Riversand PIM Book

How Does a Product Information Management Solution (PIM)
aid in a Unified Commerce Paradigm?
What is Unified Commerce?
The short answer: competing on customer experience.
Retail change A step beyond Omnichannel, the unified commerce business
model is the response to the sharp increase in mobile usage rates and the
shift from a product-centric approach towards customer-centricity.
This new wave of digital synergy was born out of the consumer’s’ need for a
personalized and seamless shopping experience wherever and whenever
they are and is set to change forever the way companies internally structure
and manage their business.
In an omnichannel environment, each sales channel draws information from
their own supporting data silos. Unified commerce unites all business channels
(internal ERPs, mobile, website and physical terminals), connecting
them to a central data warehouse where information is uploaded, updated
and utilized, everywhere in the organization, in real-time.
This hub of information acts as a “single source of truth” and eliminates the
pressure to manually maintain data across the enterprise to ensure that the
customer has a consistent brand experience.
The unified commerce ecosystem takes into consideration both the consumer’s
demand for seamless service and the retailer’s need for a technical infrastructure

The Era of Retail Change
How Product Information Management helps unify Omni-channels
Unified commerce is driven by the need for well organized, high-quality
product content that is useful to the consumer thus increasing conversions
and loyalty.
The Product Information Management Solution is a middleware layer
which serves as a central product repository and a source of product
master information which aids companies to connect with their audience:
Product Master Data Hub – centralized source for all the product master
data, which is secured, backed-up and separates critical data from the use
of that data.
Analytics and Business Intelligence – business intelligence utilizing
up-to-date data to monitor patterns to predict trends leading to higher
profits, productivity, and efficiency, which when combined with customer
information, can increase conversions and customer retention.
A Single Set of Data Governance Rules – promotes a single version of the
truth for product data, providing a stable, pre-defined architecture for
dealing with multiple, complex data sources. It automates all the business
functions which use product data and eliminates the need to manually
input, consolidate and transfer data between different sections of the enterprise.
Omnichannel Capabilities (and integrated support functions such as Print
and DAM) – play a fundamental role in how product data is displayed and
used by various sales channels and has a direct impact on customer immersion
and how satisfied they are with a brand.