Prioritizing PIM in 2026: Can you afford not to?
September 26, 2025If you want to revolutionize the way your company manages product data, PIM software is the best purchase you can make in 2026.
Whether you’re selling sweaters, sofas, or subsoilers, you’ll know just how diverse and exacting consumer expectations are becoming. Across all markets, channels, and verticals, buyers are increasingly expecting to be inspired by and informed about your products from their very first interaction. As a brand or manufacturer, it’s your job to ensure these buyers are invested in your brand enough to make that first purchase and then keep coming back for more.
Sounds easy enough, right? Well, it can be with the right technological solutions in place. At the heart of these ever-evolving customer expectations is product information. This information, powered by the raw data attached to every product, attribute, and component, is key to making your products stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace. To harness the potential of all this product information, leading brands and manufacturers are turning to PIM software.
PIM software, standing for Product Information Management, is now seen as a business-critical feature of any forward-thinking tech stack. Indeed, if you’re considering your tech investment strategy for 2026 and beyond, should you be evaluating the added value of a PIM solution? Is your business ready for a PIM-driven digital transformation? Can you afford not to prioritize PIM software in 2026?
Watch PIM experts from Inriver discuss why now is a great time to invest in PIM software.
Assessing market conditions and consumer trends
When considering your software investment options, it’s always important to start by considering the unique needs of your company and how these needs are set to evolve over the next few years. This is particularly true when dealing with fast-moving consumer demands and behaviors.
When it comes to consumer trends, we can see some key themes emerge that are impacting the software investment decisions of leading brands, manufacturers, and retailers. For example, both B2B and B2C consumers are significantly more digitally native than ever before. Consumers expect frictionless, always-on commerce with the requisite amount of high-quality product information available at their fingertips any time of day or night.
Furthermore, buyers are more comfortable with buying online than they ever have been, and are increasingly comfortable with digital marketplaces and aggregators. If you’re considering your next tech investment, a good place to start is understanding where and how your buyers buy, and which software can help you get your products there effectively and efficiently.
Understanding PIM market maturity
As consumer demands evolve, so does the technology businesses rely on to meet these demands. Product Information Management software has been around for almost 20 years and PIM is now an established technology market. As businesses look to gain competitive advantage through listing and selling more products online and via digital catalogs, PIM software has become a foundational part of the tech stack.
While tech systems like ERP and MDM deal with product data, neither provides this data as market-ready product information that can meet consumer demands across all sales channels. This is the fundamental selling point of PIM software, and why so many brands and retailers see PIM as the final piece in their tech stack puzzle. If you’re assessing your next software investment for 2026, you might consider whether ERP or MDM software is giving you that crisp market-ready product information you need to hit targets across all sales channels.
Key revenue drivers for PIM
As an organization-wide software, the reach and impact of Product Information Management software can be challenging to measure. However, understanding the key revenue drivers is key to assessing your software investment opportunities, and discovering which is right for you and your business. PIM software is seen as a revenue driver in four key areas:
- Customer acquisition: Inspire new customers with complete, compelling, and complaint product information wherever they find your products.
- Customer lifetime value growth: Surface-related products and services through intelligent product bundling to boost cross-sell, upsell, and more.
- Time to market: Create efficiencies and streamline workflows with a single source of market-ready product information connected to your EPR, PLM, CMS, and MDM systems.
- Profitability growth: Use analytics from digital channels to assess performance and optimize product listings, assortments, and availability.
Why flexibility is key for PIM success
In an established market like the PIM market, you have plenty of options when assessing which PIM platform is right for your needs. Many PIM systems will offer a single source of truth alongside basic syndication capabilities that connect to your digital sales channels. However, to maximize your return on investment for PIM software, you must choose the PIM platform that can meet your business needs today, tomorrow, and beyond.
To do this, leading brands and manufacturers are prioritizing flexibility when choosing a PIM platform. In an ever-changing world full of shifting consumer trends and evolving expectations, this flexibility is not just a nice to have, it’s essential to give your business the agility to pivot and recalibrate whenever necessary. By choosing a PIM platform built on a fully elastic data model, you can be confident you have the tools you need to react, respond, and grow without limitations.
The 2026 PIM Advantage: Watch the webinar
Want to find out more about why you should prioritize PIM software in 2026? Then watch our on-demand webinar hosted by Inriver Senior Principal Advisor, Joakim Gavelin. In this webinar, you will hear from Forrester Principal Analyst, Chuck Gahun, and Vice President of E-commerce at Visual Comfort & Co., Jennifer Skeen, on how AI is redefining the role of Product Information Management (PIM) and how leading brands are using AI to turn their product data into revenue.
You’ll understand why product data governance and trust are becoming critical differentiators in an AI world, and know how forward-looking organizations can stay ahead of the competition.
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.