Handle content efficiently in the fast-moving retail electronics marketplace

Consumers are researching electronics products in detail more than ever before. As a result, businesses in electronics retail must provide top-quality product information to enable the potential buyer to compare products, review technical specifications, compare features, select OS, choose software licenses, compare price, and decide on dimensions etc.


As a retailer this means handling very large volumes of complex product information for thousands – if not hundreds of thousands of products in several different product segments. Speed and efficiency becomes critical for keeping the pace in a very fast-moving market. Adding to the challenge is the complexity of marketing the products in different channels — giving consumers an interesting, compelling and visual story regardless of which channel the consumer uses to connect with you.

Smart management of your product information and content can be done efficiently with the help of a PIM (Product Information Management) system and the right integrations with surrounding systems. PIM lets you draw product information from your ERP and other data sources, like CNET, and subsequently handle all product information in one source for all channels.

By pulling in the building blocks of product information into a PIM, you can swiftly handle product texts, images, videos, documents, specifications, comparisons, similar products, related products etc. in one system. Once the information is complete and fits your requirements, you can push that information to all your channels in one click. Updating the product information becomes easy; you simply make the adjustment in your PIM, and the change will be updated to all channels at the click of a button. In addition, since all channels are being fed with information from the same system, you can rest assured that the information is always the latest, most up-to-date, and consistent content.

Investing in the creation of relevant content in a smart way improves efficiency and supports the speed at which you need to get the information out. For example, one of our customers, a large electronics retailer, told me that with the 150 000 to 200 000 items they market per year — including smartphones, tablets, computers, servers, networks, screens, HiFi components, and software licenses - they handle such high volumes of product information that they must have effective processes and the right information in the PIM to bring a product to market fast. In their world, one single product should not take more than 10 minutes to enrich with product information and become marketable and thereby purchasable. New products can be published immediately to the channels, exposing them to both online and offline customers.

By deploying a PIM system, this electronics retailer can control the not only very large product range (both current and retired products), but also customer-specific tailored products - always knowing they can trust the PIM to deliver correct and updated information each time.

Annette Ståhlberg, Content Manager, inRiver