Amber Engine Next-Gen PIM
What is a PIM?
Product information management (PIM) software are SaaS tools that aggregate a brand’s product information from multiple sources (spreadsheets, shared files, etc.) in one place. There, the software guides you through product information optimizations. The same PIM enables one-click downloads of files with optimized product data formatted specifically for any channel you plan to upload your catalog to.
Next-gen PIMs typically give a brand:
A unified source of truth for their product data
Powerful methods of cleaning-up and enhancing their product data
A repository for associated product images, video, and other assets
A streamlined way to import new or updated product data
a comprehensive and powerful syndication system
Lastly, the best PIMs also give their brands insights into how to change their product data to increase sales
The Challenge: First Gen lacked adoption
Amber Engine’s first generation PIM, named “Vesper”, lagged behind the competition. Despite having the credibility of being part of the Quicken “Family of Companies” (FOC), adoption rates were low. The UI was clunky, the taxonomy was rigid, and it took seasoned users to properly export endpoint-specific product data.
Two hours after I joined the group, we sat down as a team to start brainstorming and ideating our next-gen product.
Competitive Analysis
We identified mistakes our competitors were making very early on.
Rigid taxonomies meant the brands had to conform to the software, instead of the other way around
Rigid taxonomies also meant that brands couldn’t easily import data. They first had to translate THEIR data into the preferred format and template the other PIMs required
Confusing, legacy UIs confound new users
Proprietary, legacy terminology makes onboarding a nightmare (does a “list of products” makes sense? How about a “Content Segment of products”? You get it)
Bloated Digital Asset Management (DAM) features meant new brands would often be confused with imagery onboarding
Syndication systems that require a Systems Integration degree to master