What Is a Product Data Management (PDM) System?

A product data management system is a centralized platform for organizing and managing data related to the products an organization sells.

In the context of ecommerce, a PDM system often houses data about a product’s inventory levels and shipping details, as well as essential data about the product like its size, material makeup, part numbers, and so on.  

PDM systems allow users to access and manage product data in one place, which leads to error reductions and time savings. Often, PDM systems can also be used to syndicate data to online retailers.

Product data is a broad category that, simply put, encompasses every type of data needed to sell a product online.

This includes information about the product itself, such as where it was manufactured, who its suppliers are, any relevant part numbers, and so on. These details often aren’t of interest to the end consumer, but they’re essential for organizations to keep track of.

It also includes product data relevant to the end buyer, such as dimensions, materials, weight, and more. This information must be accurate so your consumers can make informed choices about what they’re purchasing.

Product data also involves information related to the retailing of that product, such as its price and inventory level. Such data needs to be consistently up to date if you want to give consumers a seamless purchasing experience.

In some instances, digital product content is also considered to be a type of product data. However, PDM systems are rarely used to store digital assets.

Product data management systems work by aggregating all product data, storing it, and facilitating all processes related to managing or using it.

Generally speaking, most PDM systems can:

• Provide centralized storage for product data: One of the primary benefits of a PDM system is that it allows organizations to put all product data in one location. This eliminates the disorganization that would occur if data were stored in spreadsheets or other disparate sources.
• Keep product data organized: The controls in a PDM system make it possible for organizations to sort and organize their product data, making it easier for users to find what they’re looking for.
• Improve collaboration: Sharing data and related communications becomes easier with all data in one location. Teams can better collaborate across functions and work together to edit or manage product information.
• Strengthen governance: A PDM system improves data governance due to features like permissions management, version control, and other capabilities. This helps eradicate bad data and make sure data is being handled responsibly.
• Facilitate streamlined management: Making sure all data is up-to-date and accurate can be unwieldy and time-consuming. A PDM system automates most of these tasks and flags potential issues when they arise, making data management easier to achieve while requiring fewer resources.

By centralizing all product data on a PDM system, organizations can:

• Reduce digital product management mistakes by ensuring constant data accuracy.
• Speed processes due to task automation and streamlined collaboration.
• Increase data accuracy with the PDM system’s many governance features.
• Improve time to market by reducing slow manual processes and cutting down on time-consuming mistakes.
• Optimize the customer experience by guaranteeing accurate, updated data on every product page.

Product data management software offers a host of benefits that any brand trying to manage ecommerce at scale requires. However, the technology still has some limitations.

For one, the data in these systems is only as good as the data put into them. Organizations must undertake the lengthy processes of checking and validating their data during the implementation phase, or they risk introducing new data management problems.

Questions of connectivity and integration pose more potential limitations. While many PDM systems do integrate with other common ecommerce software, it’s not a guarantee.

Regardless of what integrations a PDM system supports, many processes essential to ecommerce will inevitably originate outside PDM, including product content creation, digital asset management (DAM), and performance analytics. So, implementing a PDM system also means figuring out how it works with your larger ecommerce tech stack, which can be complicated.

Data can often be syndicated to product pages directly from a PDM system, but again, it’s not a guarantee. Even when data can be syndicated, PDM systems usually don’t have strong enough connections with retailers to do things like check data for compliance with different retailers’ requirements.

PDM systems are excellent at what they are built to do, and the tasks they are built to do are essential for any ecommerce business. Yet a PDM system alone isn’t robust enough to help organizations master the digital shelf.

Typically, brands that adopt PDM software also have to adopt software for all other aspects of ecommerce management. Product experience management (PXM) software can reduce the amount of software needed by centralizing virtually all ecommerce operations.

With a PXM platform, organizations can not only comprehensively manage product information — from sales data to the  Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN) data and beyond — but also store digital assets, automate workflows, and syndicate everything to retailers’ sites.

The capabilities of PXM platforms don’t stop there. They also provide digital product management features rarely found in the same place as data management, such as product detail page (PDP) performance analytics and content creation templates.

With PXM software, organizations can have the streamlined data management of a PDM platform, plus so much more.

Ecommerce wouldn’t be possible without large quantities of product data. So, it stands to reason that it’s barely possible without software that can manage product data at scale. PDM software is arguably essential for any organization that wants to operate an ecommerce business at scale.

Yet PDM software generally only solves one narrow problem — managing product data — leaving organizations scrambling to find additional software to handle all the other aspects of digital product management that contribute to great product experiences.

Product experience management (PXM) brings it all together, helping organizations do so much more than manage their data. For strong data management and governance in the same platform as enhanced or rich product content creation, automated workflows, and performance analytics, a PXM system is a must.