Knowledge Base: Getting Started with the PIM System

Our PIM system provides a powerful set of tools to simplify your data management.

Here’s how you can use the PIM system, serving as a single source of truth, to support consistent product information across your channels.

For quick navigation:

• PIM extensibility via Field Editors
• Reducing duplication with derived definitions
• Managing product information
• Adding Media and Variants
• Helping Categorization and Relations

PIM extensibility via Field Editors

Ucommerce Next Gen includes PIM extensibility, meaning that the same underlying system allows you to manage Catalogs, Categories, Products and Variants using customizable Field Editors.

You can create and manage custom fields for products and categories directly from the back-office.

Meanwhile, if you have created a Custom UI Component at one place, you can leverage it anywhere else in the platform by default. This could e.g. be a store selector for managing product availability across multiple storefronts.

Reducing duplication with derived definitions

As part of PIM extensibility, derived definitions let you reuse shared data across products, and maintain consistency throughout your catalog. This eliminates the need to manually re-enter the same information:

1. You can define shared attributes like norms, quality, or SEO metadata in one place and reuse them across multiple products.
   
   
2. Your products can inherit base definitions, so when you update core attributes, the changes automatically apply to all related products. Thus, your catalog stays consistent and up-to-date without extra effort.
   
   
3. You can mix and match separate definitions, such as specifications or metadata, making your data reusable and adaptable.
   
   

Managing product information

While Data Export and Import lets you centralize product data from multiple sources, the Basic Information section allows you to always manage and edit the imported data.

• Edit product name and description: You can write the product name and include a brief product summary, and choose to optimize these fields for SEO by including relevant keywords.
  
  
• Add a detailed description: The rich text editor can be used to add a deeper description of all the product details by formatting the text, including bullet points, or adding more details.
  
  
• Toggle visibility: Use the Display on Site toggle to control whether the product should be visible on your website.
  
  

TIP: If you set a consistent product data foundation, it will benefit features like Categories, as products are easier to categorize later, if they are properly labeled and described. The same goes for Relations, where consistent data will improve recommendations.

Adding media and variants

From within the PIM, you can also enhance your product listings by adding visual content. E.g., by uploading high-quality images to products (this is done without impacting the core product data). 

A great way to make product listings visually consistent and professional-looking:

Meanwhile, in Variants, you can create, view and manage different product variations (e.g., sizes, editions, or versions):

Helping Categorization and Relations

The ability to categorize products into groups is enhanced with the PIM's ability to label and describe your products accurately. The improved data consistency helps with:

• assigning existing products to relevant categories
• creating new categories
• maintaining hierarchical structures           
  
  

This also makes it easier in Relations to establish connections between complementary or alternative products across your catalog.