PIM vs PXM: How to make that human connection
February 6, 2023Part 5: Want to create a product experience like no other? Find out which solution secures an unforgettable product story.
Exploring your destination is key to making a vacation special. Checking out the museums, markets, and music bars gives you many different views of your destination. However, to truly understand a city there’s nothing better than a personalized tour. Whether it’s with a friend, family, or even a professional, getting that personal insight into the best local spots and hidden gems is the only way to truly explore a new city.
This is like your product journey. When building buyer journeys for your customers, it’s the personal touch that makes all the difference. Consumers are looking for that all-important emotional connection with a product, and compelling product experiences can help you stand out on a human level. But this is only possible with the right software in place. Software that helps you create the product stories that truly matter.
If you’re looking for the right personal guide for your products, you’ll need software that can meet the evolving demands of commerce throughout the entire product journey. But what’s the best solution for your needs? Let’s take a look.
It all comes down to the data
When building a successful omnichannel strategy, some brands focus solely on syndication. They get their accurate product content out there and let it do the rest. But while a syndication strategy to a key part of meeting the many demands of omnichannel commerce, it’s only half the story.
These days, consumers want more than just accurate product content. To click that all-important buy button, they want product content that speaks to them, a product story that connects to their needs on an emotional level, and a product experience that compels them to buy.
It’s not just B2C brands that need to meet these demands for better product experiences, either. The consumerization of B2B purchasing elevates demands for consistent, contextual product content, expanding across industries from manufacturing to retail. As Gartner notes, the developing need for better product experience is changing the market direction.
Brands, manufacturers, and retailers are now seeking software solutions that deliver the personalized product content required to drive customer engagement at every touchpoint, building loyalty and retention and reducing costly product returns.
If you’re searching for a solution to all your product experience needs, you’ll probably come across two software options:
Which one is right for you?

PIM or PXM?
If you’re exploring which solution best meets your needs, you might be thinking PIM vs PXM? However, it’s important to first understand your options:
What is PXM?
Product Experience Management (PXM) software manages how customers interact and experience a product at every touchpoint. A marketing and merchandizing tool, PXM uses product information to deliver personalized buyer journeys and compelling product stories across all sales channels. The creation of contextualized product experiences ensures a consistent buyer journey for customer, product, and brand. PXM is often seen as an output of PIM and does not match PIM in terms of the use cases it supports.
What is PIM?
Product Information Management (PIM) provides a central repository for all product-related data within a company, including all product-related digital assets. PIM is primarily a marketing and merchandising tool that lets you store, manage, and distribute product information to sales channels. The data contained within a PIM solution is used to meet external demands for product-related information, including sales, marketing, after-sales, and more. For more information on PIM, read the Gartner Market Guide for Product Information Management Solutions.
What’s the difference between PIM and PXM?
To know which solution is right for your needs and use cases, it’s important to understand the similarities and differences between PXM and PIM.
Firstly, PXM and PIM both support merchandising and marketing use cases related to the product experience. The two solutions enhance the buying experience for customers by ensuring every interaction with product content is accurate and contextualized. They provide benefits through automation and efficiency, reducing manual errors and supporting an operational omnichannel strategy.
However, there are key differences between PXM and PIM to consider.
For starters, PXM is largely an output of PIM, and this can be seen in the use cases each solution supports. Understanding PIM vs PXM involves recognizing these distinct focuses and processes that optimize product handling for enhanced customer interactions. For example, PXM focuses solely on creating these contextualized product experiences and personalized buyer journeys. The capabilities of PIM, however, go beyond product experience management to support a number of other use cases across the value chain and throughout the product journey. Thus, integrating these processes effectively can offer operational and strategic benefits to your ecosystem.
But what does this mean for you? Should you integrate PIM and PXM? Let’s see.
PIM + PXM
If you’re working out the best strategy for your business, or already have either a PIM or PXM solution in your tech stack, you might be thinking about integrating PXM and PIM software.
PXM is a powerful tool for creating contextualized product experiences that your customers demand. However, to meet the evolving demands of commerce, a PXM needs to be supported by a single source of truth. Without this, a PXM solution would not be able to create the contextual product experiences expected by buyers on the digital shelf. Only by integrating a PIM solution into your tech stack can you secure the source of truth you need to meet your PXM needs.

In fact, some PIM solutions, such as the inriver PIM, have extended functionality that supports PXM-related use cases. These advanced data management systems ensure effective support for both internal processes and external customer interactions. This includes AI-assisted rich-content optimization, channel behavioral data, and digital shelf analytics. This provides the data you need to build a contextualized path-to-purchase on all your channels. By choosing a PIM that supports these use cases, you can improve your customer experience, grow engagement, and, ultimately, drive revenue growth – all from a single, centralized platform.
Real-World Use Cases for PIM and PXM
Understanding when and how to implement PIM and PXM solutions is critical. Here are some practical use cases to demonstrate their value:
- PIM in Retail: B2B PIM solutions can revolutionize product data management for retailers and beyond. A global fashion retailer uses a PIM system to centralize product data from multiple suppliers. By maintaining a single source of truth for product information, the retailer ensures accurate and consistent product listings across marketplaces like Amazon, social media, and its own e-commerce site. This centralization reduces errors and accelerates the time-to-market for new seasonal collections.
- PXM in B2B Manufacturing: A manufacturing company uses PXM to tailor product experiences for different industries. For example, the same machinery might be marketed differently to automotive and pharmaceutical clients. PXM enables personalized messaging, dynamic pricing, and localized content that resonates with each target audience, increasing engagement and sales conversion rates.
- Combining PIM and PXM for Global Expansion: A consumer electronics brand entering new markets leverages PIM for content localization (e.g., translating product descriptions and specifications) while using PXM to create personalized marketing campaigns tailored to regional buying behaviors. This combined approach helps the brand build trust with new audiences and drive adoption in competitive markets.
PIM vs PXM: what’s the right solution for you?
To fully appreciate PIM and PXM, and whether either is the right solution for your business, it’s essential you consider your use cases and business needs.
If you’re only looking to improve your product experience across all sales channels, you might be considering a PXM solution. However, without first securing a single source of truth, a PXM solution won’t have the product data it needs to create the accurate, contextualized product experiences your customers are looking for.
That’s why a growing number of brands choose a PIM solution that supports product experience management, securing the best of both worlds for their omnichannel strategy. For example, PIM with built-in digital shelf analytics, such as the inriver PIM, gives you real-time insight into buyer behavior and product performance, letting you know how your products stack up against the competition and, ultimately, what your customers want to see on the digital shelf.
The right PIM solution also supports other PXM-related use cases, such as content localization, digital asset management, and many more. But that’s not all. The business needs met by PIM go far beyond product experience management and the creation of contextualized buyer journeys. A complete PIM solution helps you meet demands for information at every stage of the product journey, ensuring your product experience is always a winner.
To get the market analyst’s view on PIM and the use cases it supports, read the Gartner Market Guide on Product Information Management Solutions. Want to know more about the inriver PIM solution? Speak to one of our PIM experts today or schedule a demo to experience for yourself the difference inriver makes.
want to see the inriver PIM in action?
Schedule a personalized, guided demo with an inriver expert today to see how the inriver PIM can get more value from your product information.
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frequently asked questions
what are the PIM best practices for managing product data effectively?
PIM best practices include centralizing all product data into one repository, maintaining data quality through regular audits, and automating workflows to reduce manual errors. Integrate your PIM with tools like ERP or CRM to streamline operations. Monitor performance to ensure your product data supports a seamless customer experience.
what PIM features are essential for optimizing product information management?
Key PIM features include centralized data storage, content localization, and channel syndication for distributing product data across multiple digital commerce platforms. Rich content support and analytics tools ensure your data meets customer needs. These features together drive consistency and efficiency across your product ecosystem.
how does PXM software enhance digital commerce?
PXM software enhances digital commerce by delivering personalized and contextual product experiences to customers. It uses data from a PIM to tailor content like localized descriptions, dynamic pricing, and targeted recommendations. This improves the customer experience and increases conversions.
why is customer experience critical in PIM and PXM strategies?
A strong customer experience builds trust and encourages loyalty, making it essential for PIM and PXM strategies. While PIM ensures accurate data across channels, PXM is more of an output of PIM that creates engaging, contextual experiences that resonate with customers. As part of the same strategy, they help reduce returns and boost sales.
what should I consider when choosing between PIM and PXM software?
Ultimately, PXM is an output of PIM software. Therefore, it’s essential to choose a robust and flexible PIM system when embarking on any PXM strategy. This will ensure you have the foundation you need to ensure winning product experiences on every channel.
author
Viktor Bergqvist
Head of Innovation Labs at inriver
Viktor is passionate about learning how the latest technology can complement and augment inriver’s PIM. He and the Labs team love testing out new ideas to evolve the buyers’ digital journey. Viktor has been heavily involved with PIM for omnichannel strategies and the development of SaaS solutions for years, which feels like a natural progression from his background in e-commerce, B2B marketing, product management, and digital marketing.