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Read up on your favorite channels, the latest trends, and all things feed-based.

Perhaps ecommerce marketing is your true calling. You love being creative with your messaging and strategy but also enjoy being analytical and technical. For many marketers, the job is a labor of love. You’re doing your best to do right by the customer and your products.
<br>
Ecommerce marketing, however, can also take a lot of power away from marketers. There is pressure to drive sales and scale even when you may not have the tools and data to do so. In the end, marketing specifically within ecommerce has its own unique hurdles and headaches. But if you’re suffering from these pains and aches, don’t worry… you’re not alone.
<br>
If you face these five pains on a regular basis, it’s probably a sign that you’re really doing your job - and trying to do it well!

## 1. Lack of feed transparency
### A.K.A. Where is this data coming from and where is it going?

Ever look at a product ad or listing and think, “wait, where did that data come from?” Or “why is this Facebook description showing up on Google?” Product feeds are complicated. They’re huge and every single one looks pretty similar to the next (when you’re a human and not a robot). Especially if you’re stuck using CSV files, it’s can be difficult to understand what all that copy and data really represents.

## 2. Total lack of data control
### A.K.A. Why can’t we tailor these robotic descriptions for actual humans?

Product feeds come from a lot of different sources. PIM. DAM. Your website. One thing is certain: it usually doesn’t come from a human, and it shows. Perhaps you have a ton of amazing products. You have detailed product information and even images. But then you have to sit around and wait for someone from a technical team or an agency to help actually make changes. That probably feels ridiculous. *You’re* the marketer. In order to work your marketing magic, you need control and the ability to make changes and test all those tweaks.

## 3. Impossible expectations about speed
### A.K.A. Keeping up with the Joneses’ new platforms

Marketers know the importance of touchpoints. The shopper’s journey has dozens to hundreds of them, and that’s why you’re probably constantly revisiting your strategy to include all the latest channels. But then it hits you: you don’t really control how much time it takes to get on that new channel. You want to advertise on that cool new social platform or start listing on that niche marketplace. It’s so close you can almost reach it - and then you have to wait for technical teams to help you actually get there.

## 4. Product images
### A.K.A. “I just want to put a logo on these 500 pictures”

Unless you’re extraordinarily lucky, you probably don’t have beautiful tailored images for every product you advertise. Perhaps you have the single, white-background product image and another that has a little bit of color or shows the product being used by a model. And you want to do the seemingly impossible by adding a little branding to it. You’ve done all the work of getting your campaign together and optimizing copy, so why is it so difficult just to put some logos and brand colors on your images? What’s more, imagine if you could put sale prices, exact dates, and details right into the ad? It seems unfair to not have such basic capabilities.

## 5. Performance
### A.K.A. You can’t test data is hard to manage

Marketers know the value of proving results. Everyone wants to know how all those efforts are fairing, and that’s not always easy within the scope of ecommerce. Plus, most marketers thrive on the thrill of testing something new. When it comes to your ads and listings, you might want to try different copy or creative, or even test out different channels. The only way to get great results is to try lots of options and find out what doesn’t work. However, if you’re itching to try new things, it might be the case that you have to wait around for technical support before you can start. Then there’s the manual work of tweaking copy or sending off feeds, and suddenly that new idea leads to dozens of tiny tasks.

It’s worth it, but it’s hard work!

## What to do
You know what the beauty is of having found this post? You know you’re not alone! One problem many businesses face is digitalization, and that might be the root of your problems. Without the right system in place, marketers can’t take control of their product marketing and other business users might struggle to sell more online at scale. What you might be lacking is agility.
<br>
Agility is what turns product data into a tool that can be easily managed and [transformed](https://www.productsup.com/blog/digital-transformation-imperative-ecommerce/). Agile data can be quickly edited and audited. It can also be optimized for performance and prepared for new channels. The Productsup platform turns manual processes into automated processes. Plus, it’s as easy as drag and drop.
<br>
If all these pains sound feel familiar, [check out these common manual edits that you shouldn’t be making manually](https://www.productsup.com/blog/manual-product-data-edits/). It might just be a surprise.

<span class="hs-cta-wrapper" id="hs-cta-wrapper-6242ca7e-91bf-46c9-ad49-7a6c8bf7b460"><span class="hs-cta-node hs-cta-6242ca7e-91bf-46c9-ad49-7a6c8bf7b460" id="hs-cta-6242ca7e-91bf-46c9-ad49-7a6c8bf7b460"><a href="https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/3976985/6242ca7e-91bf-46c9-ad49-7a6c8bf7b460"  target="_blank" ><img class="hs-cta-img" id="hs-cta-img-6242ca7e-91bf-46c9-ad49-7a6c8bf7b460" style="border-width:0px;" height="521" width="1200" src="https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/3976985/6242ca7e-91bf-46c9-ad49-7a6c8bf7b460.png"  alt="Just launched! Productsup Academy. Start learning."/></a></span><script charset="utf-8" src="https://js.hscta.net/cta/current.js"></script><script type="text/javascript"> hbspt.cta.load(3976985, '6242ca7e-91bf-46c9-ad49-7a6c8bf7b460', {}); </script></span>

Ecommerce marketing isn't always easy. But if you’re suffering from these pains and aches, don’t worry… you’re not alone!

5 pains only ecommerce marketers understand

Do you know the ins and outs of product data feeds? Where they’re used, how, why? This week, we’ve got a little challenge for you. 
<br>
Up next, we have five questions to test your skills. Put on your thinking caps and let’s get started.
<br>
<center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://youtube.com/embed/gIqMWKPrICo" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>

## 1. What is a product data feed, and where is it used (including three example channels)?
A product data feed is, at its core, a file with a text-based list of product attributes and data. These attributes are key data points used to describe a product.
<br>
Product feeds can be used for selling on marketplaces, advertising on social media platforms or search engines, retargeting and nurturing, and affiliate marketing.

## 2. What makes a dynamic ad different from other ad types?
With traditional ads, marketers create the entire ad image or video for each product.
<br>
With dynamic ads, marketers create a template. This template is dynamically populated with data from a feed, depending on the specific situation.

### 3. How does product feed management differ from product information management systems?

PIM is a central repository for raw data. It’s the golden record, the place where you can always find reliable, core information. And data from a PIM might be sent to or from a feed management software.
<br>
Feed management software is used to tailor and syndicate data. Raw PIM data is cleaned up and optimized for use on channels like Google or Facebook. So while PIM is a central raw data repository, feed management is used to clean it up and make it agile.
<br>
There's also PIDS and PXM, which you can learn more about here:

-  [Introduction to Product Information Distribution Services (PIDS)](https://www.productsup.com/blog/pids-product-information-distribution-services/)

- [PXM for Dummies (Product experience management)](https://www.productsup.com/blog/pxm-product-experience-management/)

## 4. What are three ways to optimize a product feed?

Get ready, there are a lot:
- Fill in optional data like product color or size
- Use [custom labels](https://productsup.io/blog/5-custom-labels-strategies/) to group products for easier marketing and targeting
- Add [dynamic images or otherwise tailored creative and videos](https://www.productsup.com/richmedia/)
- Use [relevant SEO keywords](https://www.productsup.com/blog/ecommerce-seo-optimization/) within descriptions
- Add [performance and analytics data](https://www.productsup.com/blog/performance-analytics-product-sales/) into your product feeds
- Fill in attributes specific to mobile
- Remove unprofitable products on the problem channel

## 5. What are custom labels and where can you use them?
[Custom labels](https://productsup.io/blog/5-custom-labels-strategies/) are a specific feed attribute that can be leveraged on some channels, particularly Google, Facebook, and Bing. These are user-defined attributes - meaning you can use them to describe products however you please. They are used to help marketers and related users more easily manage products.
<br>
For example: on Google, you might use a “Popular seller” label to quickly start or stop a well-funded campaign.

### Nice! Ready to learn more?
And that was it. So, how do you feel about your product feed knowledge now? If you want to learn more about feeds and how to use them in the Productsup platform, check out the recently launched [Productsup Academy](https://academy.productsup.com). 

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[VIDEO] Quiz: How much do you know about product feeds?

If you’re a small or medium-sized business owner, chances are 2020 didn’t quite shape out the way you thought it would. Companies of all sizes have drastically boosted their digital presence to keep up with the needs of clients. This is why businesses of all types – be it a small shop, a café, a farm, or a museum – need to get on board with their own digital transformation to stay relevant. Luckily, there are already a lot of tried-and-true ways to do it that won’t leave you scratching your head in 2021.

## 1. Set your goals based around client experience

First off, why is it important for small and medium-sized companies to get online? The answer is simple; there are less customers going to brick-and-mortar businesses and increasingly more turning to online solutions for shopping and services. They are also looking for the same user experience they’ve grown used to with the likes of Amazon and Google, and are expecting the same from other services. It needs to be positive, fast, and responsive, as well as available anywhere and anytime (within reason, of course).
<br>
To get your business online, start by identifying the problems that you need to solve to keep profits afloat and get more interested leads. It’s important to understand your clients’ issues and figure out how to solve them. Focus on their online journey by looking at the best ways to reach them online and map it out. You’ll have to answer questions like how clients are going to discover your business online, whether it be via a website, Google Maps, Search, online ads, and on social media. Next, you’ll need to determine how you will actually sell products online with trusted payment options, or how to set up fast delivery that clients can rely on. Another point is how you’ll take care of your community and clients’ needs after-sale.
<br>
The main portion of your digital transformation will therefore include creating new ways of communicating to online clients and multi-channel approaches to reach the widest audience possible. An online presence doesn’t mean you need to completely switch from offline, but adding it will ensure your business gets noticed during changing economic times.

## 2. Build or upgrade your website

If you don’t have a website, now is the time to get one that is professional and visually-appealing. There’s no need to hire a team of developers either. Thanks to website-building services like Wix, WordPress, and Google (we’ll touch on that later), you can easily customize one from a vast range of pre-made templates per business type. This will allow you to improve your branding by showing off you and your company values, and by integrating other trust elements that will encourage clients to buy from you. Just last year, poor personalization and lack of trust [cost American companies $756 billion](https://www.marketingdive.com/news/accenture-lack-of-personalization-consumer-trust-cost-businesses-756b-la/512693/) as 41% of consumers switched companies. Some “trust” elements to add would be to add client reviews, industry awards, your company values, such as ethical and environmental standpoints, and your contributions to good causes.
<br>
Afterwards your website is up, you can start on [search engine optimization ](https://www.productsup.com/blog/ecommerce-seo-optimization/)to increase website traffic. 
<br>

![Facebook Shops example](//images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/4bBy2pKtaQA7BIIW3Kk8wq/d5fff28d8f4d976447184f0b7afb2d69/facebook_shops.jpg)

## 3. Get an online store

Once you’ve determined who your clients are and understand what they need, choose an ecommerce solution that will help you achieve your goals. This will depend also on your business, whether you are selling goods or services. There are many options for listing your products online, such as eBay, Amazon, Shopify, and Google Shopping. Etsy is a good option for hand-made goods.    
<br>
A good place to start though is with [social commerce](https://www.productsup.com/blog/state-of-social-commerce-agility/), simply because of the billions of people who use it worldwide. A new solution that arrived in May 2020 is Facebook Shops, a free, user-friendly digital store that focuses on mobile users. Businesses can create lists (called Collections) of their products, and highlight their brands creatively with great visuals. It also connects with other ecommerce platforms, like Shopify. Customers then find your Facebook Shop via your Facebook page or Instagram profile, and make purchases right there. Read our guide on [how to set up Facebook Shops](https://www.productsup.com/blog/what-are-facebook-shops/), and make sure to check its availability in your country.
<br>
If you offer services, check out some platforms to list your businesses and services for people to make purchases, appointments and reservations online. For American, Australian, and  European clients, check out the beauty, wellness, and sport platform, MindBody. Gastronomy businesses can partner with take-out portals, like DoorDash, Uber Eats, or any local option. For restaurant reservations, get listed on Yelp, OpenTable, and other booking services. 
<br>

![google my business official screenshot](//images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/6Vsdro8kYQpV37BCHYCLu6/19fac083211010f3a6de856ebd7f5794/google_my_business.jpg)
<center><small>Set up Google My Business for a stronger presence on Google Search and Maps. © Google</small></center>

## 4. Use Google’s tools for businesses

There’s a growing number of services you can use nowadays, as software developers have identified the huge need for online management tools. However, start by choosing just a few that will fit your needs, add simplicity, and avoid chaos. A good option is Google’s G Suite that has you covered on many levels, like email address customization, and a wealth of tools such as documents, spreadsheets, a calendar, etc. In addition, there’s also [Google for Small Businesses](https://smallbusiness.withgoogle.com), which identifies products best for you and helps you get online. 
<br>
[Google My Business](https://www.google.com/business/) allows you to customize your own Google Maps profile with your services and products, opening hours, contact information, news, and promotions. It even offers a simple website-building option. Using these tools make you more discoverable on Google Search.

## 5. Develop your social media presence

The next step would be to create a great social media plan and foster a presence on the networks where your audiences are likely to hang out. The goal is to promote your products, services and brand with authentic, tailored, and engaging content per channel. Start by creating a brand guide where you write down how you want your visuals to look (color palette, logo, illustration, photography) and communication style for a cohesive representation of your brand. Also include how you might create content differently for each channel. With social media, it’s not a one-size fits all approach. Though it’s OK to repurpose content, do it wisely and always consider the audience.
<br>
For example, on Instagram, you would post an inspiring picture of someone using your product (imagine a adventurous man dangling his legs over a cliff with your brand’s hiking boots) to entice an end client, while on LinkedIn, you’ll want to talk about your company’s achievements in order to attract potential business partners. You could potentially use the stunning visual, but the message needs to be completely different.
<br>
When choosing what to post, try splitting it into three types of content:

- Business promotion to convert followers and viewers
- Sharing posts from influencers in the industry to show your up on trends
- Personal stories about your brand

<br>
Social media can seem like a lot, however, there are platforms where you can do it all from one spot, such as HootSuite, Buffer, and MeetEdgar. These help automate and speed up your work as well as take care of community engagement, an important part of social media management.

## 6. Reach clients with email marketing

With your shop and social media presence set up, you can also attract new clients as well as retain existing ones with carefully planned and executed email marketing. It can be a very effective yet tricky task; you’ll want to send content they’ll want to read but not overwhelm them. Also, always allow clients to “opt-in” to your email list. The recipient must knowingly sign up for it on your website or via a special ad banner, so that it won’t be sent straight to the spam folder. 
<br>
Use an email service to get the job done, like cloud-based tools such as MailChimp, Constant Contact, and iContact. If you’ve opted to create a Wix or WordPress website, they have built-in email plugins. Your emails could be used for a number of things: sales automation with welcome messages, promotions, and company news, or a newsletter with your latest blog articles.

## 7. Use digital advertising platforms

After securing the most important basics such as a website, an online shop, secure payment methods, and fast delivery (or returns) of your products, you can then start scaling your business by running online ad campaigns.
<br>
Here are three types of ecommerce platforms to start marketing your products (though more exist, as seen in our [ecommerce channels guide](https://www.productsup.com/blog/ecommerce-channels/)):

- __Search Engines__: Start with Google Ads to create awareness around your brand. This is for people who are actively searching for your type of product. 
- __Online Marketplaces__: The most popular ones are Amazon and eBay. It can be hard to stand out because of other competitors, but makes all the difference if you’re able to tap into a niche. Lyst and Wish are two more smaller, less saturated channels specifically for mobile users.
- __Social Networks__: Facebook is a great advertising tool thanks to its Dynamic Ads, whose algorithm targets users based on their likes and behavior, and post ads with strategic timing. 
<br>

Online ads can go a long way even with a smaller budget – the prices depend on the audiences and the duration of your campaigns. Most platforms are extremely user-friendly and offer tutorials to guide you.

## 8. Use the power of built-in data and analytics

Each of the tools that are mentioned within these steps offers customer activity data that can help you tweak your online presence and make the most of it. Over time you’ll be able to make some smart deductions. The key is to first execute a plan based on your clients’ needs for a good length of time, then optimize it based on accumulated data from the past three to six months. It may take a little while for your online business to pick up, so you do have to let it run for some time to see if your strategy actually works. For example, on [Facebook Ad Insights](https://www.productsup.com/blog/facebook-ad-insights-feed-management/) you may see that audiences are engaging more with one type of content than another, so in the future you’ll choose to publish more of that kind to increase your social media performance.
<br>
[Learn how to test your product catalogs to identify improvement potential.
](https://www.productsup.com/blog/ab-testing-product-data)

### What’s next?
Our list of “to-do’s” to get your business online are the fundamental building blocks of your digital transformation. Once set up, it’ll be important to maintain it with proper planning and execution, and always look for ways to improve the client experience. Think of your digital transformation as less of a crash-diet, but more of a lifestyle change that you’ll need to engrain into the very core of your business.

<span class="hs-cta-wrapper" id="hs-cta-wrapper-075f6195-f8db-42f4-85f9-dd52b61d51f8"><span class="hs-cta-node hs-cta-075f6195-f8db-42f4-85f9-dd52b61d51f8" id="hs-cta-075f6195-f8db-42f4-85f9-dd52b61d51f8"><a href="https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/3976985/075f6195-f8db-42f4-85f9-dd52b61d51f8"  target="_blank" ><img class="hs-cta-img" id="hs-cta-img-075f6195-f8db-42f4-85f9-dd52b61d51f8" style="border-width:0px;" height="445" width="1024" src="https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/3976985/075f6195-f8db-42f4-85f9-dd52b61d51f8.png"  alt="Facebook Dynamic Ads Campaign Creation Free Guide"/></a></span><script charset="utf-8" src="https://js.hscta.net/cta/current.js"></script><script type="text/javascript"> hbspt.cta.load(3976985, '075f6195-f8db-42f4-85f9-dd52b61d51f8', {}); </script></span>

Digital transformation for small and medium-sized businesses: Client-focused tools and steps 

The rise of TikTok has had a global impact on many levels - both from a user and a business perspective. Companies need to adapt quickly to keep up with accelerating changes in social networks and understand how they work to avoid being left behind. What counts now is the adoption of an agile and tailored approach that will allow companies to leverage social media networks and better anticipate future trends.

## The rise of TikTok

What draws my attention to TikTok is likely different from the average user; its lightning-fast growth and staggering popularity make it interesting from an entrepreneurial perspective. ByteDance’s app went from 11 Million active users in 2018 to 700 Million in 2020 globally. In the US alone,TikTok’s monthly active users have grown by [nearly 800%](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/productsup_ecommmerce-news-q2-2020-activity-6684372318166233088-j7nv) since January 2020. There are more than 100 Million American monthly users, and 50 million users daily. 
<br>
Each month more professional producers join the ranks of TikTok’s viral dances, challenges and lip synching, posting the same humor-filled videos like the rest of them. Celebrities are now focusing their attention there and you’ll even find older generations, such as [Dieter Bohlen](https://www.tiktok.com/@dieterbohlen?lang=en) ー a 66-year old veteran celeb known from the German-equivalent of America’s Got Talent ー fill his feed with comical videos. TikTok is slowly becoming the go-to for business promotion and PR, and is now attracting generations older than the original Gen Z audience.
<br>
Gen Z were the early adopters of TikTok and continue to be its main audience, but older generations like Millenials and Generation Y are taking notice.

![TikTok users chart by age](//images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/7eb1ZcefcRWcEJVo9ZO2Wa/19b3b19ce05b6f015999d0b4e7b569b9/Facebook_dynamic_ad_example.png)

<small><center> Gen Z were the early adopters of TikTok and continue to be its main audience, but older generations like Millenials and Generation Y are taking notice. Source: [Statistica](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1095186/tiktok-us-users-age/)</center></small>

Anyone who’s been on TikTok knows how addicting it is. It’s the crack of today’s social media that provides you with thousands of mesmerizing, binge-worthy video clips. Your feed is perfectly catered to you, thanks to ByteDance’s use of AI and its powerful algorithm (or “secret sauce” as it’s often called in the media). TikTok figured out the right approach to feed our need for instant gratification and addiction to social media. 
<br>
Its rise in its popularity hasn’t gone completely unchallenged. The business saga of TikTok’s state of affairs in the US has been in the limelight these past weeks, and it changes nearly every day. The company is looking to sell its US-based operations or face a possible ban in the country. While negotiations of the sale are hyped in the news, there’s no doubt that TikTok will continue to be an important player in ecommerce.

## Which stance should companies take?

TikTok also embodies the challenge that companies are now facing. With new networks popping up every quarter, they need to be quicker on their feet. With the likes of Instagram, TikTok, Likee, SnapChat, and more to come, Marketing teams have the task of juggling channels and keeping up with new trends. Ignoring them could place companies in real existential danger. Larger organizations need to wrap their heads around the accelerating trends of new networks to be two steps ahead, rather than behind.

## How to stay ahead of the TikTok game
Making the most of social networks like TikTok is achieved by using an agile distribution platform that permits a much more manageable overview of new opportunities and changes in channels. [Productsup](https://www.productsup.com/) in particular offers a [platform](https://www.productsup.com/platform/modules/) that combines feed management, product content syndication and marketplace integration. Businesses can syndicate content to digital marketing and business channels, including Facebook and Instagram.
<br>
Another critical point is understanding the specific voice that should be used for each of your audiences. One-size-fits-all content for all channels is no way near as effective than the micro-brand approach. If you’ve spent any time on Instagram, you’ll notice that your Feed or Stories are filled with ads from smaller companies. These brands have managed to leverage social networks and by doing so, have become competitors to bigger, more established companies. They’ve understood how to tailor their communication and content style, which is proven better for converting social media users into clients.

## Social commerce predictions for better business planning

### Influencer marketing will continue to grow

Now would also be a good time to start recruiting popular or up-and-coming influencers on TikTok. The principle works the same as on Instagram; they produce credible content and promote products that fit their own personal brand. They drive sales by giving out promo codes to their followers to get discounts on the featured product. The difference is that the pace is so much faster than on Instagram or YouTube. Influencers will have to find clever ways to show the product in a much shorter time frame. 
<br>
Some ideas to get around this would be to use trends that already work on TikTok, such as challenges. For example, the influencer could create a branded challenge and use a dedicated hashtag.The goal would be get the hashtag trending on the Discovery page. 

### Social network market checkouts a sure bet

Short-sided views will only get you so far. It’s also important to consider what events will unfold in the future and make educated guesses about what will come next. On the short-term, it’s safe to presume that all of these emerging social network apps will offer native checkout capabilities. Facebook has already incorporated this within the Instagram app, and it’s likely to happen for SnapChat, Likee, and TikTok. Usually, once one of the players has shown that an idea works, the rest launch their own version. 
<br>
In turn, companies will need to accommodate these changes - the complexity of integrating with each of these platforms and properly managing them are hurdles that companies will have to perfectly overcome. 
A new ad platform for TikTok
<br>
Currently TikTok doesn’t have an ad platform that companies can integrate with, but if we’ve learned anything from the success of Facebook Dynamic Ads or SnapChat Ads, it’s highly probable that this feature will come sooner or later. Companies need to get ready prior to when that moment comes and work on building up their following, and understanding exactly how they can best engage with their audiences.

### Likee continues to gain traction

While TikTok’s American ban or sale is still on the table, there’s a new rising star in the social media galaxy. Likee is a Singapore-based short video creation and sharing platform, similar to TikTok, that’s achieved staggering recent growth; as of June 2020 it clocked [150 million monthly active users](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-bytedance-tiktok-exclusive/exclusive-china-would-rather-see-tiktok-u-s-close-than-a-forced-sale-idUSKBN2622L6). 
<br>
Likee offers some additional features that TikTok does not. It allows influencers to make money from virtual gifts they receive from fans. This could open up new sponsoring opportunities for producers. For example, you could give virtual Nike sneakers to an influencer that you like, who can show it off on their digital shelf -  simple tactics like this could give companies additional exposure.

### Instagram’s Reels will run in parallel to TikTok

Instagram recently launched Reels, a feature that heavily imitates TikTok’s user-made videos. Many were dubious about the introduction of Reels and whether it would draw users away from TikTok. I believe that Reels does have a chance, but only for Instagram audiences specifically. It won’t entice content creators away from TikTok in any significant way. Instagram users will enjoy the functionality of Reels, which will work towards increasing Instagram’s retention and making people spend more hours in the app. It will further fuel the rise in popularity of Instagram Stories, which now sees more than [500 million daily users](https://www.statista.com/statistics/730315/instagram-stories-dau/).
Social commerce mistakes to avoid
<br>
Catering to audiences on social media is usually a topic of interest for Marketing teams, but they need to re-evaluate how they are creating content specifically for each of them, as mentioned above. 
<br>
Secondly, companies need to do more in the way of community management. The one-way-street approach of sending out ads without thinking about the response and sentiments can be very damaging to a brand. There are plenty of examples in the news of companies who committed a faux-pas that had negative effects. An example that comes to mind is the [Kendel Jenner Pepsi commercial](https://www.statista.com/statistics/730315/instagram-stories-dau/). Engaging proactively in the different types of conversations happening in online communities provides many learning opportunities - decisive business conclusions can be drawn just like in any type of feedback loop.

### Social commerce isn’t just for lifestyle and fashion retailers

TikTok, Likee, and other popular social media networks are not just for fashion, lifestyle and sport-type brands, everyone needs to get on board. Garnering a social presence is a way to make any brand more approachable. Whether you’re a hardware store, plumber or IT company, social media should be prioritized. By adding personality to your brand, you increase trust, which is a proven factor that drives customers to commit to a purchase. For example, the hardware store can publish DIY videos, a generally very engaging type of content, like in the case of the German company, [Hornbach](https://www.statista.com/statistics/730315/instagram-stories-dau/).
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Another question that I often get asked is whether social media is also for B2B. Today’s consumers are spoiled by the user experiences they get from the likes of Facebook and Google, and the buying experience from Amazon and Zalando. Any type of buyer will expect the same user journey. B2B companies should also invest in creating a positive social experience that ties into their commercial setup. 

## Taking social commerce by the horns

With the continued growth of TikTok and Likee, and the emergence of new networks every three months, social commerce will stay on course in an upward trajectory. It’s driven by new features like in-app marketplaces, the predicted TikTok ads, and easily digestible and addictive video content. Companies need to tune into these channels to gain important insights and adapt to a faster pace that I can only see quickening.

<span class="hs-cta-wrapper" id="hs-cta-wrapper-075f6195-f8db-42f4-85f9-dd52b61d51f8"><span class="hs-cta-node hs-cta-075f6195-f8db-42f4-85f9-dd52b61d51f8" id="hs-cta-075f6195-f8db-42f4-85f9-dd52b61d51f8"><a href="https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/3976985/075f6195-f8db-42f4-85f9-dd52b61d51f8"  target="_blank" ><img class="hs-cta-img" id="hs-cta-img-075f6195-f8db-42f4-85f9-dd52b61d51f8" style="border-width:0px;" height="445" width="1024" src="https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/3976985/075f6195-f8db-42f4-85f9-dd52b61d51f8.png"  alt="Facebook Dynamic Ads Campaign Creation Free Guide"/></a></span><script charset="utf-8" src="https://js.hscta.net/cta/current.js"></script><script type="text/javascript"> hbspt.cta.load(3976985, '075f6195-f8db-42f4-85f9-dd52b61d51f8', {}); </script></span>

Words from Productsup CMO: How social media apps like TikTok are shaping ecommerce

In the beginning there was no content. Ecommerce emerged as a viable strategy at the end of the last century, and in those early days most ecommerce sites struggled to present relevant product content that went much beyond a title. Brands and manufacturers didn’t see “content” as their responsibility, and so it was left to the ecommerce sites to create that content. An industry immediately emerged that offered ecommerce sites syndicated product content for sale and, as the ecommerce industry matured, responsibility for content creation continued to evolve.
<br>
First, the brands stepped forward and realized that it might be to their advantage to take control of their own message. Brands and manufacturers began to develop and syndicate content for their products. This initially satisfied most ecommerce sites, but the most sophisticated sites recognized that one-size-fits-all content offered no organic search benefit. By customizing their site content, they determined that they could attract more buyers and drive higher sales.
<br>
__There are two primary ways to look at marketplace content strategies:__
- Ecommerce sites: ecommerce sites want original content optimized for their customers, their site search algorithm and that is competitive with other ecommerce sites with similar products. At the same time by matching the  content strategy to the customers’ online buying journey improves acquisition, engagement and ultimately conversions.
- Brands & manufacturers: Most companies today realize the need to provide marketing assets like product descriptions and photos, they have stopped short of investing in customized content for their channel partners.
<br>
__This article looks at how brands and manufacturers can invest in customizing content to their ecommerce partners__. While the approach most certainly adds new costs to supporting this channel, the incremental revenue that can be generated by orchestrating mass customization, should far outstrip any content investment.
<br>
Customized content offers a few important benefits:

- Raises brand visibility on each site
- Improves ranking in search
- Creates “search expansion” opportunities for the Brand
- Ensures that ecommerce sites won’t customize content themselves, thus removing a level of control

### What does “Custom Content” look like in the wild?

Do a quick search on Amazon and look at the top organic results and then compare that to the top Walmart product for the exact same search. You can learn a lot by comparing what wins for different sites. This should prove the need for content customization. For example, while Walmart’s product titles are short and tightly tailored, Amazon’s title is so long that I’m not sure you could read it out loud with a single breath. We know that most site search systems place more weight on titles, and optimizing specific to the site is going to make a difference in how well a product ranks for any given site search.
<br>
Every site has its own guidelines, and maximizing data to fit these guidelines to your advantage should result in higher ranking, visibility, and sales. The question is: how should content be customized in order to drive more sales?

## Leverage performance data

While ecommerce sites aren’t always great about sharing their web analytics, there is data that every ecommerce will share with anyone who will pay attention. We may not have access to every piece of data we desire, but they all provide some important clues.
<br>
__Search Volume__: Getting accurate keyword search volumes across every ecommerce site is impossible, but there is one hack you can try. By typing into the search box on major ecommerce sites, you will find a number of suggested texts. These “anticipation” algorithms are driven by past search volume. Thus, we can use this information as a tool that doesn’t tell us the exact search volume but helps us determine which searches are more and less popular and this is specific to the site, its products, and its customers. Focusing your content by using the most popular search phrases should make the product relevant to a broader range of searches.
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__Search Rank__: While type-ahead gives an indication of search volumes, the results of any searches gives a strong indication of a product’s ability to convert and generate revenue. All ecommerce sites will rank order the results for a given search based on relevancy as well as based on revenue-per-click (sales/clicks). Ecommerce sites are in the business of selling products, so they recommend the products they think will sell. Click through the top results, study the presentation, and build a competitive content plan.
<br>

## Understand competitive content strategies
Competitive Content is the art of creating content designed to attract, engage and convert at a higher rate than other options available on the site.
<br>
 __Content Requirements__. Most of the larger ecommerce sites publish information about how the site reads content and how to customize the content to the site. If, for example, a site offers 200 characters in the title, then it’s probably a good idea to write a headline that’s as close to 200 characters as possible in order to maximize the product’s potential.
<br>
__Competitive Content__. Look at competitive product presentations by dissecting the presentation into their component parts: Evaluate the title, the price, the photography, the reviews and the features and descriptions. Identify the content strengths and build a strategy to best these elements.
<br>

## Expand Search Relevance

If content customization is left to the ecommerce site, they will focus on trying to capture as much market share as possible. This typically ends up looking like the site is trying to leverage the power of the brand name--your brand name.
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If brands and manufacturers were to develop the content instead, they don’t care as much about which site wins order, but instead they have a motivation to optimize their content for non-branded searches as well. 
<br>
For example, a search for Snickers is always going to find some site selling the Mars brand chocolate bar. But Mars wants to grow its sales and wants its products to be relevant for a broad range of non-branded searches. Mars wants to rank for searches like “ice cream topping ideas” or “afternoon treat” or even just “chocolate bar.” Content customization can be used to expand a brand’s organic footprint to non-branded terms by leveraging the strength of its ecommerce channel partners.
<br>
__There are a number of important market expansion techniques__:
- Primary Keywords. The primary keyword should include brand and product identifiers. This is not the place to expand your search relevance.
- Tertiary Keywords. Depending on the situation, there may only be enough space to include one or two tertiary keywords in the product copy. By rotating through a library of non-branded search terms, there is an opportunity to both customize and expand the strength of the brand by building a network of non-branded relevance across all its partners.
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By leveraging the strength of its ecommerce partners, brands and manufacturers help teach Google and other search engines that there is a correlation between your product and these market expansion terms. There is a cumulative benefit that should drive more purchase considerations.

## Summary

Content needs to be customized to the site to maximize sales of the product. The question is who will pay for this customized content? While both the brands and resellers win by investing in custom content, there is likely a bigger potential benefit for the brands and likely more to lose if they relinquish control to their partners.
<br>
<br>

*About the Author*
Greg Harris is the Vice President of Strategic Services for [eZdia](https://www.ezdia.com/) which builds eContent strategies exclusively for ecommerce sites. Greg has over 30 years of ecommerce experience having led multiple ecommerce marketing teams and consulted with dozens more. Greg is the author of [SEO for ecommerce](https://www.ezdia.com/seo-for-ecommerce-book/) and has offered all ProductsUp clients a free [Marketplace Competitive Analysis](http://ezdia.com/productsup) which is designed to help brand managers understand their ecommerce success relative to its competitors. 

Content strategies for brands & manufacturers: abandoning one-size-fits-all content

When brands and retailers first began adapting to the pandemic, there was a lot of guesswork. However, what started as a knee-jerk response has led businesses into the “new norm” of commerce, where they are discovering what works, what doesn’t, and how to behave in the coming years.
<br>
We recently sat down with Google’s Ingrid Isaak to get her insights on the topic. As one of Google's marketing experts, and specifically responsible for the Local Inventory Ads Program in Central Europe, she knows a lot about how businesses are behaving right now and what are the best steps to take to drive sales and stay relevant.
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Here are five ways [Google LIAs](https://www.productsup.com/blog/google-local-inventory-ads/) can help European businesses drive sales again.

## 1. Make it easy for shoppers to support local businesses
Shoppers know that they are making a huge percentage of their purchases online right now. This fact is causing them to actively change their in-store habits. In fact, a study in May found that 68% of consumers in Germany said they will shop closer to home and support local businesses. Whether it’s because they have more time to find local places or they specifically care about offsetting the negative effects of the pandemic on SMBs, shoppers are actually very willing to go to brick-and-mortar stores, and businesses should be aware of this newfound interest in going local.
<br>
Google LIAs help businesses reach both new and existing customers and remind them of the great offers that might be just around the corner.
<br>
<span class="hs-cta-wrapper" id="hs-cta-wrapper-295930fd-5db9-4b31-ab12-a2185b220ac2"><span class="hs-cta-node hs-cta-295930fd-5db9-4b31-ab12-a2185b220ac2" id="hs-cta-295930fd-5db9-4b31-ab12-a2185b220ac2"><a href="https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/3976985/295930fd-5db9-4b31-ab12-a2185b220ac2"  target="_blank" ><img class="hs-cta-img" id="hs-cta-img-295930fd-5db9-4b31-ab12-a2185b220ac2" style="border-width:0px;" src="https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/3976985/295930fd-5db9-4b31-ab12-a2185b220ac2.png"  alt="Learn how to master Google LIAs with our complete guide! "/></a></span><script charset="utf-8" src="https://js.hscta.net/cta/current.js"></script><script type="text/javascript"> hbspt.cta.load(3976985, '295930fd-5db9-4b31-ab12-a2185b220ac2', {}); </script></span>

## 2. Click-and-collect (has truly lived up to the hype!)
For a while, marketers have been saying that the click-and-collect model had huge, untapped potential - but that potential wasn’t always easy to show. Enterprise retailers in the US like Walmart and Home Depot have been putting the tactic to use for a couple of years and seen great results, but smaller businesses have been a bit slower on the uptake. However, with 30+% of Germans making use of click-and-collect options right now, it looks like it’s time for this tactic to go mainstream.
<br>
Google LIAs make click-and-collect extraordinarily easy, and they are highly effective in showing off different ways and places for a given user to complete a purchase. This is particularly helpful for businesses who are purely brick-and-mortar but looking to stay relevant as buyer habits change.

## 3. Supercharge advertising for brick-and-mortar retailment
Shopping today is a little different. Because shoppers have not been out and about as much as usual, they are looking for experiences and branding they can really get behind. Of course, there is a deluge of options available, and the brands and retailers who make themselves memorable and relevant are the ones most likely to win a place in shopper’s hearts (and wallets). The pop-up store is one great example. Businesses who don’t have a physical location or who want to do something special and campaign-specific can create a unique and exciting little pop-up to grab user’s otherwise distracted attention.
<br>
LIAs help these businesses who may not normally worry about advertising for brick-and-mortar quickly make that switch and drive traffic to their locations - wherever or whatever they may be.

## 4. Connect shoppers with system relevant stores
Whether it’s a popular grocer or an important hardware store, a bike shop or a chemist, there are some stores that will want to invest in driving traffic right now. Shoppers are being more cautious and discerning with where they physically shop, and LIAs make it easier for them to understand their options. Plus, because such ads are usually highly relevant due to physical proximity, they may be even more effective now than before. In fact, LIAs have seen a significant increase in clicks for the businesses who are open right now. 
<br>
With LIAs, businesses can ensure that shoppers are reminded of their offering and presence. With shoppers buying more online and being more picky with their in-store visits, this could be much more meaningful.

## 5. Makes multi-channel easier
Shopping campaigns and LIA campaigns are not so separate - at least they shouldn’t be. Overarching Google Shopping campaigns will acquire so much data, and they’re also where businesses will generally allocate most of their budget. However, just by enabling multi-channel ads, these businesses can start diverting ad budget from Shopping campaigns to LIAs (or vice versa!).
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This is particularly helpful as many local, traditionally brick-and-mortar, shops are moving into ecommerce in order to stay relevant. At the same time businesses who normally don’t focus on brick and mortar may need to start driving foot traffic. In the end, LIAs and multi-channel ads will be a powerful tool as we transition further into the "new norm" in commerce.
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If you want to learn more about Google LIAs, our <span style="font-weight: 400;">[Complete guide to Google local inventory ads](https://www.productsup.com/white-paper/complete-guide-to-google-local-inventory-ads/)</span> reveals the required data feeds and formats, plus how to maximize your campaigns or watch the recording of our webinar, [The state of Google local inventory ads: a fireside chat with Google's own Shopping Ads expert](https://www.productsup.com/webinar/the-state-of-google-local-inventory-ads/).

<span class="hs-cta-wrapper" id="hs-cta-wrapper-da6f2e8c-77cf-4f74-839a-7cd04aa9fcbb"><span class="hs-cta-node hs-cta-da6f2e8c-77cf-4f74-839a-7cd04aa9fcbb" id="hs-cta-da6f2e8c-77cf-4f74-839a-7cd04aa9fcbb"><a href="https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/3976985/da6f2e8c-77cf-4f74-839a-7cd04aa9fcbb"  target="_blank" ><img class="hs-cta-img" id="hs-cta-img-da6f2e8c-77cf-4f74-839a-7cd04aa9fcbb" style="border-width:0px;" height="600" width="1200" src="https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/3976985/da6f2e8c-77cf-4f74-839a-7cd04aa9fcbb.png"  alt="How Google LIA can help businesses get back to normal during &amp; after Covid-19."/></a></span><script charset="utf-8" src="https://js.hscta.net/cta/current.js"></script><script type="text/javascript"> hbspt.cta.load(3976985, 'da6f2e8c-77cf-4f74-839a-7cd04aa9fcbb', {}); </script></span>

5 ways Google LIAs help EU businesses adapt to "new norms" in commerce

“Things will never be the same” is what many business owners have said this year. And they were right.
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After all of the ups and downs of 2020, brands and retailers are beginning to finally settle into the “new normal.” A lot of the customer behavior and processes that were built up in the past years need to be reevaluated and adapted to fit the present. Luckily, for businesses open to making changes, this “new norm” could be a great opportunity. Shoppers are looking for new products, building new habits, and they are forging new relationships with businesses.
<br>
Here are a few ways to get inspired (and ready) for the shoppers’ new tastes and expectations.

![Curbside pickup 2020 stats](//images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/78wnDJZF2XQPrgeqMa0qKU/08357f9abf32ab10bd52015983374f4b/Facebook_dynamic_ad_example_1_.png)
<center><small>Source: [DigitalCommere360](https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2020/08/25/ecommerce-during-coronavirus-pandemic-in-charts/) </small></center>

## Creative, consistent multichannel wins sales
The new norm of commerce is very complex. You couldn’t possibly sum it up in one sentence, yet one word stands out: BOPIS. Buy online, pick-up in store has exploded in recent months. In fact both BOPIS and “click-and-collect" are expected to grow by more than 60% this year. Marketers have talked a lot about multichannel in the past years, but the current situation has changed multichannel from a “cool marketing tactic” to a consumer necessity.
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Shoppers are in the middle of some trying - and complicated - times. They need businesses to be accommodating in ways most have never really considered. Many shoppers don’t want to spend too much time in stores, but they also can’t always wait days or weeks for delivery. They need options. They need online and offline to be completely connected. That includes ads and listings tailored to their specific situation.
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Multichannel advertising and selling is completely within brands’ and retailers’ grasp. This is all about product data control and agility. Once a business is able to quickly manage that data, they can tailor and send it to different channels as needed. We’ve got tips on how to adapt your Google LIAs for today and also outline the difference between Facebook and Google options here. Google, in fact, offers multichannel ads that will serve different ads depending on how close a shopper is to your locations.

<br>

<span class="hs-cta-wrapper" id="hs-cta-wrapper-2c0c30da-0cb1-4b71-a20b-98008df933ce"><span class="hs-cta-node hs-cta-2c0c30da-0cb1-4b71-a20b-98008df933ce" id="hs-cta-2c0c30da-0cb1-4b71-a20b-98008df933ce"><a href="https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/3976985/2c0c30da-0cb1-4b71-a20b-98008df933ce"  target="_blank" ><img class="hs-cta-img" id="hs-cta-img-2c0c30da-0cb1-4b71-a20b-98008df933ce" style="border-width:0px;" src="https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/3976985/2c0c30da-0cb1-4b71-a20b-98008df933ce.png"  alt="How have shoppers changed in 2020? Our quickstart guide will help you ask the  right questions and understand what shoppers want now."/></a></span><script charset="utf-8" src="https://js.hscta.net/cta/current.js"></script><script type="text/javascript"> hbspt.cta.load(3976985, '2c0c30da-0cb1-4b71-a20b-98008df933ce', {}); </script></span>

![pinterest inspiration screenshot](//images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/6A4rh2NlOhKOkwfSZxMESV/7a9bd9be0cca1969b5b79afc77a1c679/Hangouts_screensaver.png)

## Shopping channels (especially marketplaces) are for more than just buying
Shopping isn’t always about the necessities. That’s why platforms like Pinterest are hugely popular. They help shoppers find products and ideas they didn’t even know they wanted. On top of this, retail therapy is so much more than just a good meme topic. Pinterest is already known specifically for providing users with inspiration. And now, 23% of online shoppers will go to Amazon for inspiration when they don’t have a specific product in mind.
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In many ways, marketplaces are the future. On top of everything else that makes marketplaces unique, they are now an increasingly important place for inspiration. One reason for this is that marketplaces know a lot about its users. Amazon can easily recommend dozens of products across numerous verticals. They know when shoppers last purchased a certain snack or if they just bought a new game console. Plus, when the browser lands on a product page, a smart seller will have added dozens of tips and inspiration images to make the product more appealing.
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It’s important for brands and retailers to understand that marketplaces are increasingly important as well as diverse. That’s why businesses need to not just be on marketplaces but be ready to help shoppers find products easily. Backend keywords are a good example. You can use these to relate important search terms to a product without having to make those terms visible to the user. 

![Covid shoppers stats](//images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/4BMIC57V7OBeEwqfzN0fPn/6cab01e1a663021b123068948490cbdd/Facebook_dynamic_ad_example.png)
<small><center>Sources: [ChainStorage](https://chainstoreage.com/survey-holiday-shoppers-look-normalcy-new-normal), [Ecommerce Times](https://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/86738.html), [Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/callyrussell/2020/03/26/will-the-coronavirus-be-the-real-retail-apocolypse/#24e44e618be0) </center></small>

## Economic uncertainty calls for tighter marketing and optimization
Competition has always been fierce for online sellers, but now many shoppers are on a tighter budget. While online shopping is growing, sales are not necessarily exploding for everyone. Predictions for this year’s holiday turnout, in particular, are full of questions. Will shoppers turn out as usual? Will they only focus on price point or perhaps buy less altogether? With a number of long-standing brands and retailers going bankrupt - not to mention the rapidly increasing power of D2C - competition could not be more fierce.
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The pandemic has accelerated ecommerce growth by four to six years. This means higher online sales but also an accelerated need to keep up digitally. As brands and retailers move into 2021, they’ll find that the multichannel environment is evolving fast, and it’s more important than ever to be able to adapt. As shoppers find new channels and take up new browsing and buying behaviors, businesses need to be ready to pivot quickly. The key will be agility.
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This is the perfect call to get your product feeds together and turn product ads and listings into a scalable, agile tool.
<br>
__To get the complete list of upcoming changes, incredible stats, and three rules to follow for success in 2021, get our complete guide below.__
<span class="hs-cta-wrapper" id="hs-cta-wrapper-0fbae4a9-4926-4b50-b3a5-8ccbfd056143"><span class="hs-cta-node hs-cta-0fbae4a9-4926-4b50-b3a5-8ccbfd056143" id="hs-cta-0fbae4a9-4926-4b50-b3a5-8ccbfd056143"><a href="https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/3976985/0fbae4a9-4926-4b50-b3a5-8ccbfd056143"  target="_blank" ><img class="hs-cta-img" id="hs-cta-img-0fbae4a9-4926-4b50-b3a5-8ccbfd056143" style="border-width:0px;" height="600" width="1200" src="https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/3976985/0fbae4a9-4926-4b50-b3a5-8ccbfd056143.png"  alt="2021 will be different. Here&#39;s how (and why) to get your feeds together for success."/></a></span><script charset="utf-8" src="https://js.hscta.net/cta/current.js"></script><script type="text/javascript"> hbspt.cta.load(3976985, '0fbae4a9-4926-4b50-b3a5-8ccbfd056143', {}); </script></span>

Ecommerce in 2021 will be different: It’s time to get your feeds together

When was the last time you had a potential job candidate walk through your front doors and hand in a resume? It’s probably been a long time. It’s 2020, and most people are relying on job marketplaces to find (and apply for) the right job.
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Then again, that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Because it <i>is</i> 2020, user expectations are sky-high. Data is big and overwhelming, and being a successful job marketplace means a lot more than just having great listings: it means managing a lot of data. You’re not just a “recruiting” company - you’re a tech company. And Joblift is no exception.
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<a href="https://joblift.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Joblift</a> is a popular job marketplace in Europe, the UK, and the US, and in 2018 they made the decision to upgrade the way they manage job data. <strong>The goal wasn’t just to make internal processes easier. They wanted to make their marketplace more helpful for users.</strong> They wanted to be able to get the newest jobs up fast, and let their business development team work their magic to create better experiences on the platform.
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Here’s what happened.
<h2>The scene: slow technology, busy IT teams</h2>
Job listing marketplaces have millions (maybe billions) of job listings coming and going all the time. It’s this large number of listings from a large number of employers that makes a platform diverse and useful. Of course, every listing and employer also represents another data asset to manage.
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Here’s how the data management process usually looks: the job provider sends over a “feed” of job listings. These feeds aren’t exactly readable for most people and are meant to be interpreted by technical professionals. Joblift would send all of this data to the IT team, who would then prepare the feeds so that they would fit into Joblift’s own system. Thus IT was involved almost every step of the way. They were always expertly transforming confusing data into something that could appear on the Joblift platform and help job seekers.
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<strong>This was manageable, but Joblift wanted to do more.</strong> This sort of feed management meant that every single edit needed to go through IT. If a team member just wanted to fix a typo, make a title more interesting, or add more information, they had to go through a whole process.
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In 2018, Joblift decided to make a change.
<h2>How one dedicated solution helped Joblift employees take control of their product data</h2>
The first step Joblift took was integrating the Productsup platform into their stack. This is a dedicated platform for mastering product feeds. In other words, anyone (with the access rights) could jump in and start optimizing data on their own. There was no need to write IT or get someone else to help. Business users now had access to clear, human-friendly overviews of the data feeds, and they could even drag-and-drop changes as necessary.
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<strong>Simply put: anyone on the Joblift team now had the capacity to work with data.</strong>
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With this blocker out of the way, the business development team was able to take their feed management to a new level. They were able to stop worrying about the backlog and start taking care of the optimization process. In fact, <strong>Joblift was able to onboard 3 clients within just <i>thirty minutes.</i></strong>
<br>
With that kind of speed and control, the team could also start focusing on the optimization process, keeping clients happy and ensuring that users always got the best experience.
<blockquote>“Productsup allows us to easily and seamlessly manage and integrate feeds in our day-to-day business – it’s a massive help in growing our business!” Benjamin Schoelzel, Head of Operations</blockquote>
<h3>What’s next for Joblift? Now they’re busy growing their job boards so users can have the most comprehensive and informative job boards possible.</h3>
<span id="hs-cta-wrapper-75a9a704-5984-482c-b3a1-29bf3da14f1c" class="hs-cta-wrapper"><span id="hs-cta-75a9a704-5984-482c-b3a1-29bf3da14f1c" class="hs-cta-node hs-cta-75a9a704-5984-482c-b3a1-29bf3da14f1c"><a href="https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/3976985/75a9a704-5984-482c-b3a1-29bf3da14f1c" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img id="hs-cta-img-75a9a704-5984-482c-b3a1-29bf3da14f1c" class="hs-cta-img" style="border-width: 0px;" src="https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/3976985/75a9a704-5984-482c-b3a1-29bf3da14f1c.png" alt="Joblift_success_story" width="1200" height="520" /></a></span><script charset="utf-8" src="https://js.hscta.net/cta/current.js"></script><script type="text/javascript"> hbspt.cta.load(3976985, '75a9a704-5984-482c-b3a1-29bf3da14f1c', {}); </script></span>

Find out what job listing marketplace, Joblift, did to maximize efficiency and performance on its platform and in its teams.

This job listing platform put the power of feed management in the hands of its business teams

For years, it seemed that the DIY audience was going to give way to the “do it for me” audience. Home improvement retail has been trying to adapt to the way millennials shop and care for their households, and that has included increasingly digital tactics. Apps in particular have made a lot of headlines. However 2020 is accelerating this shift even more. Now that these audiences are rapidly shifting to DIY and looking into their home improvement options, retailers need to be more creative and digital than ever before.

## What makes home improvement retail different after 2020
Major home improvement retailers have been working to upgrade their digital offerings for several years. From Lowe’s revamping its website to the One Home Depot program, multichannel has been steadily growing in importance. Home Depot’s well-known success early this year - [whereby they grew their digital business by 80%](https://www.modernretail.co/retailers/despite-profit-hit-home-depot-proves-out-its-digital-bets/) - is a direct result. __Not to mention, order volumes for home and garden brands are reported to have [increased](https://www.yieldify.com/blog/home-and-garden-ecommerce-trends/) by 55% year-over-year__. 
<br>
In other words the pandemic has taken what was already a growing shift and expedited it several times over. Shoppers are now looking to be deeply educated about their options and also to order products online. BOPIS (buy online pickup in-store) in particular is picking up, with [Home Depot](https://www.gomarketthrive.com/marketthriveblog/2019/12/16/what-is-bopis-and-how-is-it-an-ecommerce-pillar-in-home-improvement), [Menear](https://risnews.com/store-upgrades-bopis-bring-home-depot-record-2019) and [Lowe’s](https://risnews.com/10-retailers-riding-bopis-wave) having reported that online shoppers choose to pick up orders in stores over 50% of the time.
<br>
With these new habits, there are also new waves for home improvement retailers to stay competitive and get in front of audiences.

![home improvemet and diy inspiration](//images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/PVN4lq5nufftJhLGMTYVy/05e73ca53a24d8a9cb2327cb2d1d2a60/Facebook_dynamic_ad_example.png)
<center><small>Source: [Venveo](https://www.venveo.com/diy-consumer-marketing-trends-report)</small></center>

## New buyers turn to social and instructional content
New DIYers are emerging this year as a result of restrictions and lockdowns, and they’re turning to digital for help getting started with their projects. While sites like Pinterest have always been a great place for these audiences to get started, it’s become clear that there are many more options available to them. In fact, 90% of DIYers [watch](https://www.venveo.com/diy-consumer-marketing-trends-report) online how-to videos to help with their DIY Projects. 
<br>
YouTube and TikTok in particular have become powerhouses for learning how to get things done around the home and garden. Lowe’s alone has acquired 900k+ subscribers, making it clear that digital is an opportunity for brands to better connect with shoppers, if they are able to leverage both SEO and brand building. To furher push their digital presence, home improvement businesses can also serve ads dynamically to these curious shoppers, particularly on [YouTube](https://www.productsup.com/blog/the-youtube-ads-formats-with-awesome-roi-for-retailers/) and [Pinterest](https://www.productsup.com/webinar/drive-more-sales-with-shopping-on-pinterest/).
<br/>
<center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Btz5AythXzw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>

## Different channels and new ad types
There are a lot of channels out there for performance marketers to spread their message, and it will take time for any existing business to adapt and start leveraging those channels. Luckily most brands retailers are likely already some social and retargeting platforms. These are great places to get started and revamp current advertising to better support multichannel.
<br>
However it’s important for these messages to focus not just on general branding or sales. They will be most relevant (and successful) if they highlight specific, targeted products.
<br>
Most of today’s biggest platforms offer dynamic ads, and with the right tools, these ads are quite easy to use. Dynamic ads dynamically pair the user (and their data) with the most relevant products from a business’s catalog.
<br>
Here are some options you might not yet know about:
- [Pinterest Shoppings Ads](https://www.productsup.com/blog/pinterest-shopping-ads-brands-retailers/)
- [Facebook Dynamic ads](https://www.productsup.com/white-paper/your-complete-feed-guide-to-facebook-dynamic-ads/)
- [Instagram Shoppable posts](https://www.productsup.com/blog/instagram-shoppable-posts/)
- [Snapchat Dynamic Ads](https://www.productsup.com/blog/brands-and-retailers-love-snapchat-ads/)
- [Google Shopping ads](https://www.productsup.com/white-paper/best-practice-guide-google-shopping-feed/)
- [YouTube TrueView for Shopping
](https://www.productsup.com/blog/the-youtube-ads-formats-with-awesome-roi-for-retailers/)- And keep an eye out for TikTok, which will likely be joining the bandwagon soon
<br>
Another important topic for home improvement (and DIY in particular) is the ad creative. On top of the traditional single-image product ad, there are also many options to do more such as Facebook Collection ads and Slideshow ads. (Learn more about other popular Facebook ad formats over [here](https://www.productsup.com/blog/facebook-ad-formats/).)

## Digitally native brands and retailers show the way
When it comes to furniture, there are a number of websites that millennials in particular will turn to - and many of them are digitally native brands, retailers, and marketplaces. These businesses can offer a unique, wide array of products. But they also offer something special: a flawless digital experience, especially on their own site.
<br>
One thing that many successful digitally native businesses understand is on-site search. It should be easy for shoppers to find products that match their criteria, narrowed down by popularity and quality. Plus, these sites are often built around brilliant cross-selling and upselling recommendations. As a result, this data-first approach makes it easy to create consistent cross-channel product experiences. It won't be the same for established businesses who have a lot of data and a lot of stakeholders. However, what these businesses can do is begin to make their data more agile. By focusing on digital transformation from the top down, it is much easier to get on new channels and create intuitive experiences.

## Culture is key for top content

> "Culture is organizational 'dark matter' - you can't see it, but its effects are obvious… The challenge is that many organizations have developed a culture of hierarchy and clear boundaries between areas of responsibilities. Digital innovation requires the opposite – collaborative cross-functional and self-directed teams that are not afraid of uncertain outcomes."
<br>
> [Marcus Blosch, research vice-president at Gartner ](https://hirmagazine.com/articles/six-barriers.php)

Oftentimes the blocker for innovation is the talent. It’s not easy to get the right people for new, digitally-centered tasks if that hasn't been the focus in the past. However it can also be the existing mindset within teams, and product content will often suffer when businesses have an out-dated approach. Product content has long been a highly technical task. Marketing and sales teams could use it, but it required certain skills as well as effort. As a result, many home improvement businesses still function as though their content is a complicated, technical asset that only the highly-qualified can understand. This is one area that digital transformation should occur, at least mentally.
<br>
Once businesses start to see that this product content can be agile - and easily manageable - that mindset can begin to change. Using a solution like the Productsup platform allows for business user teams to start taking more control of the data and opportunities. They can push the existing culture in a direction of more active product data usage.

## What’s next?
It’s important to audit how well your team can manage product data. Can it be easily used to create dynamic ads, and can it be quickly funneled to new channels (which are popping up every few months!)? Can it be used to optimize on-site search as well as product appearances on marketplaces or your own site? Rather than looking into the past and how data has been used historically, ensure that it can be used for all the initiatives you hope to launch in the future. There are countless possibilities, so start with initiatives that make sense to your team.

<span class="hs-cta-wrapper" id="hs-cta-wrapper-d328ab00-419d-42f8-aaa2-296798460b53"><span class="hs-cta-node hs-cta-d328ab00-419d-42f8-aaa2-296798460b53" id="hs-cta-d328ab00-419d-42f8-aaa2-296798460b53"><a href="https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/3976985/d328ab00-419d-42f8-aaa2-296798460b53"  target="_blank" ><img class="hs-cta-img" id="hs-cta-img-d328ab00-419d-42f8-aaa2-296798460b53" style="border-width:0px;" height="520" width="1200" src="https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/3976985/d328ab00-419d-42f8-aaa2-296798460b53.png"  alt="New call-to-action"/></a></span><script charset="utf-8" src="https://js.hscta.net/cta/current.js"></script><script type="text/javascript"> hbspt.cta.load(3976985, 'd328ab00-419d-42f8-aaa2-296798460b53', {}); </script></span>

From One Home Depot to revamped ecommerce sites, home improvements brands and retailers are making huge efforts to go digital. This foundational information can help.

Home improvement retail grows online, growing emphasis on product data agility

Home improvement retail grows online, increasing emphasis on product data agility

For most brands and retailers, this past quarter has been all about adapting and being flexible. There have been lots of efforts to help local businesses and brick-and-mortar in general. And at least one of our stories starts with a buzzword, so let’s kick off our review of Q2 2020 ecommerce news with a beloved retail buzzword: Froogle...

<center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GomLXoSr3_k" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>

![Google logo](//images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/6LCN6FtuHIi5v2h4cPTs7u/31ee95cd533da765b76b737de04a8fb2/google.png)
<br>
An initiative that is basically __Froogle is back in the US__. In order to compete with Amazon, Google needs to deliver an absolutely amazing experience to shoppers, right? Well that comes with having all the right products. This is probably why Google has decided that its Shopping tab will now consist primarily of free listings. This will, in the end, give the shopper the opportunity to find the products they really want and not just what a big advertiser wants them to see.
[Read more here](https://productsup.io/blog/free-google-shopping-listings/). 
<br>
Google is also trying to answer some pretty big commerce questions, like which products are trending right now, and where? __The new Google “Rising Retail Categories” tool__ highlights the fastest-growing product searches in a format very reminiscent of Google Trends. Data is currently available for the US, UK, and Australia and is being updated daily. 
[Read more here](https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/feature/category-trends/us/month).
<br>
__Google launched this year’s Shopping feed specification updates__. The biggest news being two new optional attributes: product highlight and product detail.
[Read more here](https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/9729512).
<br>
__Google introduces a “confirm with voice match” feature into Google Assistant__. Android Police confirmed this is a pilot/test phase with the goal of making purchases more secure. Search Engine Land suggested that Google’s vagueness indicates this is part of a larger, future-facing v-commerce initiative.
[Read more here](https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/05/25/google-assistant-gets-new-confirm-with-voice-match-setting-for-payments/#1).
<br>
__Google provides $340 million in Google Ads advertising credits__ for some small and medium-sized businesses. SMBs who have spent with a Google Ads account in ten out of twelve months in 2019, as well as in early 2020 are eligible.
[Read more here](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9803410?hl=en).
<br>
__Google has launched Keen__, an apparent competitor to Pinterest. Each “keen” will include three sections: “gems,” “explore” and “searches.” While very new and with a very unclear future, this could be a solid placement for ads in the future.
[Read more here](https://www.blog.google/technology/area-120/keen/).
<br>
__YouTube has added products to TrueView for Action ads__. TrueView for Action video ads are a direct response video ad format and they increased massively in popularity in 2019. Now shoppers will have the option to click on the expansion button and view a selection of products below the video.
[Read more here](https://www.blog.google/products/ads/new-ways-to-drive-action/). 
<br>
![Shopify logo - news](//images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/78zNyQDRGWTp8z31iST2AP/5d5859cb8360fe12c7217e2bef2423ac/Copy_of_Copy_of_Untitled.png)
__Shopify has launched a new mobile app simply called Shop__--which is really an update of their existing app Arrive. As consumers are turning to native mobile apps, this app will give Shopify merchants another chance to get in front of shoppers. Interestingly, the app also includes a feature to search local merchants.
[Read more here](https://news.shopify.com/shopify-unveils-its-consumer-app-shop#). 
<br>
__Shopify merchants in the US and Canada can now quickly turn their catalogs into shoppable Pins on Pinterest__. They have created a simple connection between the two platforms so merchants no longer have to deal with code.
[Read more here](https://newsroom.pinterest.com/en/post/pinterest-launches-shopify-app-for-easy-merchant-access-to-catalogs).
<br>
__Walmart will be partnering with Shopify__ in order to expand its online marketplace, opening Walmart’s Marketplace to Shopify sellers and they expect to bring 1,200 Shopify sellers to the Walmart marketplace this year.
[Read more here](https://business.financialpost.com/news/retail-marketing/walmart-partners-with-shopify).
<br>
![Snapchat logo - news](//images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/5y7OgqOSRL5HaAWpYn05V7/d030cef029d09c319c8f7b7562caea93/snapchat_logo_2.png)
__Snapchat Dynamic ads__ have been in open beta in the US since last year. Now, they’re __officially being rolled out around the world__ to new countries including France, Germany, the UAE, and a lot more. There are five ad templates already available, and Snap is giving advertisers a big tip: to drive clicks, make sure your ads fit in with the native videos on the platform.

[Read more here](https://businesshelp.snapchat.com/en-US/a/dynamic-ads).
<br>
![retail connector logo](//images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/4UtdtPaCM1uxOQLN5XpyvP/53a147450de14f2ea1384fa6da435c75/retail_connector_logo.png)
__Productsup__ has released a free tool for small and medium businesses to start selling and advertising on Facebook fast. The aptly named __Retail Connector simplifies the process of connecting a POS to Facebook__, so businesses who normally wouldn’t have the capacity to advertise on Facebook - who are likely the same ones particularly hurt by the current economic situation - can get their products in front of local audiences. This is particularly relevant for those looking to use Facebook Shops.
[Read more here](https://retail-connector.productsup.com/).
<br>
![microsoft_advertising_logo](//images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/2pLTRZn6DCV4EFFd17ID5H/d4f3c33066e22f86face8ebeb0ad6862/Screenshot-2019-09-17-at-14.28.01.png)
<br>
__Microsoft Advertising adds new reporting options, included in “Conversions” and view-through conversion.__ The former allows advertisers to select the conversion coals to be included in their conversion metrics. The latter helps highlight touchpoint, noting ad impressions related to users that convert at a later date.
[Read more here](https://about.ads.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/post/april-2020/track-your-impact-better-with-new-conversion-goal-options).
<br>
__Microsoft Advertising adds support for multi-account Google imports__. This will make it easier for advertisers to get their Google campaigns to Microsoft. It now also offers __new cookie-based experiment features__, allowing advertising to send ads to a user based on existing cookies—meaning the ads they’ve been shown before—rather than just their search query.
[Read more about multi-account imports](https://about.ads.microsoft.com/en-gb/blog/post/april-2020/introducing-multi-account-google-imports).

[Read more cookie-based experimenting.](https://about.ads.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/post/april-2020/make-your-campaign-experiments-even-more-powerful).
<br>
![facebook logo](//images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/8c8hAogln4q4GiQPjUVm5/b06a9562adf9ef8581d1fe92637c8440/facebook.png)
__Facebook offers an easy way for businesses to show temporary changes to services,__ for example online services, delivery, or pickup service changes.
[Read more here](https://www.facebook.com/business/news/making-it-easier-to-display-temporary-service-changes-on-facebook-pages).
<br>
__Facebook Shops__ have been launched to help SMBs and local businesses get online fast. The Shops act as digital storefronts where businesses can list products for free while still highlighting the images and accents that represent their brand.
[Read more here](https://www.productsup.com/blog/what-are-facebook-shops/).

![pinterest logo](//images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/2WsZXbM5kCCHXzmP9TFVJ8/fc988de7df1327af3caa0779222e8c17/pinterest-logo-1-300x169.jpg)
<br>
__Pinterest Shoppable Pins now appear in its visual search results__. Users have long been able to conduct visual searches using Pinterest Lens, but now those results will include Shoppable items as well.
[Read more here](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/pinterest-shows-shoppable-pins-in-visual-search-results/371629/).

<span class="hs-cta-wrapper" id="hs-cta-wrapper-d328ab00-419d-42f8-aaa2-296798460b53"><span class="hs-cta-node hs-cta-d328ab00-419d-42f8-aaa2-296798460b53" id="hs-cta-d328ab00-419d-42f8-aaa2-296798460b53"><a href="https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/3976985/d328ab00-419d-42f8-aaa2-296798460b53"  target="_blank" ><img class="hs-cta-img" id="hs-cta-img-d328ab00-419d-42f8-aaa2-296798460b53" style="border-width:0px;" height="520" width="1200" src="https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/3976985/d328ab00-419d-42f8-aaa2-296798460b53.png"  alt="New call-to-action"/></a></span><script charset="utf-8" src="https://js.hscta.net/cta/current.js"></script><script type="text/javascript"> hbspt.cta.load(3976985, 'd328ab00-419d-42f8-aaa2-296798460b53', {}); </script></span>

Your Q2 2020 ecommerce news roundup: Is "Froogle" back? Snapchat Dynamic ads roll out around the globe. Walmart partners with Shopify. And a lot more...

Ecommerce news Q2 2020: Froogle | Walmart + Shopify | Snapchat Dynamic ads | more

Consumer electronics in ecommerce is absolutely booming. But that doesn’t mean every brand or manufacturer in the sector has it easy. Some [40% of the revenue](https://www.statista.com/outlook/251/100/consumer-electronics/worldwide) is generated by Chinese companies alone, and giants like Amazon are always at the forefront of consumer’s minds when it comes to making a purchase. However, multichannel advertising and new, easy-to-use technology are changing this up. They’re opening new pathways for businesses in ecommerce who are willing to look.
<br>
While traditional marketing and partnerships still play an important role for electronics, brands can now achieve so much more than ever before. They are able to go directly to consumers - including brands that haven’t traditionally considered themselves D2C.
<br>
And equally important, businesses can take control without putting any pressure on their existing partnerships.
<br>
__Here are three of the absolutely key ways that consumer electronics businesses can sell more just by leveraging their product catalogs and channel strategy.__

## You don’t have to compete with Amazon - instead, be visible everywhere you can

Sales channels today are incredibly high-tech. They’re practically made for large scale automation, if you have the right tools. This is partially because shoppers hang out on so many channels, ranging everywhere from marketplaces and comparison sites to brand sites and social platforms. That’s why it’s important to list your products everywhere that might be relevant. In many cases, this means list your products just about everywhere.
<br>
When strategizing, the key will be a focus on visibility. Cover your bases and reach all the channels that are relevant - not just the obvious ones. By doing so, both consumer electronics brands and retailers alike will be more than able to reach new audiences and sell more. __Plus, in many ways, this task is simply one more product feed.__ 
<br>
And once the data preparation and syndication step is mastered, there’s nothing stopping you from scaling… and scaling and scaling. (More on feed management later!)

<table border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td colspan="2"><strong>Sales channels that aren’t Amazon</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>hhgregg</td>
<td>idealo</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>eBay</td>
<td>Kelkoo</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>JD.com</td>
<td>Google</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Allegro</td>
<td>Bing</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">Notice that this list could go on indefinitely. There are hundreds of channels out there - from general to specialized, local to global.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

However there’s also one key type of channel missing here…

## Consumer electronics meets recommerce

Used products have always had an audience. Their lower price tag makes them instantly more buyable for some consumers. Plus, consumer sentiment about recommere is changing today. Consumers no longer buy used products just because they’re affordable. They love used products because they're environmentally friendly. [The increasingly large Gen Y and Z audiences are exactly the folks who are happy to buy used.](https://productsup.com/blog/gen-z-ecommerce-marketing/)
<br>
Whether it’s old products you want to get rid of or opened, returned, and seasonal products, there are plenty of sites out there that cater to the specific use case. Reaching these channels will require the same skills as the option above. That means, if you’re able to start the digital transformation process and take control of your feeds, all of these new channels are easily available to you.

<table border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td colspan="3">Popular recommerce channels for electronics</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>reBuy</td>
<td>Newegg</td>
<td>eBay</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>BestBuy</td>
<td>Gazelle</td>
<td>Gone</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

Now let’s jump over to the marketing and awareness side. There’s something about social you should know.

## Share the workload and costs with collaborative advertising

It’s not exactly a secret that the consumer electronics ecommerce landscape is making the relationship between brands and retailers a little complicated. Manufacturers want to get in the marketing game and boost revenue, and retailers need to maintain control of the selling sphere. In many ways, this is a new age in marketing, and sites like Facebook and Google are getting on board.
<br>
[Collaborative ads](https://productsup.com/blog/facebook-collaborative-ads/) are a Facebook ad type that allows brands and their retailers to share the weight - and also the success - of ad campaigns. (Keep an eye out for this ad type to pop up on other channels!). To use them, retailers organize their product catalogs for use by the relevant brand, and that brand can then easily serve and fund ads (even using the retailer’s data to make them better targeted). [For example, Samsung used Facebook Collaborative ads to drive shoppers to purchase Samsung products on eBay-owned site, GittiGidiyor](https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2019/02/20/exclusive-a-new-facebook-ad-format-will-give-brands-without-an-ecommerce-site-a-way-to-drive-sales-online/).
<br>
Similarly, [Google has Shopping campaigns with partners](https://www.google.com/intl/en_uk/retail/solutions/shopping-campaigns-with-partners/), which allows brands to support their partner’s marketing budgets and promote certain products even more.
<br>
For brands, this is a really simple solution that can take them from planning to live rather quickly. And for brands who aren’t content to sit on the sidelines, this is a great chance to simply do more for your products and be more proactive throughout the funnel.

## Last of all: Google Manufacturer Center - could you be doing more?

No one understands the benefits and specs of a product quite like its manufacturer. That’s why [Google Manufacturer Center](https://productsup.com/blog/google-manufacturer-center/) lets manufacturers add their product data, ensuring that their products always have key, relevant data, no matter who is advertising them.
<br>
Bosch Power Tools is a great example. By adding their own product data, advertisers and retailers immediately had access to better, more targeted information. Bosch products could surface more accurately and often. Consumers had more accurate information. And, of course, [they boosted conversion by 4%](https://www.google.com/retail/success-stories/bosch.html).
<br>
The question is: how much attention are you giving Google Manufacturer Center?
<br>
The manufacturer center is not like other touchpoints, and the fact that Google can be quite strict also makes it more difficult. However, adding data here can help relevant partners of all kinds sell more of your products. Be sure to follow these best practices:

<ul>
 	<li>Publish product feeds to Google Manufacturer Center often</li>
 	<li>Include all optional attributes
<ul>
 	<li>You can even include video links!</li>
</ul>
</li>
 	<li>Review performance at the GTIN level
<ul>
 	<li>Use this data to inform what you further optimize or push on other channels</li>
 	<li>Google also includes category benchmarks and pricing insights</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

## How consumer electronics in ecommerce can manage all those product feeds at scale

If you aren’t quite ready to go conquer all those new channels, it’s probably because it seems daunting. Getting on new channels, mastering collaborative advertising, and ensuring your data is always synchronized is only possible with strong product feed management processes in place. However, this doesn’t have to be hard. Productsup not only simplifies feed management but it also allows you to tackle new opportunities that would otherwise seem unthinkable.
<br>
For consumer electronics brands who want to take control of their presence online, Productsup can help.

<ul>
 	<li>Choose from 1500+ built-in channel templates or use a custom template to quickly tailor data to any channel’s requirements</li>
 	<li>Ensure feeds are always reliably prepared and distributed - everytime</li>
 	<li>Get products on new channels in hours, not days or weeks</li>
 	<li>Automate order synchronization and never worry about advertising out of stock products again</li>
</ul>

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Can consumer electronics manufacturers win more in ecommerce without upsetting partners? Thanks to recommerce and collaboraitve ads - yes!

3 ways consumer electronics brands & manufacturers can reach online shoppers now

It’s official – buying secondhand is cool (and has been for a while now). The trend, lead by Gen Z and millennial shoppers, has grown exponentially in popularity over the past few years. Young consumers care about sustainability. They want to be unique. And they often shop for the experience, rather than the product. For them, recommerce checks all the right boxes.
<br>
For businesses all over the world, the popularity of the resale market presents huge [opportunities](https://www.productsup.com/blog/d2c-b2b-brands-compete/). Not only can you start clearing out those returned products from your warehouse, but you can also capture an entirely new audience, boost revenue, and reduce waste. In fact, [72%](https://www.thredup.com/resale?tswc_redir=true) of resale shoppers have shifted their buying habits away from new and towards used items as of 2018. In order to reap these benefits, recommerce needs to be done right. 
<br>
In this article, we’ll provide you with four tips to help your business master the art of recommerce.

## Ensure crystal clear, complete, and honest product information
Imagine you’re shopping for a new TV. You’d probably want to know the brand, screen size, whether it’s HD or Ultra HD, how many HDMI ports it has, etc. Now let’s imagine you’re on the market for a refurbished TV. On top of the information mentioned above, you’d also want to what condition it’s in, what (if any) repairs have been done, if any parts are missing, etc. If the condition wasn’t specified or if it turned out to be incorrect, you’d be pretty upset, right?
<br>
We all know that online shoppers are information hungry, but recommerce shoppers are even hungrier. To make an educated buying decision, they need to know the original product specs, the current state of the product, and why it’s on the resale market, and even the retail price. In fact, [40%](https://www.thredup.com/resale?tswc_redir=true) of consumers now consider the resale value of an item before buying it. Is it just leftover stock? Was it returned? Is it faulty? Being open, honest, and complete will limit returns and increase satisfaction and informed purchases.

## Know your audience and their expectations
This ties into the previous tip, but it’s well worth looking into with more depth. The best way to succeed in recommerce is to know exactly who you are selling to and what they want. Of course, your audience will vary by the channel as will their expectations. But it’s important to understand who, in general, recommerce shoppers are. Or rather, how ecommerce shoppers think when shopping resale.

  ### Gen Z and Millennials are driving the trend

The secondhand apparel market alone is expected to hit a value of [32 billion](https://www.statista.com/statistics/826162/apparel-resale-market-value-worldwide/) USD by the end of this year. And it’s Gen Z and Millenials driving the growth. According to a resale study, they’re adopting secondhand apparel 2.5x faster than other age groups – with Gen Z showing a 46% growth over the course of just two years. Keep these demographics in mind when defining your resale messaging strategy.

  ### They’re eco-minded

Today’s consumers are more aware than ever of their environmental impact. So much so that sustainability now plays a big role in their buying preferences and decisions. One study found that [72%](https://www.thredup.com/resale?tswc_redir=true) of shoppers said that they prefer to support environmentally friendly brands. Moreover, 59% of consumers full-on expect businesses to monitor their ethics and sustainability and 60% have said they’d be more loyal to a brand that offers recycling programs.

> “Shopping ethically has often been perceived as luxury, because of the price points… the good news is that we now live in the golden age of secondhand shopping.”
> - Elizabeth Segran, Fast Company

## Get the right products on the right channels
Not every channel will accept resale items and not every resale product will sell well online. This is why it’s important to get to know the available shopping and advertising channels as well as the current demands. Check out social media to keep yourself up-to-date on the latest trends and products.
<br>
Here are some examples of where you’ll find secondhand products listed.
<br>
![Resale_channel_logos](//images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/76CQBgiBUWjbyHec8r0kZA/b53156978e39c211aee83ce7cfa73b62/Screenshot_2020-06-04_at_15.19.07.png)
Keep in mind, these are only a few of the many, many channels available out there. So prepare to do some research to find out which ones are best suited for your products and business.

## Conclusion
At the end of the day, selling your overstock, returned, out-of-season, or used items online is a  win-win. If done strategically, recommerce sales can easily turn into a pretty stable additional revenue stream for your business. 
<br>
Want tips on how to prep the perfect product feed for a resale channel? We’d be happy to help!
<br>
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Recommerce presents lucrative opportunities for today's brands and online retailers. Here are some tips to think about before getting started.

How modern online businesses can succeed in recommerce

Mark Zuckerberg recently [announced](https://www.facebook.com/business/news/announcing-facebook-shops?content_id=SjVc8zTKykL5ZeF) the launch of Facebook Shops in a live stream address to marketers and businesses everywhere. As Zuckerberg himself said, many small businesses have been creative in their response to these difficult times - but for some this transition has simply been “impossible.”
 <br>
There are some business owners who do not have the technical skills or resources to get online and start selling. Businesses like these need more unique, SMB-friendly tools to get online. Facebook Shops are one simple, easy-to-manage (and easy-to-launch) digital store that gets businesses online fast.
  <br>
Here’s what businesses will want to know and how to get started (quickly and easily).

![Facebook Shops example](//images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/4bBy2pKtaQA7BIIW3Kk8wq/d5fff28d8f4d976447184f0b7afb2d69/facebook_shops.jpg)
<small><center>Source: [Facebook](https://about.fb.com/news/2020/05/introducing-facebook-shops/)</center></small>
 
## What are Facebook Shops?
Facebook Shops are digital storefronts where businesses can list products for free while still highlighting the images and accents that represent their brand. When users want to make a purchase, they can either be directed to the business’s website or they can make purchases natively within Facebook.
 <br> 
For now, shopping within Facebook is only available if the business has enabled [checkout](https://about.instagram.com/blog/announcements/introducing-instagram-checkout) and operates in the US. But stay tuned in case these options expand.
  <br>
 
__Facebook Shops highlights:__
- Highly visual, including full-screen photos
- Mobile-first*
- Free to use

<br>
*A huge percentage of online shoppers these days shop on mobile, especially for Facebook and Instagram. Being “mobile-first” means that these shops are designed to look and work great on mobile.

## How do you create a Facebook Shop?
To create a Facebook Shop, you’ll first need to connect your product data. You’ll also want to ensure you’re using the “Shop” template for your page. This can simply be found in the Templates and Tabs section on your page menu.
 <br>
This brings us to the big question: how do you get your products *to* Facebook? Interestingly, this will basically be the same process that larger businesses have been using to list products online for years. It’s all about the product catalog. However, there are also a couple of new (easier) options out there for small businesses.
 <br>

__Good options for getting your catalogs to Facebook include:__

- Add products manually within the Catalog Manager (recommended only for smaller catalogs).
- Connect using an ecommerce platform - like Shopify or BigCommerce - directly within Facebook Catalog Manager.
- Send your product catalog from its current location over to Facebook. There are lots of options here. But there's one new option you should know about: Retail Connector. The [Retail Connector allows businesses to connect their POS to Facebook](https://retail-connector.productsup.com) and automate that catalog creation process. 

<center><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dqMgzQrnus8" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></center>
 

## Connecting your POS to Facebook
The Productsup platform already helps 800+ brands and retailers around the globe manage product catalogs and data - and many of them use Facebook to advertise. However, when Facebook began launching initiatives to help small and local businesses digitize fast (and stay afloat during the Covid-19 pandemic), we wanted to do more.
 <br>
Retail Connector is a free tool for connecting your POS to Facebook, making it much easier to get started with Facebook Shops, as well as other Facebook offerings.
<br>
<span class="hs-cta-wrapper" id="hs-cta-wrapper-9761d60b-1a28-4a1b-9efc-11f44486bf3f"><span class="hs-cta-node hs-cta-9761d60b-1a28-4a1b-9efc-11f44486bf3f" id="hs-cta-9761d60b-1a28-4a1b-9efc-11f44486bf3f"><a href="https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/3976985/9761d60b-1a28-4a1b-9efc-11f44486bf3f"  target="_blank" ><img class="hs-cta-img" id="hs-cta-img-9761d60b-1a28-4a1b-9efc-11f44486bf3f" style="border-width:0px;" src="https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/3976985/9761d60b-1a28-4a1b-9efc-11f44486bf3f.png"  alt="Learn more about how to connect your POS to Facebook."/></a></span><script charset="utf-8" src="https://js.hscta.net/cta/current.js"></script><script type="text/javascript"> hbspt.cta.load(3976985, '9761d60b-1a28-4a1b-9efc-11f44486bf3f', {}); </script></span>

## What’s next for Facebook Shops? Live shopping and more
Facebook seems to realize its shops are a great opportunity, and it already has plans in place to do more. In the future we can look forward to Instagram Shop (which will kick off this summer in the US), live shopping, and digital loyalty programs.
 <br>
For small and local businesses who are looking for a new way to reach nearby shoppers right now, there aren’t really any drawbacks to selling with Facebook Shops. Users on Facebook and Instagram LOVE to shop, and they’re often already connected to the nearby shops they know and love. The problem of connecting products to your shops (or simply not being digitally savvy enough to understand the system) doesn’t really exist anymore. At the very least, businesses can create some awesome and on-brand storefronts.

<span class="hs-cta-wrapper" id="hs-cta-wrapper-ee1b83f8-4e5a-4d7a-a59f-e998e15128cd"><span class="hs-cta-node hs-cta-ee1b83f8-4e5a-4d7a-a59f-e998e15128cd" id="hs-cta-ee1b83f8-4e5a-4d7a-a59f-e998e15128cd"><a href="https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/3976985/ee1b83f8-4e5a-4d7a-a59f-e998e15128cd" ><img class="hs-cta-img" id="hs-cta-img-ee1b83f8-4e5a-4d7a-a59f-e998e15128cd" style="border-width:0px;" height="445" width="1024" src="https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/3976985/ee1b83f8-4e5a-4d7a-a59f-e998e15128cd.png"  alt="New call-to-action"/></a></span><script charset="utf-8" src="https://js.hscta.net/cta/current.js"></script><script type="text/javascript"> hbspt.cta.load(3976985, 'ee1b83f8-4e5a-4d7a-a59f-e998e15128cd', {}); </script></span>

Facebook Shops were launched in order to help businesses create a digital storefront with ease. Here's what makes them unique and how to get started.

Welcome to Facebook Shops (and how to get started)

Do you own a small to medium-sized local retail business? Has listing products online been on your to-do list for years? Maybe it’s been put off due to lack of time, technological resources, or maybe you just haven’t seen the need. Well, you’re not alone.
<br>
Local retailers across the globe have always been able to count on local shoppers. But over the last decade, ecommerce has transformed consumer behavior. Now, proximity matters less than convenience to shoppers. On top of that, recent events have shown just how <a href="https://productsup.com/blog/online-tips-in-store-foot-traffic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">flexible</a> retailers need to be in order to stay relevant in the market.
<br>
So if a lack of resources or time is the reason retailers are putting off digitalization, then how are they expected to do it now? Especially when all resources are needed to just simply stay afloat? That’s where POS system integration comes in.
<br>
In this article, we’ll go over what POS system integration is and 5 reasons why you should consider making the move.
<h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">How POS system integration works</span></h2>
In your retail shop, your POS system is your holy grail of product and customer information. It’s great at collecting sales data, managing your in-store inventory, and can even be upgraded to handle CRM and warehousing operations. Maybe you’ve spent a lot of time setting up the perfect POS system in your shop and you’re not willing to spend the same amount of time to get online. Well, you don’t have to.
<br>
You can integrate your POS system with an ecommerce solution. Doing so will allow you to leverage all of the data in your POS system - “your gold” - to set up online product catalogs in a fraction of the time. All of this can be done with a simple connector that enables your POS system to communicate with your ecommerce system.
<br>
Here are the benefits of doing this.
<h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">What’s in it for you</span></h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ecommerce, in a nutshell, presents huge, lucrative opportunities for retailers of any size. For small to medium-sized businesses, in particular, it can be an especially prosperous endeavor. Integrating your shop’s POS system with an ecommerce platform is likely to make the transition smoother and easier and bring even more rewards.</span>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">1. List products online fast without wasting resources</span></h3>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">Most of today’s online shopping channels require an online product catalog in order to list products. This is essentially a complete list of all your available products and their attributes like color, brand, price, material, etc. For many online marketers, it can take a while to <a href="https://productsup.com/blog/complete-an-incomplete-product-catalog/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">gather all of this information</a> and merge it together. This isn’t the case for shop owners like yourself. All of the product information you need to craft an online product catalog is already readily available in your POS system–you just need to get it online. The bottom line is that listing products online doesn’t have to take time and resources away from your daily brick and mortar operations.  </span>
<h3>2. Convenient for your customers</h3>
Consumer behavior isn’t what it used to be. Shoppers are no longer limited to shops within driving distance. Now, they can buy from anywhere in the world with just a few clicks. What’s important to note here is that even your neighbors are online consumers. And proximity is no longer enough to guarantee loyalty.
<br>
Luckily, growing alongside the demand for convenience is the trend of supporting local businesses. Therefore, leveraging your POS system to get online is making it easier for your consumers to support your business. So why not help them help you?
<h3>3. Consistent product data across all touchpoints</h3>
The foundation of great product experiences for your customers is being able to access consistent product information across touchpoints. By using the data already stored in your POS  system to create your online product catalogs, you can ensure that all product data is the same across the board. This way, you can stay aligned and ensure a strong <a href="https://productsup.com/blog/omnichannel-commerce-requires-context/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">omnichannel</a> strategy from the get-go.
<br>
__Tip:__ Consistent data will be especially useful when running <a href="https://productsup.com/blog/google-local-inventory-ads-strategy-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">LIA campaigns</a> or offering buy online, pick up in-store (BOPUS) options.

<h3>4. Keep accurate stock counts</h3>
Some retailers might be hesitant to take their business online because they aren’t quite sure how to manage inventory levels in-store and across ecommerce channels. Which is understandable. Multichannel order management can be tricky. However, POS integration can make inventory and order management <i>so</i> much easier. By allowing a shop’s brick-and-mortar system to connect with its online system, automation can easily minimize the complexity and workload of managing orders and transactions. For example, when a sale is made online, your system could automatically communicate this back to your POS system –  ensuring both are aligned and up-to-date on all transactions. This way you always know the true stock count and can update accordingly across all channels

<h3>5. Expand and future-proof your business</h3>
Consumerism is changing and technology is its main driver. In order to fully future-proof your business and ensure it’s relevance for generations to come, you need to develop the ability to adapt accordingly. But using your POS system to initiate your online presence, you’re taking the first step necessary to increase the agility of your business. Your online product catalogs can then be adapted using a feed management solution to fit the requirements of new channels when and as they come. This gives you the chance to constantly bring in new revenue and meet your customers wherever they go.
<h2>The takeaway?</h2>
Taking your local brick and mortar shop online doesn’t have to take up more resources that your business can afford. In fact, it can be quite a fast, painless process. The trick is to leverage the technology your shop is already using.
<br>
Once your POS system is integrated with an ecommerce system and your product catalog is ready to go, the opportunities are endless.
<br>

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Are you a brick-and-mortar shop owner ready to start listing products online? Learn why your POS system is a great starting point.

5 reasons to leverage your retail business’s POS system in ecommerce

In 2010, online advertising was basically just Google. That was a pretty big shift for marketers and ecommerce CMOs, who had to go from traditional advertising and television to digital. It required a whole new skillset. A new way of writing, working with data, utilizing technology. Then there was retargeting - Facebook, Criteo, social media. Then outreach transformed with Linkedin, automation, and access to huge amounts of data. Marketing requires a huge number of *hugely* different skills.
<br>
For CMOs these changes can represent a pretty big hurdle. No one can keep on top of all these things (at least most of us can’t). However, the one thing that has kept me going, week after week, is learning from others. Sometimes it’s a networking group. Sometimes it’s a roundtable or simply a squad of execs and marketers who want to chat. There may be no way to skip the line or “hack” your way into becoming a better CMO, but these groups have helped me with just about everything else.
<br>
Given all of the changes and uncertainty happening right now, it seems to be a good time to sit down and share my own learnings and story here. So let’s cut to the chase and get into what I’ve found to be the biggest drivers of success for a CMO in ecommerce today.
<br>
Here’s what I’ve noticed and what I try to focus on myself.

## #1 Be tech-driven

It’s never just an extra gadget here or a bit of automation there. Successful teams build funnels from the ground up with technology in mind. It’s an entire system. Zalando did this perfectly, integrating tech teams right into the marketing department. They knew that algorithms and hard data were needed to drive success, and that’s exactly what happened.
<br>
I’m lucky to have done ad tech in the past, as it helps me understand the technical space much better. A CMO doesn’t need to be a tech expert, but you do have to put your marketing ego aside a little and see what technology and data can do for you.

## #2 Embrace being cross-departmental

Ten years ago, I never thought I would be the one to build up a BDR team from scratch, but now I’ve done it. And so are many others in my position. Especially in B2B, the funnel has become extremely long, and that means marketing needs to have a deep relationship with every other department.
<br>
Product roadmap, pricing, and other traditionally non-marketing topics are always on my radar. They are the CMO’s business and a CMO has a duty to take these topics on. You know the customer, and you see how they engage with your brand. That knowledge should be shared, even if it feels out of your comfort zone.

## #3 Speak IT

Coding is a language, just like everything else. We often think of ecommere as flashy ads and the occasional tech stack, but it’s really all built around code. I wouldn’t be able to understand a lot of the industry changes and opportunities that occur if I didn’t speak an amount of code.
<br>
At the end of the day, I need to know that I can use the software in front of me. If I need something done ASAP, I can use a bit of Python and make it happen. A little goes a long way here, and you can start to understand platforms and tools that before might have been too difficult.

## #4 Think long-term

I talk a lot about TikTok. Right now, our main audience is definitely not on TikTok. But our next generation of users might be. Technology is moving so quickly that the next generation, who will become part of your target audiences in the very near future, might be on completely, totally different channels than the ones you use now.
<br>
It’s not that you have to get on TikTok to stay relevant. But I try to always look at what’s next. How do big trends and buzzwords affect me, and is it maybe a little more important than I first thought?

## #5 Listen

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve learned the most by putting myself out there, finding and taking part in different types of groups. Whether you prefer traditional networking, educational roundtables, or more personal gatherings, you have to surround yourself with people who can surprise you.
<br>
In fact, I get some of my best insights by talking to competitors. It can be a lot of time investment, but I like to think it pays off.
<br>
__Want more? Download Raconteur's *Future of Retail* report from Raconteur for insights on ecommerce marketing, predictions for the next big trends, and tips for multichannel success.__
<br>
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Ecommerce marketing today requires a huge number of skills, and can be hard to manage. Here’s what I’ve noticed and what I focus on as a CMO.

Thoughts on being a successful ecommerce CMO today

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no it’s... Froogle?! Yep, just like that, Google has made it free to add products to the Shopping tab in Google search. Yes, free <a href="https://productsup.com/google-shopping-ads/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Google Shopping</a> listings! While this does bring back memories of the good old’ times when there was a simple and straightforward search bar and results, it also brings questions.
<br>
In this article, we’ll go over five things that every modern marketer needs to know about Google’s latest change, free Shopping listings.
<h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">What’s in it for Google?</span></h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">The ecommerce sphere is becoming increasingly competitive - even for huge players like Google. In the search engine behemoths latest bid to compete against marketplace giant, Amazon, it’s setting out to deliver a better product search experience. To do this, the company needed more merchants listing more products across its ecommerce platform. And what better way to attract marketers than to make advertising free of charge! Here’s the announcement from Google’s side. </span>
<blockquote><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Beginning next week, search results on the Google Shopping tab will consist primarily of free listings, helping merchants better connect with consumers, regardless of whether they advertise on Google. With hundreds of millions of shopping searches on Google each day, we know that many retailers have the items people need in stock and ready to ship but are less discoverable online."</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">Well, now it’s official! Google Merchant Center is allowing marketers of all kinds to showcase products on its platform completely free of charge. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Now that we’ve covered the background story, here are four things you need to know about free Google Shopping listings.</span>
<h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">Five things you need to know</span></h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">Shopping listings are free and you’re ready to get started. Here’s what you need to know.</span>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">#1 Keywords are <em>so</em> important</span></h3>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">With free ads comes more competition. This makes keywords and </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">how</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> they’re used more important than ever. Take the time to conduct reliable keyword research to ensure your organic listings are competitive and rank high enough among the SERP to be seen by your audience on Google. Include relevant terms in your product titles and descriptions. This can be done easily and in bulk with the help of a feed management system, like Productsup. Moreover, now’s the time to develop and strengthen your SEO strategy and organic results.
<br>
<strong>Pro tip: </strong><span style="font-weight: 400;"> If your product has both a high margin and high competition, it may still be to your benefit to optimizing your bidding strategy for higher placement.</span>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">#2 Ad placements aren’t changing, but competition is</span></h3>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">The format, placement, and general functionality of Google product listings stay the same.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Google Shopping listings will still be on top of the results and PLA carousel ads will not change. What is changing? The amount of competition there will be for those same placements. With limited entry barriers, marketers of all types are eligible to push their products onto Google. </span>
<br>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">Paid ads will appear at the top and bottom of the results just as they do on the main results tab.
<br>
<strong>Pro tip: </strong> <span style="font-weight: 400;">While competition does bring its challenges, it also brings more data which means more insights. This could be your chance to better understand your audience and individual product performance.</span>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">#3  Be prepared to act fast</span></h3>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">More merchant listing products means more buying options for the consumer (which is great for us as consumers!). This means merchants will need to have a closer eye on all their current listings as well as those of their competitors. Like on Amazon, prices can fluctuate throughout the day, so it’s hyper-critical for marketers to be able to adjust pricing fast.
<br>
<strong>Pro tip: </strong><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Make sure your tracking parameters are in place and everything can be </span><a href="https://productsup.com/platform/google-shopping/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;"> automatically served to Google</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and updated in a fraction of the time.</span>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">#4 Integration with PayPal is key</span></h3>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">If you haven't done this yet, now’s the time! Thanks to Google's integration with PayPal, merchants can verify their trustworthiness faster than ever before. The integration also allows Google to fetch seller details much more efficiently.</span>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">#5 Be prepared to still pay for premium listings</span></h3>
Google still wants to make money with PLAs.  This is why premium listings will still come at a cost for SEA Marketers. It's likely that Google will place these new non-paid listings in searches with low competition.  So look out for these opportunities.
<br>
__Pro tip:__ Keep tabs on your competition for certain product listings to determine the potential of your unpaid listings.
<h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">Already paying for Google shopping listings? You don’t have to do anything. Here’s what Google has to say here.</span>
<blockquote><span style="font-weight: 400;">”For advertisers, this means paid campaigns can now be augmented with free listings. If you’re an existing user of Merchant Center and Shopping ads, you don't have to do anything to take advantage of the free listings, and for new users of Merchant Center, we'll continue working to streamline the onboarding process over the coming weeks and months."</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">For those of you who aren’t already leveraging Google, here’s a  quick video walkthrough to get you started. </span>
<br>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/3976985/Product%20Videos/Setup%20GMFC.mp4" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<br>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">To get started, you’ll need to </span><a href="https://support.google.com/merchants/topic/7294166?hl=en&amp;ref_topic=7259125"><span style="font-weight: 400;">open a Google Merchant Center account</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and upload a product feed. Your feed should contain all the products you want to make discoverable with these free listings.</span>
<br>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">During the initial account setup phase, sellers must opt-in to “surfaces across Google” to be eligible for organic visibility, as noted in Google’s updated </span><a href="https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/9838672"><span style="font-weight: 400;">help center</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> article.
<br>
To opt-in, select “Growth” and then “Manage programs” in the left navigation menu and select the “surfaces across Google” program card.
<br>
<strong>Pro tip: </strong><span style="font-weight: 400;"> The easiest way to get started from scratch is by leveraging a feed management solution like Productsup. If you’re looking for tips, advice, or support in getting your free Google ads live, <a href="https://productsup.io/free-demo/">we can help with a free demo</a>.
<br>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">Not feeling up to human interaction but still want help creating a Shopping feed from the ground up?</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Check out our complete guide to setting up your Google Shopping feeds!</span>

<span id="hs-cta-wrapper-7911bc0e-5b2e-4994-847f-58ca87473448" class="hs-cta-wrapper"><span id="hs-cta-7911bc0e-5b2e-4994-847f-58ca87473448" class="hs-cta-node hs-cta-7911bc0e-5b2e-4994-847f-58ca87473448"><a href="https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/3976985/7911bc0e-5b2e-4994-847f-58ca87473448" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img id="hs-cta-img-7911bc0e-5b2e-4994-847f-58ca87473448" class="hs-cta-img" style="border-width: 0px;" src="https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/3976985/7911bc0e-5b2e-4994-847f-58ca87473448.png" alt="Guide to Google Shopping Feeds" width="1200" height="520" /></a></span><script charset="utf-8" src="https://js.hscta.net/cta/current.js"></script><script type="text/javascript"> hbspt.cta.load(3976985, '7911bc0e-5b2e-4994-847f-58ca87473448', {}); </script></span>

Free Google Shopping listings are finally here–a marketer's dream come true. Here's how to get started and four things to keep in mind along the way.

Is Froogle back? Five things you need to know about the revival of free Google Shopping listings

<span style="font-weight: 400;">What does a high-converting product ad look like? It depends on who you ask. Each and every audience, consumer, and demographic have unique preferences and differ in the way they respond to ads. And while there’s plenty of research out there telling us who likes what and how to attract certain audiences, there’s no better way of getting it right than by using the insights from our own ads. Marketers can’t read minds, but they can use historical ad insights to better understand which ads work and which don’t. That’s why many of today’s ecommerce channels offer analytical tools to help advertisers do exactly this. Among them, is the beloved Facebook Ad Insights.</span>
<br>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">In this article, we’ll look at why it makes sense for marketers to import </span><a href="https://productsup.com/facebook-dynamic-ads/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Facebook</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">  Insights into their feed management solution and we’ll walk you through how to do this on Productsup.</span>
<h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">What can we learn from ad performance</span></h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">With Facebook Insights, you can explore the key performance metrics of your ads, ad sets, and campaigns across Facebook and Instagram. This includes data like ad spend, reach, number of impressions, clicks, cost per action type, and more. With this information in hand, it becomes<strong> easier to identify how and where ads and campaigns can be optimized</strong>. For example, maybe you see that a certain campaign is taking up a large portion of your budget, but underperforming. You could use this information to make a <strong>better-informed decision</strong> on how to address the issue in terms of campaign and budget settings. Alternatively, if an ad has a high click-through rate but a low conversion rate, it may be time to review the ad copy to ensure it’s not misleading.</span>
<h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">Facebook Ad Insights and feed management</span></h2>
Performance analytics and feed management go hand in hand. Here's what integrating Facebook Insights into your product feed enables you to do.
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">Act faster on actionable insights</span></h3>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">Of course, adjusting campaign settings is simple to do from the comfort of Facebook Ads Manager, but what if you want to adjust the content in your ads based on these findings. And what if you want to do it in bulk? In cases like these, it makes more sense to have your performance metrics and feed management solution live side by side. Why? Because adjusting actual content within Facebook is highly manual and much more efficient when using automation. This way, you’re able to segment your product data, make bulk changes, and optimize copy more easily and in a fraction of the time.</span>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">Maximize optimization potential</span></h3>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">Analytics data is gold and should be used as much as possible to get as much value out of it as possible. Sure you can adjust your campaign settings in Ads Manager based on performance metrics, but why stop there? Incorporating these statistics into the feed management process helps you get even most out of them.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Here are some other optimization possibilities you might consider during the feed management process.</span>
<ul>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Use </span><a href="https://productsup.com/blog/5-custom-labels-strategies/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">custom labels </span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> to group products more effectively for better budget allocation and performance. For example, use insights to identify possible upselling or cross-selling opportunities. Then use a feed management tool like Productsup to automatically create and add custom labels to your feed. </span></li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Trigger Dynamic Ad Overlays using custom labels generated based on Insights. For example, maybe add “Free Shipping” to certain ads that appear to be underperforming. Or add promotions to certain products based on performance. </span></li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Exclude poor performing products from your product catalog to save money.</span></li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Adjust ad copy based on ad or ad set performance.</span></li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Identify elements and opportunities for better </span><a href="https://productsup.io/blog/ab-testing-product-data/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">A/B testing</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></li>
</ul>
<a href="https://productsup.com/blog/performance-analytics-product-sales/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Learn more about how to leverage performance analytics in feed-based marketing here.</span></a>
<h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">Import Ad Insights into Productsup in just 3 steps</span></h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">Facebook Ad Insights can be added to your product feed within Productsup in just minutes using the ready-built Facebook Marketing API. All you need to do is take the following three steps. </span>
<ol>
 	<li><span style="font-weight: 400;">Add an authentication. (</span><a href="https://platform.productsup.com/help/535" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Learn more.</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">)</span></li>
 	<li><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Add Facebook Ads Insights as a data source.</span></li>
</ol>
![add_FB_insights1.jpg](//images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/5QSmyaSa2Mr4797b5RRnbf/c1595e84fea51498dd3eaefe17dca8b8/Screenshot-2020-04-22-at-16.50.29.png)

 <span style="font-weight: 400;">3. Let us know your account and campaign ID, how far back you’d like us to go.</span>

![add_FB_insights2.jpg](//images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/7EBRZyJn1QAO11sUvY5QLf/36ebd626fc564e5ffa83ef66bbbc4902/Screenshot-2020-04-22-at-16.50.54.png)

<span style="font-weight: 400;">And just like that, you’re done! The API will fetch performance metrics and automatically merge them with your existing product catalog. </span>

--
<h4><strong>Interested in learning more about creating effective Facebook ad campaigns? Don’t forget to download our complete guide for all the tips and best practices you need to get started!</strong></h4>
<span class="hs-cta-wrapper" id="hs-cta-wrapper-075f6195-f8db-42f4-85f9-dd52b61d51f8"><span class="hs-cta-node hs-cta-075f6195-f8db-42f4-85f9-dd52b61d51f8" id="hs-cta-075f6195-f8db-42f4-85f9-dd52b61d51f8"><a href="https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/3976985/075f6195-f8db-42f4-85f9-dd52b61d51f8"  target="_blank" ><img class="hs-cta-img" id="hs-cta-img-075f6195-f8db-42f4-85f9-dd52b61d51f8" style="border-width:0px;" height="445" width="1024" src="https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/3976985/075f6195-f8db-42f4-85f9-dd52b61d51f8.png"  alt="Facebook Dynamic Ads Campaign Creation Free Guide"/></a></span><script charset="utf-8" src="https://js.hscta.net/cta/current.js"></script><script type="text/javascript"> hbspt.cta.load(3976985, '075f6195-f8db-42f4-85f9-dd52b61d51f8', {}); </script></span>

Facebook Ad Insights tells us exactly what is and isn't working in our ads. Learn how to use them in your feed for more effective campaigns.

The value of importing Facebook Ad Insights into your feed management solution

Feed management has become a crowded playing field, with new technology providers emerging regularly. But it’s important to remember that not all [feed management software](https://www.productsup.com/solutions/feed-management-and-data-feed-optimization/) is equal. 
<br>
To help you find the tool best suited to your business needs, we’ve listed 11 key considerations:

### 1. Speed

![speed feed management software](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/2XvJLTMKGHP6SKHY7xdLAB/9868c8c570b934ac273f61b23fd82d99/1-150px-1.png)
<ul>
 	<li>Will the software increase efficiency?</li>
 	<li>How quickly can you get your products to market?</li>
 	<li>Can you automate manual processes?</li>
</ul>
One of the main reasons for brands and retailers to start looking for a new way to manage their product data feeds is because their current solution simply takes too long. For some, it takes several weeks, or even months, to create or update a single feed. So, an important question you need to ask yourself is, will this software save me time? 
<br>
First things first: how advanced is the data processing? Find out __how long the software would take to process all your data__, particularly if you’re dealing with a volume of hundred thousands or millions. Is there a real-time preview of your data edits?
<br>
Does the software support __delta uploads__? Delta uploads mean that in the event of new or updated information, only these select products are imported or exported, instead of your entire feed each time. This too can save a ton of time.
<br>
Check to see if the software offers __any type of automation__. This is particularly useful for manual processes like data mapping, defining product categories, scheduling imports, or excluding unprofitable products from an export.
<br>
If the software enables you to be in the driver’s seat, you would no longer need to rely on IT for support. __Cutting out the middleman__ would significantly streamline your processes and save you a lot of time. &nbsp;

### 2. Usability

![usability feed management software](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/4wcf3Z86WdQgFd6di84hwI/15836ab24b761c774d909a4656672a5e/2-150px-1.png)
<ul>
 	<li>How easy is it to navigate the software?</li>
 	<li>Does it require coding knowledge?</li>
 	<li>How easy is it to validate your data?</li>
 	<li>How simple will knowledge transfer be to new team members?</li>
 	<li>Is the software modern and current?</li>
</ul>
Some software interfaces are built better than others. Therefore, you’ll absolutely want to __make sure your feed management tool is intuitive and user-friendly__. Even if your feed is complex, it should be easy to manage with the right software. Make sure to __request demos__ of several tools to get a feel for how easy they are to navigate.
<br>
Keep in mind that __feed management software should also simplify your work__. Look into how easy it will be to analyze your feed’s health or to assess how ready it is for each channel. Will you need to code in order to fix format errors or edit your data? Or do you simply need to select, drag, and drop the required rule boxes into your feed?
<br>
Lastly, find out much time and effort is required to train new team members on the software. Will knowledge still be available and easy to access once a team member leaves your company?

### 3. Scalability

![scalability feed management software](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/6CARu6C3jE1F1xXpzs3hzJ/7fc9c65091035f253156596f2c554280/3-150px.png)
<ul>
 	<li>Can the software handle the number of products in your inventory?</li>
 	<li>How many channels does it support?</li>
 	<li>Will it help drive continued growth?</li>
</ul>
__The last thing you would want is to go through the process of choosing feed management software, only to outgrow it a year later__. Imagine where your company will be in a few years. Will you have more products? Will you want to enter new markets, regions, or marketing channels? 
<br>
Some software only integrates with one or few channels, others have partnered with thousands. On top of that, some can’t handle any feed containing more than 1000 products. So if you’re serious about international expansion, growing your product inventory, and being ready for new advertising opportunities, make sure the software you choose can sustain and support this.

### 4. Import sources

![import sources feed management software](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/6dnaHfhl8IpmXorCjeEM8H/39b9301027192ea44a8058d1c3b7de04/4-150px.png)
<ul>
 	<li>Can the software integrate with all of your data sources?</li>
 	<li>Does it have a variety of API integrations already set in place?</li>
 	<li>Can it import from sources that other tools can’t?</li>
 	<li>Does the solution provide a robust crawler as a last resort?</li>
</ul>
If you have __multiple data sources__, it’s important to __find software capable of integrating with each individual source__. Even if your product data is scattered across several mediums, importing and merging it should be no problem with the right provider. 
<br>
Does the software have a __variety of API integrations__? These will help you easily and quickly import data from sources like Google Shopping, your shop system, PIM system etc.
<br>
Keep in mind that __import sources can also help you optimize further by adding additional product information to images or ads__. For example, some feed management tools can import __TripAdvisor ratings or real-time weather data__. Check to see if the software offers any unique sources that others may not. This additional information can be used to enrich dynamic travel ads for channels like Facebook and Instagram. 
<br>
In the case that you’re missing any critical product information after importing from all of your sources, see if the software offers a robust website crawler. This way, the provider can gather all information from your website directly. No matter where it is or how much of it there is, you’ll want feed management software that can retrieve any and all product information.

### 5. Export destinations

![export destinations feed management software](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/16j1uP7xTcjgc7ViAj9I51/00a5c7642bb1e9e73c80c412b05e5762/5-150px.png)
<ul>
 	<li>Which exports are available?</li>
 	<li>What type of channels are they? (e.g. shopping, marketing, affiliates, offline retail, etc.)</li>
 	<li>How international are the exports?</li>
 	<li>Will they allow you to expand in the future?</li>
 	<li>Can you export to B2B channels as well?</li>
</ul>
Many feed management tools are built only to serve single channels (i.e. Google Shopping or Amazon). To avoid choosing a software that doesn’t meet your export needs, you’ll want to carefully examine which exports it has available. 
<br>
In any case, in order to drive growth and allow for further digital reach, it's important to choose a software with __omnichannel potential__. Look for software that integrated tailored export templates for the most popular shopping and marketing channels. Some solution providers take it a step further and include the big name exports, as well as more unique channels and B2B channels. Others will even build a custom export just for you.
<br>
Some feed management tools are only capable of local or regional exports. This could put a cap on your overall revenue potential while pushing away the possibility of international expansion.

### 6. Data optimization potential

![data optimization potential](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/4r7IFFKssvh62I8Hzxf1vw/f8f5a3990df6e9b6170b094ffb0d51dc/6-150px.png)
<ul>
 	<li>What type of data manipulation is possible?</li>
 	<li>Does the software recommend best practices to increase individual channel performance?</li>
 	<li>Can you A/B test different feed variants to identify the best performer and to further optimize?</li>
 	<li>Can you optimize ad images using the software?</li>
</ul>
This is where feed management tools really start to differ. Some software offers the tools for very basic optimizations, which is okay if you are looking for just a few quick fixes. However, if you want to start maximizing your revenue potential and really standing out from the crowd, __you’ll want to look for a software that offers powerful data optimization tools__. Keep in mind that __the better your data, the better your performance__.
<br>
Can the software help you increase performance by offering channel-specific tips? This can be extremely useful for identifying any weak points in your feed and for furthering optimization. Also, check to see if the software allows you to A/B test different feed variants against one another. Doing so can help you easily identify the better performer and use the results to further optimize your feed. 
<br>
Does the software provide image optimization capabilities? __For image-heavy platforms like Facebook and Instagram, image optimization is key__. If you want to export to these channels, look for a software that offers dynamic image editing.

### 7. Data security

![data security feed management software](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/3IvXvd3LWDNp2YbBT5UFsC/8ff474e8c13711c72548af9128538569/7-150px.png)
<ul>
 	<li>Does it have systems in place to avoid the compromise of your data?</li>
 	<li>Can it segment feeds into different databases to avoid crossover?</li>
</ul>
Not all feed management software is capable of protecting the privacy of your product information. If this is important to your business, you’ll want to __ensure that a solution provider has systems set in place to avoid a compromise of data__. 
<br>
Depending on the size or regulations of your company, it may also be important that certain product information is only available to certain departments. In this case, you’d want to look for a software that offers an information segmentation function.

### 8. Innovation

![innovation feed management software](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/2xXiyArYhvRbB1crgJHksT/169724278d33192a14fe96a79966bdb6/8-150px.png)
<ul>
 	<li>Does the software export to channels that others aren’t?</li>
 	<li>Is the vendor constantly testing new features?</li>
 	<li>Does it apply real machine learning to everyday challenges like category mapping, image recognition, and field mapping?</li>
 	<li>Is the vendor working closely with partners like Google and Facebook and implementing tools that will help you to drive performance on those channels?</li>
 	<li>Do you trust the vendor will do everything to make sure you’ll be able to capture new opportunities as they come?</li>
</ul>
At the end of the day, your business growth can be stunted if your provider is not innovative or agile enough. Make sure you choose a software that is regularly testing new features and optimizing what it already has. Is it exporting to channels others aren’t? Above all, __you want a software that won’t get old__.
<br>
If the software is using __machine learning technology__, you could save time on everyday tasks like category mapping, image recognition, and field mapping. Moreover, the use of machine learning is still growing in the industry, so if a software is already using it, it’s a good sign of its overall agility. 
<br>
Is the vendor working with big industry names and building tools to help drive performance with them? __Check to see what kind of partnerships__ they have (i.e. Google or Facebook) - as these can be telltale signs of their level of innovation. Or better yet, find out what they are doing with these partnerships. Are they building new functionality (i.e. creative editing for image and video) to boost your performance on these channels?
<br>
__Do you trust that the vendor is agile enough to help you stay agile?__ With ecommerce constantly changing, it’s important to look for a tool that can help you capture new opportunities as soon as they’re available. This could be anything from virtual or augmented reality to even a smart fridge in the future.

### 9. Credibility &amp; expertise

![credibility feed management software](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/2mphaR8pUqUMKMMnDQWkHT/102529ed96883e6c3a0329b37f1e87c4/10-150px.png)
<ul>
 	<li>Have they received industry awards?</li>
 	<li>What are their certifications?</li>
 	<li>How long have they been around?</li>
 	<li>Who are their customers and what are they saying?</li>
 	<li>Is the vendor a reliable partner in the ecosystem?</li>
</ul>
__If a vendor looks too good to be true, start seeking external proof__. If you’re feeling convinced after examining their accreditation but still need a final push, take a __look at their current customers or any case studies__ they might have. More credible solution providers will have no problem clearly listing a few of their top customers, industry partners, and testimonials directly on their website. Video testimonials and external online reviews can also be extremely useful here.
<br>
Do they have any industry awards or certifications? How many? If they have awards listed on their website, look into which awards and from where. What do the awards mean? Why were they certified and for what? Here, it is also beneficial to look into how long the software has been around. A good software should regularly be receiving awards and new certifications. 
<br>
You’ll also want to take a step back to look at where the vendor fits into the entire industry ecosystem. Are they reliable in terms of the role they should play? What are their partners saying about them? The types of certifications and their partners should be able to give you a feeling for this.

### 10. Customer support

![customer support feed management software](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/1GG9IH3bVNRZUeUDc22UnJ/8b8a8b1fdd62903186e056ee59748718/11-150px.png)
<ul>
 	<li>To what extent does the vendor help you make the transition?</li>
 	<li>Do you get a dedicated account manager? </li>
 	<li>Is there supporting, up-to-date material? </li>
 	<li>Does the vendor provide round the clock customer support? </li>
 	<li>Is local support available if needed?</li>
</ul>
Some vendors provide you with a dedication integration manager to assist you during your onboarding of the software. Others may charge you for this support or not offer it at all, so find this out before committing to anything. 
<br>
After the initial setup, find out if you’ll be assigned an account manager and how much or if they charge at all for support. Also, ask yourself, __is there enough supporting material and content available to help me if human support isn’t available?__ Check to see if they have an up-to-date help center, guides, articles, or webinars that can provide you with additional support. 
<br>
When is support available? While some vendors limit their hours of availability, others offer 24/7 support. You may also want to look into whether or not they offer local support. Do they have offices in only __one country or across the map__? How will this impact the level of support you receive?
<br>
In any case, look for a vendor that offers a high-level of customer support, understands your needs, and is there when you need them.

### 11. Value for money

![value for money feed management software](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/7q27woPZTtpDeSA1iTfCct/e43fbe5cd7b92eb635326177e5e2478b/9-150px.png)
<ul>
 	<li>How much can you do with the software? How flexible and advanced is it?</li>
 	<li>What is the pricing structure? Are you paying for each export or per SKU?</li>
</ul>
All of the above points will influence the value you get for your money. Simply put, __you get what you pay for__. Have a basic feed and have basic needs? Opt for a basic, low-budget software. Have a highly complex feed with sophisticated needs and big growth plans? Opt for a premium software that allows you to save time, easily create next-level feeds, expand internationally, and be a leader in your field. 
<br>
It’s also important to look at the pricing structure. Will you be charged per click or per number of products managed on the software? The former implies no fixed cost- meaning you might end up with some nasty surprises. In other words, the better your campaigns run, the more you’ll have to pay. The latter is more predictable, as the number of products in your inventory is less likely to change. This pricing method also works with number ranges. &nbsp;&nbsp;
<br>
Lastly, some low budget providers will put a cap or charge you extra per added export channel. Be careful because this can limit your growth.

#### In closing

Remember that feed management software should help drive your business growth. If you take these 11 factors into consideration, no matter what you’re looking for, you’ll be well on your way to finding the best fitting feed management software for your business. 
<br>
Having won 8 industry awards for its state-of-the-art feed management technology, there is a reason Productsup has over 800 customers worldwide. As a best-in-class software, we hold strong <a href="https://productsup.com/partners/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">partnerships</a> with industry leaders like Google, Facebook, SAP Hybris, and IBM Websphere Commerce.
<br>
Interested in a no-strings-attached demo of the Productsup software? <a href="https://productsup.com/free-demo/" target="_blank">Click here</a>.
<br>
To help you during your evaluation of feed management tools, we've created a handy checklist of the key considerations discussed above.
<br><br>
<center><span id="hs-cta-wrapper-96501e3a-9972-4ff8-b456-55959ad1afc8" class="hs-cta-wrapper"><span id="hs-cta-96501e3a-9972-4ff8-b456-55959ad1afc8" class="hs-cta-node hs-cta-96501e3a-9972-4ff8-b456-55959ad1afc8"><a href="https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/3976985/96501e3a-9972-4ff8-b456-55959ad1afc8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img id="hs-cta-img-96501e3a-9972-4ff8-b456-55959ad1afc8" class="hs-cta-img aligncenter" src="https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/3976985/96501e3a-9972-4ff8-b456-55959ad1afc8.png" alt="Download checklist choosing feed management software" width="600" height="261"></a></span><script charset="utf-8" src="https://js.hscta.net/cta/current.js"></script><script type="text/javascript"> hbspt.cta.load(3976985, '96501e3a-9972-4ff8-b456-55959ad1afc8', {}); </script></span></center>

Looking for feed management software? Not all solutions will suit your business needs. Here's what you need to consider before making a switch.

11 factors to consider when choosing feed management software

*The quality of your product images can make the difference between a user browsing and buying. Here are 11 of our best tips to take your product images to the next level.*
<br>
How many times have you chosen not to buy a product online because of the image? Maybe you’ve decided against booking a certain hotel due to blurry or poorly lit property images? In both cases, you’ve likely been victim to low-quality ecommerce images.
<br>
Most online marketers already understand the power of imagery in ecommerce. But even those with great product imagery can still optimize even further.
<br>
__So why are high quality, compelling product images so important?__
<br>
It’s simple. Since __ecommerce removes the ability to touch and examine a product, the image becomes the most influential reference point for an online shopper____.__ For travelers, imagery has always been the only way to show what they're buying.

<blockquote><span style="color: #4cabd3;">Whether you’re listing shoes or apartments, your customers will have similarly high expectations. There will be some minor differences, so be sure to always keep in mind your target audience and their needs.</span></blockquote>

The benefits of high-quality product images are bountiful, powerful and sequential: 
<ul>
 	<li>Capable of grabbing the shopper’s attention</li>
 	<li>Dramatically increase your click-through-rate </li>
 	<li>Drive sales while reducing cart abandonment</li>
 	<li>Lower the chance of and thus number of returns or exchanges</li>
 	<li>Enhance the overall customer journey and shopping experience</li>
 	<li>Boost customer trust and retention </li>
</ul>
So why not do everything in your power to ensure your product images are at their best?
<br>
To help you take your images from mediocre to magnificent, we’ve listed 11 optimizations. The principles apply across industries, so whether you’re selling physical products or providing services, there is something to learn for everyone.
<br>
Before we begin, the most important thing to remember is: __every channel has different image specs and requirements__. Make sure you know when it’s okay to get creative and when you need to stay clean and simple. Generally speaking, product images on shopping channels (like Google Shopping, Google Hotel Ads, price comparison sites/ meta-search engines and marketplaces or OTAs) should focus more on the product itself. Product images used for advertising on marketing channels or with marketing partners, on the other hand, need to first capture the attention of the shopper who is not actively shopping at that point in time.
<br>
We’ve divided the different image optimization tips accordingly:

### Optimization tips for product images on shopping channels, incl. online search engines

#### 1. High-resolution is a must

Even if everything else about your picture is perfect, if the image appears blurry or pixelated, your hard work will have gone to complete waste. Low-resolution images are a huge no-go in the world of ecommerce, as it essentially eliminates the possibility of a consumer being able to properly examine the offer. It also makes your company seem less professional and trustworthy. Note that each channel and medium (desktop vs mobile) has varying requirements for resolution, so you’ll need to be aware of these rules before adding an image to your listing.

![high_resolution_comparision for product image optimization](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/7cdCt7shWanVlitaUqNFrL/6e182cb96d870680fb1c800472e075f3/Screen-Shot-2018-01-22-at-4.51.43-PM.jpg)

__Expert Tip: image compression should be your best friend.__ This essentially lets you reduce the file size, without losing the quality of an image. Since many channels limit file sizes, this can be an extremely helpful tool.

#### 2. Accurate color &amp; special light effects

Although this rings especially true for product images, accurate color and good lighting is key to high-quality ecommerce images in general. If a shirt isn’t the same color in person as it appears online, you can expect a high return rate and an influx of unsatisfied customers.
<br>
__Expert Tip: Play with shadows, but be cautious.__ Not much image creativity is allowed on channels like Amazon and Google Shopping. With drop or cast shadows being one of the few approved effects, consider using them to add more depth to your images. Shadows can be natural (i.e. made with natural light during the photoshoot via a window or reflective surface) or added during the post-production stage. However, if done quickly or unprofessionally, shadows can appear tacky and cheap.

#### 3. Use different dimensions, angles, and perspectives

If there is one thing buyers want to know, it’s what they can expect from a purchase, be it a product or a hotel holiday or booking. So if your listing contains images from the same perspective over and over again, it’s not providing them much information to go off of. What does the back and side of the shoe look like? What does the lobby of the hotel look like? These are all questions that, if left unanswered, can steer people away from completing an online transaction purchase.

![product images from different angles](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/48SUXnowQQODVir5nUBZtJ/4a5d1863402e4d72556c2515de016c5a/differe_product_angles.jpg) <center><small>Source: Shopify</small></center>

When using multiple images, however, you’ll then need to be sure to use the correct “hero image.” This is the image that will be displayed first out of the bunch. Note that this applies to both multi-image ads and product listings. This image should be captivating and should be the highest quality out of them all. Your hero image is what will gain the users initial attention and catch their eye in the crowded space.
<br>
__Expert Tip: Showcase unique characteristics____. Identify what makes your product or accommodation different from all the rest. Does your product include a unique feature? Does your hotel have a waterfall? Don’t be afraid to showcase these characteristics in an image. The unique aspects of your offer will intrigue customers and stick in their mind when comparing offers.

#### 4. Crop intelligently

Every channel has their own rules on how and how not to crop an image. For example, on Amazon,__the product itself should take up 85% or more of the image frame__. For all channels, your entire offer should be visible and centered within the image frame. Moreover, all images should have a consistent crop, otherwise, your offers can appear sloppy. 
<br>
__Expert Tip: Try to fill as much whitespace with the product as possible.__ Keep in mind that online shopping takes place across all devices. For shoppers using a large screen device, a product with excess whitespace around it may be difficult to view.

![minimise-white-space for better product images](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/3snDITWCXQeMbtXgqlpHGW/71ca7f7741bb1cc12029c2103addec23/minimise-white-space.jpg) <center><small>Source: Zibbet.com</small></center>

#### 5. Clean and clear background

Most large shopping channels like Google and Amazon have strict guidelines regarding the background color of your images. For these channels, they should be __plain white with no pattern, color, or special effects.__ The image should be of your product only, with no added accessories, unless they are included in the offer. This also means you should not include your company logo or any added text.

![plain_white_background](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/5ukkfCIlV0wWf2bL9Nr1wx/420262d82cc72e3ddfef0876a17661e3/Unbenannt-3-1024x1024.jpg)

Images for items or property listings should be clean, clear, consistent and compelling. If you follow the above optimizations, you’ll ensure that your customers are well-informed and confident about their purchase, reducing returns and increasing the likelihood of your product catching their eye.

### Creative image optimizations for marketing channels and partners, incl. social channels, affiliate &amp; retargeting engines

While creative images are forbidden on most shopping channels, they are encouraged in many ad formats. On Facebook and Instagram, for example, your product image becomes your ad image, or ad creative as you may call it. Here your image “does the talking” for you and should communicate the offer in a compelling way and at first glance.

#### 1. Showcase key attributes

Take advantage of the fact that Facebook lets you use overlays, colors, unique fonts, and many other added features. Therefore, __including key attributes__ like product or room price, product or hotel name, fabric type or current weather reports, can add significant value to your ad image. This is essentially a way to attract Facebook or Instagram users at the first touch point. Without even having to click on the ad, __buyers will be aware of key decision-making information, which will ensure more clicks are highly qualified shoppers.__ This will not only add a burst of flair to your image, but it’ll undoubtedly ensure that your images catch the eye in a crowded newsfeed.

Retail example:

![product_image_attributes](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/4RuFGs0NBjcRSIDPRhHGYS/53ea1ffaabfd0ef32882b740eeedf456/Screen-Shot-2018-02-08-at-10.17.24-AM-1024x565-1024x565.jpg)

Travel Example:

![travel_image_attributes](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/4Kn0zwCEDvgp4DPjnFIbKA/49ffdb99a6d5ec2c49fd7b2f8cc1a5ca/travel-attributes.jpg)
<ul>
 	<li>__Stay true to your brand:__&nbsp;Add a logo to your image to help shoppers easily identify who you are and what you are selling. This will help create strong brand awareness from the very beginning! </li>
 	<li>__Add the price:__&nbsp;Filter out unqualified shoppers right from the get-go by tacking on the price of the product</li>
 	<li>__Additional information:&nbsp;__What makes your product unique? Is the shirt you are selling 100% cotton? Consider ahead of time all of the questions a user may ask themselves about your product. Try to answer as many of these questions in the first image they see!</li>
</ul>

#### 2. Try a mosaic

Consider creating a mosaic to__showcase different product angles and perspectives in a single image__. These are also a great way of telling the full product story straight-away via a compelling mixture of images. See the example below:

![product_image_mosaic](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/4oVV0AuZGQuhtt31YRhxf7/a1793c4842c5acc381617e05d3a4605e/Screen-Shot-2018-02-08-at-10.30.09-AM.jpg)

#### 3. Get creative with the background

Unlike a marketplace or OTA, Facebook and Instagram don’t require a plain white background for your images. In fact, they want their advertisers to get creative. This means that you have the possibility to play with the background, __set a scene for the product__ (while keeping them consistent to help make your brand recognizable), __show the product in action__ (e.g. a man wearing a shirt to a party), __highlight the use case__ (e.g. show someone wearing your rain jacket in the rain), or even use visual effects like captivating lighting. Since you want your ad to stand out from the crowd, using a backdrop that catches the eye is a great way to add more power to your photo. Here's an example:

![Product_photography_nike_lighting](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/4HaM624UsD7ydNhC4bMMaJ/80b1828540b72b23a4b352d18671e8ef/product-photography-lighting-nike-shoe-1024x683.jpg) <center><small>Source: Squaremountain.co.uk</small></center>

#### 4. Promote special offers and customer reviews

Adding promotional text, e.g. “discount” or “sale,” to your image can be a great method of attracting new customers. Since the ads are already being displayed to users who’ve shown previous interest, __adding an extra incentive directly on the image could be the final push they need to make the purchase or booking__.

![product_image_promotion](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/3eS1ylZdsJl8QEfq9gn7xZ/5ce7c1452c0582d4bed4baa807e17531/1802-blog-graphic-phone-facebook-PSD01-684x1024-684x1024.jpg)

Also, consider adding customer reviews to your images. Doing so will enhance customer trust and compel more unsure users to click

#### 5. Take advantage of holidays and special occasions

Ad images and ads, in general, should always aim to trigger an emotion. Above all else, you are targeting a human being. Therefore, taking advantage of holidays i.e Mother’s Day can be a good way of sparking emotion, thus gaining the audience's attention. Consider making use of holiday-themed creatives or color pallets, i.e. red for Valentine’s Day, that portrays relevance during a specific holiday.

![holiday_themed_dynamic_ad](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/4i2ZHV6N9rvAScKR3FGacL/5db2812fe319ff2886ebfe177216afca/aeo-wayfair-fb-CONTENT-2017-840x460.jpg) <small><center>Source: Adweek</center></small>

#### 6. Have your images interact with each other

Above all else, understand that your__images should tell a product story for your buyers__. Since most channels allow you to submit multiple images, you have many opportunities for them to interact with each other, which can help your images speak for (and sell) themselves. For example, perhaps the first image shows a shoe from the front, and the second shows it from the back, the third from the side, etc. This will encourage users to click through all of the images to see the entire product or offer. 
<br>
Alternatively, if you’re using the Facebook Carousel ad format, for example, you could cut the image into three sections. Once the images are side-by-side, users would see the entire product offer. This encourages users to view all of the images and is a creative way to catch their attention. See an example below:

![facebook_carousel_ad ](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/3Lr6fMTTinUUbsoCaKsIdI/502e3af454e5834256056479c9c8a9fd/image001-6.jpg) <small><center>Source: 3qdigital.com</small></center>

Wondering how these creative optimizations can be done when you have so many products? Easy! Productsup has a built-in Image Designer to efficiently create dynamic ad templates for all of your product or hotel ad images! &nbsp;Interested? <a href="https://productsup.com/richmedia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Learn more about the Productsup Image Designer here</a>. 
<br>
<span class="hs-cta-wrapper" id="hs-cta-wrapper-6ec3584e-a0f7-434c-b260-df645ee61c15"><span class="hs-cta-node hs-cta-6ec3584e-a0f7-434c-b260-df645ee61c15" id="hs-cta-6ec3584e-a0f7-434c-b260-df645ee61c15"><a href="https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/3976985/6ec3584e-a0f7-434c-b260-df645ee61c15"  target="_blank" ><img class="hs-cta-img" id="hs-cta-img-6ec3584e-a0f7-434c-b260-df645ee61c15" style="border-width:0px;" height="520" width="1200" src="https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/3976985/6ec3584e-a0f7-434c-b260-df645ee61c15.png"  alt="New call-to-action"/></a></span><script charset="utf-8" src="https://js.hscta.net/cta/current.js"></script><script type="text/javascript"> hbspt.cta.load(3976985, '6ec3584e-a0f7-434c-b260-df645ee61c15', {}); </script></span>

Looking to improve the performance of your product images? Here are 11 ways to optimize your images to ensure a high click-through-rate and quality traffic.

11 tips for high-quality product images

Are you looking for more information on how to get started <a href="https://productsup.com/amazon-marketplace/">selling on Amazon?</a> Check out&nbsp;our&nbsp;<a href="https://productsup.com/blog/amazon-getting-started-benefits/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">previous article</a> that goes into detail on everything you'll need to know.

### Do you want to sell your products on Amazon? Or are you looking for a more efficient way to list and update your thousands of products on the marketplace? If so, you’ll be happy to know that there is a solution.

We all know that Amazon is notorious for their strict feed rules and regulations. As a result, preparing, structuring, and exporting a high-quality Amazon feed takes several days or weeks to complete, right? Wrong! 
<br>
So how can the process be sped up? We’ll get to that. Let’s first take a look at the challenges that Amazon Sellers face when preparing their feed, which include:
<ul>
 	<li>__Feed customization__: The meer structuring and formatting of a massive data set can take ages. Now add heavy Amazon rules onto that and it can take even longer. Even the smallest details need&nbsp;to be correct including things like field titles and the character count of certain fields. </li>
 	<li>__Amazon ASIN requirements__: All&nbsp;products on Amazon needs a specific product identifier called an ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number). Manually collecting and adding these to the feed can take days.</li>
 	<li>__Maintaining accurate product information__: Amazon is extremely customer focused and has set high-expectations that you provide as accurate information as possible to their users. This means you need to export your feed regularly. If done manually, this can waste both valuable time and resources.</li>
</ul>

### Customer Success Story

Our latest success story talks about <a href="https://www.deptagency.com/expand-online-has-become-dept/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Expand Online</a> as a good example of a company that was facing these exact challenges when wanting to get their client’s products on Amazon.
<br>
Luckily, the Dutch online marketing agency was able to bypass all of these challenges with __Productsup__.
<br>
If you’re facing similar challenges, see what Expand Online did to streamline their feed management and get their client’s 15,000 products listed on the Amazon Marketplace by the end of the first day!! &nbsp;
<blockquote>
<p align="center">“Not having to manually add products to Amazon eliminated the most time consuming aspect of the process.”
-&nbsp;Iris van Hees, Online Marketing Consultant eCommerce</p>
</blockquote>
__Download the full story:__

<a href="https://productsup.com/success-stories/expand-online-waardijk-list-15000-products-Amazon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">![expand_online_case_study](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/2O2yKejCdnhGxBhlDkkKnf/18a3432ee1b6927395987a5b89b9b77b/expand_online_blog_banner-1024x445.png)</a>

Want to list your products on Amazon, without spending too much time? Learn how to get all your products listed in only a day!

15,000 products on Amazon in just 24h

Facebook’s advertising platform offers remarkably advanced targeting capabilities. That’s not only because of its rich pool of information about its users, but also because of the extensive array of targeting options the platform offers.
<br>
While many ecommerce marketers are already using <a href="https://productsup.com/facebook-dynamic-ads/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Facebook Dynamic Ads</a>, they are often only targeting past website visitors and overlooking the wide range of other Facebook ad audiences. That’s a waste of potential! You’re missing the potential to:
<ul>
 	<li>Show users more relevant product selections</li>
 	<li>Use more relevant ad messages according to different expectations and intents</li>
 	<li>Bid more aggressively on audiences most likely to make a purchase</li>
 	<li>Exclude or bid less on audiences that don’t bring desired results</li>
 	<li>Analyze audience profiles and behavior in detail in order to refine targeting</li>
 	<li>Isolate audiences with the highest buying potential so that you can build strong cold prospecting audiences based on them</li>
</ul>
All in all, creating more granular audience sets can help you generate more sales at a lower cost. 
<br>
Sound convincing? Then let’s have a look at the different targeting tactics available for your Facebook Dynamic Ads campaigns. __What you choose will depend on who you are talking to and what you want to achieve.__
<br>
<span id="hs-cta-wrapper-b8b96b3c-73a5-4f9a-bef7-3a965d3caecc" class="hs-cta-wrapper"><span id="hs-cta-b8b96b3c-73a5-4f9a-bef7-3a965d3caecc" class="hs-cta-node hs-cta-b8b96b3c-73a5-4f9a-bef7-3a965d3caecc"><a href="https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/3976985/b8b96b3c-73a5-4f9a-bef7-3a965d3caecc"><img id="hs-cta-img-b8b96b3c-73a5-4f9a-bef7-3a965d3caecc" class="hs-cta-img" src="https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/3976985/b8b96b3c-73a5-4f9a-bef7-3a965d3caecc.png" alt="Get a complete step-by-step guide on how to create successful&nbsp;Dynamic Ad campaigns on Facebook"></a></span><script charset="utf-8" src="https://js.hscta.net/cta/current.js"></script><script type="text/javascript"> hbspt.cta.load(3976985, 'b8b96b3c-73a5-4f9a-bef7-3a965d3caecc', {}); </script></span>

![Facebook targeting tactics](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/1mx6IzQTnJyWHMv4s1DYde/c10252a120b23d29d9684ab5d4f22fe5/ecommerce-shopping-customer.jpg)

## Build on your existing customers

Your customers are your lowest hanging fruits for generating conversions and sales. Make sure you have both a short and a long-term strategy to leverage them. However, not all customers are equal. It is important that you change your tactic according to their purchase behaviors and interests. You should focus on increasing repeat purchases and enhancing customer loyalty.

### __Among your customers, you can target specific groups:__

__1. Create audience sets__
<br>
Your existing customers have already demonstrated that they want what you’re selling. In order to show them that you can continue to fulfill their needs, you’ll need to first understand and define those needs. Do this by creating smart audience sets, using demographics, interests, and behavior as key data points. This will allow you to serve the right ads to the right people. Plus, Facebook makes this kind of targeting especially easy.
<br>
__2. Leverage cross-selling opportunities__
<br>
No matter what product a customer has purchased, there is always another product that could make it even better. There are two particularly common cross-sells: related items or products that are often bought together.
<br>
For example, if someone is searching for a T-shirt with their favorite film character, they'll likely be interested in anything related to that film, genre, or brand. Similarly, someone buying skis will likely want to buy ski poles; someone buying football cleats will probably want shin guards or football socks; in short, past purchases give you insight into what the customer might need.
<br>
__3. Send out useful reminders__
<br>
What's even better than getting an offer for a product you enjoy? Getting reminders for a product you *need*. As anyone with contact lenses knows, reminders for regular purchases are not only smart for businesses—they can very often be useful to the customer. Products like ink cartridges, pet food, or even vitamins need to be bought repeatedly and on a somewhat regular basis.
<br>
More importantly, these are products that customers don't want to accidentally run out of. If you're selling products that are purchased regularly, or holding classes, events, or anything else that may need a regular reminder, leverage them to get customers' attention.
<br>
__4. Bring customers from external channels straight to your shop__
<br>
A paying customer is always a paying customer—but, because return customers drive much more value in the long run, you might not want to share them. Try targeting shoppers who have purchased from you through external channels like Google or Amazon. Bring them straight to your store. Keeping clicks and purchases right in your own shop system allows you to create a much stronger relationship with the customer. That means, instead of hoping they buy from you on Amazon again, you know they'll come straight to you.
<br>
Plus, getting clicks and purchases right on your site can help strengthen your analytical understanding of the customer journey and their needs.
<br>
__5. Turn historical customers into repeat customers__
<br>
For whatever reason, a past customer went cold. They stopped buying and clicking. They don't hang out on your site anymore. Maybe they no longer need your products or they get their fix somewhere else. Regardless, there's a chance they'll still be into you after all this time. That's why you should periodically take a step back and try to re-engage those historical customers. They may be ready to buy again.
<br>
__6. Reward top customers__
<br>
Some 8% of an ecommerce store's customer base will drive 40% of revenue. Repeat and loyal customers are absolutely invaluable. Businesses know it—and so should the customers! Reward your best customers with special offers or exclusive collections. That will drive sales while also reminding customers why they love your shop in the first place.
<br>
*Tip: Filter based on the most valuable customers using additional criteria, such as the amount of money spent, purchase frequency, Customer Lifetime Value or their engagement with your brand on Facebo**ok.*

![Warm target audience](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/3mqMEpFlrWj2xVfuZ3GI9W/2648b4b037219bba30955d55d6488ddb/fire-1.jpg)

## Re-engage your hot prospects

The second most valuable audience group are people who have previously shown interest in your shop, product or brand. Using Facebook Dynamic Ads, you can make them enter the conversion path or bring them back where they left off.
<br>
__7. Group and target warm audiences__
<br>
Those users who have been clicking, adding items to their basket, or showing other clear signs of interest? It's time to give them a boost with a well-targeted ad. Again, segment them by creating different profiles based on demographics, interests, and behavior. They clearly want to buy, so you need only create the right moment.
<br>
__8. Retarget based on the exact products they have viewed__
<br>
This common email marketing tactic should also be part of your Facebook toolkit. Target those who have already added products to a wishlist or cart on your shop with a gorgeous, emotive Dynamic ad. Seeing that product off of your site and on social media may be the push they need to go from “added to cart” to “purchased.”
<br>
__9. Upsell__
<br>
Perhaps, instead of simply suggesting similar products, you want a little more. Try suggesting similar products to, but of a higher margin than, those a customer has already purchased or shown in interest in.
<br>
Upselling isn't always ideal, so be sure it makes sense with the customer and product. The product advertised should be bigger, stronger, newer, or better than the one the customer has already got. Perhaps that user absolutely must have the latest and greatest phone. Perhaps they'll be intrigued by unique, time-sensitive bundle of awesome products. On the other hand, you can also try downselling in order to build customer trust—for example, pushing the more affordable version of a laptop they already viewed.
<br>
__10. Target Facebook page fans__
<br>
Users who have liked your Facebook page for any reason are going to make for a strong target audience. Start by pushing your best sellers or newest products, as these represent the items most likely to spark interest with an intrigued follower.
<br>
__11. Show warm prospects what they’re missing__
<br>
When does “warm” become “hot”? Those prospects who are in the decision making stage will have clear patterns, likely browsing your shop intensely and repeatedly. Targeting these users with your best sellers can be one way to strengthen your chances in when they finally reach a decision.
<br>
__12. Retarget prospects who have reacted to Instagram or Facebook posts__
<br>
Again, no matter what the reason, users who have engaged with your brand on Instagram or Facebook are showing a clear sign of interest. They have online patterns that brought them to your post and they enjoy your style or brand. Add them to your target audience and see if you can get easy new customers just by letting them come to you.
<br>
__13. Retarget prospects who have visited a specific campaign landing page__
<br>
Your campaigns don't live and die on a website landing page. If a user has visited a given landing page, that could be a sign they're interested. Bring the conversation to Facebook and see if the change of scenery can get the lead back on track.
<br>
__14. Retarget prospects using the tracking parameters__
<br>
Take #13 further and retarget customers based on data acquired when they clicked a campaign link to visit your website. Your campaigns are full of unique tracking links. Put that data to use.

![reach out to new prospects with facebook dynamic ads](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/4isrwagVdy3ZUA0nMg7Guj/dbe15438fa33a6eec81a119b62dc0cf7/new_prospects_customers_people_phone.jpg)

## Cold targeting: Reach out to new prospects

Once you have built high-quality audiences from your existing customers and fans, you’re well prepared to extend your reach to people who don’t know you yet.
<br>
__15. Target Lookalikes__
<br>
Lookalikes are groups of people who are similar to an existing Custom Audience you choose. When creating Lookalikes based on customer audiences, you’ll get a new audience that is likely to be interested in your business even if its individuals don’t know you yet. As you might guess, the better the quality of your Custom Audience, the better the quality of your Lookalikes. We’ve covered more on <a href="https://productsup.com/blog/facebook-lookalike-audiences/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Facebook Lookalike Audiences in this post</a>.
<br>
__16. Target Broad Audiences__
<br>
Broad audience targeting is another way to reach people who haven't visited your website or app yet. When a user has expressed interest in your products (or products similar to yours) on Facebook or beyond, the Facebook algorithm is still able to identify the products they are most likely to be interested in.
<br>
This can be useful for smaller ecommerce companies, who don’t have a large traffic volume to be used for retargeting.
<br>
When wanting to reach to new audiences, &nbsp;using demographics, and interest-based targeting is even more critical, as it’s the only door opener you’ve got. Try to refer to personal or seasonal topics that make your products relevant. For example, if you are a gift shop, target friends of people who have a birthday
<br>
__17. Generate brand awareness__
<br>
But what if audiences are not ready to buy from you yet? Well, warm them up with other types of campaigns first, before you target them with Facebook Dynamic Ads.
<br>
The beauty of Facebook advertising lies in its versatility. If you achieve better results with retargeting than with cold targeting, consider running brand awareness campaigns first to warm people up. You can use fun videos or even influencer or content marketing that matches your target market’s interests and desires.
<br>
Make users interact with any of your digital assets and you’ll be able to retarget them as a warm audience thereafter, promoting products linked to your awareness campaign.
<br>
Facebook targeting is a cycle of possibilities. That’s what makes it so effective and that’s also why it’s fun.

## Want to learn more about creating successful campaigns for Facebook Dynamic Ads?

Download our comprehensive guide and learn everything you need to know to make dynamic ad campaigns on Facebook boost your ecommerce sales.
<br>
__In this guide, we cover:__
<ul>
 	<li>An introduction to Facebook Dynamic Ads and how it works</li>
 	<li>Technical requirements you need to get started: product catalog and tracking </li>
 	<li>Guidance to find the right (re-)targeting strategy for you</li>
 	<li>Best-practice tips on how to take full advantage of the extensive advertising options</li>
 	<li>An overview of Facebook’s powerful features to measure, test and optimize your campaign’s performance in the long run</li>
</ul>
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Facebook Dynamic Ads underperforming? It's time to examine your targeting. Here are 17 ecommerce targeting tips you should be using in your strategy today.

17 Winning Targeting Tactics with Facebook Dynamic Ads

When it comes time to make a purchase, your customers have more choices than ever before — thanks in large part to the proliferation of new commerce channels in recent years.

Rather than being limited to only brick-and-mortar or print catalogs, those in need of a new product or service now have a wealth of different methods to make a purchase, from eCommerce stores to mobile apps, and even social media platforms like 21 Buttons and Instagram. This has made shopping __more convenient__ than ever before, __both for consumers and B2B buyers.__

Brands and retailers have also benefited from this increase in shopping outlets. These companies now have more ways to communicate with customers and sell products, along with additional channels for advertising and marketing their offerings, which helps to __increase sales__ and __boost revenue__ along the way.

But while this proliferation of new channels has opened up a world of possibilities for buyers, brands, and retailers alike, selling products on these new channels isn’t as simple as creating an account and watching revenue pour in. Instead, going omnichannel can cause __headaches for brands and retailers__ as they struggle to meet, much less exceed, consumer expectations for omnichannel commerce.

So where do they commonly fall short? According to the very customers they’re looking to please, __problems with product information__, from inaccuracies to inconsistencies to bland or ineffective product experiences, often __doom omnichannel offerings before they start.__ The issue is that brands and retailers may not be providing their customers with the information and data they need to make a purchase in the proper context for each channel.

Read on to discover 3 reasons your product information needs to be put in the proper context.

### __1. Customers crave information&nbsp;__

Now that shoppers have grown accustomed to this brave new omnichannel world, their expectations have changed. Most modern customers crave information about products and services they’re considering purchasing, lest they commit to a purchase that they later regret.

According to researchers, a whopping <a href="https://www.oberlo.com/blog/ecommerce-statistics-guide-your-strategy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">85%</a> of consumers visit eCommerce sites to research potential purchases to help them make a decision __before they buy a product.__ What’s more, if they can’t find the information they’re looking for, are given inaccurate information, or find inconsistent information listed across different websites or channels, __they’ll almost certainly abandon the purchase__ to find another company who will provide accurate, consistent product information to buy from.

This means that it’s crucial that your product information not only be accurate and consistent, but also __presented in the proper context.__ If it isn’t consumers won’t be able to easily find information about your products, and they won’t be clicking the “buy” button on your eCommerce store or mobile app.

### __2. A picture is worth a thousand words&nbsp;&nbsp;__

If written product information is good, multimedia assets are even better. Research from Forrester shows that emotion has a bigger impact on brand loyalty than the effectiveness and ease of getting value from the experience in every industry — and digital assets like images and video are key drivers of that emotional response you’re looking for from customers.

What’s more, consumers tell researchers that __they want to see more images and videos from__ brands and retailers they do business with. <a href="https://www.wyzowl.com/video-marketing-statistics-2018/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nearly three-quarters</a> of customers in one recent survey said they would rather use images or video to learn about a new product or service, more than any other medium, while HubSpot found that <a href="https://blog.hubspot.com/news-trends/content-trends-preferences?_ga=2.170866278.753446768.1560267708-2093835091.1546954557" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">more than half</a> of consumers want to see more videos from brands and businesses they support.

But if you don’t tailor your multimedia assets to the specific traits of each channel you sell on, your customer experience will suffer. And a bad customer experience may just be a fate worse than death in the omnichannel age.

### __3. Experience is king__

When it comes to omnichannel commerce, price isn’t the biggest indicator of where most consumers will choose to make a purchase from. And surprisingly enough, it isn’t ease-of-use or convenience, either —&nbsp;it’s the total shopping experience.

We’re now firmly in the heydey of what Joe Pine refers to as the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Experience-Economy-Updated-Joseph-Pine/dp/1422161978" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">“Experience Economy” </a>—&nbsp;products and services have become commoditized, and compelling customer experiences have become the main differentiator between competing companies. The statistics back this up —&nbsp;<a href="https://www.superoffice.com/blog/customer-experience-statistics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">86% of consumers</a> said they would pay more for better customer experiences, while 67% cited poor customer experiences as the main reason for churn.

But as Akeneo CEO Fred de Gombert says, “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmJaihXRy5M&amp;list=PLTtGH_JTMGcZef9Xf0HGWj3qoEZij3p5a&amp;index=3&amp;t=48s" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">there’s no one experience to rule them all.</a>” A truly compelling customer experience changes and adapts to fit the context a consumer is shopping in, and the channel they’re using — and as we saw above, without a compelling experience, customers will go elsewhere to buy products.

### __How PIM Helps Put Your Products In The Proper Context__

Companies looking to succeed in this new __omnichannel commerce-centered market__must meet their customers across a wide range of outlets and channels in order to keep up with the competition, which means efficiently and effectively managing product information and data to create compelling customer experiences.

__But with more than 75% of companies__ still relying on __spreadsheets__ to manage product information, this can become a real challenge. Using spreadsheets or other outdated or ineffective product information tools prevents efficient team collaboration and often leads to __slow time-to-marke____t__and __high numbers of product information inaccuracies or inconsistencies,__ which can cause customers to lose faith in your company and your products.

Fortunately, there is an answer —&nbsp;__Product Information Management (PIM) solutions__ can work with product syndication platforms like Productsup and make sure your product information is ready for omnichannel commerce. What makes PIM a key driver for a successful omnichannel endeavor?

<a href="https://www.akeneo.com/enterprise-edition/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">__Akeneo PIM__</a> is a foundational technology that can help your business cost-effectively expand to new channels by providing the infrastructure your company needs. It does so by centralizing and harmonizing all the technical, usage, and emotional information for your product listings and catalogs, ensuring that you provide shoppers with data that is accurate, consistent and contextual.

Because there’s no one experience to rule them all.

*Want to**learn how to help your team conquer these new sales channels with relative ease by reading Akeneo's post on*<a href="https://www.akeneo.com/blog/new-commerce-channel-pim/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">*Turning A New Commerce Channel Into A Success.*</a>


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![John-Evans-1-150x150.jpg](https://images.ctfassets.net/j7vj1lxi8fsg/3jhJDMILzgNf7iniZKZmSR/46768eaf873bf4cf3dc29755b26fbf6e/John-Evans-1-150x150.jpg)

John Evans leads product marketing at Akeneo, a provider of open source PIM software. He has over 20 years of B2B marketing experience in master data management, business intelligence, and supply chain software.


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According to customers, problems with product information make shopping difficult. Successful omnichannel commmerce demands better data.

3 reasons why omnichannel commerce requires context

Everyone knows Millennials love avocado toast and Gen Z loves selfies. Right? While these may be common stereotypes, they don’t truly reflect the two generations as a whole. Millennials, the generation aged between roughly 25 and 40, represent the beginning of a digitally native world. They live omnichannel lives and push marketers to rethink the way they advertise. Now, Gen Z is taking the stage. This generation of individuals under 25 are not just digital natives - they’re social media natives. And successful __Gen Z ecommerce strategies will require much more than “being on Instagram” or “working with influencers.”__
<br>
This generation explores, discovers, and shops much differently than those who came before. They use their own channels and have their own, often strong, value systems that drive purchasing decisions.
<br>
__Your channel and product data strategies can drive or hinder returns in very real, tangible ways.__ Here are key strategies to consider and integrate into your feed-based advertising and Gen Z ecommerce marketing strategies.

## A picture is worth a thousand words

#### Visual shopping is here to stay
Why do 81% percent of today’s teens visit Snapchat at least once a month and 79% visit Instagram? Because they’re visual. While older generations are also using social platforms, it’s Gen Z that was born into a steady stream of glossy (as well as enticing and informative!) images. They gather and thrive in these communities. Sure, this means businesses need to work on their social presence for these channels. But it also means businesses need to understand the new, modern opportunities of visual social platforms in order to stay competitive.
<br>
Consider this: Instagram just launched <a href="https://productsup.com/blog/instagram-shoppable-posts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Shoppable posts</a> in early 2019. This allows users to go straight from *seeing* an item to *purchasing* it. Snapchat already has Shoppable Snap ads, <a href="https://productsup.com/blog/product-feeds-ecommerce-news-q1-2019/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Google just released Shoppable Images ads</a>, and <a href="https://productsup.com/blog/pinterest-shopping-ads-brands-retailers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Pinterest offers Buyable Pins</a>.
<br>
These new ad formats reflect the current state of the shopper journey. In fact, when teens were asked in a survey, “what is the best way for a retailer or brand to communicate with you about new products or promotions?” 52% <a href="https://www.practicalecommerce.com/teen-shopping-habits-and-trends" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said</a> Instagram.
<br>
*Tip: Agile data, and understanding the agility of your feed management solution, should help you prepare for this future.*

## Brick-and-mortar is far from dead

#### Omnichannel is everything in the Gen Z ecommerce world

For years, a sense of doom and gloom has surrounded the topic of brick-and-mortar stores. Why would anyone go in-store when they could shop online? Interestingly, a large number of shoppers continue to buy offline. According to a study from NRF, 98% of Gen Z shoppers say they buy in a store "some or most of the time."
<blockquote>“In fact, three times as many Gen Zers said they shop mostly in stores, compared to those shopping mostly online.”
<br>
NRF, <a href="https://nrf.com/research/what-do-gen-z-shoppers-really-want" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">*What Do Gen Z Shoppers Really Want?*</a></blockquote>
No matter how you spin it, brick-and-mortar is still integral to the shopping experience. This is especially true for Gen Z, who have repeatedly shown that they like to hang out in malls and see goods in person. This may also relate to their strong value system, which we’ll discuss later. Whether or not a final purchase happens in-store, getting shoppers into the physical shop is important in the buying process. As a result, driving shoppers to your physical locations will be just as important as driving them to your digital shop. [Who knew success in Gen Z ecommerce would require success *in brick-and-mortar?*]
<br>
__Make the most of your product data strategies to drive offline visits__
<ul>
 	<li>__Get started with Local Inventory ads.__ Whether it’s on <a href="https://productsup.com/blog/google-local-inventory-ads/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Google</a>, <a href="https://productsup.com/blog/google-vs-facebook-local-inventory-ads/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Facebook</a>, or another channel, these digital ads can drive shoppers to your physical locations.</li>
 	<li>Think outside the box. __Supporting BOPIS (buy online pickup in-store) and similar buying options is absolutely crucial to Gen Z shoppers.__ <a href="https://productsup.com/blog/online-tips-in-store-foot-traffic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Walmart has completely owned the BOPIS option</a>, and they’ve shown that it drives huge amounts of in-store traffic. For reference, one study from Zebra found that <a href="https://www.zebra.com/us/en/solutions/retail-solutions.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> 90%</a> of retailers will implement BOPIS by 2021.</li>
</ul>
__In order to do either of these, you’ll need to stay on top of inventory feeds.__ Agility will also be key here, as inventory feeds are constantly changing. Products sell out. New ones arrive. To support inventory feeds, businesses will need smart backend connections and solutions. Ensure that you not only have access to this information, but that you have ongoing, easy-to-manage access and the ability to create and distribute the feeds quickly.

## Beware the golden age of easy returns

#### Proactivity and flawless product content can save you money

Product returns have always been a problem for brands and retailers. However, Gen Z shoppers have particularly high expectations about returns, making product returns an even more complex issue. Modern shoppers are happy to buy and return a product on a whim, and they want the process to be free and painless. Don’t forget, Gen Z grew up with easy return processes. They are much less likely to drive across town to personally return products.
<br>
Whether you’re a digitally native startup or a goliath like Amazon, Gen Z’s generous use of product return options could cause problems. So how do you reduce the likelihood a product will be returned? One big step is getting product information right in the first place.
<br>
__About 20% of products that are purchased online and returned are sent back because the product did not look or function exactly as expected.__ This means the product information did not accurately reflect the product. Luckily, for some companies, this will be an easy fix.
<br>
Key steps to create more realistic content that reduces returns:
<ul>
 	<li>__Locate and remove product attributes that confuse or mislead shoppers.__ For example, “fluffed” delivery times or exaggerated benefits.</li>
 	<li>__Be clear about quantitative information like size and color.__ No matter how incredible and competitively priced your product is, if the shopper can’t actually wear it, they’ll return it.</li>
 	<li>__Think like a customer.__ Technical jargon may be correct, but customers will prefer easy-to-use, real-world terms and descriptions. It’s important to always adapt descriptions to match the audience’s tone and knowledge.</li>
 	<li>Get (a lot) more ideas to <a href="https://productsup.com/blog/reduce-product-returns/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reduce product returns</a> here.</li>
</ul>

## Channel strategy isn’t a numbers game

#### It’s about unique communities

Again, we circle back to the idea that “being on Instagram” isn’t everything. Every channel is different and serves a different purpose for the user.
<br>
As most marketers know, Gen Z largely considers Facebook a platform for “older people.” They instead prefer platforms like Snapchat, Instagram, and Whisper. They use a wide variety of shopping channels, from the easy and ubiquitous Amazon to indie peer-to-peer platforms like Depop. Gen Z is also notably community-oriented compared to other audiences. They seek out channels and communities that speak directly to them, meaning that brands and retailers need to deeply understand their industry, audiences, and the possible channels available.
<ul>
 	<li>Do: advertise on platforms like Instagram. However, also...</li>
 	<li>Do: seek out highly specific communities and audiences</li>
 	<li>Do: locate additional channels related to the particular industry, cause, or group</li>
 	<li>Don’t: only focus on demographics, income, or location</li>
</ul>

## Serious personal values

#### Content and strategy must align with user values

More than anything else - more than their status as digital natives or their love of inspiring&nbsp; images - Gen Z is a value-centric generation. They’re often described as radically inclusive. Individuals might care about the environment or making modest fashion options available to those who need them. This mindset can leak into how they read and understand product information.
<blockquote>“I really like things that are unisex! I think it’s absurd that stores and brands split everything into “male” and “female.” After all, fabric is genderless.”
—Female respondent, 22, Goiânia
McKinsey, <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/true-gen-generation-z-and-its-implications-for-companies" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">*‘True Gen’: Generation Z and its implications for companies*</a></blockquote>

<br>
The McKinsey study cited above goes so far as to describe __Gen Z’s fundamental understanding of consumption as one of self expression and a matter of ethical concern.__
<br>
An interview from <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-29/how-gen-z-s-different-than-millennials-companies-try-asmr-memes" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bloomberg</a> also highlights the reality of being Gen Z, as opposed to the general assumptions about it.
<br>
<blockquote>“‘There’s this misconception that we’re scrolling mindlessly,’ Ahmed says. What Gen Z’s actually doing is connecting and communicating and figuring things out—like where to spend their money.”</blockquote>

Try to keep these tips in mind when creating or editing product information.
<ul>
 	<li>__Be careful with jargon or overly flashy campaigns.__ Gen Z is more likely to notice whether a campaign is authentic or fabricated. Keep product data (especially descriptions) honest as well as interesting.</li>
 	<li>__Locate aspects of your brand or product that align with Gen Z__ values. Common themes include: sustainability, social activism, self expression, uniqueness, experiences, and individuality and undefined or fluid identities.
<ul>
 	<li>For strict channels like Google, relevant information must be stressed more carefully. Focus on factual statements that accurately describe the product or your company. If you use recycled materials, environmentally-friendly processes, highlight that.</li>
 	<li>For advertising-centric channels like Instagram or Snapchat, integrate relevant ideas and values in your creative and product content. Consider targeting content by community and interest rather than basic demographics.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

## Success with Gen Z ecommerce will require agile data and modern solutions

Tailoring product information for Gen Z ecommerce marketing and sales shouldn’t be a pipe dream. Solutions like Productsup make it easy to tailor data and feeds for any audience, channel, or use case. That means you can reach audiences of all kinds, no matter the channel or stage in the funnel.
<br>
With Productsup, it’s easy to quickly populate attributes, enrich existing data with relevant selling points, and even generate images for every product in the feed. Most importantly, all of this can be done without IT’s help. No matter where you advertise, be sure your product data management solution is helping you reach your goal - and making your daily work more efficient and successful.
<br>
__Want more? Download Raconteur's *Future of Retail* report from Raconteur for insights on social commerce, predictions for the next big trends, and tips for multichannel success.__
<br>
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"Being on Instagram" or "working with influencers" is not enough. Here are key feed and channel tips for Gen Z ecommerce marketing success.

5 channel and product data strategies for engaging Gen Z in ecommerce

The ability to reliably onboard retailer data is the backbone of strong online retail practices. Of course, hiccups are bound to happen when you’re integrating data from numerous third parties, all of whom use different standards, platforms, and who knows what else.
<br>
However, there are some mistakes that can be avoided just by following best practices and planning ahead. We asked our integrations experts to compile some of the most common issues that occur, and how they can be avoided. Here are 5 of the most common issues faced when businesses onboard retailer data—and how to face them head on!

## Most common issues when onboarding retailer data

### 1. Normalizing data and getting it to a high quality

It’s incredible how different each brand’s product data can be. Even if every brand you work with uses the same attributes, the actual format and data can be completely different. For example, ever wonder how many ways you can write a single attribute?
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>__Brand__</td>
<td>HP</td>
<td>h.p.</td>
<td>Hewlett Packard</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>__Color&nbsp;__</td>
<td>Blue</td>
<td>Dark blue</td>
<td>Navy</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
That’s why careful standardization and cleansing of data is key. Everything from the formulation of the title to the granularity of the color description should be edited in order to appear consistent across every touchpoint. Regardless of whether a business plans to optimize data (for example, preparing it for individual channel requirements or further enriching the information), it absolutely must be standardized.
<br>
__To combat this:__ leverage solutions that include automation and easy-to-apply bulk edits. Automation helps ensure that new errors are not introduced and that changes can always be applied at scale.
<br>
Ideally, chosen solutions should also be business user-friendly (and coding-free). This ensures that marketing and sales teams can make changes without extra blockers, such as waiting for IT or assistance. Lastly, built-in analysis tools are also available to immediately locate problem data or missed opportunities.

### 2. Segmenting data and feeds for brand-specific strategies

Every brand is a unique butterfly, and they expect to be treated as such. As a retailer, you don’t want to list every brand on every channel using the same strategy, nor do you want to budget and bid the same for each brand.
<br>
For example: let’s say, a strong French brand doesn't perform great in Latin America. That brand should therefore be segmented and not listed on Latin American channels. On the other hand, if that same brand performs well in the French market, the related product information should be tailored for success on French channels.
<br>
Many retailers wait until the campaign stage to tackle this task. However, it’s much easier to address this segmentation from the very beginning.
<br>
__To better segment brand data and tailor channel strategies:__ integrate required information during the data onboarding stage, rather than waiting until the campaign phase. This will cut down on errors as well as the resources wasted on ad hoc projects.
<br>
Moreover, by planning this from the beginning, retailers can integrate additional data into their feeds.
<br>
Common data that may be included at onboarding:
<ul>
 	<li>Analytics</li>
 	<li>In-store availability</li>
 	<li>Promotions</li>
 	<li>Additional creative</li>
</ul>

### 3. Handling special promotions data and feeds
Who doesn’t love a promotion? Well, your team might not, if they don’t have the right tools to manage Merchant Promotions or other sales feeds. Brands are going to regularly have special promotions and fluctuating sales prices. It’s part of their day-to-day operations.
<br>
Furthermore, promotions information is going to be constantly updating, meaning feeds need to be fetched and integrated on an ongoing basis.
<br>
__To combat complicated promotions feeds:__ you’ll need automated data management as well as solutions that can easily onboard and integrate different types of data feeds. This will ideally include the ability to merge feeds of any format and from any place.

### 4. Managing and integrating local inventory data and feeds

Local inventory ads are uniquely popular for retailers. And that’s no surprise, given the amazing results they can drive. For example, Bax Music drove a <a href="productsup.com/success-stories/bax-music-drives-20-percent-in-store-revenue-uplift-with-google-local-inventory-ads" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">20% in-store revenue</a> uplift with Google LIA.
<br>
However, staying on top of inventory data is even more difficult than product or promotions feeds, as these numbers will change multiple times per day. Plus, the accuracy of this data can have a real impact on sales and the customer experience. For example, this is the kind of data that ensures you don’t list products that are out of stock.
<br>
__To manage local inventory information:__ you’ll likely want to move beyond basic feed management solutions and leverage something stronger, including order management and built-in APIs.
<br>
Furthermore, consider how you’ll keep on top of changing stock levels throughout the day or week. For example, consider scheduling the import of product data. This means you can ensure that stock levels are updated and out of stock products are correctly designated, or even removed from your feed entirely.

### 5. Adapting when brands start using new systems, attributes, and naming conventions

Retailers tend to move fast. They’re often agile, forward-looking businesses who want to get cozy with new technology. That’s amazing, right? It is, but this can also lead to disruptions in ongoing data onboarding.
<br>
For example, picture this: a retailer decides to upgrade to a new data management system.
<br>
The new system functions slightly differently. Now the product data feed is structured differently. The feed has a different name. Attributes have different structures. All your onboarding setups and processes to deal with these feeds are now disrupted.
<br>
Some amount of time will need to be spent restructuring the retailer data onboarding. However, the amount of time this process takes will depend directly on your management software.
<br>
__To be sure your data management is agile:__ again, automation will be key. The ideal solution will make it easy to apply bulk edits and integrate new attributes into existing data. You’ll want the ability to simply replace your existing setups or attributes with the new data.
<br>
Be sure to keep your solution provider up to date, too. Solution providers are much better equipped for these kinds of changes. If you have a strong support team or contact, they should be able to help you prepare. That means you can roll out changes smoothly and effectively.

## Productsup helps you tackle each of these hurdles and onboard retailer data with ease(and make your work more rewarding)

Productsup is designed to make onboarding data painless and efficient. We want to help you automate as much of the process as possible, so that you can focus on tasks other than upkeep and standardization.
<br>
__Standardize and cleanse data__ fast. Select from 100+ available rules right onto your data to instantly apply changes across your feed.
<ul>
 	<li>Remove errors like broken HTML or consecutive whitespace</li>
 	<li>Enrich titles and descriptions with the right keywords</li>
 	<li>Replace unwanted brand-specific terminology with your standard terms</li>
</ul>
__Manage new or additional feeds and stay agile__ with minimal complexity. Integrate data from analytics, promotional, and other feeds in just a few clicks. Even if your sources or attributes change, it’s easy to realign your data.
<ul>
 	<li>Add new data sources via URL, Google Sheets, shopping platforms, or anywhere you store your data</li>
 	<li>Schedule fetches or distribution to suit your schedule</li>
 	<li>Integrate additional data quickly just by pairing an attribute from the main feed with the additional feed</li>
</ul>
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Here are 5 of the most common issues faced when businesses onboard retailer data, and how you can tackle them head on.

5 common issues when onboarding retailer data

Learn how our platform has helped businesses around the world drive traffic and conversions.

ALDI SUISSE AG is a Swiss company headquartered in Schwarzenbach (SG) and is part of the ALDI SÜD Group, a globally successful retail trade company. Simple, responsible, and reliable are the core values of the company's business activities. This means that in addition to high-quality products at permanently low prices, sustainable, environmentally friendly, and animal-friendly production is also ensured. A large proportion of the turnover from the standard ALDI SUISSE range of around 1600 products is generated with articles from Switzerland.

The first thing they would need to do is create a product feed from the ground up. Without automation, it would take weeks to manually extract product information from their retail website and enter it into an excel spreadsheet. Not only would this exhaustive task take up valuable time and time, but it would also increase the risk for human error and the potential for advertising mishaps. Additionally, the ALDI team would need to manually update their excel sheets for even the smallest changes to ensure accurate ads.

The team would need to craft individual product feeds for both Google and Facebook. This is because the product feed requirements and best practices vary by channel. Therefore, the team would need to carefully and manually tailor each and every line in their original feed or ask IT for support. Doing it this way would leave little room for optimization potential and would take days to weeks to complete. Moreover, if any error or mistake occurred, Facebook and Google could disapprove of their entire feed.

Known for being affordable, ALDI’s product prices are constantly changing. That brought a whole other level of complexity to their feeds. Whether it would be a sale or the introduction of a new product line, ALDI’s team would need to find a way to keep their pricing up to date across channels at all times. This simply wouldn’t be possible to do manually. And asking for help from IT would leave them tied up and unable to launch ads quickly. 


ALDI was well aware of their need to be present on popular channels like Google and Facebook. But they also knew they’d face some hurdles along the way. Here are a few of the roadblocks they faced.

Hubspot – Generic Contact Form

ALDI SUISSE AG is a Swiss company and part of the globally successful retail trade company, ALDI SÜD Group. The company is known for its simple branding and reliability in all business activities – from production to advertising. Being reliable, however, means being agile. As more and more consumers demand multi-channel experiences, ALDI would need to find a way to strengthen its online presence and live up to the new generation of expectations. In doing so, they would face several challenges.

Since choosing Productsup, ALDI’s digital marketing team has been able to automate their day to day tasks and focus on bigger projects. In fact, they have recorded saving 66 hours of work per month. 
<br>
Moreover, the team has noticed a substantial boost in channel performance thanks to Productsup product feed optimization possibilities. ALDI was able to increase possible impressions on the Google Marketing Platform from 45,971,217,920 to 74,738,754,176. That's a 30% increase!
<br>
ALDI’s team now knows their digital ads are high-quality and up-to-date across channels. 

Senior Consultant

“With Productsup we were able to save 66 hours a month of repetitive and undemanding work."

Discover how ALDI increased possible reach, internal efficiency, and independence.

Success story: ALDI & Google Marketing Platform

Creating the perfect feed for Facebook Dynamic ads was easier than ever with Productsup’s huge portfolio of built-in editing options. ALDI’s team could tailor text attributes in bulk according to the requirements of each channel.

Compelling ad images are vital to the success of any Facebook dynamic ad campaign. With Productsup’s Image Designer, ALDI’s digital marketing team could quickly and easily create high-performing product images for each and every product in their feed. 

Google Marketing Platform and ALDI’s CI, on the other hand, required their team to remove the background of each image and swap it for a black background. To ensure their images adhered to these guidelines, the ALDI team leveraged remove.bg, an image background removal service connected to the Productsup platform. This allowed them to remove backgrounds in bulk to ensure that all images in their product feed were ready to go.

Adhering to Facebook and Google’s unique product feed specifications was no challenge at all for ALDI. The team simply used the built-in Facebook dynamic ads and Google Marketing Platform channel templates in the Productsup platform. The data gathered from their website was automatically mapped to fit the format requirements of each channel. On top of that, Productsup is packed with channel integrations and APIs. This made it easy to publish and maintain accurate product data on both Facebook and Google. 

Luckily, it wasn’t long before ALDI found Productsup.

“We extended our possible programmatic reach by 30% thanks to Productsup.”

How ALDI increased possible reach by 30% on Google Marketing Platform and Facebook

Bax Music wants to empower every musician, DJ, and producer in Europe to make, share, and listen to music. The company aims to help make creative dreams a reality. Music is passion and experience, and Bax Music doesn’t just want to be part of that, they want to make a positive contribution to the world and enjoyment of music. They hope to do this by offering more services, more support, more passion, more experience, and most importantly, more music than was available ever before. 

Due to the nature of Google Local inventory ads, Google’s product feed requirements would be vastly different than those for Google Shopping. This meant that Bax Music would need to start from scratch. Plus, their product inventories varied by location, which made it impossible to create a one-size-fits-all product feed for all of their brick-and-mortar stores. Therefore, the company would need to create a unique local inventory feed for each of their three locations.

Each feed would need to include the product attributes required by Google: Item ID, Quantity (availability), Price, and Storecode. With over 50,000 SKUs in total, acquiring and matching each of these variables to the correct product would be no easy, or quickly achieved, feat.

Google requires every product to have a value in the quantity field. This means, if a product is unavailable it should say “0” instead of being left blank. If a product’s numeric quantity is missing, Bax Music would risk having their products disapproved by Google. But going through each and every cell to ensure a quantity was present would take Bax Music ages and would slow down the entire process for getting their LIA ads live.

Though Bax Music had already been leveraging Google Shopping for their online shops for quite some time, their advertising strategy would need to be adapted and implemented to fit the unique opportunities of Local Inventory ads. 

The company was well aware that it didn’t make financial sense to advertise unprofitable products within their online shops and thought the same about in-store products. Bax Music determined that products below a certain margin shouldn’t be advertised. But this was not something that could be done within Merchant Center and doing it manually would be time-consuming. Bax Music needed to find a more efficient way of identifying and excluding these products from their feed.

In getting their product feeds set up for Google LIAs, Bax Music would face three main obstacles.

Bax Music is one of the Netherlands’ largest and most trusted musical instrument and equipment retailers, offering products from 1250+ top brands. The company’s mission is to make music accessible to everyone in Europe through top-notch customer service and support. Everything they do is for the customer and to empower the world to make music. The company is more than an online shop and physical store; they’re a trusted business committed to making the customer happy.

Bax Music is not only a prominent online seller across Europe, they also maintain four brick-and-mortar stores located in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Goes, and Antwerp.

When Bax Music first got online, their aim was to boost product visibility and increase their online sales. However, as technology continued to boom, they realized they would also need to find a way to use technology to boost in-store traffic and sales. At that point, since they were already familiar with Google Shopping, the company decided to turn their attention towards Google Local Inventory ads.

Bax Music knew that Google Local Inventory ads would allow them to leverage their shop locations and local inventories to drive foot traffic to their brick-and-mortar stores. However, this ad format was not yet widely used in Europe. Thus they would first need to prepare and submit their feed to Google for approval. With the help of Productsup, they were able to achieve this and become one of the first retailers in Europe to ever use the ad format.

With the help of Productsup, Bax Music is now running Local Inventory Ads for all three of their shops in the Netherlands without having to do any manual work. With the tools required to maximize their teams efficiency, paired with the power of LIAs, Bax Music has seen an incredible boost in both online and offline performance.
<br>
**Increased in-store revenue**: Within just one year Bax Music recorded an increase in in-store revenue for all three of their brick-and-mortar stores in the Netherlands. The result was an average revenue uplift of 20.8%.
<br>
**Improved online revenue & conversion**: The Productsup software has allowed Bax Music to quickly and easily fuel their ads with perfectly structured, optimized, product content. Their high-quality product feeds played a huge role in helping them to achieve a dramatic increase in ad revenue and conversion on both desktop and mobile.
<br>
**Minimized CPC**: The power of the Productsup platform in getting their Local Inventory ads live combined with support from their comparison shopping service partner (CSS) lead to a substantial decrease in CPCfor both their Rotterdam and Amsterdam store ads. 

SEA Marketeer

The Productsup support team always want to improve and challenge both us and themselves!

Learn how leading music retailer Bax Music reduced CPC, increased conversion, & drove a 20% in-store revenue uplift with Google Local Inventory ads.

Success story: Bax Music & Google Local Inventory Ads

Structuring the perfect, channel-ready feeds for Google Local Inventory ads required no manual work thanks to Productsup’s integrated channel template. With all of the required attributes included in an easy-to-manipulate template, getting their feeds into perfect form was as easy as a few drags and a few drops.

Productsup’s smart data edit boxes made it quick and easy to ensure an accurate number was present in the quantity field of each SKU. The “Set Value if Empty” box allowed them to create a rule that changed any empty fields in the quantity column to “0.” This way, they didn’t need to go through manually looking for missing or incomplete product data, which saved them a huge amount of time!

They also used the “Static Value” rule box to attach the correct store code to each product in the relevant feed. This quick-fix made it easy to associate each of the three feeds with the relevant brick-and-mortar location.

In order to get the most out of their advertising spend, Bax Music leveraged several data edit boxes to create rules concerning which products to export. The “Skip Multicondition” rule box allowed them to automatically skip poor-performing products. This cut advertising spend and ensured that only profitable products would be advertised.

Luckily, Bax Music was already using Productsup to manage their Google Shopping feeds. The power of the software, combined with Productsup’s first-class support team, meant that preparing Local Inventory feeds from scratch would be a breeze!

SEA Marketer

I always get a response within hours, sometimes within a few minutes!

Bax Music drives an impressive 20%in-store revenue uplift with Google Local Inventory ads

Expand Online (part of Dept) is an online marketing agency that doesn’t like advertisements–irrelevant ones, that is. They think outside the box. Their success is powered by telling a company’s story to the right people, in the right place, and at the right time. They do this by employing the
latest techniques to accurately interpret large data sets. More importantly, Expand Online works with some of the best online marketeers around.

In order to integrate the Dutch product feed with around 15,000 different items in the German Amazon portal, Expand Online needed to not only translate the product data to German, but also tailor it to the unique feed specifications of the Amazon marketplace, i.e. field titles, length and format of each field’s content.

Additionally, in order to optimize the channel’s performance, the content of the feed needed to be customized based on the way customers search and make purchase decisions on Amazon. This task alone would require the help of IT and waste valuable time and resources.

Every product that is sold on Amazon requires a specific product identifier, namely the Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN).

A new ASIN is created whenever a product is uploaded to a product catalog for the first time. For items that already exist on Amazon, the ASIN can be found on the product details page, amongst other relevant product attributes and features.

In order to list their products on Amazon, Expand Online needed to acquire and add each individual product identifier number to their product feed. If done manually, this process would be extremely time-consuming. 

Shoppers in marketplaces, especially Amazon, have high expectations when it comes to product information accuracy. If information is missing or out-of-date, they have no problem skipping the purchase. This is particularly true for price & availability.

For a large retailer like Waardijk, this meant that Expand Online would need to regularly maintain and update a feed of 15,000 products. Naturally, this was not a task that could be done efficiently by hand.

Listing their products on Amazon meant that Waardijk needed a product feed that met the required Amazon specifications and was compelling enough to drive both visibility and sales. That
said, Expand Online was facing three major challenges.

Waardijk is a Dutch online and offline shoe retailer with a history dating back 170 years. The family-run business, once a local brick-and-mortar shoe shop, is recognized for the quality of their products–all made and sold in Europe–along with their exceptional customer service. For the past 7 years, they have been working with the marketing agency Expand Online (a part of Dept) as their trusted partner in online strategy and campaign management.

As ecommerce and consumer behavior rapidly evolves, staying agile is essential for retailers. Consumers are shifting away from smaller web shops and towards larger ecommerce sites and marketplaces. Waardijk was aware that this trend could have a negative impact on their business. In order to stay ahead of the game, they need to be among the first to take action. So, together with Expand Online, they decided to start selling on the Amazon marketplace. By taking the initiative as a “first mover,” they would have the chance to work and gain experience with Amazon before it became the norm. As a starting point, they chose to get their products into the German market, via Amazon.de.

Thanks to Productsup, expanding Waardijk’s business to a new major shopping channel was achieved without any manual work. 
<br>
Within the first day, Expand Online had prepared and uploaded a high quality feed to Amazon.de and Waardijk was officially selling to an entirely new market.
<br>
Within the first week, Waardijk had increased their online sales by 10%. With limited prior knowledge of the Amazon platform, manually adapting and exporting the product feed would have been extremely timeconsuming and would certainly not have been cost effective.
<br>
Now that they have set up their base, Expand Online can focus on Waardijk’s internationalization. Having successfully completed the first step by getting onto Amazon.de, the next country expansion will be even easier.

Online Marketing Consultant eCommerce

Not having to manually add products to Amazon eliminated the most time-consuming aspect of the process.

Learn how online marketing agency DEPT Expand Online helped shoe retailer Waardijk list their 15,000 products on Amazon Marketplace in just 24h.

Success story: DEPT Expand Online & Amazon Marketplace

The predefined Amazon feed template available on the Productsup Platform reduced the time it took to structure Waardijk’s feed according to Amazon’s requirements from taking days to just seconds. With intuitive drag-and-drop logic, they simply had to map the columns of their initial feed to the columns of the new Amazon feed.

Matching Amazon’s product availability specifications was a simple process. The thing is,
Amazon does not simply want to know if your products are in stock or out of stock, the
marketplace (or rather its customers) needs to know how long the shipping time will take. Using Productsup’s availability rule boxes, Expand online was able to replaces the
“in stock” value with the relevant shipping days, namely 2. By inserting a number above zero, Amazon automatically assumes your item is in stock. On the other end of the spectrum, out of stock products received the number 0 in their respective availability field.

To customize their product descriptions for Amazon.de, they first replaced Dutch texts with their own German column translations. Then, they used dynamic placeholders for values from different columns, such as title, material and gender, to compose individual, relevant descriptions for every product to be sold on Amazon. 

Maintaining up-to-date product information was not a problem for Expand Online, thanks to the Productsup export API for Amazon, which helped them to seamlessly synchronize feed exports to the marketplace.

In addition, the API connection allowed them to export only new products or those with changed information, eliminating the need to export the entire feed every time there was an update. This streamlined and sped up the export, and was particularly useful for Waardijk’s large data feed with frequently changing data.

Receiving feedback on how the feed is shaping up was equally important. With the API, feedback from Amazon regarding the product feed could automatically be added directly into a dedicated feed column. This could then be viewed inside the Productsup platform.

With the help of the Productsup ASIN fetcher service, Expand Online was able to retrieve and add the ASIN for each product without any manual work. The service automatically requests the relevant ASIN based on the product GTIN, so long as the product already exists on Amazon. This was a very big time-saver for Expand Online. 

Luckily, being new to Amazon was no issue for Expand Online. Already working with Productsup, a cloud-based solution for managing product data feeds, the challenges listed above were nothing to worry about.

Based on successful past experiences, Productsup was the logical tool to be used for this project.

How DEPT Expand Online helped shoe retailer Waardijk list 15,000 products on Amazon in just one day

Think shopping. Think iPrice. iPrice was set up with one goal in mind – to be the one stop destination for ecommerce discovery. Shoppers have access to all of Southeast Asia’s best e-tailers’ inventories in one place and partners win new customers and grow revenue by sending highly targeted traffic to their website. Their mission is to provide consumers the optimum online shopping experience in a market where ecommerce is rapidly on the rise. iPrice’s metasearch platform is available in seven countries across Southeast Asia, namely in: Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, The Philippines, Vietnam and Hong Kong. Currently, iPrice compares and catalogues more than 150 million products and is already helping Lazada, Zalora, Bukalapak, Berrybenka, and a thousand other sites to grow multi-million dollar revenues in the SEA region.

Integrating this data into the iPrice portal presented a real challenge: The data feeds that merchants were providing to iPrice were not only of poor quality but every merchant would submit their feed via a different source and in a different format. Technical expertise was required to standardize each product feed to suit the right structure and a great deal of time was needed for a single merchant integration to take place. With a limited resource of two technical employees directly involved in the standardization process, only five new merchants could be integrated into the portal per month.

In addition, the merchant integration team was very reliant on the tech team and didn’t have much time to proceed with other work. As they continued to experience rapid growth, iPrice quickly realized that relying on their technical team for each merchant integration had become too inefficient.

With so many new online stores entering the market, iPrice was seeing a growing influx of feeds. This led to two key challenges.

iPrice Group is Southeast Asia’s top meta-search website where consumers can easily compare prices, specs and discover products with hundreds of local and regional merchants. iPrice currently operates across seven countries and three business lines: price comparison for electronics and health & beauty; product discovery for fashion and home & living; and coupons across all verticals. 

With the help of Productsup’s robust, scalable technology and automated set ups, iPrice has increased their rate of merchant integrations by nearly 2000%! Before Productsup, they could manage just 5 integrations in a month. Today they are able to easily integrate more than 100. The increased efficiency has helped iPrice scale and cope with the growing market, having successfully integrated over 1100 merchants to date. The data for each is regularly updated and the highest quality is maintained. 
<br>
Not only has iPrice sped up the integration of merchants, but thanks to Productsup they can now process a higher volume of products in a fraction of the time. Currently, it takes just a few hours for iPrice to process more than 150 million products. This has meant that they can now deal with a larger variety of merchants, regardless of their size.
<br>
The Productsup platform’s user-friendly interface and ability to deal with unknown or new types of feeds has meant the product data can now be managed by anyone in the company, without requiring technical expertise. The flexibility of the platform has eased resource planning and allocation of tasks, and the data can be accessed from any device. Time and efforts spent on technical integration has been further minimized, since the entire integration team has access to a clearer, centralized overview of all the data.

Former Chief Operating Officer of iPrice Group

Time and efforts spending on technical integration has been minimized significantly since the use of Productsup and it only took one month to get up to speed with the platform.

Southeast Asia’s top online shopping destination iprice increases monthly merchant integrations from 5 to 100+ with the Productsup Platform.

Success story: iprice & merchant integrations

Productsup’s custom plugin option enabled the team to read data files received from any type of source and in any format (i.e. XML, CSV, Google Sheets, Google Shopping Centre, API connections, etc.) By leveraging the API, iPrice could retrieve the updated feeds live from the shop system and view the changes in real-time.

Productsup’s Dataflow feature allowed the team to standardize the structure of incoming data feeds to match iPrice’s own custom template. iPrice also enhanced the data files to match their unique requirements using functions like the Static Value insertion and Detect and Extract, within the data edit tool. In order to make the integration process go as smooth and fast as possible, iPrice also received dedicated support from Productsup platform experts, who actively assisted them with the adoption of new features.

Through individual export templates, data feeds from all of their merchants could be be automatically mapped and standardized in preparation for export. Instead of having to export a new feed every time there was an update with one of their client’s feeds, they were now able to export only those products that had new or changed information.

While in search of a scalable solution that would allow them to accommodate the Southeast Asian market expansion, iPrice discovered Productsup. The cloud software for feed management enabled iPrice to effectively leverage four key parts of the merchant integration process:

Senior Affiliates Manager

Data feed management has become easier using Productsup. Productsup lets us import product feeds from different sources, standardize the feeds using data flow and data edit, and export them into a single, compatible file that iPrice can use. This makes data feed management fast, neat, and timesaving.

How iprice increased monthly merchant integrations from 5 to 100+

Joblift is a job platform providing candidates with the most intuitive and frictionless experience during the recruiting process. By presenting a clear and comparative overview of job offers, the user no longer has to worry about searching separate job boards online. Joblift applies the latest machine learning techniques and big data-based algorithms to create the optimal match between employer and applicant. The company’s mission is to become the go-to destination for job seekers of all levels around the globe. 

Joblift’s platform has unique specifications about the information it can ingest. However, this was difficult to manage, as their suppliers would send data in many different formats and file types. IT then had to adjust and tailor this data so the platform could ingest it. Since IT already had many pressing tasks, it would often take days to onboard a single supplier.

As Joblift kept growing, so did the onboarding backlog, which was hurting their ability to scale. The team needed to find a more efficient, and independent, approach to supplier onboarding

In the recruitment industry, both employers and job seekers need to act with speed and agility. Joblift received updates to their listings multiple times per day, but with their manual approach to feeds and dependence on IT, they were unable to keep up.

These constant updates would also arrive in all different formats. Suppliers would send files for both new postings and changes to existing ones, as well as empty files to indicate that postings should be removed. IT would then have to implement these updates. 

Since Joblift is active in a variety of markets, updates often need to be made to several of their country-specific websites (e.g. .co.uk, .nl, etc.) at a time. Interpreting which updates went where further added to the burden. Joblift needed to be able to implement these changes in seconds, not days.

Joblift’s business development teams were in charge of the company’s inventory. However, they were unable to analyze their inventory or check feed statuses without technical support, which IT had little capacity for.

Furthermore, once a feed was integrated into Joblift’s platform, even small changes such as adding a word to the job description required complex coding. This meant that Joblift’s business development teams couldn’t make changes themselves, even at the supplier’s request. They needed a way to gain control over their feeds, so that they could experiment with, edit, and optimize it without relying on IT. 

Joblift’s heavily manual and IT-dependent approach to feed management had them facing three major challenges.

Joblift is a career platform that aims to provide job seekers with a simple and frictionless experience during the recruiting process. The platform hosts more than 10 million vacancies through cooperation with over 4000 partners and is active in Germany, France, the Netherlands, the UK, and the US.

Joblift’s supplier portfolio and user base is constantly expanding, which makes it essential for their business development team to stay on top of current and incoming job listings. To ensure the site’s users were always shown accurate and up-to-date job postings, the team needed to regularly integrate and manage feeds from hundreds of suppliers. But with a heavy dependence on IT for help with supplier onboarding, Joblift’s business development team was lacking the ability to act quickly.

In order to continue scaling their business, Joblift needed a solution that would give their business development teams the power to integrate supplier data feeds quickly and without IT support.

With Productsup, Joblift has transformed their approach to feeds. Instead of relying on IT support for supplier onboarding, business development teams can now structure and export data feeds themselves. Supplier onboarding time has been reduced from days to as little as 10 minutes, and onboarding backlogs are a thing of the past. It’s easier than ever for Joblift to scale their business and reach new markets quickly.
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Without reliance on IT for tasks such as feed edits, feed analysis, and job listing updates, business development can implement changes in seconds instead of days using Productsup’s intuitive interface. Meanwhile, IT has been given back their time, allowing them to work on innovative projects instead of upkeep and repetitive manual tasks.

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Joblift is also now able to export job ads to different partner sites, such as Facebook and LinkedIn,using channel-ready templates. Prior to Productsup, this had never been done at Joblift, as IT didn’t have the capacity to set up an export solution for partners. Productsup has changed the way Joblift operates by increasing efficiency, agility, and access to data company-wide.

Head of Operations

Productsup allows us to easily and seamlessly manage and integrate feeds in our day-to-day business – it’s a massive help in growing our business!

Find out how leading job platform Joblift onboarded 3 suppliers in just 30 minutes.

Success story: How Joblift onboarded 3 clients in just 30 minutes

Productsup built a custom template for exporting data to Joblift’s platform. This allowed business development teams to effortlessly onboard suppliers without support from IT. The Productsup platform integrates all types of data of any size or format, so Joblift was able to integrate data from new suppliers immediately. Regardless of the file format or size, Joblift could quickly structure data according to their custom templates before sending them on to their own platform.

The Productsup platform dashboards also allowed Joblift teams to monitor errors and ensure that all exports were running smoothly.

With Productsup, Joblift was able to schedule regular automatic imports from established suppliers onto their platform. As Joblift needed a way to distinguish the types of updates they received, Productsup built a custom import: the platform would read the names of files sent by suppliers, which would contain either NEW, DELETE, or CHANGE. These keywords would inform the platform to automatically perform the related task, so that job listings were always up-to-date.

Productsup also allowed Joblift to separate listings into different folders with predefined destinations. This way, business users could ensure that country-specific updates went to the right country’s site – for example, listings in the UK folder only go to the UK site.

The Productsup platform provided an intuitive interface for business development teams to access and alter feeds without needing any technical support. Business development teams could analyze their data and experiment with their inventory.

Teams were able to make edits and changes themselves, as the platform provides great control over existing feeds. Automation gave Joblift the ability to efficiently make bulk edits, such as setting proper cases and adding or changing cities, countries, or other values. Supplier requests no longer required coding expertise.

Once Joblift implemented Productsup as their feed management solution, they saw huge improvements in their supplier onboarding process and overall feed management capabilities.

Operational Excellence Manager

Productsup is a total lifesaver – accessing information about our feeds is a breeze, especially because the UX is so intuitive!

How Joblift onboarded 3 clients in just 30 minutes

K-New Media creates and executes online marketing solutions over all channels such as performance marketing, SEO, social media, content marketing, campaign management, and business intelligence. To bring the best results, they have 80 employees from 11 different countries, which support the team not only with their professional knowledge but also linguistically.

The maintenance and customization of product feeds required heavy collaboration between K-New Media’s marketing and IT teams. This often left marketing unable to move forward, as they had to wait for edits to be made by another team.

Moreover, since their internal configuration had to be written in XML, in-depth customization simply demanded too much time for non-programmers. K-New Media needed to find a way to reduce the man-power required to maintain and adjust product feeds.

K-New Media’s approach to feed management was highly manual. Without a capable feed management solution or at least some level of automation, they were not able to add any additional product information from other sources. This means, if a clients’ main feed didn’t contain product margins, they could not be added. This setback drastically reduced the quality potential of their clients’ feeds.

K-New Media needed to reliably and regularly export hundreds of product feeds to a variety of channels. This typically requires a server with sufficient storage and the capacity to move a massive amount of data. Theirs, however, lacked server space. It often became overloaded by the number of product feeds, which resulted in feeds with mistakes being exported or exports not being completed at all.

K-New Media’s marketing team relied on IT for support with their feed management efforts. This not only slowed down processes, but limited their ability to optimize clients’ feeds to their full potential. Their approach left them facing three key challenges.

K-New Media is the in-house online marketing agency of one of the largest multichannel mail order companies in Germany, KLiNGEL-Group. The company works with a range of businesses, from specialized shopping platforms to fashion, health and lifestyle brands. In total, K-New Media manages the online marketing efforts for 15 individual KLiNGEL-Group brands across 12 European countries. These efforts include performance marketing, campaign management, and a wide array of feed-based marketing tactics like search and social media advertising.

K-New Media’s clients expect them to work quickly and achieve outstanding results. In feed-based marketing, top tier results require an efficient approach to managing product feeds, along with access to the tools necessary to boost the agility and quality of product data. K-New Media, however, was lacking both

Thanks to Productsup, K-New Media’s marketing team has been able to focus in on the performance of their products on feed-based channels. Instead of waiting around for IT to perform small edits, the marketing team can now create high-performing, channel-ready product feeds all on their own and in a fraction of the time it used to take.
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The increase in feed quality and accuracy has resulted in a **30% uplift in CTR and a 20% boost in conversion rate on Google Shopping.** Moreover, with the time and resources saved from automating manual tasks, K-New Media can export even more feeds than before. This has resulted in a **45% increase in ad impressions.**
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K-New Media’s marketing team no longer has to worry about advertising unavailable products or inaccurate pricing, thanks to their custom-built API on Productsup. Now, they can easily define, customize, and schedule times to fetch and deliver price or stock level updates to all their marketing partners.

Managing Director

We were looking for a reliable feed management solution that would give our employees flexibility and independence from IT in feed creation so they could easily and quickly implement their requirements. As the results show, we made a good choice with Productsup.

Find out how in-house online marketing agency K-New Media increased conversion for their clients by 20% on Google Shopping.

Success story: K-New Media & Google Shopping

Productsup built a custom API connection to enable K-New Media to seamlessly import product data directly from their clients’ databank. No matter where this data is kept and in what format, they can retrieve it within just minutes. This has increased their flexibility and reduced the time spent on feed management.

What’s more, the marketing team can now easily enhance product feeds with additional, value-adding product information. The process of importing an additional data source on Productsup is as simple as importing the feed and identifying the connecting attribute. Then, voilà! The additional information is then instantly integrated into the main feed. K-New Media can now be sure that all of their feeds are complete as possible. On top of that, no feed is too large and no feeds are too many on Productsup, so they never have to worry about server space again.

With Productsup’s built-in data editing capabilities, paired with its drag-and-drop functionality, K-New Media’s marketing team could customize any size product feed with just a few clicks. This allowed them to become completely independent from IT and nearly all manual tasks. Moreover, every account manager at K-New Media can now adjust feeds for any of their clients according to their specific needs – in a fraction of the time. Now, XML file-handling is a thing of the past.

Everything changed once K-New Media found the powerful feed management and optimization solution, Productsup.

Technical Manager SEA

The ability to visualize our data and quickly analyze values within each column is incredibly helpful for feed optimization. You just know exactly what you are working with!

How K-New Media increased conversion for their clients by 20% on Google Shopping

Meliá Hotels International is the largest hotel group in Spain, as well as the 17th largest hotel chain worldwide. With over 370 hotels located across 43 countries and 4 continents, the hospitality brand is a market leader and globally recognized name. Today, the chain can be found marketed under the following brands: Gran Meliá, Meliá, Paradisus Resorts, ME by Meliá, Innside by Meliá, TRYP by Wyndham, Sol Hotels, and Club Meliá. 

In order to build and broadcast the right ads to the right users, Meliá would need to create a variety of high-quality, market-specific hotel feeds. Since each hotel offering will be different and unique, Meliá would need to craft each feed individually. This includes
compiling data on hotel details like, location, base prices, and descriptions.

To further complicate their work, each feed would need to adhere to Facebook’s unique feed specifications, including titles lengths and the format of each fields’ content. Each and every feed would also need to be updated and exported regularly to ensure the Facebook Catalog was always stocked with the most up-to-date hotel offerings. With traditional manual methods, these updates could easily take weeks to months of support from IT, even to make the simplest feed changes.

For global advertisers, Facebook also require language and country feeds for each target market. Which meant, in addition to the specially-tailored hotel feeds, Meliá would also need to create a multitude of secondary feeds that would be used to override their
main feed for different countries and languages.

With accommodation offerings in nearly 50 countries and in Spanish, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, and German, this would be a huge task for the Meliá team, and starting from scratch would be near impossible.

High-quality images are important to any high converting hotel ad, but on Facebook, they are critical. Not only would Meliá need to make sure that all of their images were in the correct size and format, but they’d also need to ensure their images  were compelling and capable of standing out from an already crowded News Feed. With hundreds of hotels, even basic image resizing would take months in addition to the time already spent on structuring their feeds.

Facebook Dynamic Ads for Travel (DAT) are fuelled by a Facebook Catalog. While only one
Catalog is required to run ads in multiple countries, a variety of localized data feeds are required
to showcase different offerings and languages. Therefore, in getting their ad campaigns up and
running, Meliá faced three key challenges.

Meliá Hotels International is the largest hotel group in Spain, as well as the 17th largest hotel chain worldwide. With over 370 hotels located across 43 countries and 4 continents, the hospitality brand is a market leader and globally recognized name. Today, the chain can be found marketed under the following brands: Gran Meliá, Meliá, Paradisus Resorts, ME by Meliá, Innside by Meliá, TRYP by Wyndham, Sol Hotels, and Club Meliá. 

With tech-savvy holidaymakers on the rise, today’s hoteliers need to be online in order to meet consumers at each stage of the booking funnel. In order to reach a wider audience and users outside of their usual targeting strategies, Meliá Hotels International needed to adjust their approach. Not only would they need to streamline their strategy across markets but they also wanted to scale. To achieve this, they focused their attention on Facebook Dynamic Ads for Travel.

Thanks to Productsup, Meliá now has Facebook Dynamic Ads for Travel campaigns up and running
in 40+ countries. More importantly, they achieved this without any manual work or support from IT.
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**Reduced time to market:** While the preparation of a single feed used to take up weeks to months of time, Meliá can now export a perfectly polished feed within
24 hours.
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**Gained control:** With a reputation for being leaders in the industry, Meliá is recognized for doing things a little differently from the rest. Case in point, instead of the performance marketing team, it’s actually the design team at Meliá who prepare their hotel feeds for Facebook. In any case, they have eliminated their dependence on IT and are able to focus more on feed quality.
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**Improved performance:** The Productsup software has allowed Meliá to give their design team full control of feed management for all global markets. The shift not only saved time but has drastically improved performance, resulting in a 6.7× increase in Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).

Global Digital Marketing Director

“Productsup allowed us to move the task of feed management from our IT team to our design team, part of our digital marketing team, which has drastically cut down time spent on feed preparation. With marketing now in control, we are able to avoid IT developments and export directly high-performing feeds within 24 hours.”

Learn how the hotel chain Meliá Hotels International created Facebook travel catalogs for 40+ countries, eliminated dependency on IT and increased ROAS by 670% with Facebook Travel ads.

Success story: Meliá Hotels International & Facebook Dynamic Ads for Travel

With Productsup’s predefined Facebook Dynamic Ads for Travel Hotel feed template, Meliá was able to create their feed quickly and drastically reduce the time needed to structure a feed according to Facebook’s requirements.

These templates, combined with the platform's intuitive drag-and-drop functionality, meant that Meliá only needed to map data from their original feed to their new Facebook Hotel templates. Now, instead of taking weeks to months to prepare new feeds, Meliá created perfectly structured, market-specific feeds in less than a day.

Meliá’s old approach to product data management required waiting weeks for IT to perform even the most fundamental feed edits like removing unnecessary HTML from hotel titles. Often, the end result was still incorrect and messy. With Productsup, however, these issues were quickly eliminated.

Locating and removing HTML tags was quick and easy with Productsup. Meliá simply added the Remove HTML rule box to their feed, automatically applying the designated changes across each and every field–instantly cleansing their entire feed. What used to take weeks could now be done in seconds.

Adhering to Facebook’s image requirements was no issue for Meliá. Using the Productsup Image resize tool, they were able to automatically resize every single image in their feeds according to Facebook’s specifications with a single click.

With the time saved, they were able to go even a step further and create vertical and horizontal images for different sized banner ads. All of this was conveniently achieved within the Productsup platform.

Fortunately, these challenges were more than manageable for Meliá since they were already using Productsup to mange their feeds. With the help of the platform, creating perfectly tailored, channel-ready Facebook feeds was quick and painless. Produtsup powered their team in four primary ways.

“We were initially looking for a tool that could help us multiply export channels. After seeing how easy this was on Productsup, we knew it was the right software for us.”

How Meliá Hotels International increased ROAS by 670% with Facebook Dynamic Ads for Travel

Trendyol's mission is to assist consumers with all their purchasing needs, at any time, with the best available technology and experience.

Founded in 2010, Trendyol is the largest internet employer in Turkey with a team of nearly 2000 people. Recently in 2018, Alibaba Group invested in Trendyol and joined them in a strategic partnership, reportedly to be the largest in Turkey’s internet industry to date.

Every ecommerce channel boasts their own unique product feed specifications and rules that companies must abide by in order to get their products live. For Trendyol, this meant relying on their technology department to tailor and customize each of their 30 different product feeds for every channel. However, with their technology department already working on so many other tasks, it was near impossible to quickly and effectively adapt a feed in a timely manner. While waiting for their technology department, Trendyol was missing out on sales and new revenue-driving opportunities.

All 30 of Trendyol’s feeds needed to be updated regularly in order to ensure that every channel had the most up-to-date product information. For this, Trendyol relied again on their technology department. Due to their technology department’s already heavy workload, even the smallest feed updates took hours, which is not optimal for maintaining accurate product information on each channel. This delay had a negative impact on their digital marketing performance. Plus, this approach would never be sustainable in the long term if they hoped to grow and expand.

Google is notorious for its strict feed rules and requirements. Trendyol needed to prepare highly-customized Google Shopping feeds in order to adhere to the channel’s specifications and avoid getting their products disapproved. Furthermore, Trendyol needed to map each of its products to the Google product category taxonomies, and create and manage Google Merchant Center sub accounts for each of its 2000 sellers. 

However, for these tasks, they required the help of their technology department, which was busy working on other projects.

With their original feed management process, Trendyol faced 3 key blockers that were slowing their expansion.

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