PIM: Omniscient And Omnipresent

For every coffee table that is delivered seamlessly by a digital retail company, there is a centralized pim system to thank.

- Rochelle D’Souza

A month ago my fiancé moved to a new city, and in the excitement of setting up a new home, he decided to indulge in a bit of online retail therapy on one of those websites that has become synonymous with buying furniture. For days he spent every bit of free time he had searching, reading reviews, measuring and nitpicking on the exact shape, the kind of wood and even the colour of varnish for his perfect coffee table. Three weeks later, after many sleepless nights spent imagining what it would look like in his living room and impatiently waiting, he finally received his precious package. After lugging it up to his 7th-floor apartment and opening it up for assembly, he realised, with great contempt, that it was, in fact, the wrong table.

We live in a world where you can treat yourself to some retail therapy or a shopaholic’s fix by just a few clicks of a mouse and or just swiping a bit on your phone, all while you’re still in bed wearing your pyjamas. Digital retail is one of the most booming businesses today, but while many of the world’s largest companies are booting the delivery guy and using drones to deliver packages, some of us still face problems like the one my fiancé did.