Importance of E-commerce Product Catalog Management

Online shopping has changed a lot in the past few years. One can buy anything, right from clothes to food and even flight tickets. So, it is wise to say that online shopping is in great demand.

It is vital for the website managers to take care of the catalog management system. So that can offer the customers an exceptional experience on the e-commerce site.

As without a proper system it is hard to manage and display product details in the digital showroom.

What is E-commerce Product Catalog Management?

It is a process used by e-commerce website owners to provide genuine product information to customers in an organized manner. It makes sure that the product data across all the channels are of greatest quality.

The key focus of Product Catalog Management includes organizing, Cleansing, standardizing, and publishing useful product information.

Why is E-commerce Catalog Management important for retailers?

Everyone is well aware to use online platforms, to search product and do online shopping.

Your business eCommerce platform is either B2B or B2C. You can offer your customers a well-managed and relevant online product catalog. This way, you will be able to meet the customer's behaviour on search engines. Assure your services and products are visible or accessible to customers.

Transparent and informative E-commerce catalog aid you in better ways. For instance, if your online shop leader in the industry, then the relationship between the shop and the visitors will become stable. If the relationship is stronger between the customers and the online store, then the conversion rates are higher. Plus, your customers will never stop doing brand advocacy for you.

What are the services in catalog management?

Transform your eCommerce website into a reliable platform offering customers all details. You no longer will have to worry about your customer's experience on your site. So, let's take a look at the services that you get using catalog management.

• You can use the catalog processing services to convert the offline physical data in electronic format.
• Maintain a massive data in various forms like products, descriptions, images, dimensions, prices, policies, shipping and many more.
• Add or update the data of the new products or remove the details of discontinued products.
• Update the information by using bullet points, specifications, or even features.
• Regular product's database updates with accurate product catalog management.
• Make your website user friendly.
• You can add various images of products without the worry of size relevancy.
• With the cross-selling technique, you can increase your ROIs.
• It will aid with data redundancy and make site free of duplicate content or information.
• It helps you to organize the inventory management.
• Aids in keeping the product attributes consistently.

How to build data/information within the product data catalog

Customers are well-informed. Once they feel the online store information is complete and genuine. They will trust your brand or buy it from you. So, you will have to make sure that you optimize your website with informative and accurate content. For instance:

1. Ensure to include full details in your product catalog: Provide all the information essential for a customer to check what you sell. Like technical attributes, videos, images, inventory information, measurement units, product usage combination, and customer reviews. See to that the information is clear and easy to find.
2. Take time to analyse, if the information on the website is up-to-date or not: Only then will your customers have the proper knowledge to make a sound decision. Cross-check on static information like product details and ever-changing inventory information. If possible, assign this task to an individual who is aware of the frequent fluctuations. Or else, you can even synchronize your web store inventory with ERP inventory records. This way, the necessary data get updated.
3. Make sure to embellish your site with high-quality images: This way, your customers will know what they are investing in. To convey the product and services effective to the customers. You can even use many media formats.

What are the Challenges in product catalog management service?

There are mainly 8 challenges when managing product catalog Online

1. Regular Product Updates : You need to keep updating the SKU's in the eCommerce product listing. As there are price changes, the introduction of new products, or something other keeps happening all times. So, that means you will must fine-tuning the items now and then.
2. Deal Supplier Data: Process of managing the product catalog is complex and time-consuming. You need to do manual updates, if there is any difference in data you have and in supplier providing data.
3. Expanding the Product Catalog: If you want your business to grow, adding new products is vital. But if your product catalog is poor, it will become challenging to add new SKUs. You will either need to clean up or go back.
4. Consistent Data Quality: Develop trust between the customers and the online store with consistency. For that you ensure that all the SKUs offer quality information. Even the other sections of the website should focus on consistency.
5. Create rich meta data for products: Meta data is a great way to increase CTRs (click-through rates). Ensure all your products have engaging meta data that drives the customer to take action.

   Read more about : best practices to manage discontinued products

6. Running quality checks for accuracy across collated data: Run a quality check across the collated data. Make sure if correct information is catering to the customers.
7. Checking data pools for typos, repetitions, redundancy: It becomes vital that you run a quality check across the collated data to see if the information is catering to the customers properly. For instance, if your E-commerce manages to provide discounts to the subscribed members, then you will have to ensure the discount is offered properly to select people.
8. Checking data pools for typos, repetitions, redundancy: It may not seem obvious but grammatical errors can break the customer's trust in your brand. They will feel that your site is unkempt or not heeded at all. So, it is wise to ensure the site is free of redundancy, repetitions, and typos.

How to improve your e-commerce product catalog management?

It is a fact that SEO and usability are imperative for websites. But having a proper catalog product data entry strategy becomes vital too. So, here is a list of tips that will boost the SERPs, user experience as well as your ROIs.

1. Choose the best category structure/navigation for your online store:

   Mega menus may seem like an effective factor. But it can backfire if you aren't careful while placing the products. So, assort the products and services into small sections. And see to it that you provide text and not the images for navigation menus.

2. Work on cross-selling and up-selling tactics:

   The best way to increase sales is by offering customers related products. For instance, you can provide the customer with a "you may also know" section. And during the internal search, provide them with suggestions. You can even direct them to category pages, so they do not have to go through everything.

3. Avoid SEO issues due to data redundancy:

   If possible, avoid copy-pasting the description. Also, never use a similar description as the manufacturer has added on his website. And say no to many paths leading to similar products.

   Read more about: Improve ecommerce website search

4. Optimize product descriptions:

   While writing the description, see to it that you keep it short, engaging, and have the right keyword. For offering specific information, use bullet points over bulky paragraphs.

   Read more about: 5 Simple tips for eCommerce Product Descriptions

5. Define smart website's structure :

   The best way to define your website's structure is by knowing what all services and products you have. Once you have the idea, then proceed with outlining the structure. Opt for a parent category with sub-categories. So your customer can navigate through the website.

6. Focus on custom fields:

   While you ensure that the website's structure is outlined properly. You can focus on custom fields too. Using which customers can search for a specific product using attributes and values. Plus, you can create groups as per specification, thus, creating standardized data.

Bottom line

Your website becomes the sole face of your business on the online platform. So, it would be best if you took extra care in keeping the website up-to-date. Follow the tips and tricks mentioned here to amplify your brand's visibility.