An Easy Guide for Effective B2B Product Catalog Management
The industries offering B2B services are witnessing continuous evolution. The current trends have forced these industries to switch or upgrade their strategies, particularly in product catalog management. Perhaps, multichannel and e-commerce industry are front-runners in changing B2B product catalog management.
It is expected that B2B companies will switch to the management of online catalog and stop printing it within next five years. In fact, it is basis of a successful B2B business and here is the guide to improve it for better future of a company.
About B2B Catalog Management:
The B2B companies require sharing the catalog of their products with their clients, who use it on their own system. They need to integrate and link this catalog with their suppliers. Companies indulged in e-commerce find it difficult to manage this system. They need right software and strategy to manage online retail services. Hence, an effective catalog management enhances accuracy as well as operating cost of B2B companies.
Importance of Product Catalog Management:
Before proceeding with the details, you should understand the significance of B2B product catalog management. Firstly, customers should be given access to the electronic product catalog, especially if it includes rich and engaging content. You can improve price and order accuracy by sharing catalogs. Also, it helps in reducing the cost of labor for the end user.
On the other hand, your product catalog should be embedded with real-time integration. That means any update from supplier is really fast, especially in creating new product listing, updating details, or change in prices. Perhaps, merchant can offer a deep range of products with the real-time updates. Simultaneously, shoppers can see latest inventories and details of product due to the same.
Essential Requirements for Improved Management:
There are certain requirements that must be met by a merchant for effective management of product catalogs. These include:
Enthusiastic Business Partners:
The large companies invest in the direct supplier integration as an important component of their business operations. It can be an exorbitant expense for the small business owners having limited resources. Hence, they need proactive and keen trading partners who can willingly participate in the process and use technology for direct integration of catalogs. Most importantly, this integration should be done in the real-time for presenting the catalog of suppliers together with the inventory.
Flexibility in Product Interface Design:
You need flexibility when linking the supplier data with product details and product search pages. It is essential for effective integration of supplier catalogs.
Supportive Formats:
In the exchange of product data, Excel and CSV are the most commonly used file formats. It is essential to ensure that your system supports both these formats to facilitate working with your customers and suppliers.
Remembering the File Mapping Structures:
The data import software integrated into your system should be capable of memorizing the mapping structures of previously imported files. When the import software remembers these transformation rules, it can ensure data accuracy and enhance the speed of data imports.
Mapping the Data Fields:
A capability to map data fields helps the merchants in importing the data of your trading partners. It facilitates mapping of imported data fields to the data structure of your software.
For better B2B product catalog management, you need robust software solutions that meet all these criteria. At Infognana, we specialize in these services and can offer the desired results for your online retail business.
