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An online presence is the foundation of a company's operations. It's not just about digital transformation, but more importantly about sales and marketing. People are spending more and more time online. Advertisements to communicate their offerings have also largely moved to the Internet. Companies running their own store are well aware of this. However, it happens that manufacturers selling through distribution networks and wholesalers underestimate this medium. Little activity on the Internet translates into less awareness of the brand and its products.
What is a product service?
Product service - A website that hosts a product catalog. It should contain all the product data that can be collected. It differs from an online store in that it lacks the ability to order products.
The main role of the site is to be a repository of data. It happens that there may be less information in the distribution channels. Then customers are looking for detailed data such as heat resistance or certification information. Similarly with photos, the number of which is sometimes limited top-down in the marketplace, or there are only packshots and a person wants to see realizations.
The ideal situation is when a product service contains all the information about a product and passes it on to subsequent distribution channels, ensuring data consistency. Such a system is called Product Information Management, or in the case of a broader view of data, Master Data Management.
When is it worth implementing a product service?
First of all, it is a solution for companies with a large product base. Even more so if the offer is specialized - a lot of technical information and many variations. The panels of CMS or ERP systems are not suitable for presenting the complexity of the product offer.
It is also worth considering a product service when a company has many sources of data and needs to unify product information. This is especially true for manufacturers. Where should users find consistent and always up-to-date product data if not on the manufacturer's website?
The same is true if a company plans to enter new markets, new marketplace platforms or into further e-technologies like B2B Selection Program / Configurator / PDF Catalog Generator. Before taking the next steps, it's worth considering what we have so that the organization's growth doesn't cause chaos and discourage customers.
What should you look for when deciding on a product service?
Product structure
The most important aspect is to present the structure of the product, for example, the ability to switch by color or other parameter of the variant. Often at this point we realize that a CMS with descriptions is not enough and we need to implement a system that was created for such purposes.
The structure also affects the way information is presented, e.g. technical data in a table, photo gallery, marketing descriptions. Focusing on user experience is important, because you need to present a large amount of information in a simple way. Tools with visitor-centered modules(UX/DXP) will always have the advantage.
Relationships between products
Our goal is to familiarize the visitor with product offerings. Showing complementary (cross-sell) and similar or better (up-sell) products is an important element not only for online stores. A potential customer for brake pads, for example, may also be interested in brake discs. The more time a visitor spends on the site, the more likely he or she will later choose a product from the offer.
Buyer feedback and reviews
Even if we convince a potential customer of the value of our product, he or she may not be sure of the purchase. The visitor should feel that the product satisfies his needs. To help him do this, it is a good idea to select customer reviews and place them on the product page. The reviews should be diverse, so that everyone can find the situation they are currently in and the problem they came to the site with.
Can be expanded to a store
Product sites are implemented by companies that do not sell on the site, such as manufacturers. Over time, it may turn out that since the manufacturer provides a price list it would like to be able to sell products from the catalog. Retail prices are noticeably higher than in distributors' stores, so there is no conflict of interest. A good tool should allow you to add the ability to sell at low cost to the site.
Suggesting next steps
Visitors come for a purpose, mainly for product information. In addition to making it easier for customers to achieve their goals, it is worth considering what our goal is and what next action we suggest to the customer. The next step could be to redirect to a distributor page, to a contact page, to a form, etc.
Pimcore
One of the tools in which a product service can be realized is the Pimcore platform, which gives the ability to manage content on pages (CMS), manage digital assets of products (DAM), product data and other objects (PIM). This number of functions provides full coverage of needs and the ability to materialize all product service ideas.
Technically, it is a PIM/MDM system, so it is very well equipped to store a large amount of product data, of varying complexity with many relationships between objects. Its flexibility allows it to be given any structure or to use an already existing one within the standard, such as the ETIM classification system. Pimcore has strong capabilities in extracting data from various sources and sending enriched data to target channels.
In addition, the platform has e-commerce modules to support sales processes, including order management, customer profiling, complex pricing logics for categories, customer-specific price lists and assortments. With little effort, you can add the ability to purchase products from a catalog. The Pimcore system, thanks to its high customer ratings, has been repeatedly recognized by the Gartner Cupcake Institute. Learn more about the Pimcore platform.
