How is PIM Different Than ERP? (For B2B Teams Who Manage Complex Catalogs)

Pranu Dhyani

Brands & Communications

Let’s clear up a common misconception: your ERP is not a PIM.

In B2B, it's easy to assume that the system handling your SKUs, stock, and orders should also manage your product content. But when you’re dealing with hundreds—or thousands—of SKUs, complex attributes, translations, digital assets, and multi-channel sales, that assumption can quietly wreck your operations.

The truth is, PIM and ERP were built for very different purposes. ERP keeps your business running behind the scenes—procurement, finance, inventory, logistics. PIM, on the other hand, is your product experience engine. It ensures your buyers see clean, enriched, accurate product information wherever they engage—whether that’s your DTC site, B2B portal, distributor feed, or a third-party marketplace.

And in today’s hybrid commerce world, that difference matters more than ever.

In this guide, we’ll break down exactly how PIM differs from ERP, when each is needed (or both), and how to avoid common mistakes B2B brands make when scaling their product operations.

What ERP Systems Actually Do

ERP systems are the backbone of business operations. If you're managing purchase orders, inventory, invoicing, logistics, or financial reporting—your ERP is likely doing the heavy lifting. It's built for structured, transactional data, and it's designed to keep everything in sync across departments.

In a B2B business, ERP typically controls:

Inventory and stock levels
Procurement and supplier records
Order-to-cash workflows
Accounts payable and receivable Shipping, tax, and compliance reporting

Think of it as your internal system of record. It’s about efficiency, control, and accuracy—not customer experience.

Most ERPs (SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle, NetSuite, etc.) are built with finance and operations teams in mind. They’re brilliant at helping you manage what’s in the warehouse and what’s on the books.

What they’re not designed for? Enriching product content, managing digital assets, or publishing data to customer-facing channels. That’s where most businesses start stretching ERP systems too far—and that's when problems begin.

What PIM Systems Actually Do

If ERP is built for operations, PIM is built for experience—especially the product experience your buyers see across channels.
A PIM (Product Information Management) system centralizes and manages all the data and content that describes your products. Unlike ERP, it’s designed for marketing, digital, and eCommerce teams—not finance or ops. It deals with enrichment, not execution.

Here’s what a modern PIM handles:

Product titles, descriptions, specs, attributes, and tags
Digital assets like images, PDFs, videos, and user manuals
Multi-language and region-specific content
Channel-specific formatting (e.g. different data for your website vs a marketplace feed)
Product relationships (variants, bundles, accessories)

And most importantly—it empowers non-technical teams to work independently from IT or operations. That means faster time-to-market for product launches, fewer errors across channels, and a more consistent experience for your customers.

PIM is especially critical for B2B businesses that deal with:

Highly technical products with long spec sheets
Thousands of SKUs with frequent updatesSelling into multiple channels (distributors, portals, marketplaces)
Product teams and marketers who need to collaborate without waiting on IT

While ERP keeps your stock levels accurate, PIM ensures your product story is clear, complete, and compelling—everywhere it appears.

“Companies using a dedicated PIM see a 23% improvement in product data accuracy across channels.” —Source: Forrester PIM Trends Report, 2023

PIM vs ERP: Quick Comparison

At a high level, ERP and PIM both manage product data—but the type, purpose, and end-users couldn’t be more different. This side-by-side breakdown makes it easy to see where each system fits into the bigger picture.

Feature / Function	ERP	PIM
Primary Purpose	Operational control	Product content enrichment
Data Type	Structured (SKU, price, stock)	Unstructured (text, images, specs)
Core Users	Finance, operations, IT	Marketing, product, eCommerce
System Focus	Internal workflows	Customer-facing experience
Digital Asset Handling	Limited or non-existent	Native image & media management
Multi-language Support	Rare or manual	Built-in localization workflows
Multi-channel Publishing	Not supported	Core feature (feeds, connectors)
Change Management	Complex and IT-driven	Agile, business-user friendly
Integration Role	System of record	Syndication layer
Update Frequency	Low (monthly/quarterly)	High (daily/weekly by content teams)

PIM doesn’t replace ERP. But it does fill the gaps ERPs were never built to handle—especially as B2B selling gets more content-driven, channel-heavy, and buyer-experience focused.

What Does Your B2B Business Actually Need—PIM, ERP, or Both?

Every B2B company hits a point where the current systems start cracking under the weight of scale—new SKUs, new markets, more channels, more teams. And that’s usually when the ERP vs PIM confusion starts.

So what do you actually need?

It depends on how complex your operations and catalog are, and where the bottlenecks are showing up.

If your main challenges are around inventory control, invoicing, or supply chain management, you likely need a robust ERP (or to upgrade the one you’ve got). But if your team is spending hours wrangling spreadsheets, cleaning product descriptions, and chasing down image files just to publish a new SKU—PIM is non-negotiable.

The truth is, most mid-to-large B2B businesses will need both. ERP to run the business, PIM to power the product experience.

We’ve created a comprehensive matrix that maps typical B2B scenarios to the systems you need:

✅ PIM-only, ✅ ERP-only, or ✅ both.

📥 Download the full decision matrix banner required

The Risk of Forcing ERP to Do PIM’s Job

It’s tempting to push your ERP to handle product content—after all, it already holds your SKUs, prices, and stock. Why not just bolt on a few fields and call it a day?

Here’s why: ERPs were never built to handle the demands of digital product storytelling. And trying to stretch them beyond their purpose creates more pain than progress.

When you force your ERP to act as a PIM, you end up with:

Bloated databases filled with inconsistent or redundant product fields
Inefficient workflows, where marketing has to go through IT to update a product description
Slow time to market, especially for new product launches or channel rollouts
Error-prone content, because teams are editing in rigid systems not meant for storytelling
Poor product experiences, leading to higher bounce rates, lower conversions, and even more product returns

Stat: “30% of all product returns in B2B eCommerce are due to inaccurate or incomplete product data.”
—Ventana Research

Over time, these problems compound. Your digital team loses agility. Your product team loses visibility. And your ERP—meant to stabilize your operations—becomes a bottleneck.

If you’re scaling product lines, growing into new markets, or even just trying to keep multiple channels consistent, a dedicated PIM isn’t optional—it’s the unlock.

Here’s the final section—a clean, confident end note that wraps up the narrative without a CTA:

Final Word
ERP and PIM aren’t interchangeable—they’re complementary.

Your ERP keeps the business running behind the scenes. Your PIM ensures your products show up in the right light, in the right place, with the right information. Trying to make one system do both rarely ends well—especially in B2B, where accuracy, speed, and scale matter more than ever.

Understanding the line between operational control and product experience isn’t just a tech decision—it’s a growth decision. And the businesses that draw that line clearly are the ones moving faster, with fewer errors, and better buyer experiences.