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An Overview

Efficient Product Content Management (PCM)

From data set to specific information for your customers
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Efficiently managing product content - how does this work?

The task and also the responsibility of Product Content Management (PCM) are gaining in importance and weight with the increasing digital possibilities. At the same time, it faces impressive challenges: Product content is needed in many places for different functions. At the same time, it is not created centrally, but rather is produced in many different places within and outside an organization. 

Therefore, product content management must be effective across organizations, making it a complex task.

So how can efficient product content management succeed?
The ultimate goal of good product content management must be to manage and organize product content in such a way that it can be used optimally for internal processes and enhances the customer experience as well as satisfaction.

Content Types

Content types, their owners and storage locations

Content types and their cross-organizational owners and storage locations make product content management a complex task
Marketing produces product images and videos

Product images and videos are often produced in-house or manufacturers provide it. Usually the marketing team has the responsibility for it. 

Marketing, content teams or SEOs are responsible for texts

Texts or parts of texts are required for the products in various places: Product descriptions for the product page of an online store. Marketing texts, but also the description on the price tags on the store floor are included. This type of content is often created in marketing or content teams and is their responsibility to manage it. 

Product management is responsible for data on product features

One of the most obvious content types of a product are product specifics, for example: Dimensions, weight, materials and functions.   

This data may be supplied by the manufacturer, captured by a company itself  or  comes from external databases. 

It is often captured in a PIM (Product Information Management) system and is sometimes the responsibility of the product manager but possibly further away from the product in data management. 

Data management is responsible for competitive and market data

Some companies also collect data on the competition and the market. For example, this involves the pricing of the competition for the product. The responsibility for collecting such data often lies with a "data steward", an expert  between IT and the specialist department or data management.

Customer service and sales knowledge about feedback

How does a customer behave in the online store? What happens to an order? For what reasons is a purchase returned? How is the product evaluated? What feedback does the customer give to customer service or sales? This data is also directly linked to the product and is also part of the product content.  This data is often collected by external systems. Owners are often technical departments. 

It becomes more complicated with feedback that is provided in conversation or not digitally. Sales or customer services are responsible here. 

Product managers and compliance manage related documentation

Two different types of documents can be assigned according to the area of responsibility

Certificates and compliance data: Information on certificates, safety data sheets and compliance documents that are required for specific industries or products. This is the responsibility of the compliance department. 

Instructions and documentation:

For example, user manuals, installation instructions and technical documents. Often this is the product manager's responsibility. 

 

Marketing teams are responsible for the metadata

Search engine optimized information such as meta titles and descriptions, keywords and tags that facilitate the findability of the product on the Internet are the responsibility of SEO experts, who are often part of a marketing team. 

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PCM responsibility

What tasks does product content management involve?

Data collection and maintenance

PCM comprises the systematic capturing and maintenance of product information. This includes updating data, adding new products and removing outdated information. Automated tools and manual input are combined to ensure data quality.

Centralization of product data

A central database is the heart of an efficient PCM system. It allows all product information to be stored, managed and updated in one place. This creates a single, reliable source of truth that is accessible to all departments.

Ensures standardization and consistency

Standardized product information ensures consistency across all sales channels. This includes setting standards for product descriptions, technical specifications and other relevant data to ensure uniform presentation.

Multichannel distribution

PCM enables the distribution of product information across different channels, including online stores, marketplaces, social media and physical stores. This assures that customers receive the same, consistent information on all platforms.

Integration into other systems

Seamless integration of PCM systems with other company systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Content Management Systems (CMS) is crucial. This permits the smooth exchange of information and increases the performance of business processes.

Compliance and governance

Companies must affirm that their product information complies with legal requirements and internal guidelines. PCM systems help to fulfill these requirements and maintain data integrity.

Creation and delivery of product information to the customer

The creation and display of product descriptions and other product information such as price tags are key elements of product content management (PCM). These activities have a significant impact on the customer experience, brand perception and ultimately on sales success.

Scope for designing efficient product content management

The design of various factors is very individual and depends on the company's starting position and objectives. However, it is advisable to answer the individual questions about processes, roles, technologies and the organizational structure for yourself.

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Processes

Central consideration: How can the entire life cycle of product data - from collection and maintenance to content format creation and distribution - be optimized so that it runs efficiently and error-free?

Example: Implementation of automated workflows for product text creation, quality assurance, optimization and distribution.

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Roles and responsibilities

Central consideration: How can clear responsibilities and accountabilities be defined to guarantee that each task in the PCM process is handled by the best qualified person or department and that decisions can be made for the task as a whole? 

Example: Establish a central PCM team that serves as a point of contact for all questions regarding the management and control of all product information.

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Tools and Technologies

Which tools and technologies offer the best support for managing and creating product content and can be successfully integrated into the existing IT infrastructure?

Example: The selection of a suitable PIM system is obvious. But an adequate tool must also be selected for content creation and its governance. In other words, the tool question must be answered for all steps in product content management. 

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Organizational structure

Central consideration: Should PCM be organized in a centralized or decentralized way to achieve the best possible balance between control, consistency and flexibility?

Example: Decision in favour of a central PCM organization that establishes standardized data formats and processes to enable uniform product presentation across all channels.