Product family: definition and role in PIM
Product family is a data model element that groups products sharing the same set of attributes, rules and templates, such as Drills or Cable trays.
In PIM practice, the product family decides which attributes a product has and which of them are required per channel. Every product belongs to one family. Families are distinct from categories: a family defines structure, while a category defines navigation. One family can appear in several categories.
Illustrative example: the family Cordless drills defines 40 attributes, including battery voltage, chuck size and torque. A product in that family inherits those attributes and the completeness rules for the webshop, the print catalogue and the ETIM export.
In a selection, buyers should model two or three representative families in full, including the most complex one, before talking to vendors. Those families expose the hard decisions about variants, relationships and channel-specific attributes. Asking each vendor to configure them live separates flexible data models from rigid ones within one session.
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Sources and method
How this page was made: drafted by the PIM Selection editors from the sources listed, checked against the PIMvendors selection method, and signed off by a named expert. Editorial policy.
Cite this page
PIM Selection (2026). Product family: definition and role in PIM. PIMvendors.com. https://pimselection.com/glossary/product-family/ (version 2026-10-14).