Online selling and product marketing are really challenging. With numerous other retailers offering similar product ranges at competitive prices, customers are not easy to attract and engage these days. Moreover, customers also compare the products and their prices based on features, titles, and descriptions.
Based on Salsify’s ‘2025 Consumer Research’ report, about 77% of customers say product descriptions and titles are very or extremely important when they decide to buy. This report covered US and UK consumers.
Making your presence felt demands a lot of hard work and dedication. In such a scenario, planning and managing an online retail catalog can be a great help. This blog focuses on simplifying online retail catalog management and how Bill Gosling Outsourcing (BGO) helps with such catalog management.
Online Retail Catalog Management (ORCM)
ORCM is the process of managing a product catalog to ensure its highest quality across all channels. This includes organising, standardising, and publishing your product data. The most crucial part of this catalog is maintaining the accuracy of product details.
While e-commerce product catalog management might seem easy to many, it actually is a complex task due to reasons like the scalability of the product catalog, maintaining data consistency, and quality.
To simplify this process, we share a few simple tips that may help retailers counter challenges and manage their online product catalogs better. Read on to learn more.
Validate All Product-Related Information
For hassle-free online product catalog management, it is important to be sure about the information you have declared about your products online, such as their Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs), Universal Product Code (UPC), or Part Number. This can be done by validating and cross-checking the product information with the details about inventory in stock. Having accurate information can help in minimising product returns and replacements while building a good brand reputation.
As per Syndigo’s ‘2025 State of Product Experience’ report, about 75% of consumers feel negative about the brands if they’ve inaccurate product information.
Maintain Uniformity in Displaying Product Information
A user browsing an e-commerce website is likely to place an order only when its user interface is accessible and easy to navigate. No customer would ever place an order with a business that makes them feel frustrated.
As per Salsify’s ‘2025 Consumer Research’ report, about 71% of shoppers have returned a product because it didn’t match the online listing, while 54% have abandoned a purchase because the product content wasn’t consistent from one channel to the next.
To offer your website visitors a user-friendly experience, all you need to do is ensure that the information on your website is well-managed and placed uniformly. This, in turn, would not only improve your website’s bounce rate but would also allow them to find what they have been looking for.
Deploy Product Information Management System (PIMS)
Investing in a product information management system (PIMS) is a great idea to simplify product catalog management. PIMS facilitates centralising, managing, and listing products on multiple online sales channels. It also assists retailers in standardising their product data using various robust tools, thereby saving them a lot of time.
PIMS also prevents the problem of managing multiple spreadsheets across different departments. Assisting in resolving the data quality problems, PIMS also provides ease of listing the same products across multiple channels.
According to Akeneo’s ‘PX Pulse’ survey, about 77% of respondents said they would leave the site and check other channels for the product data.
Optimise Product Listings Strategically
Using mega menus on your website can be a great idea if you have a large product catalog. However, this won’t be effective if you have limited products to offer. This is because categorising your product range can prevent customers from exploring new products or even looking at the products they might buy. Therefore, it is recommended first to know your business size carefully and then define your online product catalog’s categories.
Retailers must define product segments and further divide them into sub-categories to show customers the available product range. Moreover, it is significant that such categories are accessible and provide different product options. Allowing your users to filter their search results on the basis of factors like product material and style can also improve their experience.
As per Akeneo’s ‘2025 B2C’ survey, 30% of consumers are dissatisfied with how comprehensive the product data is.
Streamline Product Content for SEO
Duplicate content is one of the major issues that may create trouble in managing the online product catalog. This can be due to several factors, such as using the same copy for multiple product descriptions, replicating the product description from another website, and listing one product under multiple categories and sub-categories.
To simplify product catalog management, it is recommended that retailers avoid such mistakes and publish fresh content for every listed product. Also, make sure that the content is SEO-friendly to help improve its ranking in Google search results.
Build a Successful Online Store
If you are a retailer and sell your product range online, you have complete control over your customer experience and brand reputation. Whether it is about the ways in which your products are presented in the market or sharing information about an ongoing sale, better management of your online catalog always helps.
It is also important to remember that a well-managed online catalog can help generate better revenue. Therefore, never compromise on the quality of the online product catalog, and you are all set to win the market.
How Bill Gosling Supports Catalog Management
There are several catalog tasks that are difficult to maintain in-house, such as validating inaccurate supplier files, inspecting conflicted specifications, and resolving failures across different marketplaces. Such tasks require time and judgment.
Automation and AI may detect a missing measurement, but someone still needs to contact the supplier, evaluate the response, and confirm the correction.
As per DHL’s ‘E-commerce Trends’ report, 29% of global shoppers say they would let AI make shopping decisions or purchases for them within the next five years.
BGO’s e-commerce services include catalog creation, quality checks, content management, buyer & seller management, e-commerce analytics, and more. It also provides multi-channel support while ensuring an outstanding customer experience.
For retailers who are considering outsourcing their catalog management, the real-world opportunity is to assign validation and marketplace tasks to a dedicated team with experienced personnel. Such individuals are well-versed in highlighting errors and correcting them by following up and publishing. Moreover, such teams can also retain control over pricing, sensitive claims, and required support for catalog operations.
Frequently Asked Questions
When should a retailer outsource catalog management?
Retailers must outsource catalog management when product updates are continuously delayed, marketplace errors take a lot of internal time, or operational files require extensive cleanup. Moving forward, initiate with a defined category to analyse quality before expanding. A small pilot also shows you how the team works before you commit.
Can AI safely generate product descriptions and complete missing attributes?
Yes, AI can draft product descriptions and complete missing information; however, such information and descriptions must be verified against approved records. Treat AI output as a first draft, and have someone check it before anything goes live. That check matters most for sizes, materials, compatibility, and any claims about the product.
Which metrics must be used to assess catalog management performance?
Retailers must implement the following metrics to evaluate the performance of catalog management: duplicate records, listing rejection rates, authentication errors, synchronisation delays, and satisfaction rates. Review them every month, and look at the trend rather than a single number.
Why is there a difference between product prices and availability amongst different sales channels?
There are various scenarios that can result in price and availability differences. These are delayed updates, failed integrations, manual edits, and channel-specific offers. For this, retailers must compare every listing with its source system to identify the differences, if any.
How can retailers manage product catalogs across multiple stores?
Keep one master record for every product and treat each store as a copy of it. Agree who owns that record, list the attributes each store requires (some marketplaces need fields others don’t), and publish changes from the master rather than editing each store by hand. A weekly check of price, stock, and description against the master catches errors before shoppers do.
