What can replace the PIM system? Discover an alternative to Pimcore, Akeneo, and Ergonode

Why companies are increasingly looking for product data management solutions

E-commerce stores are gaining increasing importance year by year, and with it grows the need for efficient product information management. This applies to companies that have operated online from the start, as well as businesses that primarily sold offline for years. Entering various online channels means the necessity of preparing product descriptions, photos, technical parameters, meta tags, logistics data, categories, variants, and content tailored to sales platforms.

All these preparations are especially important today, as the requirements of search engines, marketplaces, and popular AI chatbots are changing faster than ever before. A new area of product visibility is emerging alongside traditional distribution channels – AI-driven environments that can recommend specific brands, stores, and products based on information available about them online. In practice, this means that companies must constantly adapt descriptions, attributes, information structure, technical data, and SEO content if they want to maintain offer visibility, organic traffic, and sales.

To accelerate these efforts, companies are increasingly seeking technologies that not only allow for central data management but also for integration with additional automations. PIM then ceases to be merely a data storage location and becomes an operational tool to which processes for generating descriptions, supplementing attributes, translations, SEO optimization, preparing product feeds, or distributing data to stores, marketplaces, and other sales channels can be connected. This allows companies to react more quickly to changes and scale operations without manually correcting hundreds or thousands of products individually.

Problems in PIM systems faced by e-commerce companies

Off-the-shelf PIMs offer many advantages, but they don't always meet the real needs of e-commerce companies. In practice, businesses often encounter barriers related to costs, an excess of features, limited flexibility, and difficulties in adapting automations to their own processes. Below, we describe in more detail 4 main reasons why entrepreneurs are looking for alternatives to Pimcore, Akeneo, or Ergonode.

High implementation and maintenance costs

One of the main barriers is cost. Technologies like Pimcore, Akeneo, or other extensive PIM platforms can be too expensive for small and medium-sized businesses, especially at the beginning of their online sales development. The subscription or license itself is often just the start of expenses. On top of that, there are costs for implementation, configuration, integration, maintenance, training, and potential development of additional features.

In practice, the cost of using an off-the-shelf PIM system can be significant. If a monthly subscription for a tool in the Enterprise package is around several hundreds EUR per month, annual expenses can quickly grow to as much as 15,000 EUR per year. Additionally, there's a one-time cost for system implementation by a specialized agency, often also amounting to thousands of EUR. For many companies, such an expense is a significant burden, especially if the software is not utilized to its full extent.

Excess functionality that the company doesn't need

For many companies, another problem is that off-the-shelf PIM systems offer a very broad set of functionalities, some of which will never be used. A business thus pays for an extensive information management system, even though it only needs selected processes.

Sometimes, the structure of pricing packages also proves problematic. A company might only need one specific functionality, but to use it, they must upgrade to a higher, much more expensive plan. For example, if integration with Baselinker is required, it might turn out that a free plan or a lower package is insufficient – Ergonode only offers it in a more advanced product version. In practice, this means an additional payment not due to higher limits or genuinely needed features, but solely to unlock a single element. As a result, the company receives many additional capabilities it doesn't intend to use, and the system itself becomes more extensive than it actually needs.

If your company is looking for simple product information management, such as organizing descriptions, automatic meta tag generation, basic data synchronization with ERP, or content approval workflows, then PIM might not be suitable for your business. In some cases, implementing a large system can simply be disproportionately expensive compared to actual needs, and at the same time, introduce chaos among employees.

Limited Automation Flexibility

Another challenge lies in automation. In off-the-shelf PIM systems, these are often quite generic. Of course, many platforms allow for expansion, API integrations, or adding custom functionalities, especially if they are open-source solutions. In real world, however, adapting the system to a specific business process can be difficult, time-consuming, or costly.

A company might need automation that aligns with its own operating model, industry specifics, product structure, or a non-standard data publication method. Off-the-shelf modules don't always allow for this, and their expansion requires an additional budget and development work. We wrote more about this problem and the possibilities of extending basic PIM functionalities in our article Automation and AI in E-commerce for Product Data Management.

Costly Development of Additional Features

Developing additional features in an off-the-shelf PIM can ultimately cost more than creating a custom, dedicated application. If a company constantly needs to add custom modules, build workarounds, integrate external tools, and adapt the system to its processes, an off-the-shelf PIM may no longer be cost-effective.

The problem becomes particularly apparent when a company needs something very specific within the PIM interface itself, and the system vendor has not foreseen such a possibility, even with available plugins. This could involve, for example, viewing current stock levels directly on the product card or a mechanism that conditions the content of product descriptions based on competitor prices.

In such cases, instead of speeding up work, the system begins to force compromises. The company has to adapt to the tool's limitations instead of using a solution designed around its actual needs.

In summary, what can be problematic

Ready-made PIM platforms can be a good choice for some companies, but they are not always the most cost-effective and flexible. If a company needs specific automations, a simpler process, lower costs, and greater control over tool development, it's worth considering a dedicated Product Information Management system as an alternative.

Custom Product Information Management Systems

An alternative to off-the-shelf PIMs can be a custom application for managing digital assets. Implementing a PIM system in such a model doesn't necessarily mean building a large platform from scratch. As Sagiton Automation, we use a ready-made PIM template that we adapt to our clients' needs – this way, we don't build the system from scratch, but implement a dedicated PIM, leveraging no-code, low-code, and AI technologies.

Such a custom system can include precisely the elements needed in a given e-commerce – from storing descriptions, photos, attributes, and variants, to automations, ERP integrations, content generation and validation, feed preparation, and data export to the store or marketplaces.

Below you will find the most important benefits to consider when choosing a custom product information management application:

1. Tailored to company processes
The biggest advantage of a custom PIM is its flexibility. A company doesn't have to adapt its workflow to an off-the-shelf tool, because the range of functionalities is designed around the team's way of working, the specifics of the product range, and marketing channels. That means it can include custom statuses, description approval stages, automatic notifications, integrations with specific databases, or proprietary rules for content creation and publication.

2. No fees for unnecessary features
‍With ready-made PIMs, companies often pay for extensive modules they don't actually use. A custom application allows you to implement only the features that truly support your team's work. This ensures the budget is allocated to specific areas, and the software interface is clearer for your employees.

‍3. Lower cost in the long run
‍Including the analysis phase, creating a custom PIM can start from approximately EUR 10,000. For this price, you receive a dedicated application designed for your own processes and business needs. Importantly, you also own a perpetual license and the right to make any modifications to the system. This means a one-time investment, after which only maintenance costs remain, such as hosting and server, typically amounting to few hundred EUR per month.

It's worth comparing this with the subscription model of an off-the-shelf PIM. If the annual platform fee is approximately EUR 9500, then the investment in a custom application starts to pay for itself in just under a year and a half. After this period, the company no longer pays high recurring subscriptions just to use the tool. Instead, it can develop its own application in line with its strategy, team needs, and changes in sales channels.

‍4. Dedicated automations for product data management
Automations are increasingly available in off-the-shelf PIM solutions, but with a custom system, they can be designed from scratch, in line with a company's specific workflows. Such PIM tools are built from the ground up with integrations in mind, have tailored APIs, and additionally, the technology team often has access to the application's entire source code. This means automations related to product card completeness checks, ERP synchronization, or handling cyclical updates can be implemented faster, simpler, and often cheaper. than expanding an off-the-shelf tool. A dedicated product management system therefore allows us to precisely tailor automation to the organization's specifics, data sources, catalog structure, and how the company manages its product assets. A custom PIM helps reduce manual execution of repetitive tasks across hundreds or thousands of items, minimize the risk of errors, and more easily scale online sales.

‍5. Growth with the company
‍We can start a custom IT product with the most essential features and then develop it alongside your business, from a simple panel for managing offers to an advanced application with automations, integrations, and AI modules. The company doesn't have to wait for features on the vendor's roadmap, is not limited by the rigid architecture of an off-the-shelf platform, and doesn't pay for modules that are irrelevant to its business.
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As you can see, a custom PIM can be a good alternative to Pimcore, Akeneo, or Ergonode, especially when a company needs greater data control, custom automations, and a flexible environment for developing online sales. Instead of adapting processes to an off-the-shelf tool, you can create an application that supports a specific e-commerce operating model from the outset, and in the long run, may be more cost-effective than a subscription to a ready-made platform. In many cases, such an investment starts to pay for itself in about 1.5 years compared to subscribing to an off-the-shelf PIM system, especially when the company is actively expanding its product catalog, automations, and integrations with other tools.

When should you consider alternatives to Pimcore, Akeneo, or Ergonode?

An off-the-shelf PIM can be a good choice if a company needs a standard system, accepts a subscription model, and fits within the features provided by the vendor. However, if the two-year cost of implementation, licensing, and maintenance exceeds EUR 10,000, it's worth comparing it with the cost of creating a dedicated PIM. Once an off-the-shelf platform is integrated with ERP, OMS, e-commerce, marketplaces, CRM, and other tools, replacing it later can be difficult, costly, and operationally risky.

With off-the-shelf systems, companies often work not directly with the software vendor, but with an implementation partner. When there's a need to create a custom feature, the decision-making process is often longer: the requirement must be described, estimated, forwarded, and then assessed for compatibility with the product roadmap. This can prolong development, increase costs, and lead to misunderstandings. Furthermore, the vendor may ultimately refuse to implement a given feature if it conflicts with the product vision, system architecture, or the needs of other clients.

A dedicated PIM offers greater technological sovereignty in this regard. The company is not dependent on a single vendor, the development plans of an off-the-shelf platform, or rigid feature packages. It can develop the system with its current technology partner, an internal IT team, or another contractor who will take over application development. This allows the tool to grow with the business, and decisions about new features, integrations, and automations stem from the company's real needs, rather than the limitations of an off-the-shelf system.

If you're wondering which PIM system to choose, contact us! As Sagiton Automation, we help clients prepare PIM system comparisons and make decisions about selecting the right solution.