Product Information Management Pain Points (Part 1)
With merchants extending their reach across multiple channels, product information management has become a top priority. Failure to create a centralized hub for product information management can lead to major challenges. Disparities of product data between multiple channels could lead to a confusing shopping experience, resulting in a poor impression of the retail brand among customers and hinder the implementation of new sales avenues.
Here are three pain points multiple merchants face when it comes to product information management across multiple suppliers and drop shippers:
1. Complex catalog parsing to get the best of each catalog
Merchants often source inventory from numerous suppliers and drop shippers to then sell to customers. However, different suppliers and drop shippers often use a variety of product photography and information.
This can create some confusion, particularly when merchants are trying to list these items across multiple channels. Based on the data that is provided by these suppliers, one listing may contain the weight of an item, which may be absent in another.Their online store may describe a product in one way, but that same merchant’s Amazon marketplace may have a slightly different description of the item. This confuses the shopping experience and makes it difficult for customer service agents to speak intelligently with inquiring customers about these goods.
With the right product management software, retailers will be able to automate the process of retrieving the best data from each supplier. Essentially, product management software can help retailers pull specific data from one supplier and not the other. From there, the product management software consolidates product data for each product into one single source, helping to keep consistency across multiple sales channels.
Even more importantly, the right product information management software helps merchants set which information makes it through to the customer. Suppliers and drop shippers may update their product descriptions, but retailers can set locks to prevent that information from overwriting data set up internally.
2. Duplicate content
Hearkening the first point, imagine getting product information from multiple suppliers and drop shippers. Even if this data is the same, merchants have another problem at hand: duplicate information. This could result in the same product image existing multiple times or needless attributes cluttering product pages. Again, this makes the merchant in question look uncoordinated and may clutter product pages with unnecessary data.
Product management software can help retailers cut through the clutter and ignore similar and duplicate fields. All of this is pre-approved by the merchant in question, making it a less time-consuming process and enabling retailers to achieve a single source of product data.
3. Reaching new channels quickly
There are new sales avenues opening all the time. Just a few years ago, many merchants viewed their eCommerce operations in terms of their standalone website. Now, they also need to consider smartphones and mobile commerce platforms such as apps. Additionally, there are always new marketplaces coming into existence that retailers can capitalize on
Expanding to new channels can be a hassle without a single source of product information. Different platforms may require specific information before listing a product, which can make sifting through multiple sources of product data to set up each listing a hassle. With a single source of information, that process becomes much easier, as merchants can quickly list products with all available data at their finger tips.
Retailers need to be where their customers are. With better product management software, they can quickly and seamlessly create a single source of data to ensure a consistent shopping experience across multiple channels.