If there was ever an unsung hero in ecommerce, product data might be it.
That beastly spreadsheet is all too often seen as a bit of a nuisance. An overcomplication. A question of “how do I fill these columns in?”
But hear us out: Product data is so much more than information in a spreadsheet. It’s your virtual salesperson on the floor, guiding customers on their journey to what they’re looking for, telling them what they need to know and ensuring they choose something they’ll be happy with once it’s in their home.
Strong product data requires thought, strategy and time to do well, but the success of your ecommerce business depends on it. Here’s why.
Product Data is More Than Just What’s Needed to Get Products Live
Your brand’s products can’t be published on any retailer website without product information. To get there, it’s not uncommon for the bare minimum of data to be collected as simply a means to an end to get products live.
At times, this approach might be easier and faster—but it will create long-term setbacks for your ecommerce success. Strong product data ultimately needs to be a part of your brand’s ecommerce strategy. Investing in it will not only support sales growth, but retailer relationships and the business’s bottom line, as well.
“Retailers rely on the brands they work with to power the experience of shopping through the sometimes millions of SKUs on their site,” said Melley Richards, BrandJump Associate Director of Brand Content. “There’s not necessarily a person at each retailer going through your products to make sure they are complete and correct. Manufacturers hold the key to making sure their data delivers the customer experience it should.”
Product Data Powers Your Ecommerce Business
More than just what’s needed to get products live, product data is central to your brand’s entire ecommerce operation. There are four critical areas that are impacted by the strength of your brand’s product data:
- Product findability. Data is what drives organic traffic to your products, whether customers are searching on- or off-site or browsing using the navigation or filters. Data is what determines what category or landing page a product appears on, or what filters it will fall under as a shopper narrows down their search. Inaccurate or incomplete data means less visibility to the shopper, so there’s not even an opportunity to convert them.
For example, if your product is a pendant light that is damp-rated and suitable for use in a bathroom, but your product data has it listed as dry rated, that’s an easy way to miss a customer who is searching for a pendant for their bathroom, whether that search is happening through Google or a retailer’s website.
The customer’s path to a product page comes from product data, and it’s the responsibility of the manufacturer to make sure it’s accurate, robust and that the path is as clear as possible.
Product data is like a virtual salesperson, guiding customers to what they're looking for and helping ensure a smooth path to purchase.
- Conversion: Being able to find your product on a site all happens before the customer even lands on a product page. But once they do, it’s product data that then helps them make a purchase decision. And built-out data that is more descriptive, detailed and informative is always going to be better than less.
“Complete data doesn’t always mean good data,” Richards says. “The more things you can tell a customer about a product, the higher the likelihood of them feeling confident to make a sight-unseen purchase without remorse.”
- Operations: Shipping dimensions, weights, lead times—these are all product data. If this information is incorrect, it can have financial implications to your business by way of returns, cancelations, chargebacks or fees.
- Retailer relationships: The quality of your data is a reflection of your brand, both to the end customer and to your retail partners. Retailers rely on the manufacturer to provide high-quality, complete and correct information, and not doing so can impact your credibility with these partners. Some retailers also use scorecards for product data and content, and if a manufacturer is not performing to a certain level, they can take items offline or even implement fines.
Product Data Requires a Strategic Approach
Because product data fuels much of your success online, it’s important that manufacturers view it as part of their overall ecommerce strategy, rather than simply figuring out how to fill in a spreadsheet.
A strategic approach to product data means investing time and resources into ensuring it’s complete, accurate and as thorough as possible. To do that well, manufacturers should:
Understand how retailer standards differ. Knowing the varying requirements of different retailers will help inform what data you need to gather up front and avoid any slowdowns along the way.
Take time to prepare and send all data at once. This may take a bit longer up front, but it will make it easier for both brands and retailers to work on and avoid the back-and-forth that comes with sending things more piecemeal. Taking the time to ensure all data is completely ready to go is likely to save time in the end.
“Getting product data to retailers is a big project,” said Kat Lingad, BrandJump Merchandising Manager. “As with any project, things go much smoother when you get everything you need together up front and eliminate the need to touch something or get parties involved multiple times.”
Ensure data is not just accurate, but robust. That means going beyond the bare minimum that is required to get products live and including as much product information as possible.
Establish a designated data contact. Whether you’re working with a company like BrandJump or handling in-house, you’ll need someone who knows the data and how to fill in any gaps to keep the process moving.
Avoid estimating. When manufacturers estimate product specifications just to push items, live, it can be costly in the way of return rates. “It’s much better to slow down your speed to market slightly, do things correctly, and then go live, versus having your process be the root cause of problems down the road,” Lingad said.
Your brand’s ecommerce strategy is made up of many parts—and product data is a critical one. Ensuring your team has a well-thought-out approach for maximizing the opportunity will drive sales to your products, protect your business and enhance the partnerships with your retailers.
