14.06.2021
An online product catalogue is a set of products that were grouped according to a specific criterion in order to improve the navigation across the products, product management and make multichannel publishing more flexible.
E-catalogues segment different type of products or divide products with different purposes. For example, you can create one catalogue with summer clothes and another for winter or one catalogue for an e-commerce platform and another for a sales channel.
The benefits of e-catalogues are numerous. Unlike printed versions, online catalogues are easy to enrich, correct and share. Any changes or updates will be performed in real-time providing excess to precise product data to customers, company workers and partners.
Regardless of whether you already have e-catalogues or are going to create, you will need the support of software tools that will help to organise product content the way you want and the way customers expect. The most advanced tool is the Product Information Management System or PIM.
Product Information Management System (PIM) is software that controls full product content management from data uploading to delivering to customers. PIM system allows organising, data quality control, data enriching, correcting and sharing globally saving time on manual work.
PIM provides tools for creating multiple:
Allows creating multiple sales channels and sharing products or catalogues within world-known marketplaces like Amazon, eBay.
PIM easily connects to an e-commerce platform with connectors or built-in integration tools and becomes a single source of precise product data for the whole company.
To show the process of catalogue creation with a PIM solution more clearly, we will describe it with the example of KennerPIM by Kenner Soft Service GmbH. KennerPIM provides well-managed tools for product catalogue creation, editing, enriching and distribution via multiple channels.
The process of catalogue creating is not so complicated as can seem. But, there are some things to determine before starting the creation:
What is the purpose of the catalogue? (for example to segment different types of products or to segment products for different sales channels)
What is the target audience of the catalogue? (catalogues for B2B partners and catalogues for a specific target audience like young people from 18-25 will be different in customisation)
What response should the catalogue generate? (for example to generate emotional response thanks to a variety of visual content or completely full descriptions)
Such a quick test will help to understand what the catalogue should be in the end.
The first step is to click on the Catalogs button on the left-side menu and press on the top right button Create Catalog.
The following creation window will open. Then, the user should specify:
Catalogue’s Name (depends on types of products like Furniture or Clothes; Summer Collection 2021 or Winter Collection 2020-2021)
Entity Code (a unique value for each catalogue; it can be the name of the catalogue or numerical order depends on in which way it is comfortable for the user to search the catalogue)
Description (description of the catalogue usage)
Worth noting is that PIM allows creating a multilanguage catalogue. The user can specify the other language fields at once.
After the needed fields are compiled, the user should mark the catalogue as active with the checkmark and click on the Save button. In this case, the catalogue for furniture is ready now.
The second step is to create a Product Family. Product Family is a required condition for product creation.
Product Family is a group of similar products. They have similar production processes or similar physical characteristics. Product Families improve the navigation between products and enhance catalogue fulfilment. Creating and adding products to the catalogue is impossible without a product family creation for them.
To create a Product Family, the user should click on the Product Families button on the left-side menu and then on the top right Create Product Family button.
The process of Product Family creation is similar to Catalogue creation. The user should fill the fields:
Family Name (depends on types of products like Armchairs or Sofas; Coats 2020 or T-shirts 2021).
Entity Code (a unique value for each family; it can be the name of a family or numerical order depends on in which way it is comfortable for the user to search the Product Family).
Description (description of the catalogue usage).
The multi-language option is also available for a Product Family creation.
After all the fields are completed, the user should mark the family as active with the checkmark and click on the Save button. In this case, Armchairs – a product family for the Furniture catalogue is ready now.
The third step is to create and add products to the catalogue. The user should click on the Products button on the left-side menu and then on the top right Create Product button.
The following window will appear. The user should specify the fields:
Name (product name like Armchair Cherry Velvet).
SKU (unique product identifier that can be used only once within the same catalogue).
Catalogue (the user should select the catalogue to which the product belongs; the Furniture catalogue was already created ).
Type (product type that defines the product nature like Simple product).
Product family (the user should select the product family, to which the product is related, the Armchairs product family was already created).
After all the fields are fulfilled, the user should press on Save button. The product with a related product family exists and included in the catalogue.
Worth noting is that product family and products can be created both from the left-side menu like in the previous example and from the catalogue. In such a case after saving a catalogue the user should click on the empty product list at the bottom of the page.
The window for product creation will appear and all the fields should be filled as in the previous example except for Product Family. A product family can be created just while product adding or with a left-side menu before. Click on Product Family selection.
Click on Create Product Family at the bottom of the window.
Fulfil the fields as in the previous example and click on the Save button.
The Product Family is added to a product, so the user can save the product in the catalogue.
The product with a related product family is created and added to the catalogue. The mission is completed!
The video guides about how to create a product catalogue in KennerPIM are available with the following links:
Creating a product catalogue (adding products with a left-side menu):
https://screenrec.com/share/apltP9Z6gc
Creating a product catalogue (adding products from the catalogue):
https://screenrec.com/share/R9EhL4J3BN
Then the user can add other products to the catalogue. Customisation of the products with categories, descriptions, prices, images etc. can be added in the Products section or the user can import products with all the related data from existing sources.
While the catalogue is already existing, KennerPIM provides Product Catalogue Management. The user can enrich catalogues with new products, edit, create special-need catalogues and share via numerous channels that can also be created with a PIM.
PIM allows creating PDF versions of the catalogue to share or print and automatically transforms data into Excel and CSV files. In addition, the product data can be organised in families, categories with attributes and associations. As soon as all the product content is organised in the PIM, different pieces can be shared with different channels automatically. Real-time and always up-dated product information can be connected with e-commerce platforms (Shopware, Oxid, Magento etc.), marketplaces (Amazon, eBay).
KennerPIM has data validation modes, push notifications, quality reports and qualitative translations. In such a way the low-quality data and human errors in the catalogue and the whole data source are excluded.
To present the products in the e-catalogue in the most attractive way, some tips should be taken into account:
Create full product descriptions
PIM allows the creation of 360° description including:
Create professional digital content
Product images, videos or logos plays no less role than full product descriptions. Qualitative visual content creates an emotional connection with customers that is why it is important to consider about:
In the case of storing and managing all the visual content pieces, KennerPIM combined PIM and DAM solutions in one. Digital Asset Management (DAM) is a system that gathers all the digital assets in a single source and provides storing, organising and sharing. KennerPIM DAM solution has:
Create product families and attributes
Product families speed up navigation between products and information on them. They help to make product descriptions in the catalogue more detailed. Attributes demonstrate major product properties, structuralise the product list and can be grouped to simplify the navigation through the catalogues. The KennerPIM system contains 20 standard attributes in different languages, additional can be created on-demand.
Creating and organising product catalogues is not a complicated task especially with the support of a product management tool like PIM. Moreover, if such a system provides tools for creating one source of product information, data quality control and product presentation in a way that meets buyers’ expectations.
The product catalogue is a collection that presents products, offers, descriptions, images that help customers to make a purchase decision.
The best way to create a product catalogue is to use the support of product management tools like PIM. It takes a few clicks to create a catalogue in the PIM system.
Product Information Management System (PIM) is software that controls full product content management from data uploading to delivering to customers. PIM system allows organising, data quality control, data enriching, correcting and sharing globally saving time on manual work.
With a PIM solution, users can enrich catalogues with new products, edit, create special-need catalogues and share via numerous channels in real-time. PIM also allows creating PDF versions of the catalogue to share or print and automatically transforms data into Excel and CSV files.
