The product catalog is a tool that is as essential to selling as it is onerous to produce and update, especially for businesses that sell online.

A PXM software is an indispensable ally in zeroing in on operations and amplifying the benefits that come from the flow of creating, publishing and updating the product catalog.

In this article you will find out how.

Product catalog: what it is by now we all know just that

You certainly don’t have to be a salesperson, marketer or e-commerce manager to know that a product catalog is a neat collection of photos and information about a company’s assortment.

A catalog may include all or part of products, have a limited duration (as in the case of fashion and its seasons), target exclusive markets, or be intended for multiple channels.

It is this latter aspect that we will focus on most in this article.

Catalog management in the omnichannel era

We don’t want to repeat the spiel you’ve probably read everywhere by now, but it’s the truth: digital has revolutionized purchasing processes and, by extension, catalog management.

As a result, when it comes to product catalogs, the spotlights are almost always on the content of site, e-commerce and marketplace pages, which require massive levels of instantaneity and consistency that, without proper support, result in a lot of manual labor.

Automated catalog: present and future go through here

Not surprisingly, the market for Product eXperience Management, solutions that help companies deliver an omnichannel product experience to customers, is estimated to be growing at a compound average annual rate of 18.2 percent and an estimated value of 6.3 billion in 2028.

Among the main benefits of a PXM platform is the reduction of operational work, guaranteed by the automatic publication of the catalog and related product sheets. But there is much more.

In the following paragraphs we will explore 7 problems that can be solved with an automated catalog.

#1 Stop copy-pasting Master Data

Master Data (or Master Data) is so-called product master information and typically resides in enterprise management systems such as ERP software.

Some Master Data flow directly into the product sheets: this is the case, for example, with the product code (such as EAN). Others, however, must be adapted depending on the publication channel.

This is the case with size: if the company sells online in different geographic markets, the size of the same item will vary depending on the country for which the product sheet is intended. In the absence of digitization, manual labor and the risks of error, with wide and deep assortments, rise.

Solutions such as a PXM with which to automate product uploads facilitate Master Data management because they automatically populate e-commerce and marketplaces with data streams from ERP, delivering them directly or transforming them.

Transformations are made possible by rules, by which the most advanced PXM tools allow the same data item to automatically take on different values based on the catalog for which it is intended.

#2 The creation of Editorial Data accelerates

The flow of creating a product catalog is not limited to flowing downstream Master Data from the ERP but also includes planning, writing and distributing Editorial Data.

While Master Data is informative in scope, Editorial Data is more commercial in nature, as it promotes product storytelling.

Copywriters and translators-even from ERP data-enrich existing information and generate new information, such as marketing descriptions. Creative flows that, with manual management, occur in a fragmented way and with inefficient replication for each channel and catalog.

With PXM software, the development of Editorial Data accelerates because it gives the various teams a single workspace in which they can plan their various activities and say goodbye to Excel spreadsheets.

In addition, thanks to the rules already mentioned, it is possible to pre-populate some fields with data combos found on tools such as ERP or PLM to make the work of language and word experts more agile.

3. No more hours thrown into categorizing products on each channel

Categories are valuable guides to the customer experience.

However, they risk increasing time to market, especially in companies that are not very digitally structured and have many products to promote in different sales channels.

The same item, in fact, might be categorized differently on different catalogs, depending on the structure of the various marketplaces or on brand choices; in fact, among our clients‘ e-commerce, there are realities that differentiate categories depending on thegeographical area of reference.

A PXM solution, thanks to configurable rule engines, zeroes out the time spent (or lost) categorizing products.

Having established the trees of the various catalogs, for example, the most powerful tools automatically assign items to the various catalogs (and their categories) based on the value of one or more product data.

4. Cross-selling and up-selling take off

An automated catalog does more than just reduce promotional costs and time.

By digitizing the creative flow as you can with PXM software, in fact, you can leverage rule engines and automatically associate multiple products with each other, creating bundles of items or purchase suggestions featured on site and marketplace pages to elevate the average shopping cart.

5. No more delayed campaigns

The introduction of a Product eXperience Management solution also impacts collaboration between even very different teams. Customers who have chosen SeeCommerce, for example, leverage its Attribute Planning to schedule workflows.

To give an example, for each catalog it is possible to set the dates for photo shoots (aligned with the logistical flows involving the physical arrival of the products) and, cascadingly, those for post-production activities, copy enrichment and, finally, catalog publication.

The main benefit of scheduling activities is to avert misalignments between departments and delays along the process, the main cause of slowed market launches, with what that does to the business.

6. Populating views becomes a breeze

So far we have talked largely about data but the other half of the apple, indeed, of a product sheet is undoubtedly photos, videos, documents–in a word: media (or digital assets).

Front, back, still-life: the views of a single product are numerous, and often a shot will vary in size, format, or background color depending on the target catalog.

A PXM solution also optimizes this flow, which, done manually, requires intensive editing activities, by automatically optimizing the specifications of a media.

Another major time benefit is provided by automated product-content association. SeeCommerce, to do this, leverages the naming convention; the system is instructed to recognize file nomenclatures and instantly associate them with a specific product.

This makes it possible to retrieve, at the search stage, not only all the information in an article, but also the digital assets that represent it. Without the need for any manual activity.

7. The demise of misaligned catalogs

Last but not least: updating. How many times does it take to touch up that data, remove that one too many line spacing, update that inaccurate shot? Let’s answer together: too many!

A PXM software also takes care of this aspect, which, moreover, is essential to be able to speak for real about automatic publication of product sheets.

With SeeCommerce PXM, you don’t need to access the back-end systems of e-commerce or portals to update a piece of information or content, because the tool integrates with your end channels and distributes the most up-to-date version of data and media to the front ends of your digital storefronts in real time.

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Between now and 2030, the EU ESPR Regulation will come into force, which, among other measures, includes the Digital Product Passport (or DPP).

What is the Digital Product Passport? What sectors does it cover? What impacts will it bring with it? In this article we take stock of the situation.

Digital Product Passport: what is the DPP

Let’s get straight to the point.

The acronym DPP stands for Digital Product Passport is a digital register containing a variety of information related to the value chain of an item.

Soon, European companies will have to accompany each product with a detailed list of data on its lifecycle, from production to recycling, through repairability and disposal.

Digital Product Passport: how does it work?

The fruition of DPPs will be clearer from the moment they see their full implementation, but it is likely that standards already in the market such as QR codes will be exploited to access a product’s digital passport.

Once scanned, the code will return to the consumer a set of detailed data on materials, composition, production cycle, varying from sector to sector.

What are Digital Product Passports for?

To understand the purpose of the digital passport produced, it should be mentioned that it is part of the ESPR regulation, approved in spring 2024.

ESPR stands for Ecodesign for Sustainable Product Regulation, a regulation that is part of the Green Deal, a package of EU initiatives to reduce emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030.

ESPR’s focus is to extend eco-design to most products on the EU market in order to reduce the environmental impact of their lifecycle, as is already the case with household appliances.

In addition, ESPR introduces new requirements and standards regarding durability, reparability, energy efficiency and recycling of items in order to counter planned obsolescence and promote circularity.

In this context, the DPP will serve as an informational reference point:

• for companies, which will have a lever of objective and concrete transparency
• for consumers to make more informed and green choices
• for the authorities-who by receiving the data to display in their portals-will be facilitated in controls and increase consumer confidence.

… okay but what about the competition?

Indeed, in the free market, companies’ duties of transparency may collide with the protection of competition.

The broad informational scope of the DPP, could compromise the confidentiality of strategic data, such as those related to production and procurement flows.

For this reason, the Legislature clarified that of all the information included in the DPP, only some will be accessible to consumers, while others will be accessible only by parties witha “legitimate interest,” as determined by the Regulation itself or by the Commission.

When will the Digital Product Passport be mandatory?

At least two steps are planned before the DPPs come into effect:

• the European Commission will present a three-year work plan in 2025, establishing the types of products affected by the regulation
• defined the types of products, a delegated act will be made for each of them, which will enshrine what data each sector must adhere to.

There are currently no firm dates, but it is reasonable to assume that digital product passports will come into effect before 2030 (for some sectors as early as 2027).

For which areas will the DPP requirement be triggered in the first place?

From an initial analysis by the European Commission, the product categories first affected by the new Digital Product Passport will be batteries, textiles, electronics and construction.

Battery companies, for example, as of February 1, 2027 will have to prepare a DPP that includes information on the durability, performance and CO2 impact of each product.

In turn, it is likely that the Digital Product Passport – precisely because of its goals of ubiquity – will be extended to any other commodity sector, with a few exclusions (which will apparently cover food items, animal feed, and pharmaceuticals).

What technology will the Digital Product Passport be based on?

Rumors agree that the technology that will enable the emergence of DPP will be blockchain, which is known to offer a digital infrastructure that provides security, transparency and immutability of every record entered by the various actors in an information chain.

By the way, digital passport in luxury fashion already exists

Fashion, particularly that which occupies the highest end of the market, has always been a forerunner of major digital developments.

Not surprisingly, it has also moved ahead at this juncture, through a consortium and voluntary membership project called Aura Blockchain.

The platform, developed by such giants as LVMH, OTB, Cartier and the Prada Group, offers traceability that shields consumers from counterfeits.

Tod’s, for example, has embedded an NFC (Non-Fungible Token) tag in its Di Bag that leverages the Aura project’s blockchain to return data to the customer-who scans it with his or her smartphone-that attests to the authenticity and provenance of the bag’s materials.

Image Source: Temera.com

DPP: will companies need ad hoc software?

The management of DPP is closely related to that of product information and, in particular, its centralization, enrichment and delivery.

In view of the new obligation, it is clear that companies that are unstructured from a Product Information Management point of view will be able to seize the opportunity to equip themselves with PIM software-or better yet, PXM software.

Conversely, companies that have already embarked on such digital paths will need to ensure that the tools in use support the management and propagation of DPP data.

Our platform, for example, is SaaS, offers a hyper-flexible data model, and, thanks to APIs, delivers product content (data and media) across any channel. Key features to comply with future DPP obligations.

From regulatory obligation to business opportunity

DPPs are much more than a regulatory requirement.

Digital Product Passports, in fact, can be a useful tool for sharing information and documents that enrich the product experience through certified attestations of a brand’s quality authenticity.

It is also a democratic tool for promoting sustainability actions because the data travels on a third-party-guaranteed circuit, making it easier to detect greenwashing phenomena.

Last but not least, it can facilitate the sale of additional services or products such as repair, disposal, maintenance and repair items.

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Here and there you have heard about PXM software and want to know more about what PXM means, an acronym that stands for Product eXperience Management, a term also used to define a type of software.

Well, you’ve come to the right place! At the end of this article you will find out everything (or almost everything) you need to know about PXM tools: what kind of software it is, what it is for, who uses it, what benefits it offers.

PXM: what does Product eXperience Management mean?

What is PXM? The acronym PXM Product eXperience Management is used to refer to the process by which a company manages the customer’s Web experience on the channels where it sells its products.

It is an aspect firmly connected to CX (customer experience) and, by extension, to business.

The main objective of the PXM approach

The main task of the PXM approach is to provide customers and potential customers with consistent, engaging, and personalized product Web experiences.

If the previous sentence should seem ambitious and generic to you, it is normal.
Delivering a prestigious Customer Experience is a desire that is easy to hatch but not easy to materialize.

So what?

Where do you start to elevate the Product Experience?

There are really so many factors at stake: from the quality of the product (or service) to the responsiveness of the web pages, through the timeliness of logistics and the friendliness of customer service.

Without detracting from the aspects mentioned above, however, there is one that is particularly important because of its constant presence along the Customer Journey, the journey that leads a user to become a customer.

It is the wealth of data and assets that describe and represent the corporate assortment.

The key role of product information and media in PXM

The successful completion of a Google search, zooming in on an e-commerce product in detail, comparing an item with competing items in a marketplace, and playing guide tutorials for use or assembly.

Different activities, alternating along the online purchase path, united by the constant presence of information, shots and videos that promote, describe and narrate the products, which are essential for the customer to know and understand their value.

Not surprisingly, in 70 percent of cases, product content is considered crucial to e-shopping (Forbes).

Moreover, inaccurate data and assets, in addition to reducing the chances of selling a product, are the second most frequent cause of returns (30 percent), preceded only by returns from damaged items (39 percent).

Towards PXM software, beyond Excel sheets and silos of DAM and PIM software

However, the need for instantaneousness of various digital channels, especially in realities with sizable volume assortments, requires significant manual efforts that are often synonymous with errors and inconsistencies.

An alternative to Excel sheets and hours of copy-pasting is to rely on ad hoc software to manage product information (the PIMs, Product Information Management) and others to manage digital assets such as photos and videos (the DAMs, Digital Asset Management).

While good allies for product experience, choosing two separate tools elevates the risk of duplicate content, as well as inflating integration and licensing costs.

Compare PIM, DAM and PXM tools: read our article PIM vs PXM vs DAM.

Why does PXM = DAM + PIM?

Product eXperience Management (or more simply PXM) software complements-and often exceeds-the functionality of DAM and PIM software, with the goal of governing product information and content from a single platform.

The convergence of information assets provided by PXM software ensures IT cost savings and elevates process agility because it centralizes end-to-end flows of creation, post-production, enrichment and approval of product card and catalog content.

How PXM software works

Mainly, a PXM software supports three types of macro-flows:

• centralizes.
  Integrating with systems such as ERPs, a PXM platform collects all product master data, eliminating the risk of information fragmentation and cutting down search time.
  Moreover, through ad hoc configurable rules, it can transform them automatically;

• manages.
  A PXM solution allows different teams to plan activities and collaborate from a single tool.
  It also fluidizes key processes such as data enrichment and translation as well as media review and approval;

• delivers.
  PXM softwares support the product content supply chain up to the last mile, i.e., when all the components of a product sheet are ready, enabling-through APIs or integrations-the publishing of content to various enterprise channels.

Who needs a PXM software

There are many business figures that benefit from the introduction of PXM software.

Primarily E-Commerce and Digital Managers, who can rely on a constant and consistent automated flow of data and product media to websites, e-commerce, marketplaces.

Moving up the content production chain, a PXM software is a valuable shared space for specialized figures such as copywriters, translators, photographers, and post-producers, who in the platform-as well as working-can request feedback and collaborate with colleagues.

In addition, Marketers and Sales also benefit from a PXM, which serves as a repository and center for sharing information, shots, product videos, but also brand and institutional videos.

What benefits does a PXM platform provide

Managing product data and media assets with a Product eXperience Management solution offers a variety of benefits.

From a customer experience point of view, a PXM feeds real-time catalogs and product sheets with up-to-date data and quality media distributed at peak performance, fostering a satisfying browsing and shopping experience.

Satisfaction also spreads among teams, who with PXM software can automate redundant manual tasks and always be in control of what and how the brand is communicating in any web channel, having the ability to make timely updates or changes.

Finally, automation and control also shorten Time to Market, averting delays in campaigns and launches, guaranteeing business performance, emphasized moreover by reduced IT costs.

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SeeCommerce PXM is evolving with exceptional news: p
erformance enhancements and advanced features that take content management to the next level. 🚀

SeeCommerce is a comprehensive platform that combines the functionality of PIM and DAM in perfect synergy, enabling optimal control of the entire content lifecycle. From the creation of catalogs, through product information to editorial content, whether text, media, technical information and documents, SeeCommerce PXM governs all this information by facilitating its management and contributing to the improvement of Brand reputation.

Today the bar is raised even higher with the new Media Library 2.0, an area where all of the Brand’s editorial files reside that can be archived, tagged, shared and distributed on external platforms, eliminating the problem of duplication.

But how does Media Library 2.0 change?

Performance: Improved performance enables everyday tasks to be carried out even faster, thanks to superior technical optimization and the introduction of new micro-functions that greatly facilitate daily operations.

Brand & Touchpoint: We have dedicated a section that allows direct management of portals (such as Press and Trade portals) and external corporate archives, offering the ability to create folders, subfolders, upload and move files securely, thanks to the associated permissions, without burdening the portal or generating duplicate files.

Corporate: Not just sharing between internal and external users on the platform, but an area completely dedicated to business content that can be used by everyone. Designed to contain material that can be consulted by the entire organization.

And much more:
There is no shortage of broader features such as metadata management that allow customization of assets with specific information.

Media Library 2.0 represents a key area that, together with the Product section, enables a complete 360-degree view and management of Brand content.

Contact us to discover all the benefits of SeeCommerce.
Our team of experts is at your complete disposal.

In recent years, data management has proven to be a crucial element in the success of companies in an increasingly competitive and digitization-driven market.

Let’s start with the fact that brands need to be increasingly present with their products in various sales platforms such as e-commerce and numerous marketplaces, and that the customer dictates that the information describing the product should be as comprehensive and consistent as possible both descriptively and visually through quality, high-resolution media. With these assumptions, there is a lot of information to manage, but above all, the Brand’s challenge is to make it consistent with all sales channels.

Often this information is managed by two separate platforms: the PIM, dedicated to product data management, and the DAM for enterprise digital asset management.

But in detail what is the difference between these two systems?

What is DAM? (Digital Asset Management)

DAM is a system that helps Brands organize, store, and manage their digital assets such as media, videos, and files in general so that they are easily accessible to users inside and outside the company, securely.

Notable among its features are:

• Organization Of assets in folder tree and tags
• Sharing of folders and files with specific users (internal or external) or with the entire business organization.
• Security For managed resources, accessed only by authorized users

What is PIM? (Product Information Management)

The purpose of PIM is to centralize and manage product information, both master and editorial. Companies using a PIM are able to access, enrich, and distribute descriptive product information on each touchpoint.
The value of a PIM is to be able to manage so many SKUs and work contextually for multiple touchpoints while maintaining centralization of product data.

Its main functions can be summarized as follows:

• Management of product information
• Creation Of consistent product experiences from an omnichannel perspective
• Distribution of product information

From PIM-DAM to PXM

Until recently, PIM and DAM platforms were considered separate and distinct solutions for managing product data and digital assets. However, to ensure a unified experience with the goal of efficiently managing not only product information, but also images, video, and other types of related assets, it is necessary for these technologies to work together.

In some cases we are faced with integrated PIM and DAM silo systems, but this approach is likely to have a major drawback related to the inherent costs of integrating and managing the two systems.
SeeCommerce solves the problem of separate PIM and DAM management and reduces integration overhead by offering a centralized solution called PXM (Product eXperience Management) that includes both PIM and DAM functions within it, enabling efficient and comprehensive, frictionless management.

A centralized PXM system offers numerous benefits, including greater consistency between product information and digital assets, improved collaboration between marketing and product teams, and faster and more consistent distribution of information and content to customers. Last but not least, significant savings on integration activities.

Beyond corporate boundaries

While PIM and DAM platforms have traditionally supported data management within companies, with SeeCommerce it is possible to expand the use of these combined capabilities beyond corporate boundaries, involving suppliers, partners and customers. This enables product information and digital content to be created and shared more efficiently with all stakeholders, improving collaboration and alignment among the different actors involved in the value chain.