How Do Large Retailers Manage Product Content?

1. How to centralize product information

Product content managers need a standalone system for their product information. A PIM can manage digital assets allowing large retailers to create, edit, and publish product content to their sales and marketing channels.

As you’ll find, the more SKUs you have, the more difficult it is to manage product information from spreadsheets, databases, and ERPs. Additional challenges that impact digital assets such as a high churn, multi-geography, multi-brand, and multi-marketplaces make it even more difficult to remain commercially viable.

Using a PIM to systemize and automate the entire process is the simplest answer to centralizing product information.

2. Why large retailers use a PIM for managing product content

PIMs offer powerful automation, removing the need to upload data manually. With a PIM, large retailers streamline the management of product information and save valuable time and energy. It provides a safe and secure way to allow third parties to share information while also breaking down cross-departmental silos.

In effect, retailers set up workflows to improve internal communication across the business, including the complex multi-player approval process.

They can even automate the creation of product campaigns with easy access to the most current, approved digital media. Enriched data also improves the customer experience by providing the information they need at crucial touchpoints in the customer journey.

As a result, retailers increase conversions and improve revenue.

3. Tips to manage product content

Effective product content management strategies shared by large retailers include:

Set higher standards for your product information

Large retailers are constantly looking for ways to improve the customer experience. Because they have pull, they can look to their suppliers for detailed product information. Detailed information allows them to standardize and share enriched content with customers across multiple channels. The data can be used for advertising purposes, as well as cataloguing of products both online and in print.

High standards for product information provide the content consumers need to make purchasing decisions. It sets a standard for purpose-driven content, whether it is an image and product description for an eCommerce marketplace, specifications downloaded from your website or instructions on how to operate or put together an item via a YouTube video.

In other words, the more product information you can provide to your visitors, and the easier it is to understand, the higher chance there is they will become customers.

Standardized conventions for product information creation

Another effective product information strategy large retailers adopt is setting standards for their content. Standardized information is easy if you take the time to create conventions. These conventions tell anyone involved in product description creation how each product should be defined.

In turn, a PIM allows you to set standards so that the same steps are followed when creating a product life cycle.

You can standardize the entire process but also ensure every detail appears in the same way, right down to whether you spell out inch and foot or use “and ‘.

More importantly, it also sets standards of relatable terms and content that appeals to your ideal customer. It eliminates internal industry terms your team uses and translates them into a narrative format that educates and illuminates.

Create an omnichannel strategy

Today’s leading retailers understand they need to manage multiple sales and marketing channels to broaden their audience. However, to follow suit, you need an omnichannel strategy to ensure products appear using the same tone and manner regardless of being used for a Google ad, YouTube video, or being sold on an eCommerce marketplace like Amazon.

Your omnichannel strategy also determines the most crucial touchpoints for customers so you can contextualize your content for each channel, including:

• Social media
• Word of mouth
• Testimonials
• Product video reviews
• Catalogs
• TV adverts

A PIM removes data silos and creates a central hub that allows you to streamline processes for your omnichannel strategy. It also develops workflows to improve the approval process and helps you become more efficient.

From there, you can create rich product interactions and a highly contextualized buying experience.

Cater to international customers

Entering the global market requires translated content that maintains the same integrity as your original product data. You have to be sensitive to cultural differences while being as clear as possible. This includes accurate product information with easy-to-understand measurements, clear 360 images, video, etc.

A PIM allows retailers large and small to take a more customer-centric approach to selling in the marketplaces they trust. Your product data becomes consistent, making it easier to add new SKUs and adopt an omnichannel strategy. You also remain scalable as you grow. High-quality digital assets suited to each customer touchpoint help improve customer experience creating loyalty and increasing conversions.