If you’re a supplier of architectural materials – lighting, cladding, surfaces, acoustic panels, and beyond – you know that managing product data is never as simple as it should be.
You’ve got spec sheets in Excel, images in Dropbox, product updates in email threads, and a sales team constantly asking, “Which is the latest version?” Meanwhile, your marketing team is trying to update your website, distributors are waiting for the right formats, and architects are asking for specific certifications, composition data, or fire ratings.
This is where a PIM comes in.
What is a PIM?
PIM stands for Product Information Management. It’s a type of software designed to help businesses collect, manage, and distribute detailed information about their products – all from a single location.
A PIM acts as the central hub for product data. It gathers information from various sources – internal teams, suppliers, databases – and ensures that the product information is complete, accurate, and up to date.
What does a PIM do?
A PIM typically supports four core functions:
1. Centralisation of product data
Rather than managing product information in disconnected spreadsheets, folders, or systems, a PIM brings everything together. This includes:
- Titles, SKUs, and categories
- Technical specifications and dimensions
- Certifications and performance data
- Digital assets (images, PDFs, CAD files)
- Product variants (finishes, formats, sizes)
By centralising everything, a PIM reduces redundancy and eliminates version control issues.
2. Standardisation and structuring
Product data often needs to be formatted differently depending on the audience – internal teams, clients, distributors, or digital platforms. A PIM allows users to:
- Standardise attribute naming and values
- Group information logically (e.g. fire ratings, acoustic performance)
- Create templates for different product types
- Ensure consistency across all outputs
This makes product information more usable, readable, and scalable.
3. Multi-channel distribution
Once the data is centralised and structured, a PIM makes it easy to distribute across multiple channels, including:
- Websites
- Digital catalogues
- Sales tools
- Internal systems
- Partner or distributor platforms
This ensures that the latest version of a product’s information is always available, wherever it’s needed.
4. Streamlined collaboration
A good PIM allows product, marketing, sales, and technical teams to work from the same source of truth. Edits are tracked, roles are defined, and approvals can be streamlined. This reduces internal friction and improves productivity across departments.
What is a DAM?
DAM stands for Digital Asset Management, and while it’s often discussed alongside PIM, it deserves its own spotlight.
Where PIM manages structured product data like dimensions, codes, and certifications, DAM manages the unstructured content that brings your products to life: images, documents, videos, 3D models, and more.
For architectural suppliers, where product visuals and documentation are critical for specification, DAM is essential.
A DAM helps you:
- Organise and store media files in a single, searchable library
- Maintain version control of files like technical sheets, certificates,
and installation guides - Automatically link visuals to the right product SKUs or variants
- Control access across departments or partners
- Ensure your sales and marketing teams are using the correct, approved visuals
In architecture and design, presentation is everything. If a product’s image is outdated, a certification PDF is missing, or the wrong texture swatch is sent, it’s not just a nuisance; it can cost you the spec.
That’s why modern platforms, including Stylib Hub, tightly integrate DAM with PIM, keeping your product information and visual assets fully aligned.
Why it matters
For industries like architectural materials, where product information is dense, technical, and often tied to regulations or certifications, a combination of PIM and DAM can be transformational.
It replaces static spreadsheets, scattered folders, and ad-hoc sharing methods with a system built for clarity, efficiency, and scale across teams, systems, and client touchpoints.
Control your catalogue
While many general-purpose tools exist, not all are built for the complexity of architectural products, from multiple product formats and regional standards to the need for specification-ready visuals.
That’s why we built Stylib Hub – a platform that combines PIM and DAM for architectural suppliers.
If you’re looking to centralize, structure, visualize, and share your product information more effectively, Stylib Hub might be the solution you’ve been missing.
Stylib Hub gives every product a consistent, customizable data structure with attributes for technical specs, certifications, dimensions, finishes, and more. Instead of scattered fields or improvised formats, you get a clean, scalable system that supports filtering, validation, and export across any channel or platform.
Datasheets, images, test reports, and certificates all live in one place, connected to the correct product and version. Stylib Hub makes it easy to upload, organise, and update files so you always know what’s current, and you never have to dig through folders or chase the right PDF again.
Not every audience needs the same data. Stylib Hub lets you configure outputs for different destinations, whether it’s a spreadsheet for a distributor, a selection for a client, or a structured feed for your digital tools. One source of truth, multiple outputs, no copy-pasting.
