Product Information Management (PIM) rarely gets the attention it deserves.

It’s often seen as a background system; something that exists, rather than something that actively drives performance. 

But a well-functioning PIM sits at the heart of how a business buys, sells, scales, and serves customers. And when it doesn’t work properly, the impact is felt everywhere. 

 
Product Data Becoming a Bottleneck 

Most businesses don’t set out with a “bad” PIM. What usually happens is gradual: 

• Product data is stored across multiple systems 

• Buying teams re-enter the same information more than once 

• Product launches are delayed because content isn’t ready 

• Different channels show different versions of the same product 

• Customer-facing teams spend time resolving avoidable queries 

Individually, these issues feel manageable, but collectively, they start to slow the business down. And over time, teams stop trusting the data. Manual workarounds creep in, and product information, which should be an asset, becomes a constraint. 

 
When Supplier Data Doesn’t Fit 

One of the biggest challenges with product data isn’t volume; it’s inconsistency. 

Suppliers rarely structure product information in the same way. Each comes with their own hierarchy, terminology, and level of detail. While that structure may work for the supplier, it rarely aligns neatly with how a business needs to organise products for its own website and customers. 

Multiple suppliers can sell effectively the same product but describe and categorise it in completely different ways. Some provide detailed attributes, others very little usable information at all. Without reworking and standardising this data, the front end of a website quickly becomes difficult to navigate. 

For customers, this shows up as: 

• Confusing category structures 

• Inconsistent filters and attributes 

• Difficulty finding the right product quickly 

For internal teams, it means constant manual effort just to make supplier data fit for purpose. 

 
Biggest Misconceptions 

One of the biggest misconceptions around PIM is that it’s purely a technical concern. How product data is structured directly shapes how customers experience your website. 

When product data flows cleanly through the business (aligned to a clear hierarchy and attribution model), teams can focus on value-add work rather than fixing problems downstream. 

In practice, PIM underpins: 

• Speed to market: how quickly new ranges go live 

• Buying and category confidence: working from a single source of truth 

• Channel consistency: accurate, rich product data everywhere it’s needed 

• Scalability: adding SKUs, suppliers, or channels without chaos 

• Commercial performance: better content drives better conversion 

 
Strengthening the Foundations 

Within Office Power, our buying and category teams recently partnered with Pimberly to strengthen our PIM and the way product information is managed across the business. 

The focus wasn’t on technology for technology’s sake. It was about creating clearer ownership, cleaner workflows, and a single, reliable source of product truth that works for buying, eCommerce, marketing, and operations. 
 
A key part of this is automation. Once product hierarchies, attributes, and rules are clearly defined, a large proportion of supplier data can be automatically transformed and managed. This removes the need for constant manual rework and allows teams to focus on exceptions rather than routine clean-up. 

The result? 

• Less duplication and rework 

• More confidence in product data 

• Faster onboarding of products 

• Fewer downstream issues across channels 

In short, fewer blockers and more momentum. 

 

Investing Ahead of the Curve 

Strengthening our PIM wasn’t a small or incremental change. It was a deliberate, long-term investment in how we want buying, suppliers, and customers to work together in the future. 

We partnered with Pimberly, one of the leading PIM platforms on the market, because we needed a solution that could scale with our ambition, not just solve today’s operational challenges. 

This investment goes beyond improving internal efficiency. It’s about laying the foundations for what comes next. 

A robust, well-structured PIM is critical to enabling our Power Marketplace, a platform that brings resellers and vendors closer together through shared data, clearer product standards, and more efficient collaboration. 

By defining strong product hierarchies, attribution models, and governance upfront, we’re creating an environment where: 

• Suppliers can onboard faster and with greater confidence 

• Product data flows cleanly across buying, digital, and operational teams 

• Resellers and vendors can work from a consistent, trusted source of truth 

• New tools and capabilities can be introduced without reworking the foundations 

This is where many businesses struggle. They attempt to launch marketplaces, new channels, or supplier portals on top of fragmented product data. The result is friction, manual intervention, and limited scalability. 

By investing early in the right PIM infrastructure, we’re avoiding those constraints and setting ourselves up to build market-leading tools that genuinely support collaboration across the ecosystem. 

In short, this isn’t just about managing product data better today. 
It’s about creating the conditions for sustainable growth, deeper supplier relationships, and a marketplace model that works for everyone involved. 

 
Why PIM is Everyone’s Responsibility 

While PIM is often “owned” by a system or a team, its success heavily depends on collaboration, for example: 

• Buying teams define the quality and structure of product data 

• Category teams shape how products are positioned 

• Marketing relies on it to tell compelling product stories 

• Operations and customer service depend on accuracy and consistency 

 

Don’t Underestimate What Sits Underneath 

Businesses often invest heavily in front-end experiences, such as websites, marketplaces, and marketing campaigns, while underestimating the foundations underneath. 

A strong PIM doesn’t just support growth. It makes growth possible without breaking the business.  

If you’re scaling your range, adding channels, or simply feeling friction around product data, it may be time to look at the foundations first. 

Because when product information works, everything else works better.