How can merchandising help drive sales

These days, a product is never ‘just a product’; it embodies a story, is built for a certain lifestyle, or is meant to provide a particular ‘experience.’

Today’s consumers want to know more about a product than just its price and main features. As a result, merchandising teams shoulder more responsibility in shaping these stories to help products sell.  They have quickly taken on the role of ‘storyteller’ — turning raw product data into curated collections and engaging campaigns to convert more consumers into customers.

The challenge for merchandisers, however, lies in the fact that they need more than a product SKU and its specification data — instead, they need access to enriched product information to help them fuel their creativity and build engaging product campaigns — and that is not always easy to get to when their company is steeped in product data chaos.

That’s where a Product Information Management (PIM) platform can step in; not just to act as a single source of truth for all of your product data, but to provide merchandising teams with a ‘storytelling engine’ to tap into and draw creativity from.

The evolving role of PIM in boosting creativity

PIM solutions have traditionally been regarded as an operational tool; a digital hub for storing, managing, and updating product data to ensure better accuracy, consistency, and compliance across all sales channels

A PIM platform still offers all of these benefits today, but how this kind of technology can be harnessed has been evolving alongside modern e-commerce trends and themes.

For example, we’ve…

• Moved from printed catalogs to experience-driven campaigns.
• Shifted from focusing on back-office data management to front-line customer engagement.
• Moved from a ‘SKU-level’ focus to one which places storytelling and customer experience at the heart of our product marketing.

…and it’s the merchandiser that stands to benefit

Merchandisers are under constant pressure to respond and adapt quickly to new trends and buyer behaviors, but their work is made far more difficult when all product data lives in siloed systems and scattered spreadsheets

This can create bottlenecks and time delays. High volumes of time are spent on cross-referencing and double-checking product data, and this eats into the time merchandisers have for creativity.

A modern PIM platform has the potential to help break down these hurdles by acting as a collaborative, intuitive tool that supports merchandisers when they’re working on curating products or building new campaigns.

Merchandisers are the new PIM power users

Merchandisers, when armed with the right PIM solution, are uniquely positioned to unlock the extra value of enriched product data.

Here’s how merchandisers can leverage a PIM platform:

• Products can be tagged with specific themes, trends, or ‘customer moments’ (for example, Mothers’ Day present ideas, ‘eco-friendly gifts’).
• Products that ‘tell a story’ through their relationship to each other can be grouped together — for the purposes of cross-promotions and upselling.
• Enriched content — anything from 360-degree images to usage tips and high-quality imagery can help with the ideation and creative processes.
• Campaigns can be built and adapted quickly, and all without needing to rely on a PIM administrator or the IT department.
• Campaigns can be made ready well in advance to help ensure that there’s cohesion between product stories across different sales channels.

Without the right PIM in place, the digital merchandising process can be slow, involve a great deal of manual effort, and be prone to mistakes. 

But, when merchandisers have direct access to an intuitive PIM platform that can support the storytelling goal, they can move at an accelerated pace, test out ideas in real time, and create narratives that are more likely to resonate with consumers.

PIM as a storytelling engine for merchandisers

In order for PIM to truly empower your merchandising teams, it must evolve from existing as a static database to becoming a dynamic ‘storytelling’ platform.

Here’s what that means in real terms:

Content enrichment takes place — and at scale
Merchandisers need access to rich content assets like images, videos, lifestyle shots, and usage ideas. It’s these contextual details that help bring stories to life and can boost creativity. A PIM platform makes it easier to keep these assets organized, updated, and accessible.

Product relationship management is possible
Products shouldn’t be seen as lone entities; in fact, they’re part of a bigger story. Your PIM system should make it a cinch for merchandisers when it comes to building bundles and compiling product collections that feel ‘intentional’ to the consumer.

Merchandisers can be agile and autonomous
The right PIM solution allows your merchandising team to self-serve — to try out new ideas, refine them, and launch new campaigns with speed — without needing to wait for additional backend support to update or configure something in the system first.

Empower your merchandisers to turn static product data into dynamic customer experiences

The next generation of PIM isn’t just about managing data — it’s about enabling creativity and driving revenue. The future of commerce belongs to those who can turn products into stories, and this is where Inriver PIM stands apart. It empowers merchandising teams to transform product data into rich, narrative-driven content at scale.

With Inriver, merchandisers gain the tools to build campaigns, create bundles, and tell compelling product stories without internal blockers getting in the way. It’s a platform designed to fuel creativity, support dynamic storytelling, and help deliver superior customer experiences that inspire consumers and generate more sales.