From print catalogues to eCommerce: PIM as the bridge for traditional distributors

Those distributors with a long (and often, distinguished) history rightly regarded the printed catalogue as their commercial Bible. It would be thumbed through on every buyer’s desk and regularly shaped every conversation about a potential sale. But, how time flies! We’re now inhabiting a world of real-time stock, search-led buying, and self-service portals. At best, a print-first model looks rather quaint. In reality, it turns from what was once a strength into a serious commercial drag.

The real digital challenge doesn’t lie in building a fancy website, but in turning your catalogue-era product data into sets of clean, powerful assets. That’s where Product Information Management (PIM) comes into its own as the bridge which connects the catalogue from olden times with today’s (and tomorrow’s) eCommerce strategy.

The catalogue era: where the cracks are showing

Historically, catalogue workflows were built to hit print deadlines, not operate with digital agility. In our digitally-driven now, that approach raises several issues:

• Data is scattered: There are copies in design files, prices in the ERP, images on shared drives, technical drawings in engineering folders…and frequently siloed, so the left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing

• Everything is static: once the catalogue is printed, prices, specs, and ranges are frozen until whenever the next edition comes (which probably won’t be soon!)

• Searches have to be manual: Potential buyers flip through pages and tend to rely on product codes and memory rather than focusing on attributes and filters.

What used to make sense when you refreshed once a year starts to fall apart when, in the omnichannel age, baseline customer expectations are to use accurate, searchable data across web, marketplaces, and customer portals for their purchase decision-making.

PIM as the single source of commercial truth

A PIM system replaces the outdated mindset of “catalogue files as master” with a structured, central product database.

• One master record per SKU: descriptions, attributes, images, documents, pricing and compliance data tied to a single ‘golden record’

• Standardised structures: a clean taxonomy and attribute model, with mandatory fields and consistent units, naming, and values

• Built-in data quality: validation rules and completeness scores to highlight any gaps and inconsistencies before products and associated information get anywhere near a channel

Teams no longer have to firefight a mountain of spreadsheets and can start working on one governed source of truth that can serve every output.

Turning catalogue copy into digital-ready data

Print copy had in mind humans skimming a page when it was written. Digital commerce is an entirely different proposition, focusing particularly on faceted searches and visibility and discoverability through SEO. PIM is where you remodel and renew that catalogue content for the demands of eCommerce.

• From paragraphs to attributes: specs embedded in prose (“…our outstanding M10 x 80mm zinc-plated bolt, Grade 8 products are perfect for….”) are broken out into discrete, filterable attributes.

• Digital enrichment: add SEO terms, usage tags, sustainability flags, translations, and rich media such as 360° images or install videos.

• Role-specific views: For example, technical buyers can access and use dense spec tables, while purely business users will see benefit-led descriptions. Both sets of information are derived from the same structured data source.

What you get is a catalogue which still reflects your in depth product knowledge, but now facilitates powerful search, comparison, and merchandising online.

Publishing everywhere, including print

PIM doesn’t kill the catalogue – it just modernises how you produce and display it.

Once all your product data lives in PIM, you can:

• Feed eCommerce platforms and marketplaces via APIs or dedicated feeds
• Generate channel-specific assortments and price lists without rebuilding data
• Push structured data into layout tools like InDesign, so that templates pull live attributes, prices, and images instead of manual, copy-pasted ‘nearest-version-to-the-truth-as-far-as-we-know’ information.

Print becomes another channel, not a separate universe. When a spec or price changes, you update it once in PIM and know that for future print runs, PDFs, and digital channels will pick up the same value.

A practical roadmap for traditional distributors

It’s wisest to tackle the move from catalogue-first to PIM-led eCommerce as a staged change process.

1. Audit your current data situation
   Map where product information actually lives today: ERP, spreadsheets, design files, supplier feeds. Then, identify the worst pain points (the usual suspects are: duplicate data, missing images, slow range changes, and a high returns rate).

2. Design your taxonomy and “golden record”
   Define how your catalogue should be structured for digital:

·   Category tree

·   Mandatory attributes by category

·   Naming conventions

·   Units

·   Languages

3. Migrate and cleanse in waves
   Start with a priority range such as top-selling families or a strategic category. Pull data into PIM, standardise attributes, fill the worst gaps, and retire spreadsheet copies for that range. Test. Test. Test. Rinse and repeat.

4. Connect PIM to your key channels
   Integrate PIM first with your eCommerce platform, then with marketplaces, customer portals, and print publishing tools. The objective is to maintain and approve data one time only, and then publish it everywhere with confidence.

5. Shift roles from firefighting to stewardship
   As automation takes over imports, validation, and feeds, redefine roles. Commercial and product teams focus on range planning and enrichment quality, not copy-pasting. Ownership of quality rules and continuous improvement lies with data stewards, guaranteeing clear accountability.

From catalogue legacy to digital advantage

For traditional distributors, the catalogue hasn’t died exactly, but the principle of using it as the master system has. The forward-thinking businesses which thrive will be those which treat product data as an enterprise asset, with PIM features as the set of interlocking operational vertebrae.

Using a PIM solution as the bridge between print and eCommerce lets you preserve the elements which made your catalogue powerful: Depth, structure, and authority. The bonus is that you’ll be gaining the speed, consistency, and reach that you cannot lack if you want to respond competitively to the multiple demands of modern digital commerce. That bridge is the key to moving from putting a book on a buyer’s desk to putting the right product, with the right information, in front of the right customer on any channel, at any given moment.

Get in touch with us today at Start with Data and we can talk in more depth about how we can support you in bridging that gap between your print catalogues and eCommerce channels, using the right mix of PIM strategy, implementation, and SKULaunch’s supplier data services. Together, we can build a single, scalable product data foundation so you’re lean, mean, and ready for the next decade of digital growth.