An e-commerce product catalog is marketing collateral used to list essential product details that help buyers make a purchase decision. Important details include descriptions, product features, price, dimensions, availability, color, weight, customer reviews, etc.

 If you look at the Amazon marketplace, you will realize that you can get a lot of information just in a single click. Amazon makes sure that it lists all the information you require to make an informed purchase. 

For example, if you wish to purchase a pair of jeans, you would require information like size, color, feet, price, brand, offers/discounts, reviews, and more. With all this available information, you will be able to make an informed purchase and buy the desired pair of jeans.

Importance of E-commerce Catalog Management

E-commerce catalog management is important for many reasons and can be extremely useful for running a successful business.

E-commerce catalog management helps one get information and features and keep them recorded to allow the user to find out about a product in detail. With all the details available for users, one does not have to go back and forth with customers via email, giving them the required information.

It also helps improve conversion rates as customers have a contextual conversation rather than spending that time on discovery and solutions. When the customers have all the information they require, they can make decisions effectively and buy products conveniently. 

It also plays a significant role in improving branding as it can be done by using specific colors, images, logos, and a call to action, which can help your brand stand apart. It also helps generate offline sales. Offline, many buyers do the research online but make purchases offline.

Mosofflineantly enhances user experience because, with all the available information, a customer is moved one step closer to a purchase.

Five Best Practices to Follow for E-commerce Catalog Management

To create a proper e-commerce catalog, some things can be followed to make it even more effective and valuable. As we all know, the benefits of having a good e-commerce catalog management are mini, so following certain best practices only makes it better for your business and enhances customer experience.

Following are the five best practices that can be followed for e-commerce catalog management, ensuring that you can successfully keep your business running and ensuring that every customer who decides to purchase your brand is left satisfied and happy. As an e-commerce business owner, you must provide all information to your customers so that they can make purchases based on it. Proper catalog management will ensure that your customers can get all the information they need, decreasing backorders.

Creating Brand Trust with Quality Product Information

When you start managing your digital e-commerce product catalog, the first and foremost goal should be to ensure that your potential customers feel comfortable with the shop on your website. They must trust your business to be most likely to place an order with you.

To reach this goal, you must provide accurate and comprehensive information in your product catalog. Your customers will start trusting you and your business when they access your website and use it to assess your brand and the products.

You can consider these three aspects which will help you achieve good quality product content –

• Try including comprehensive information so that customers can quickly assess your products. Some technical attributes, images, inventory information, and product usage combinations can be included. Make sure that this information is clear and easy to navigate.
• You can illustrate your products by using high-quality visuals, which will help attract your customers’ attention and keep them engaged.
• Make sure that the information provided is up-to-date as it will optimize the customers’ shopping experience and help them make accurate decisions. You can assign someone to keep the information on your website updated.

Tagging and Categorising Product Catalog

You can help your customers easily browse through your products by offering them the options to filter and sort out the product information. This can be done by systematically tagging and categorizing the products. 

Try doing this by keeping your customers’ perspectives in mind. This means that think about your customers and how they would look for information and search on your website. If you think that your customers might search for products based on material, then make sure that you do not limit attributing your products to size or fit.

In addition to this, you can also keep the following tips in mind –

• Make sure that all the products are consistent.
• Ensure that the measurement units are consistent. For example, if you use inches or centimeters in your product specifications, do not confuse your customers by using both.
• Do not attempt to limit all your products to the same kind of attributes. Ensure that you include additional product attributes whenever necessary to help your customers even better.

Upselling and Cross-Selling

A great way to ensure more sales is by suggesting related products in your e-commerce catalog, as it is an easy way to increase the average order value.

If you think about yourself when you shop online, you might have noticed how you are presented with related products when you are looking for a particular item. For example, if you are looking for a camera, most web stores will also suggest good batteries, a memory card, or a case. Many people end up adding those to their cart because you require them, and instead of searching for them separately, you are presented with these options easily.

You can also do the same by suggesting alternative products to keep it tempting for your buyers to get into purchasing more products or encourage them to at least keep browsing in case they have not found their desired product yet.

Selecting Catalog Management Tool

There are plenty of options available in the market regarding catalog management tools that can help you manage your e-commerce product catalog. Depending on what your business needs, your e-commerce product catalog must be managed through :

• A standalone e-commerce platform
• Spreadsheet software like Microsoft Excel
• Product information system or PIM
• An E-commerce platform that integrates with Yr and RP

When you choose a product catalog management tool for your business, you should consider your current business, the complexity of your product catalog, business size, availability of laborers, and whether you have plans to expand to different Web stores. 

No matter what you choose, you must try to keep a single source of truth so that you do not indulge in duplicating information and risk making mistakes.

Mapping Catalog Management Process

Multiple stakeholders are involved, which makes e-commerce product catalog management a complex process. If you want to overcome this, you could try mapping out the catalog management process. Once you are done with that, you can pinpoint where your internal and external stakeholders are located along this process.

Doing this will help you get a clear understanding of:

• The parts of the catalog management process that stakeholders touch
• Who all are affected by the catalog changes
• When are they affected in the process

When you are required to update the product catalog, this mapping process will make it easier to find the exact stakeholders to approach. For example, if you are a wholesaler who wants to add a couple of products to the e-commerce catalog, then a clear map will help you understand what steps you must take. This will help you know what you need to collect first regarding the product information. With the acquired information, you will then be able to get the job done quickly.

How to Improve E-commerce Product Catalog Management

E-commerce for catalog management can be improved by following specific ways to help you stay consistent and offer reliable solutions to your customers. Some of the things that you must keep in mind to enhance it are –

• Make sure that the product data that is provided is relevant and credible. Providing comprehensive and updated information will help your customers make informed purchases and build trust.
• Make sure that you categorize and specify product attributes. A proper product classification will strengthen the user experience and improve search relevancy.
• Try differentiating between physical and digital catalogs because the information provided might be different. So the audience must be made aware of the information as the behavior both online and offline be different.
• Personalizing a product catalog can be a critical factor as it can help your customers find the correct information and have a seamless experience across all the touchpoints.

The best rule to follow is never to stop when it comes to catalog management. Keep on researching and gathering all the information as much as possible about your customers, their reviews and impressions of the online catalog, the kind of traffic that your catalog attracts, and the products that are being shared the most.