Two different jobs
Product Information Management (PIM) systems like Akeneo and Salsify are designed for one job: managing marketing and sales data for products across channels. Product descriptions, images, pricing, retailer-specific attributes — this is PIM territory.
Digital Product Passports are designed for a different job: managing compliance and transparency data for regulators, B2B buyers, and consumers. Material composition, certifications, carbon footprint, supply chain origins, audit trails — this is DPP territory.
Same product. Different data. Different audiences. Different requirements.
Why visibility layering doesn't exist in PIM
A PIM system treats all product data as equally shareable — the whole point is to syndicate it across channels. But compliance data has inherent access levels:
- PUBLIC — what consumers should see (material composition, care instructions)
- BUYER — what B2B partners need (certifications, supplier declarations, compliance status)
- INTERNAL — what only your team should access (cost data, internal test results, supplier relationships)
PIM doesn't have this concept because PIM data is marketing data — it's all meant to be shared. DPP data requires granular visibility control per field.
Why audit trails matter for DPPs but not for marketing
When you update a product description in a PIM system, nobody asks "who changed this and when?" because the stakes are different. A typo in a marketing description is a content error.
When you update a material composition field in a DPP, it's a compliance-relevant change. Regulators need to see:
- Who made the change
- When it was made
- What the previous value was
- Whether the change was reviewed and approved
This is why DPP platforms need built-in audit trails — and why PIM systems don't have them.
Can you add DPP functionality to a PIM?
In theory, you could extend a PIM with custom fields for compliance data. In practice, this creates problems:
- No visibility layering — you can't control who sees what at the field level
- No supplier collaboration — PIM is designed for internal teams, not external suppliers filling in data
- No audit trail — PIM tracks content changes, not compliance-grade actor-attributed diffs
- No evidence linking — certificates and lab reports need to be linked to specific claims, not just attached to a product
The bolt-on approach creates a system that's mediocre at both jobs instead of excellent at one.
When you need both
If you're a large brand with complex product catalogs, you likely need both:
- PIM for managing marketing data across retailers and marketplaces
- DPP platform for managing compliance data for regulators, buyers, and consumers
They serve different stakeholders, different workflows, and different regulatory requirements. The key is choosing tools designed for their respective jobs.
Passiris is purpose-built for Digital Product Passports — structured, auditable, and designed for supplier collaboration. See the features.