Solutions for managing product information
Product databases or product information management systems allow the central collection of all product-relevant information. They are usually provided in addition to a merchandise management system to enable the management of additional, product-describing data, in particular marketing content. In many cases, solutions from commercial providers are used.
In the meantime, however, open source alternatives are also available. The core functionalities of a PIM system include the management of product-related, structured data in freely configurable attributes and data fields, the creation of article structures in category trees and, of course, as many functions as possible for connecting other systems via interfaces and multiple use of the content in different output channels.
Akeneo
Akeneo is still quite young and yet has managed to develop and be used in many installations in a very short time. The reason for this is certainly the very consistent and straightforward focus on the core functionalities of a product information management system and a fairly simple implementation with short project implementation periods. In addition to the free community edition, the French provider also offers additional enterprise functions in fee-based versions, which also enable use for complex requirements. Companies such as Euronics, Wüsthof and Staples rely on Akeneo.
Pimcore
The situation is very similar with Pimcore, whereby Pimcore is a holistic solution that enables media asset and content management in addition to product management, for example. The diverse and broad range of applications of the Austrian software solution is now valued by over 100,000 companies. The orientation as a central platform for all marketing data is driven by both the free community version and the enterprise version, which is subject to a license fee. Customers such as Ingram Micro, Audi and Intersport use different versions of Pimcore.
