Pimberly Reviews

Pros

Elastic Path is a composable commerce platform that suits our customers well because they can take a best-of-breed approach and choose the components that bring the most business value. We use it because it stands out as best-in-class. On top of the standard functionality you'd expect, they keep rolling out new features, so the platform continues to feel current and well-maintained. The integration process was easy and working with their team has been a very positive experience, they're professional, responsive and engaging.

Cons

At this point, there really isn't anything missing that stands out for the way we use it.

Pros

Honestly, there really wasn't anything positive about our experience, it was a nightmare from start to finish. We were misled during onboarding and that so-called onboarding dragged on for more than a year. When they finally tested the last feature, their IT team erased all of our category data without even realizing it. On top of that, nobody stepped in to fix the damage or provide any real support.

Cons

There's barely any documentation available. Even though they market it as a self-serve platform, a lot of the setup still depends on their team to handle it. The problem is, they're frequently unavailable, slow to respond, or seemingly always out on vacation. Leadership and management were also rude and unhelpful whenever we tried to get answers. Beyond that, the system is packed with bugs and feels risky to use since it can unexpectedly delete your data.

Pros

The workflow tools are one of the few great parts of the platform for us and can be quite capable.

Cons

After spending a lot of time researching PIM systems, we chose this one not because it was the strongest option at the time but because of the vision they presented, the roadmap they sold and the fact that we wanted to back a British company. Four years on, that decision has been a real disappointment. They fell well short of the roadmap and overall direction that was promised. Release dates kept getting pushed back again and again and eventually they stopped giving deployment or go-live dates altogether. Even when features finally arrived, they were nowhere near what had originally been sold to us. The final tipping point was a so-called quarterly account review where our account manager created a list of action points independently, yet more than six months later, none of it had been completed. This pattern of overpromising and underdelivering happened repeatedly. It was not limited to the account manager either, we saw the same issues at director level which suggests the problem starts from the top. In spite of the marketing claim that this is "the most powerful Product Information platform on the planet," the system is incredibly slow. After speaking with other IT customers, it is clear this is not just our experience. If you go in accepting the platform for what it currently is, along with its many shortcomings, you may find it passable. But I would be very cautious about trusting promises, timelines, or future feature commitments, because there is a strong chance you will end up as disappointed as we did. After reviewing other platforms again, it became obvious how much the rest of the market has progressed while this one has been left behind.

Pros

Using it every day has been a big help for me because the features I rely on really support my workflow. Once you get comfortable with feeds and channels, moving data in and out of the system is very quick. When I need to manually add or enrich products and upload images, it only takes a few minutes. Since we sell across many different platforms, we can prepare all our product information for launch in hardly any time.

Cons

There is still room for improvement, such as dealing with duplicate channels.

Pros

Working with the team has been a pleasure for us both throughout onboarding and afterward. They're always willing to jump in and help whenever questions come up. The software itself is very user-friendly and has really helped us speed up product enrichment while also improving the overall quality and standard of the output.

Cons

I honestly can't think of any downsides at the moment, everything has been working really well.

Pros

After more than five years of searching, this turned out to be the solution our company needed. It has significantly accelerated the way we manage product data and the automations have cut repetitive work down from hours to just minutes. On top of that, the team is incredibly responsive whenever issues come up or when we submit feature requests.

Cons

The platform is still building out some important features, integrations and mappings that other services already have in place. Even so, it's an impressive solution and I'm excited to see how the team continues to expand and improve what they've already created.

Pros

This software has completely transformed the way we handle our product data and connect with multiple sales channels. The support and account management have also been first class throughout. I'd highly recommend it.

Cons

One area that could be improved is the handling of deltas exported on a channel.

Pros

One of the biggest strengths for us is how flexible the tool set is. It lets users shape and customize their own solution without having to write up specs for development work which is a huge advantage.

Cons

There are a few limitations and some areas where the tools do not fully fit our needs straight out of the box but realistically no solution is ever going to be a perfect 100% match for every customer.

Pros

Using book has been a really positive experience for me. It's simple and flexible and the search and display features are even more capable than expected. Whenever something isn't immediately obvious, the extensive knowledge base usually has the answer and when extra clarification is needed, the support team has been excellent and dependable, consistently helping with workable solutions.

Cons

One thing we would have appreciated is a bulk update option for taxonomy changes, such as assigning attributes to product types across the taxonomy all at once. We've had several new attributes that needed to be connected to every node in the taxonomy, so handling that manually has been a small inconvenience in the broader schema.

Pros

Getting this up and running was very easy for us and the value of having a centralized tool was noticeable almost right away. It is not the lowest-cost option out there but the features you get are very competitive for the price and in some areas it even outperforms providers that charge more. Setting up Feeds and Channels is uncomplicated and it supports multiple file types well. We currently use XML, API, Webhook and CSV and for most needs we can adjust the configurations directly in the UI.

Cons

Not a con but we would really like to see is the ability to sort products within the Products UI.

Pros

After getting everything set up, it turns into a very dependable system that just keeps working quietly in the background for us. It automates a lot of processes and fills in data based on set criteria which cuts out the need for manual work in most situations. The channel creator is also a big plus, since it lets you build custom outputs in a wide range of formats, from APIs to CSV files.

Cons

One limitation is that the parent record can't be updated from fields in the child record without using SQL and the same applies the other way around. That said, it's something they're currently working on.

Pros

Using this software has been a really positive experience for us. It's very user-friendly, offers plenty of customization options and comes with a wide range of integrations that fit our needs well. The support team has also been outstanding whenever we've had questions or run into any issues and the rollout of new software updates has been excellent too.

Cons

Honestly, it's hard to point to any real downsides with this software because it has worked perfectly for our team.

Pros

One of the biggest strengths here is how flexible the schemas and attribute mapping are for us. It handles pretty much any kind of product data requirement we have. We've been able to tailor it not only to store information and push it out to sales channels but also to manage specifications for sourcing and manufacturing. That takes it well beyond what I'd normally expect from a PIM, since it's doing much more than just serving customer-facing product data.

Cons

There were a few limits in the way schema construction worked, especially because we needed additional levels in the product relationship structure to capture our sourcing specifications properly. We've managed to find practical workarounds, so it hasn't blocked us but it does mean the setup isn't completely perfect. Even with that, I still don't think we would have found a better-fit solution to begin our product journey with.

Pros

Over the past six months, as our product range has grown massively with even more expansion planned, this has made adding new products across multiple sales channels much faster and far more efficient for us. We can upload hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of SKUs at once across marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Wayfair, Mano Mano and OnBuy, along with our own website. It has cut out a huge amount of work that used to go into creating separate import sheets for every platform. Updating products is much simpler as well. If we need to change something like the dimensions of a dining chair, that used to mean manually updating thousands of related bundles one by one. Now we just edit the original product here and the linked items can be updated to match without all that extra effort.

Cons

On the marketing side, I also use it to add product descriptions and feature details and to optimize our listings. Up to now, I honestly haven't run into anything to complain about in that area.

Pros

The reporting features have been a big win for us and the automatic generation of item numbers is something we really appreciate.

Cons

There are still a few parts that feel a bit complex but since the system is still new to us, I'm sure we'll get more comfortable with it over time.

Pros

From rollout to day-to-day use, the implementation, integrations and support have all felt top tier for us. I was genuinely surprised by how quickly this was deployed considering how complex the platform is. We've also been able to tweak things as needed without much disruption and the support team has been fantastic whenever we've needed help.

Cons

Only real downside is the price, since it definitely sits at the expensive end. That said, it hardly feels like a true negative because the features and level of support absolutely back up the cost. It's a premium product with a premium price tag and in this case it feels justified.