What is Pimberly eCatalog?

eCatalog turns the product data you already hold in Pimberly into a shareable online catalogue site. This article explains what it is, what it looks like, and where businesses use it.

The problem: good product data that nobody outside the business can see

Most manufacturers, distributors and multi-brand retailers reach the same point. Product data has been centralised and enriched, images and datasheets are approved, specifications are complete and consistent. Then a customer, a distributor or a partner asks to see the range, and the options are all poor ones.

A PDF catalogue is out of date the moment a price, a specification or an image changes, and someone has to rebuild it every time. A spreadsheet sent to a distributor is a snapshot that starts drifting from the real data immediately. Building a website solves it, but that is an eCommerce project, and if you are not selling online at that touchpoint you are paying for a storefront you do not need.

So the work falls back on people. Reps field questions they should not have to answer. Customer service teams look up specifications by hand. Vendors email asking for the latest images. The product data is accurate. It just is not reachable.

What eCatalog is

eCatalog publishes a non-transactional online catalogue site directly from your Pimberly data. Products, images, datasheets, specifications, variants and category structure all come from the records your team already maintains, so the eCatalog reflects what is in Pimberly rather than a separate copy of it.

You share it as a link. Access can be left open or restricted to the people you send it to. Because the site is generated from Pimberly rather than maintained separately, there is no second version of your product data to keep in step, and no design or development cycle every time the range changes.

eCatalog sites are built on BigCommerce, which is why they look and behave like a commercial product site: category navigation, attribute filtering, search, full product pages, mobile support. What they do not do is transact. There is no basket and no checkout unless you later decide you want one, at which point you are already on a commerce platform.

eCatalog is included with every Pimberly package at no extra cost.

What it looks like

Everything on the eCatalog site comes from Pimberly. In this example the Pimberly instance holds a range of Apple products, managed in the product grid alongside their descriptions, part numbers and manufacturer data.

The eCatalog contains the same products, presented as a browsable site rather than a data grid.

Category navigation follows the category structure you define in Pimberly, so the way people browse the eCatalog matches the way your team organises the range.

Category pages list the products in that part of the range, with filtering on the attributes you choose to expose. Anyone using the eCatalog can narrow the range by product type, form factor, memory size or any other attribute you hold, without asking your team to run a report.

Product pages carry the images and assets held in the DAM, including alternative shots and downloadable material such as product datasheets. They also show the variants of each product and the data that differs between them. Selecting a variant updates the record shown, including its SKU.

Further down the page are the descriptions and specifications from the product record. Marketing copy, technical attributes, and brand and supplier information all appear as they are held in Pimberly.

Product relationships are carried through as well. Compatible and related products appear on the page, which matters in a sales conversation: a rep looking at one product can see what goes with it without leaving the eCatalog.

Where businesses use it

• Showing the range to customers and partners. A browsable catalogue for downstream customers, distributors, dealers and buying group members, in place of PDF price lists and printed catalogues that go stale between reprints.
• Proofing product data before it goes to sale. A place to review how data and imagery will actually appear to a customer, so gaps and errors are caught in a realistic view rather than guessed at from a spreadsheet.
• Sales enablement. Reps work from the current eCatalog on a phone or tablet, with related products and full specifications available in the room.
• Internal reference. Customer service and technical teams get a searchable view of enriched product content instead of asking the product team.
• Vendor and supplier access. Suppliers and vendors can see the approved data and assets for their own products, with visibility controlled per audience.
• Multiple catalogues. Separate eCatalogs for sub-brands, regions, partners or campaigns, each with its own product set and its own branding, all run from the same Pimberly data.

Controlling who sees what

An eCatalog does not have to be public. Access can be gated so that only the people you share it with can use it, and what each audience sees can be controlled: which products appear, and which fields are visible. Where pricing is shown to some audiences and not others, that is handled per audience rather than by building a second site.

Products can also be held back automatically. If a product re-enters an amendment stage in its lifecycle, it can be hidden from the eCatalog until it is approved again, so partners are not looking at data that is mid-revision.

eCatalogs can run on a Pimberly-provided address or on your own domain.

What it changes

The practical effect is fewer handoffs. Product data is maintained once in Pimberly and published to the eCatalog, so the marketing team is not rebuilding a PDF each season, the sales team is not working from an old file, and the product team is not answering data questions by email. Ownership stays where it should sit, with the people who maintain the product record.

Because the eCatalog is generated rather than hand-built, adding a second or third eCatalog for a different audience is a configuration exercise rather than a website project.

Getting started

eCatalog is available to every Pimberly customer as part of their package. Setup is done with the Pimberly team: mapping the attributes and assets you want to expose, building the category structure that drives navigation, applying your branding, and setting the release rules that control which products appear. If you are already using Pimberly, speak to your account team. If you are evaluating Pimberly, ask to see eCatalog as part of your demo.