With PDM’s most recent Seattle Angel Conference first-place win, and now making semi-finals at the 2020 SEMA Launch Pad competition, the company is shifting data technology into high gear.
“When I founded PDM Automotive in early 2017, it was based on necessity, I just could not get good product data for my eCommerce company, Velocity Automotive. Much of the manufacturer data was not in uniform formats, missing applications, had duplicates, missing digital assets (pictures, videos, sound bytes, etc). I was spending more time on my data than any other department trying to match products up to Y/M/M, add product features and benefits, and try to follow the manufacturer’s MAP policies. I thought, why does it have to be so difficult to try and sell a manufacturer’s product, if I was a manufacturer, I would want to make it as easy as possible for my customers to sell products. Realizing a need for good data to help improve sales, I began to develop a data platform to process, support, and manage the individual manufacturer data to fuel eCommerce. I wanted to utilize existing technology to create a platform to help, manufacturers, resellers (like myself) and service providers to generate, maintain, and distribute product data,” said PDM Founder & CEO, Johannes Creopon
The importance of product data management for PDM
With the most recent shift for companies to sell and promote products online, the importance of product data management has become an essential component of doing business today and in the future. PDM’s goal is to help companies rely on a good product to sell products and to make data management easy and efficient. We want to drive a new era of seamless and effortless data technology connections between business partners in the automotive aftermarket industry.
Not all data service providers are the same. The 2020 Seattle Angel Investor competition process helped to bring PDM’s unique value proposition to people outside of the automotive industry. Collaborating with a team of Seattle’s finest advisors and investors and winning the grand prize have provided us with the tools we need to take PDM to the next level.
How PDM is revolutionizing data management in the automotive industry to help companies connect, collaborate, and do business now and in the future:
Take control of product data. Companies no longer have to send product data into a black hole and wait to see how it appears online or on customer portals. With the PDM platform manufacturers are in the driver’s seat and can see exactly how products will appear online and also give resellers the tools and flexibility to sell quickly. The PDM platform provides live quality analysis and recommendations for improvements in real-time, showing duplicates, overlaps, and missing attributes before the information is distributed to the marketplace. This technology is an essential communication between manufacturers and resellers.
Utilize a single source of truth for product data. Manage all product data in one place. With the PDM technology an entire team – data, IT, sales, and marketing, can collaborate in real-time and update the important information necessary for customers to sell products. Marketing can assign all the digital assets associated with a product, sales can ensure that the company’s MAP policy is assigned to products, and the data and IT teams can ensure all OE & VIO information are attached to products.
Know how customers score your product data. Do customers give your product data a C- grade but you think it’s an A+? With the PDM platform know exactly how customers score your company’s product data. Scorecards are the best form of communication between manufacturers and resellers. It gives manufacturers a roadmap to improve data and allows resellers an opportunity to provide information necessary to help both companies sell more products, which is the ultimate goal – To improve sales with better data.
Ditch analysis paralysis. There is no need to overanalyze the thousands of year/make/model (Y/M/M) applications attributed to product data. PDM’s technology is backed with Auto Care tables and data structure providing vehicle recommendations based on product information. PDM utilizes smart algorithms to automate part type and attribute selections making the process seamless and efficient. Users gain access to OE & VIO data through PDM subscriptions with integrated service providers and receive automatic vehicle recommendations for new products.
Sell more products faster. PDM’s goal is to help companies get started quickly, regardless of the condition of product data. Whether utilizing ACES & PIES industry standards or custom data structures, the PDM technology can organize the product data quickly and users can create custom export reports for customers. We make eCommerce integrations simple, whether for your own online store, third party marketplaces such as eBay, Amazon, Walmart, or big automotive retailers such as O’Reilly, Autozone, or Advance Auto Parts.
Learn what some of our industry partners have to say about their experience with PDM:
Rory Connell, Vice President Sales & Marketing for Advanced Accessory Concepts: PDM changed the way we manage our ACES & PIES data, there is no turning back.” Read the full interview here
Paige Lohan, Principal Data Manager for Data-Driver: – In today’s world of interconnectivity, DATA is KING and that is why we partnered with PDM.” Read the full interview here.
We are excited to have won the 2020 Seattle Angel Conference and most recently chosen as a semi-finalist in the 2020 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Launch Pad presented by Young Executive Network (YEN). PDM’s goal is to drive a new era of data technology that will ultimately help all members of the automotive industry to connect, collaborate, and do business. Because #datamatters
