CATALOGUE MANAGEMENT
There was a time when catalogues management meant curating four-to-five-page print magazines filled with everything a business has to offer that month. Managers would assign staff to manually check all the products available in-house and log every piece of information deemed necessary, by hand.
Although this practice still takes place today, we will be focusing instead on eCommerce catalogues when discussing catalogue management. With that in mind, we can describe the process of catalogue management as organising eCommerce catalogue elements and managing how we change or use them to ensure consistency. What does that mean? Let’s answer that by first breaking down eCommerce catalogues and what it takes to manage them.
CATALOGUE MANAGEMENT DEFINITION
eCommerce Catalogues are what businesses use to organise their products on online platforms. We make these lists of items with the goal of strategically keeping track of inventory a company sells, while organising product data in a systematic order. eCommerce platforms categorise all of a business’s products, so consumers can easily find what they are looking for when searching online or on their webstore. For this reason, eCommerce platforms such as Digitrade’s Magento Solution orchestrate the management of a business’s product database in this manner.
CATALOGUE MANAGEMENT'S IMPORTANCE
This becomes important in a world where an average person conducts at least three online searches a day. The best-case scenario for any business then is to have their product/website pop up first when people search online for that product/product provider. Businesses can enable this by managing their eCommerce catalogues well, as it results in a better ranking on search engines. When organisations set their catalogues with clear product descriptions and keep SEO, site navigation, and consumer confidence in mind, SEO performance improves. Another reason catalogue management is necessary is because well executed eCommerce catalogues increase online shoppers’ trust and positions your brand as an industry leader online.
CATALOGUE MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES
It can be challenging to keep the management of your eCommerce catalogues on par, especially for retailers with a diverse set of offerings. Product details and eCommerce platform functions change and need continuous updates. With or without an eCommerce solution that can manage your catalogue automatically, you are likely to experience the above as well as some challenges below:
Numerous stakeholders:
Managing catalogues can be time-consuming and complex when involving multiple internal and external stakeholders.
Usability:
Confusing and unspecific product descriptions make it difficult for Google/search engines to promote your ads correctly and for customers to find your offerings online.
Business growth:
As businesses grow, so do their offerings and, in turn, their catalogues. However, expanding a disorganised catalogue is not simple and leaves you with a larger set of ineffective product catalogues.
Catalogue management tool choice:
It can be tough to find the right catalogue management tool that makes provisions for all your business requirements. For example, multinational companies need a scalable catalogue management solution with provisions for their diverse operational systems globally.
BEST PRACTICES
There are always best practices you must keep top of mind, even with top solutions such as Digitrade. Here is a list below of some practices that can make catalogue management simpler for you.
Provide quality product information
Fill your product catalogue with comprehensive, accurate information. So you can, therefore, build trust between you and your online store visitors. For example:
- By providing detailed product information that’s easy to navigate.
- Through consistently updating product information.
- By showcasing products using high quality images.
Map catalogue management process
Breaking down your catalogue management process provides you with a clear picture of how your business’s catalogue data flows. It also outlines who forms part of the process. This, thus, enables you to share the accurate process with internal and external stakeholders. As a result, the relevant stakeholders will have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities when making changes to product catalogues. Thus, decreasing the chance of errors and mismanagement of product catalogues.
Suggest related/alternative products
Set your product catalogues to also suggest related or alternative products to your customers online. This works well on a business’s online store because it tempts customers to increase their carts before checking out. As a result, average order value increases and customers get to view more of what you have in-store without putting in any extra effort.
Create accurate tags and categories
Tag and categorise your products using relevant attributes, so your customers can easily filter/sort your online store’s products and find what they need faster. Tagging and categorising, however, needs to be done based on how customers search for things. Therefore, the business should limit their product attributes accordingly. In addition, businesses should ensure:
- They keep product tags consistent
- All measurement units are consistent
- Products use different(relevant) sets of attributes
Opt for a catalogue management solution
Digitrade offers eCommerce solutions for companies looking to improve their sales, online presence, and general business processes. These experts transfer, organise and optimise data for many of their client’s, and they will help you successfully manage your product catalogues and eCommerce platforms as well. For all your webstore’s needs, click here for Digitrade.