and differences

DAM and PIM are both designed to centralize assets, for internal or external use. They also overlap in the management of product-related digital assets.

Both tools aim to streamline management, smooth out user processes and automate as many actions as possible when it comes to processing and updating these assets.

They support the business, guaranteeing consistency and accuracy and reducing a product’s time to market. They make employees’ work easier and give customers a richer, more refined experience.

That said, their features differ. And while their areas of expertise overlap on the product, each one is specific in every other respect.

A DAM stores and shares a product’s digital assets, while a PIM harmonizes them and assigns them to the product.

• While a DAM handles every kind of digital asset, whatever the subject or use, a PIM is dedicated to product information.
• And while a PIM handles all product information, assets or otherwise, a DAM is dedicated to (visual) digital assets.

To make this clearer, here is a diagram from our partner Scaleflex.

For example:
For our customer Legallais, the PIM brings together all the data related to its hardware products: product reference, technical description, dimensions, composition, colors, packaging, stock quantity…

The DAM, meanwhile, stores the Legallais brand logo, product photos, demo videos, advertising campaign materials, technical data sheets and any other visual element related to the brand and its products.

Implement a PIM and/or a DAM

For many large companies, PIM and DAM are complementary. They don’t implement one or the other, but both.

However, each of these tools has its own specific features. And for other companies, one or the other may be a better fit. The two tools complement each other, but each can also be implemented on its own, depending on your needs.

Implementing a PIM

A PIM connects to your information system to bring in data from your CRM software and any other databases. It centralizes and synchronizes this data in its own system to distribute detailed, unified product information across your marketing and sales channels.

• Omnichannel distribution

A PIM connects to all your physical and digital channels (store, print catalog, e-commerce site, marketplace…). You manage your different media and levels of information with one single tool.

• Reliable, up-to-date data

A PIM lets you control and easily update your product data. Whatever the channel, your users and customers get accurate information, updated at every stage of the product lifecycle.

• Better marketing and sales

A PIM helps your marketing and sales teams get to know your products better. Combined with customer and prospect data, they can run targeted campaigns and push products that perfectly match a need.

Implementing a DAM

A DAM also connects to your information system to bring together your various asset sources. It centralizes and synchronizes your digital assets to save time when producing your product pages or marketing campaigns, for example.

• Easier access

By centralizing assets, a DAM gives you easy access to your entire asset library. Everything is organized according to a naming convention you define, so you can quickly find the file you are looking for.

• Support for marketing and communications

A DAM can be connected to your layout tools (PowerPoint, InDesign…). This lets you add your media assets in just a few clicks.

• A polished brand image

Finally, a DAM helps you take care of your brand image. It makes graphic processing and the protection of your assets (copyright) easier, so you stay consistent across all your communications and with everyone you deal with.

Implementing both!

As explained above, many large companies implement both a PIM and a DAM, as complementary tools. This mainly concerns e-commerce companies that handle a large volume of products and sales.

Below, our partner Scaleflex sets out the scenarios in which a DAM, a PIM or a combination of both is the right fit.

Integrating PIM and DAM also makes it possible to sync all (product) digital assets from the DAM to the PIM. A significant time saver when you are handling thousands of SKUs.

To conclude, PIM and DAM are invaluable for companies that handle large amounts of assets and product information. By bringing together data from multiple sources, these tools make it easier to centralize and manage that data.

But while both are designed to support the business in its processes, they meet very different needs and uses. Each has its own specific features and advantages…

Depending on the company’s business and organization, one may be a better fit than the other. And for a high-volume e-commerce business with major product experience challenges, combining the two may be the best solution.

Thinking about implementing a PIM or a DAM in your organization?
Need advice on integrating your solution with your information system?
Contact us to talk it over!

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