April 25, 2019 
The e-commerce landscape continues to evolve at a rapid pace. The convenience of 24/7 shopping remains a major driver, as highlighted in various industry reports [1]. The number of online shoppers is expected to keep climbing. According to Forbes, India’s e-commerce sector alone is expected to reach a staggering INR 4,416.68 billion by the end of 2024 [2]. This translates to a massive online marketplace landscape, brimming with potential for brands of all sizes.
However, capitalizing on this opportunity requires overcoming the complexities of marketplace listings, particularly when it comes to managing your product catalog. This article explores the challenges you might face while managing product information across various marketplaces and introduces the five key benefits of leveraging an automated catalog management system to streamline your operations and conquer the marketplace.
Challenges in product catalog management
The process of eCommerce catalog management seems quite straightforward. You just have to manage seamless product data quality across eCommerce platforms. But it really gets demanding for brands for various reasons.
1. Keeping product data consistent across channels
For consumers, it is much easier to find their relevant product needs in this omni-connected world.
But at the same time, it is equally difficult for brands to ensure the quality of their product data to be same across all platforms and channels.
Managing and updating a single repository for publishing product data across channels and category-wise mapping of product information for each marketplace is a huge challenge.
2. Uploading multiple catalogs at different marketplaces
Different marketplaces accept different product data formats. They have different requirements vis-a-vis attributes, hierarchies and catalogs.
The more sites you get listed on, more efforts are needed to update in required formats.
3. Expanding product catalog
Brands these days need to offer a huge and complicated line of new products that are short-lived and dependent on numerous channels. Such new products are either recreated from the existing ones or are build from scratch.
However, when these new products are ready, they need to be quickly listed on marketplaces so that they can reach end consumers and suffice their needs.
4. Dealing with supplier data
Incomplete and inconsistent product data handed over from the suppliers also account to the challenges imposed in getting those fixed.
Making product data customer-ready can get tricky for the merchants, especially if they are working with various suppliers.
The catalog management system market reached a size of USD 1.96 billion in 2024 [3], and is anticipated to continue growing at a healthy clip in the coming years.
Thus, in order to achieve a competitive edge in the market, it becomes important for catalog managers to adopt an agile catalog management software that helps them in delivering a consistent experience to end users.
Key benefits of catalog management system
Now that you know the challenges associated with product catalog management, it is time to discover the key benefits of an automated catalog management system.
1. Centralized repository for all product data
Maintaining several product catalogs for multiple channels like customers, subscribers and affiliates is a tough task.
Over a period of time, it becomes difficult to manage different catalogs due to the release of new products and the need for bundled services across various departments.
With the help of a catalog management system you can instantly manage product data that too with very less redundancy in the product information.
Catalog management software collates the enterprise data within a centralized repository to provide complete access & visibility to brands via a single browser which enables them to respond quickly to market changes.
2. Easy access to product data for business users
Once a central repository of product data is created, a solution should make sure of passing accessibility to all business users.
In order to ensure timely launch of new products, catalogs need to be quickly designed, created and launched as per the needs of the customers.
With easy access to product data on a centralized repository, business users can centrally manage a cross-channel strategy by creating and managing the catalog, across multiple marketplaces.
3. Upload-ready product data sheets for different marketplaces
To keep the catalogs properly updated, an enormous set of data is required to be processed and verified.
However, maintaining the accuracy of your product database with precise information is usually difficult.
To resolve such issues, catalog management software plays a very crucial role in identifying the desired products, gathering the product specifications and price.
4. Image transformation according to different marketplaces
The next generation customers not only expect a great shopping experience, but also a consistent product information whether shopping online or offline.
A conflicting and irrelevant image can impact your product information ultimately disturbing that amazing experience.
When a consumer reads the product information, they tend to compare it with the image provided and if there is a gap, it might discourage them to buy the product.
A super efficient catalog management software automatically flips the images as required.
Once you are able to collate all digital images and videos under a single location along with relevant product data, you allow the software to automatically transform images if there is a change in the product data for a particular marketplace.
Updated, approved digital assets are a critical component to creating meaningful and consistent brand experiences across the distributed ecommerce ecosystem.
5. Classification and categorization of products
Maintaining product data accurately and efficiently can be an overwhelming task and involves a huge effort of the catalog manager.
Poor product classification and categorization frustrates the customers and the chances of their returning back to the website usually reduce.
Improper categorization makes it tough for the customers to run an online search and find the right product.
Catalog management software helps you in overcoming the challenges of classifying and categorizing your product on the marketplace.
It ensures that the products are clearly recognized under different sections or categories with the smallest attributes of each product like home and kitchen, food & grocery, beauty and health, etc.
Thus, with a comprehensive approach, customers are provided with apt and wide-range of choices. A well-structured logical catalog helps them easily navigate through the products of your online store.
A catalog or a product management system cohesively supports the product data management from creation to fulfillment. It reduces manual efforts and time-to-market for a product which is functionality rich with a multilingual solution. See how Vinculum can help you seamlessly manage your catalogs across multiple marketplaces through an automated catalog management system.
Sources:
1) https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2024-global-overview-report/
2) https://www.forbes.com/advisor/in/business/ecommerce-statistics/
3) https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/catalog-management-system-market/
