The adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” has never been truer in ecommerce. Images capture the consumer’s attention and allow them to connect with the product virtually, which is why marketers call the focal image the “hero.”
Images are, without a doubt, a critical component of your ecommerce success, but where do they come from, and what’s the best way to keep them up-to-date and relevant?
Organizing assets, especially rotating them for seasonality, can be challenging. This is where the power of a digital asset management (DAM) tool comes into play.
DAM platforms have the power to store, share, and organize all digital content in a secure and centralized single source of truth.
Creative files such as images and videos are expensive to create, but you can get more from this media when you ensure the assets can be easily found, shared, and optimized in real-time.
A company may have 100 SKUs, but each SKU likely has several assets attached to it — think: front shot, back shot, side shot, video, 360 spins — so the number of assets can quickly grow much bigger than the product catalog.
DAMs drive efficiency, allowing companies to organize and search for their assets easily. DAM assets can also be tagged with meaningful metadata such as season, brand, product line, style, dates, features, benefits, etc., allowing teams to move away from a traditionally limiting folder structure to a true database of content that utilizes taxonomy, optimizing efficiency and usability.
A product information management (PIM) solution is similar to a DAM, but instead of strictly digital assets, a PIM can centralize and manage all product information and content, including product titles, descriptions, images, measurements, and pricing.
A PIM makes creating and maintaining accurate and consistent product information across different channels and platforms, like ecommerce sites and marketplaces, easier. PIMs have been proven to provide businesses with increased productivity, reduced product returns, and faster time-to-market for new products.
When utilized within a broader product experience management (PXM) solution, PIM helps brands and retailers:
Image Source: Gartner®, Quick Answer: DAM, PIM or Both? Figure 2
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Technology solutions’ efficacy is realized when pieced together as part of an overall tech stack. Siloed systems create inefficiencies when data and information can’t be easily accessed or shared between them and, therefore, between teams, leading to high “collaboration drag.”
A Gartner study found that “78% of enterprise leaders report high collaboration drag … on critical growth initiatives such as commercial team integration and omnichannel orchestration.”1
True cross-team collaboration can only be facilitated by an integrated tech stack. It allows teams to access and share both data and workflows seamlessly. Technology platforms must enable speed and agility by providing a unified view of data across different systems, enabling businesses to respond rapidly to changing market conditions, customer demands, and emerging trends.
With the right technology platforms, businesses can gain a competitive advantage and drive growth in today's fast-paced digital economy.
Wondering if a PIM and DAM strategy is right for your needs? Consider these facts from Salsify’s consumer research.
These statistics emphasize how combining PIM and DAM capabilities that function side-by-side could help efficient syndication and analytics operate quickly in today’s rapidly evolving market.
Brands can’t afford missed opportunities, nor do they have the wherewithal to spend copious amounts of time manually uploading assets one at a time. This is precisely why a direct connection between DAM and PIM is critical when assets are loaded to a DAM and tagged properly with targeted metadata.
“Integrating our DAM and PIM has streamlined how we manage product content by connecting assets and information in one seamless workflow. It reduces manual effort, eliminates duplication, and ensures each system operates at its highest value – improving accuracy, speed to market, and team efficiency.”
— Kristi Morrison-Clear, Digital Asset Manager, SharkNinja
Integrating your DAM with your PIM doesn’t just improve operational efficiency — it unlocks automation, enhances localization and seasonality, and ensures version control to mitigate risk.
This streamlined, syndication-ready approach aligns content delivery with the buyer’s journey, enabling greater agility and accelerating speed to market. Most importantly, it ensures that accurate, up-to-date content reaches consumers every time.
1 Gartner, CMOs: How to Succeed at Cross-Functional Collaboration for Growth, Sharon Cantor Ceurvorst, Anja Naski, Aparajita Mazumdar, 16 February 2024