Return on investment (ROI) for extensive PIM projects

24.02.2025 | Jochen Muffler

In view of the current economic situation in Germany, many companies in the SME and industrial sectors are facing the challenge of remaining competitive. Digitalization and lean processes offer a decisive opportunity to achieve efficiency gains and secure competitive advantages.

Product Information Management (PIM) in particular plays a key role in providing consistent and high-quality product data across different sales channels. A specialized PIM system such as crossbase can provide companies with targeted support in these areas. However, PIM projects often involve considerable investment - in terms of financial resources as well as time and personnel. This raises the central question: How can the return on investment (ROI) for a comprehensive PIM project be determined and optimized?

What is the ROI of a PIM system?

The ROI measures the profitability of an investment and is expressed as a percentage. In the context of a PIM system, the ROI is calculated from the ratio between the benefits achieved (e.g. cost savings, sales increases, efficiency gains) and the investment costs (e.g. software licenses, implementation, training, maintenance and support costs).

Cost factors of a PIM project

A comprehensive PIM project requires investment in various areas:

• Software costs: licenses, cloud or on-premise hosting
• Implementation: consulting, customization, system integration
• Training: Training for employees and administrators
• Data migration: cleansing and importing existing product data
• Maintenance and support: ongoing updates and hotline

Benefits of a PIM system for medium-sized companies

A powerful PIM system brings numerous benefits that have a direct impact on ROI. For companies in industry and SMEs in particular, crossbase offers customized solutions that are specially designed for complex product data structures and the requirements of international markets.

Increased efficiency

• Automated workflows: Significantly reduce manual tasks and minimize errors in data maintenance.
• Centralized data management: Product data can be efficiently managed in one platform and flexibly distributed to all relevant channels.
• System integration: Seamless connection to ERP, e-commerce and retailer systems increases efficiency and reduces IT costs.

Faster market launch of new products

• Standardized processes: Enable a significant reduction in time-to-market through optimized workflows.
• International markets: Multilingual, country-specific catalogs can be easily created and adapted - ideal for globally active companies.
• Marketability: Faster response to market and competitive requirements thanks to agile data management structures.

Increased sales

• High-quality product data: Ensures better visibility, higher conversion rates and stronger customer loyalty in digital channels.
• Various sales channels: Consistent product information strengthens sales success across all sales channels.
• Flexible system architecture: Supports customer-specific requirements and enables custom-fit integration into existing IT landscapes.

Improved collaboration between teams

• Common platform: Teams from marketing, sales and product management work synchronously and on a central database.
• Less coordination effort: Clear processes reduce communication gaps and errors during collaboration.
• Modular structure: Companies can specifically use the modules that best support their requirements - customized and scalable.

Expert opinions on PIM systems

Leading analyst firms such as Forrester emphasize the importance of PIM systems for companies. In the study "The Forrester Wave™: Product Information Management, Q4 2023" *) emphasizes that modern PIM systems are critical to success in order to effectively manage product information within the company and across numerous sales channels. According to Forrester, companies that invest in a powerful PIM system are able to manage product data more consistently, thereby increasing customer satisfaction and boosting sales in the long term. Especially in times of digitalization, such systems are essential to meet the increased demands on data quality and multichannel strategies.

*) Source reference:
https://www.forrester.com/blogs/announcing-the-pim-wave-q4-2023

Case study: ROI calculation for a PIM project

At crossbase, the ROI calculation is based on a standardized methodology that ensures that all relevant factors are taken into account. Before the start of a project, all key parameters are queried via a questionnaire to enable a precise comparison between the traditional approach and a solution with PIM. The aim is to enable companies to accurately assess and evaluate the economic benefits of a PIM system through a systematic comparison.

The key factors for calculating the ROI of PIM projects are as follows:

• Quantity structure of products: Number of products and variants to be managed as well as their specific properties and metadata.
• Complexity of product relationships: How are products related to each other and how complex is the setup of a product structure?
• Scope of publication: Number of pages for data sheets, catalogs and price lists as well as their publication frequency and distribution via various channels.
• Languages and country variants: Number of translations required, consideration of country-specific product information and legal requirements.
• Website management: Structuring and provision of product information for different target groups and markets.
• Correction cycles: Recording the time and costs required for change processes in order to minimize redundancies and error rates.
• External and internal costs: Detailed analysis of agency costs and internal hourly rates to identify potential savings.
• Employee deployment: Recording the people involved and their tasks in order to improve the efficiency of workflows and avoid bottlenecks.

Break-even in approx. 2.5 years

Based on the data collected, a transparent calculation of the amortization over several years is created. This calculation illustrates how quickly the investment in a PIM system pays for itself through savings and productivity increases. As a rule, the break-even point for a PIM introduction is around 2.5 years. This means that the implementation of a PIM system begins to pay off financially after this period and contributes to the company's profitability in the long term. Companies can thus make a well-founded investment decision and ensure that their digital processes are set up optimally.

Conclusion: When is a PIM project worthwhile?

A comprehensive PIM project can pay for itself within a short period of time if the efficiency gains and increases in turnover exceed the initial costs.
For companies in industry and SMEs in particular, it is worth investing in a specialized PIM solution such as the one from crossbase, as it optimally covers industry-specific requirements and enables seamless integration into existing systems. Companies should calculate the ROI precisely and focus on strategic goals in order to fully exploit the potential of a PIM system.

Investment in PIM is therefore not just a cost, but a valuable basis for sustainable growth and long-term competitiveness.

Many benefits of a PIM system, such as improved data quality, higher customer satisfaction or a stronger brand perception, are of course difficult to quantify and cannot be directly included in an ROI calculation. Nevertheless, these intangible benefits contribute significantly to a company's long-term competitiveness.

Would you like to receive a customized ROI calculation for your company? Every PIM project is unique and depends on specific company requirements. With our many years of expertise in the industrial and SME sectors, we can offer you a customized ROI analysis. Contact us today to work together to identify your potential and get the most out of your PIM investment.