After the great ecommerce shift of 2020, many retailers have rapidly accelerated their digital transformation and created a product catalog to organize and centralize their product content. But if you’re not quite there yet, now is definitely the time. With a complete product catalog, all the product data you could ever need is in one place, ready to finetune and push out to your relevant retail channels.
We asked Kristin Naragon, VP of Strategy and Growth for our partner Akeneo, about the crucial role of a product catalog and PIM system. Before joining Akeneo, Kristin was global go-to-market strategy leader for Adobe’s marketing automation offering. She brings many years of experience spearheading alliances, sales, strategy, product marketing, and go-to-market capacities for high-tech B2B companies, from startups to major corporations.
And here’s what Kristin says about why 2021 is the year to get your PIM foundation down.
Optimize your product content with the finer details
Sometimes more is more. The old adage of "less is more" isn't going to cut it when a consumer is shopping or a buyer needs to bulk order. Details matter. Descriptions need to be relevant. Images and videos that showcase the product make the decision to purchase much easier and faster and reduce the likelihood of returns or post-purchase dissatisfaction.
Give your customers polished product experiences
Ecommerce marketers need to prioritize their product experience management (PXM) practice. Whether you're considering replatforming your ecommerce tech stack, looking to get on a marketplace like Amazon, Target, or Walmart, want to re-invest in print catalogs, open up in a new territory, or introduce more products to your offering – you absolutely need to centralize your product information.
"You won't unlock your growth if it takes you a ton of wasted time and valuable human resources to do the bare minimum of product descriptions."
Kristin Naragon, VP of Strategy and Growth at Akeneo
Syndicate product content more efficiently
You won't unlock your growth if it takes you a ton of wasted time and valuable human resources to do the bare minimum of product descriptions. Free yourself. Get organized. Build your centralized product catalog. Enrich all of your products quickly and seamlessly adapt them to the right channel and market.
Know your products & react fast to new shopper habits
As the pandemic progressed, brick-and-mortar retailers like Rural King turned to buy online pick up in store (BOPIS) programs to help consumers who had adopted (through necessity) digital shopping channels. We think BOPIS and other similar initiatives provide consumers with the perfect blend of physical and digital shopping and will become the new norm – the phygital shopping experience.
This year, it’s all about knowing your products. We've all been trained to know and love thy customer. But if 2021 taught us anything, it's that if you have a grip on your product catalog, then you can shift quickly to the changing dynamics of your customers.
"If you don't already have a centralized product catalog then you're doomed to be stuck in inefficient, unproductive processes that burn time, money, and other valuable resources…"
Kristin Naragon, VP of Strategy and Growth at Akeneo
Free yourself from the time-consuming, expensive ways of the past
If you used to showcase your products in physical stores and need to quickly get them online, you need to either start a product catalog from scratch or adapt it quickly to a new channel. If you don't already have a centralized product catalog then you're doomed to be stuck in inefficient, unproductive processes that burn time, money, and other valuable resources, which ultimately will cost you lost sales and even worse, lost customers to competitors who had that PIM foundation in place.
Thank you Kristin for the insights!