How can you build a product catalogue that boosts your sales?

Nowadays, all businesses, regardless of their sector, are constantly updating their product catalogues. This drive for innovation and diversification increases the number of products in the portfolio and, consequently, the associated product data. Product data management is becoming essential for streamlining efforts and effectively managing product information throughout the various phases of its life cycle, as well as across the relevant departments. The product repository is the fundamental tool for this work, designed to facilitate the management and use of information.

Definition of the product repository

The product repository is the central database in which all information relating to the products sold by the company is integrated, stored and linked. It is updated at every stage of the product lifecycle by the various teams working on it and enables the straightforward dissemination of information that has been validated, standardised and harmonised. This enables every stakeholder to work from a common, reliable and comprehensive set of product information.

Why is it important to maintain your product repository?

When a company has an extensive and/or constantly evolving product portfolio, the volume of product-related data also continues to grow. It becomes essential to centralise, standardise and manage this data more effectively in order to improve efficiency and reliability. The product repository achieves this by consolidating all product data within a flexible, cross-functional tool. It unifies the data to ensure consistency and links it together to create a product network that is relevant to both the user and the end customer.

By implementing the product repository, the company secures a range of benefits:

• A reduction in errors, as there is now a single source of product information for the whole organisation,
• Streamlining of data versions and the tracking of changes, which ensures transparency of information,
• Faster product roll-out across sales channels thanks to the easier sharing of product information,
• Standardisation of internal communication and relations with partners, thanks to reliable, consistent and comprehensive product information that is easily shared.

Whilst the product repository offers numerous benefits, the key to success lies in its implementation, which must enable the company to improve efficiency at every stage of the product lifecycle.

How can you build a flawless product repository?

Management of the product repository begins at the very inception of the product itself. During the design phase, various teams are involved in getting the product ready for production: R&D, design, planning, and so on. They must collaborate effectively to enrich, maintain a history of, and develop the product data right through to the production phase. It is PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) that enables this work to be carried out, by simplifying collaboration to allow the company to be more agile and responsive.

Once the product is ready for sale, PIM (Product Information Management) takes over to manage the information that will be used to enrich the product listings. These may vary depending on the sales channels: PIM therefore enables information tailored to each channel to be distributed according to pre-defined settings. This collaborative tool streamlines the workflow by allowing every member of the sales team to easily access and contribute to the information. It automates and accelerates data processing to improve time-to-market whilst enhancing internal collaboration. The PIM has the advantage of managing both media (photos, videos, etc.) and text, and of serving as a single product repository whilst being able to adapt to a differentiated omnichannel strategy.

In practical terms, we have identified seven steps to help you build and deploy your product repository effectively:

Identify the objectives of your product repository

Firstly, you need to determine the actions you wish to carry out and the objectives you aim to achieve by creating this product repository. These may include: ensuring the consistency and effective management of your product data, improving the quality of your product information, reducing errors and duplicates in your data, and so on.

Set up a dedicated product catalogue team

As with the implementation of a PIM project, a team must be responsible for ensuring the proper maintenance of this product catalogue. It is therefore advisable to put together a multidisciplinary team, representative of the people who will subsequently contribute to the product data. Whether they are staff from Marketing, Product, R&D, E-commerce or Digital, these individuals will be responsible for managing the product repository.

Identify your product data sources

Clearly and precisely identify the data sources that will provide information about your products. These may include internal databases, Excel files, ERP systems, supplier catalogues, and so on.

Standardise your product information

Here, you need to identify precise data standards for your product attributes – such as descriptions, names, product codes, images, etc. – to ensure that the data is consistent and standardised.

Implement a PIM to manage your product repository and data

You now need software to manage, enrich and distribute your product data that is operationally robust and efficient. This PIM solution must be tailored to your current needs as well as your future objectives – what you aim to achieve through the management of your product data.

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Importing the initial data

The next step is to import your original data into your new data management system – a PIM, for example – whilst ensuring that your data is clean and standardised.

Establish data maintenance processes

Define processes for both the management and maintenance of your new product repository. For the Quable PIM, the ‘workflows’ feature enables all teams contributing to product data to collaborate effectively by setting up tasks relating to the collection, centralisation, updating and distribution of data.

Measuring the performance of your product catalogue

Set up key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess the success of your product repository and thereby identify areas for improvement. Certain features of PIM platforms are ideally suited to this, such as the “analytics” function in Quable PIM, which allows you to define fully customisable KPIs, boost productivity and gain a clear, comprehensive overview of your product catalogue.

Conclusion

Some companies manage hundreds, or even thousands, of products every day. By integrating a product repository into their strategy from the outset, both small and large companies can achieve significant gains in operational efficiency. Better visibility and management of product information, from design through to sale, helps improve internal processes and reduce processing times. Ultimately, the whole organisation moves towards better management of the product and its associated data, thanks to a more collaborative approach, thereby accelerating sales. A valuable tool for day-to-day operations, the product catalogue—if used correctly—will therefore quickly deliver a positive ROI!