PIM Implementation

What a PIM Implementation Really Involves

A PIM implementation is the project that turns a PIM license into a product information management system your teams trust. It covers the data model, the rules and owners around it, the connections to your ERP, digital asset management (DAM) and sales channels, the migration of existing product data, and the daily habits that keep data quality high. Buying the PIM software is the quick part. The data model and the people decide if it works. If you need the basics first, the guide to building a PIM implementation plan explains what a PIM system does and why it matters for e-commerce.

Doctor Project works on the client side, as the functional PIM lead next to your integrator. We design the data model, governance, supplier onboarding, migration plan and adoption; your implementation partner builds and configures the platform. Each side does what it does best, and someone on your side holds the full picture of products, data and decisions at the same time. The method is tool-independent, with hands-on Akeneo implementation experience and an Akeneo Foundation certification.

Our PIM Implementation Methodology, Phase by Phase

1. Discovery and Requirements

We start with your products and your customers, not with the software screens. Workshops with stakeholders from e-commerce, product, supply and IT map the product types you sell, the data sources, the channels and markets, and where today's workflow breaks. The output is a set of business requirements written so business and IT read them the same way, and a realistic plan for the next phases.

2. Data Model and Governance Design

This is where most of the value is decided. We design families, product attributes, variants, identifiers and categories around how customers actually shop, so the model scales with the business. Then we define who owns each attribute, who validates it and in which locale. A classification standard like ETIM or GS1 is a shared language between companies; a shopper needs a different structure, and the model has to serve both.

A veterinary distribution platform took this kind of decision before entering new markets, as shown in the case study on catalog architecture for a veterinary platform.

3. Integration and Migration Plan

Every attribute gets one source of truth: ERP, supplier, PIM or DAM. We describe the data flow to each channel, design the supplier onboarding process with clear validation rules, and plan the migration of existing product data with test loads before the final load. Our PIM migration checklist lists the questions we ask at this stage.

4. Build Support and Acceptance Testing

While your integrator configures the PIM platform, we stay close to the work: answering design questions in days, not weeks, checking that each workflow matches the model, and writing acceptance scenarios based on real products. Acceptance then means something, because it is tested on the catalog you will actually run.

Acceptance testing workshops played that role on an Akeneo rollout for a watch and accessories retailer, where business teams were new to PIM.

5. Go-Live and Adoption

Go-live is a starting point. We prepare the cutover checklist, train each role on its own tasks, and stay through the first weeks so that enrichment, validation and supplier updates become routine. Governance is a daily habit, not a document.

PIM Implementation Case Study: When the Supplier Classification Became the Data Model

A European DIY retailer had built its catalog on 1,324 flat families copied from a supplier classification. Each family carried between 196 and 385 attributes, so completeness meant nothing and teams could not tell what was really missing. Configuring the PIM faster would not have helped: the model itself was the problem.

The catalog was restructured into a two-level family model, and 5,181 attributes were reduced to 555 kept for the web. With a clear model in place, the rest of the work became possible. Supplier Excel files were checked with simple scripts (GTIN key, mandatory fields) while a supplier portal was still being deployed. Later, AI enrichment filled 150 previously empty attributes with 80% coverage and an error rate below 5%, because prompts were forced to pick from existing attribute options and never invent values.

The lesson: if the data model is wrong, the tool does not matter. A successful PIM implementation starts with the model, and the customer experience follows.

Working With Your PIM Implementation Partner

An integrator and a client-side PIM implementation consultant do different jobs. The integrator configures, develops and connects the platform. The client-side lead makes sure what is built matches your products, your teams and your channels, and that decisions are taken on time by the right owners. Clear roles usually make the integrator's work easier too, because questions get answers from someone who knows both the business and the data.

We can also help before the partner is chosen: writing the brief, comparing proposals on the same criteria and checking that the scope covers data model, migration and adoption, not only configuration. Our guide on how to brief a PIM vendor shares the method.

Why PIM Implementations Slip

Most delays are ownership problems that look like tool problems. In a content workshop at a global petcare brand, the six pain points raised were about governance, ownership and source of truth, not missing features. When nobody owns an attribute, nobody can decide on it, and the build waits. We cover the usual patterns in why PIM projects fail.

• Model decisions postponed until the build has already started.
• Migration tested for the first time a few weeks before go-live.
• Supplier data expected to arrive clean, with no onboarding process.
• Training planned as one session at the end, instead of habits per role.

Tell us where your project is today, whether you are choosing a PIM, starting the build or already halfway. In one call, we will tell you what to secure first. You can also read more about how we work as an independent PIM consultant.