In the simplest terms, we can define time-to-market (TTM) as being the time between when the team starts work on a project (such as a new product, a new marketing campaign, or a new printed catalogue) and when the first item is sold as a result of that project.
Research has shown that early market entrants enjoy clear advantages in terms of market share, revenue and sales growth, and that makes time-to-market one of the essential metrics in evaluating the success of a company. The shorter this metric is for a particular project, the better results that project has for the company. And this is true today more than ever in the past, with digital tools enabling increased agility which in turn raises the bar for customer expectations.
But controlling time-to-market and making it shorter is easier said than done. With data volumes continuously on the increase, and product information scattered across various segments, platforms, media, and languages, being coherent and agile with regard to updating product information to your market is a real operational challenge. For the best results in improving your time-to-market you need to simultaneously address three core pillars: optimize internal company workflows, build an adequate digital stack to support your workflows, as well as find a suitable marketplace for your business. To achieve this, a PIM system should most likely be a core part of your digital stack.
.png.aspx "speed-clock-(1).png")
The challenges holding you back
To evaluate your current processes, consider the following critical questions:
• Is your preparation of PDF brochures measured in weeks and preparation of printed catalogues measured in months?
• Do shorter product lifecycles represent a problem, and do your competitors arrive first to the market with the exact same products?
• Are last-minute changes to product features, photos, or prices handled on an ad-hoc basis when a marketing campaign deadline is rapidly approaching?
• Do you suffer from product data consistency issues because of hasty and chaotic manual updates?
• Do you have a hard time coping with more sales channels and more geographies/languages in a timely manner?
• Do your product managers feel overwhelmed by manually preparing product data for each individual channel?
In a nutshell: Repetitive manual tasks, poor product content, and chaotic product information management are the absolute worst enemies to your time-to-market.
This is how PIM can help
First and foremost, a PIM system offers you the huge advantage of having a Single Point of Truth. That is, all product data (including digital assets like images, data sheets, or CAD drawings) are handled centrally, in a unified, consistent, and predictable manner. For every employee of your organization, there is just one easily accessible and up-to-date version of the product data.
With a PIM system, changes are applied to the products seamlessly as data comes in, ensuring that information sharing is no longer a bottleneck. Data only needs to be entered once, and it will be hierarchically inherited by related items if necessary. Consequently, all product materials can be updated at once. When a launch or campaign deadline is approaching, everything will be completely ready and easy to compile as needed for the intended purpose.
Furthermore, automated synchronization with online
platforms or authoring tools like Adobe InDesign makes publishing easy in any sales or marketing channel. It provides a fast and easy process, consistent data everywhere, and no more administrative headaches.
Future-proofing for expansion
For companies, natural evolution is often synonymous with expansion. Whether for you that means going to new online marketplaces, expanding your geographical reach, or both, that growth will inevitably come with new requirements: product data handling in multiple languages, a product range with minute customizations for each specific market, or completely different data requirements for different online platforms.
All of this must be done within a reasonable timeframe, of course. Using PIM, those complexities will be easy to deal with, without necessarily increasing your internal people count.
Ultimately, PIM, and Pimics in particular, brings a lot more value to your business than simply speeding up your time-to-market. If you want to find out more about how it can transform your operations, please read our related blog article.
Intrigued? Let's also see what the return on investment (ROI) looks like for your business.
Originally published on: 5.04.2022
Updated on: 19.06.2026