Cambridge, MA – September 30, 2025 – Proton, the AI platform built for distributors, today announced the launch of its early access waitlist for Proton PIM, a new product information management (PIM) system designed to solve one of distribution’s most expensive and pervasive challenges: bad product data.
“Most PIMs are just expensive empty databases. They give you all these fancy workflows, but they don’t solve the hardest problem: actually getting good product data,” said Benj Cohen, Founder and CEO of Proton. “Teams still spend 1-2 hours per SKU chasing down specs manually. Our AI does that work in minutes at a fraction of the cost, so teams can focus on reviewing and approving data instead of hunting for it.”
Distributors across all verticals face the same costly problem: teams spend 1–2 hours per SKU chasing manufacturer specs, fixing typos and standardizing attributes, only to see their catalogs deteriorate within months. NAED research shows the scale: poor product data costs electrical distributors $2.4 billion annually in productivity losses alone.
This issue isn’t limited to electrical; every distribution vertical that relies on accurate, complete and consistent product information feels the impact – especially on revenue. Products with missing specifications can’t be properly categorized or merchandised online. Inconsistent descriptions confuse buyers and frustrate sales teams. Missing attributes break website filters and drive customers to competitors.
Bad product data is not a data organization problem; it’s about getting the information in the first place, which traditional PIMs completely ignore. Proton PIM changes that by using AI agents to automatically scrape, collect and enrich product data based on manufacturer websites, spec sheets, PDFs and other sources. Distributors can run Proton as a standalone PIM or as a layer on top of an existing PIM.
With Proton PIM, distributors can:
- Launch products faster with AI enrichment that turns hours of manual work into minutes.
- Trust their catalogs with schema normalization, verified attributes and a full audit trail.
- Stay current with scheduled refreshes that catch spec changes before they impact sales.
- Boost discoverability with AI-suggested keywords and synonyms to improve on-site search.
- Integrate product data via flexible exports to ERP, ecommerce and APIs.
Bottom-Up vs. Top-Down Taxonomy
Traditional PIMs force products into rigid, pre-defined categories, often losing valuable data that doesn’t fit their templates. Proton PIM takes a comprehensive approach: AI agents first capture every available attribute for each product, then intelligently organize this complete dataset into a clean, standardized taxonomy.
“Distributors face a massive data normalization challenge,” said Cohen. “Every manufacturer uses their own terminology for the same specifications. One calls it ‘diameter,’ another calls it ‘width.’ Distributors end up with tons of duplicate fields that should be the same attribute.”
Proton PIM automatically solves this normalization problem by identifying when different manufacturers use varying names for identical attributes, then consolidating them. For example, it recognizes “color” and “hue” as the same attribute and then merges them into a single, consistent schema. This eliminates duplicate fields and creates the unified, well-organized product catalog that traditional PIMs promise but rarely deliver.
“Proton PIM has the potential to save us days of work per product,” said Austin Kakales, Content Coordinator at BPI. “Instead of manually chasing down suppliers and waiting weeks, we’d be able to access comprehensive product information in minutes.”
Availability
The Proton PIM waitlist is now open at proton.ai/pim. Early access participants will receive priority onboarding, influence the roadmap and get a head start in modernizing their product data management. Proton PIM is rolling out to early users now, with full availability in the coming months.
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