Price Benchmarking: Benefits for Your eCommerce

Price benchmarking

As a business owner, pricing your products and services can be a daunting task. You want to be competitive in your industry, but you also need to make a profit. That’s where price benchmarking comes in. By setting the right pricing benchmarks, you can ensure that your prices are competitive while still maintaining your profit margins.

What is Price Benchmarking?

Price benchmarking is a method of comparing prices across different sellers in an industry. It is used to gain insight into the competitive pricing dynamics of an industry and help businesses to price their products accordingly. This allows them to stay competitive and maximize their profits. Price benchmarking can also be used to identify industry pricing trends and anticipate market changes. 

Price benchmarking involves collecting data from competitors and analyzing it to understand how their prices compare to the prices of other sellers. This data can be collected from a variety of sources, including third-party marketplaces, websites, and in-store pricing. Once the data is collected, it can be analyzed to determine the average price, the range of prices in the market, and the most competitive prices. This allows businesses to adjust their prices accordingly and stay competitive.

Why are Pricing Benchmarks Important?

Setting the right prices is crucial for eCommerce businesses, as it can have a significant impact on your sales and profitability. If your prices are too high, you may lose customers to competitors who offer lower prices. On the other hand, if your prices are too low, you may not make enough profit to sustain your business.

By benchmarking your prices against industry standards and your competitors’ prices, you can ensure that your prices are competitive and attractive to your customers. Price benchmarking also helps e-commerce businesses to understand the pricing trends in their industry, so they can better anticipate changes and take advantage of them. 

How Does Price Benchmarking Work?

Price benchmarking for eCommerce works by tracking the prices of items on different websites and comparing them to one another. This process can be done manually or automated through software. Manual price benchmarking requires a person to check prices on different sites and compare them manually. Automated price benchmarking software can be used to do the same task automatically. The software collects the data from different sites and then compares them to provide the best prices. This helps eCommerce stores to identify any pricing discrepancies or find the best deals available.

After the data is collected, it can be analyzed to understand the competitive pricing dynamics of the industry. This analysis involves looking at the average price, the range of prices in the market, and the most competitive prices. 

Once the data is collected and analyzed, it can be used to adjust the prices of the business’ products accordingly. This allows businesses to stay competitive and maximize their profits.

Benefits of Price Benchmarking

There are many benefits to price benchmarking for e-commerce businesses. Here are some of the most important ones:

1. Increased Profits

Price benchmarking can help businesses to identify areas where they can increase their profits. By comparing their prices to those of their competitors, businesses can determine which products and services are overpriced or underpriced. This can help them to make the necessary adjustments to their pricing strategy to increase their profits.

2. Improved Customer Satisfaction

Price benchmarking can also help businesses to improve customer satisfaction. By making sure their prices are competitive, businesses can ensure that their customers are getting the best value for their money. This can help to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, leading to increased sales and profits.

3. Improved Market Position

Price benchmarking can also help businesses to improve their market position. By making sure their prices are competitive, businesses can gain a competitive advantage over their competitors. This can help them to increase their market share and stay ahead of the competition.

4. Cost Reduction

Price benchmarking can also help businesses to reduce their costs. By making sure their prices are competitive, businesses can reduce the amount of money they spend on advertising and other marketing activities. This can lead to significant cost savings, which can be used to invest in other areas of the business.

Steps and Tips for Price Benchmarking for E-commerce

Price benchmarking can be a complex and time-consuming process, but it is essential for e-commerce businesses that want to stay competitive. With that in mind, here are some tips for effective price benchmarking:

1. Start by Identifying Your Competitors

The first step in any price benchmarking process is to identify your competitors. This can be done by using online search tools or by speaking to industry experts. It’s important to remember that your competitors don’t have to be in the same industry as you; they just have to offer similar products or services. Once you have identified your competitors, you can begin to compare their prices to yours.

2. Gather Data on Prices

The next step is to gather data on prices. This can be done by conducting online research, speaking to industry experts, or visiting competitor websites. It’s important to remember to collect data on prices for all of your competitors, not just the ones you think are most likely to be the most competitive. This data should be collected regularly and updated as prices change.

3. Analyze the Data

Once you have collected the data, it’s time to analyze it. This can be done by comparing your own prices to those of your competitors. It’s also important to look for trends in the data. For example, if you notice that one of your competitors is consistently offering lower prices, you may need to adjust your own prices in order to remain competitive.

4. Adjust Your Prices Accordingly

Finally, once you have analyzed the data, it’s time to adjust your prices accordingly. This can be done by increasing or decreasing your prices in line with the competition. It’s important to remember that you don’t have to match your competitors’ prices exactly; instead, you should aim to set your prices at a level that is competitive but still allows you to make a profit.

5. Consider Different Pricing Strategies

When it comes to pricing, there are many different strategies that you can use. Some of the most common strategies include cost-plus pricing, market-based pricing, and value-based pricing. It is important to consider the different pricing strategies and choose the one that is most effective for your business.

How Cluster Can Help Brands

With Cluster, brands can track pricing and promotions across the largest sales channels to present high-demand and relevant items first and access real-time visibility into market share

down to SKU-level and build a strong reputation. Book a demo now!

Product Matching: The Key to Success in Market Intelligence

Product Matching: The Key to Success in Market Intelligence

Product matching is a crucial aspect of e-commerce, as it helps businesses to provide their customers with accurate and relevant information about the products they are searching for. 

Product matching is a decisive aspect of market intelligence, enabling retailers and other businesses to gain a deeper understanding of their customers, competitors, and market trends. It helps companies make informed decisions about product pricing, promotions, and overall strategy. However, many businesses struggle to match products effectively, resulting in lost opportunities and decreased profits.

Understanding Product Matching

Product matching involves comparing different products and categorizing them based on their attributes, such as brand, model, size, and price. Product matching involves the process of identifying and tracking products across different retailers, categories, and markets. 

This information can then be used to identify trends, evaluate competitors, and make informed decisions about product pricing and promotions. Product matching can be done manually or through automated tools and algorithms, but regardless of the method, the goal is to ensure that the data is accurate, up-to-date, and relevant.

Why is Product Matching Important for Market Intelligence?

Product matching is critical for market intelligence because it allows retailers to accurately track and compare their products to those of their competitors. This information is crucial for staying ahead in a highly competitive industry where even small differences in pricing or product features can have a significant impact on sales.

For example, if a retailer knows that their competitor is selling a similar product for a lower price, they can adjust their own pricing to remain competitive. On the other hand, if a retailer sees that their competitor is selling a product with additional features, they may decide to add those features to their own product in order to remain competitive.

How Does Product Matching Work?

Product matching works by using a variety of data sources to identify and compare products. This can include product descriptions, images, and even sales data. The process of product matching is often automated, with algorithms and machine learning techniques used to quickly and accurately match products.

One of the key benefits of product matching is that it can be done on a large scale, allowing retailers to quickly and easily compare their products to those of their competitors. This can save time and resources, as well as provide a more comprehensive view of the market.

The Benefits of Product Matching in Market Intelligence

Product matching offers several key benefits for businesses, including:

Increased accuracy: By matching products, companies can ensure that their data is accurate, up-to-date, and relevant. This helps businesses make informed decisions about product pricing, promotions, and overall strategy.

Improved competitiveness: Product matching enables companies to evaluate their competitors and identify trends in the market. This information can be used to make informed decisions about product pricing and promotions, helping companies stay ahead of the competition.

Increased efficiency: Product matching can be done manually or through automated tools and algorithms, but regardless of the method, it helps companies save time and resources. Automated tools can quickly and accurately match products, freeing up time and resources for other important tasks.

Improved pricing strategies: By tracking and comparing product pricing, retailers can make informed decisions about their own pricing strategies, ensuring that they remain competitive in the market.

Enhanced product development: By understanding what features their competitors are offering, retailers can make informed decisions about what features to include in their own products, ensuring that they remain competitive and appealing to their customers.

Better customer insights: By tracking and analyzing sales data, retailers can gain a deeper understanding of their customers, including their purchasing habits and preferences. This information can then be used to make informed decisions about product development and marketing.

How to Effectively Match Products

Product matching in retail market intelligence requires the use of the right tools and strategies. Some key strategies for effective product matching include:

Automated Solutions: Automated solutions can help retailers to quickly and easily match their products with those of their competitors. These solutions typically use algorithms to match products based on specific criteria, such as price, product features, and customer ratings.

Data Analysis: Data analysis is another important aspect of product matching. Retailers can use data analysis to identify patterns and trends in their competitors’ product offerings, helping them to make informed decisions about their own product offerings.

Customer Feedback: Customer feedback can be a valuable source of information for retailers looking to match their products with those of their competitors. By gathering customer feedback, retailers can understand what their customers are looking for and make changes to their product offerings accordingly.

How to Effectively Implement Product Matching in Market Intelligence

Implementing product matching in market intelligence is a complex process that requires a strategic approach. The following steps can help companies effectively implement product matching in their market intelligence strategy:

Define your goals: Determine what you hope to achieve through product matching, such as increased accuracy, improved competitiveness, or increased efficiency. This will help guide your strategy and ensure that you stay focused on your goals.

Gather data: Collect data on your products, competitors, and market trends. This information should be up-to-date and relevant, and should include information on brand, model, size, and price.

Choose a method: Decide whether you want to match products manually or use automated tools. Automated tools can be faster and more accurate, but manual matching can provide more in-depth insights into your data.

Match products: Once you have gathered your data and decided on a method, you can begin matching products. Ensure that the data is accurate and relevant and that the matches are consistent across products.

Evaluate your results: Regularly evaluate the results of your product matching to ensure that it is achieving your goals. Make changes as needed to improve accuracy, competitiveness, or efficiency.

Use insights to inform decision-making: Finally, the insights gained from the analysis of the data can be used to inform decision-making, including inventory management, pricing strategy, and competitor analysis.

How Cluster Can Help

As the retail industry continues to evolve and grow, so does the importance of market intelligence. The ability to gather and analyze data on consumer behavior, market trends, and competitor activity is vital to the success of any retail business. Cluster can help enterprises not just understand the marketplace data better, but can also identify if that product data is good enough by providing a match score. Book a demo now!

Competitive intelligence: Achieving the Right Price Benchmarking

Competitive intelligence: Achieving the Right Price Benchmarking

Are you looking for the best ways to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace? Do you want to make sure you’re setting the right prices for your products and services? Have you been trying to find the right price benchmarking strategies to stay ahead of your rivals? If so, then you need to understand the importance of competitive intelligence and price benchmarking. Why competitive intelligence and price benchmarking are essential tools for any business and will provide strategies for achieving the right price benchmarking. 

What is Competitive Intelligence?

Competitive intelligence (CI) is the process of gathering and analyzing data to gain insights into your competitors’ activities and strategies. The goal of CI is to enable a company to make informed decisions that will give it a competitive edge in the marketplace. It can involve monitoring your competitors’ pricing strategies, marketing campaigns, product launches, customer service initiatives, and other activities. By understanding your competitors’ strategies, you can develop your own strategies that will give you an advantage.

What is Price Benchmarking?

Price benchmarking is the process of comparing the prices of your products or services to those of your competitors. This allows you to identify any pricing discrepancies and make adjustments accordingly. The goal of price benchmarking is to ensure that your prices are in line with industry standards, while still allowing you to remain competitive and profitable.

There are several methods that can be used for price benchmarking, including:

Online research: Utilizing search engines and industry websites to research the prices of similar products or services offered by your competitors.

Surveying customers: Asking customers about their experiences with the prices of similar products or services offered by your competitors.

Directly comparing prices: Visiting your competitors’ physical locations or websites to compare the prices of their products or services to yours.

Why are Competitive Intelligence and Price Benchmarking Important?

Competitive intelligence and price benchmarking are essential tools for any business that wants to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Price benchmarking is a vital process for any business looking to stay competitive in today’s market. By regularly comparing your prices to those of your competitors, you can ensure that you are offering your products or services at a fair and attractive price point. Without these tools, it’s impossible to know how to price your products and services effectively.

Competitive intelligence and price benchmarking give you the information you need to make informed decisions. By understanding your competitors’ strategies, you can develop strategies that will give you an edge in the marketplace. You can also use price benchmarking to make sure you’re offering competitive prices and to identify new opportunities for pricing optimization.

The Advantages of Price Benchmarking

Improved competitiveness

Regularly benchmarking your prices against those of your competitors, you can ensure that your prices remain competitive and attractive to potential customers.

Increased profitability

By identifying any pricing discrepancies and making adjustments accordingly, you can increase your profitability and boost your bottom line.

Better understanding of the market

Through the process of price benchmarking, you can gain a better understanding of the market and the pricing strategies of your competitors.

Improved customer satisfaction

By offering fair and attractive prices, you can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Cost savings

By identifying areas where you can reduce costs, you can ultimately save money and increase your profit margins.

Strategies for Achieving the Right Price Benchmarking

Now that you understand the importance of competitive intelligence and price benchmarking, let’s look at some strategies for achieving the right price benchmarking:

1. Gather and Analyze Data

The first step in achieving the right price benchmarking is to gather and analyze data. You need to collect data on your competitors’ prices, promotions, and other activities. You should also look at industry trends and customer feedback. This data will help you understand your competitors’ strategies and identify opportunities for pricing optimization.

2. Use Automated Tools

There are a number of automated tools available that can help you gather and analyze data. These tools can automate the process of collecting and analyzing data, making it easier and faster to gain insights into your competitors’ activities and pricing strategies.

3. Monitor Your Competitors Regularly

You need to monitor your competitors regularly if you want to stay on top of their strategies and pricing changes. You should set up alerts that will notify you when your competitors make changes to their prices or launch new promotions. This will help you stay up-to-date and make sure you’re always offering competitive prices.

4. Develop a Pricing Strategy

Once you’ve gathered and analyzed data, you need to develop a pricing strategy. This strategy should be based on the data you’ve collected and should take into account factors such as market trends, customer feedback, and your competitors’ strategies.

5. Test and Adjust

It’s important to test and adjust your pricing strategy regularly. This will help you identify any areas where you can optimize your pricing and ensure you’re always offering competitive prices.

The Importance of Setting the Right Price

Setting the right price for your products or services is essential to the success of your business. If you charge too much, you may find that you’re not competitive in your market, and that you’re not able to sell as many products or services as you’d like. On the other hand, if you charge too little, you may find that you’re not able to cover your costs, and that you’re not making a profit.

When it comes to pricing, benchmarks can be incredibly valuable. They can provide a sense of what the market is willing to pay for similar products or services, and can help you to understand what prices are reasonable. Additionally, benchmarks can help you to identify areas where you may be able to charge more, or where you may need to reduce your prices in order to be competitive.

There are a number of different types of benchmarks that you can use to inform your pricing decisions. 

How Can Cluster Help?

Build and enhance product data efficiently to understand insights from channel to channel. Complete solution from catalog integrity and assortment to seller onboarding and more. If you’re ready to start growing your store with the most accurate cross-channel eCommerce data in real-time, book a demo with us today!

How to Use eCommerce Data Analysis for Best Seller Intelligence

ecommerce data analysis for best seller intelligence

The modern-day retailer is no longer just a seller of products, but a data analyst. eCommerce data analysis has become a vital tool for gaining insight into customers, market trends, and competitive intelligence. By leveraging data analysis, retailers can gain a better understanding of their customer base, identify the best sellers in their product categories, and make informed decisions on pricing, marketing, and inventory levels. Best Seller Intelligence is a crucial tool for businesses of all sizes, as it allows them to understand what products and services are in high demand among their target audience. 

What is eCommerce Data Analysis?

eCommerce data analysis is the process of collecting, organizing, and analyzing data from your eCommerce store to draw meaningful insights that can help you better understand your customers, the marketplace, and your competition. By leveraging data analysis, retailers can gain a better understanding of their customer base, identify the best sellers in their product categories, and make informed decisions on pricing, marketing, and inventory levels.

What is Best Seller Intelligence?

Best Seller Intelligence is a data-driven approach to understanding customer behavior and trends. It involves gathering and analyzing data about customer purchases, their responses to marketing campaigns, and their preferences for certain products or services. This data can then be used to create targeted marketing strategies and strategies for product innovation and development. BSI is often used in combination with other data-driven tactics such as predictive analytics and machine learning.

BSI can also be used to identify customer segments and target them with tailored marketing messages. By understanding customer behavior, companies can create more effective campaigns that are tailored to the needs of their target audience. Additionally, BSI can be used to identify new opportunities for product development and innovation. By understanding customer preferences, companies can create products and services that meet the needs of their customers.

The Benefits of Using Best Seller Intelligence

Using BSI can provide companies with several key benefits. It can help companies identify trends in customer behavior and preferences. This can help them create more effective marketing campaigns and improve customer loyalty. By understanding customer behavior and preferences, companies can create better products and services that address customer needs. BSI can help companies measure the effectiveness of their marketing efforts and determine the return on investment.

BSI can provide companies with valuable insights into their competitors. By understanding the strategies and tactics of their competitors, companies can develop more effective strategies to gain a competitive advantage. Furthermore, BSI can help companies identify new opportunities in the market and develop strategies to capitalize on them.BSI can help companies identify potential risks and develop strategies to mitigate them.

The Benefits of eCommerce Data Analysis for Best Seller Intelligence

Data-driven decisions are essential for any successful business. By leveraging eCommerce data analysis, retailers can gain valuable insights into the customer buying process, product performance, and competitor activity. This information can be used to inform pricing, marketing, and product decisions. 

By analyzing customer data, retailers can gain a better understanding of their customer base, including their preferences, buying habits, and shopping patterns. This data can be used to inform product selection and marketing strategies, retailers can identify the best sellers in their product categories. This information can be used to inform pricing strategies and inventory levels.

Another benefit is competitive intelligence, by analyzing customer data and sales patterns, retailers can gain insight into their competition’s pricing, product selection, and marketing strategies. This information can be used to adjust their own strategies to better compete in the marketplace.

Essential Steps for Leveraging eCommerce Data Analysis for Best Seller Intelligence

To leverage eCommerce data analysis for best seller intelligence, there are a few essential steps that retailers should follow:

1. Identify the Data Sources:  internal data sources such as customer data, sales data, and product data, as well as external data sources such as competitor activity and market trends. 

2. Collect and Organize the Data: collecting the data from the various sources, organizing it into meaningful categories, and cleaning it to remove any errors or inconsistencies.

3. Analyze the Data: using data visualization tools to explore the data and identify patterns, trends, and correlations.

4. Generate Insights: using the data to inform decisions on pricing, marketing, and product selection.

When understanding what products are selling well in the marketplace, best seller intelligence is a powerful tool. By analyzing data on top-performing products, businesses can gain valuable insights into what consumers are looking for and adjust their own strategies accordingly.

6 Key Use Cases for Best Seller Intelligence

Identifying Trending Products

One of the most obvious benefits of best seller intelligence is the ability to identify products that are currently trending in the marketplace. By analyzing data on top-performing products, businesses can quickly identify which products are gaining popularity and adjust their own product offerings accordingly. This can help businesses stay ahead of the curve when it comes to consumer demand.

Understanding Consumer Behavior

In addition to identifying trending products, best seller intelligence can also be used to gain insights into consumer behavior. By analyzing data on what products are selling well and why, businesses can better understand what consumers are looking for and tailor their marketing efforts accordingly. This can help businesses create more effective campaigns and increase sales.

Competitive Analysis

Another important use case for best seller intelligence is competitive analysis. By analyzing data on top-performing products from competitors, businesses can gain a better understanding of what strategies are working well in the marketplace and adjust their own strategies accordingly. This can help businesses stay competitive and gain a competitive edge in the marketplace.

Product And Pricing Optimization

Best seller intelligence can also be used to optimize existing products. By analyzing data on top-performing products, businesses can identify which features and attributes are most important to consumers and make adjustments to their own products accordingly. Businesses improve their product offerings and increase sales.

By tracking the prices of top-selling products, businesses can get a better understanding of what consumers are willing to pay for similar products. This can help them set prices that are competitive while still maximizing profits.

Inventory Management

Best seller intelligence can be used to improve inventory management. By analyzing data on top-performing products, businesses can better understand which products are in high demand and adjust their inventory accordingly. This can help businesses avoid stockouts and improve customer satisfaction.

Benchmarking performance

Best seller intelligence can be used to benchmark performance. By tracking the sales of top-selling products, businesses can measure their own performance against the competition. This can help them identify areas where they need to improve and make necessary adjustments to stay competitive.

Using eCommerce data analysis for best seller intelligence can provide valuable insights into your store’s performance and provide businesses with the insights they need to make informed decisions about their best sellers. By gathering, analyzing, and interpreting data, businesses can gain a better understanding of their customers and the products that appeal to them. 

How Cluster Can Help Sellers

Data analysis can be a powerful tool when it comes to best seller intelligence. Cluster can identify products from both structured and unstructured data so customers can enhance their product listings with more attributes and robust data. Book a meeting now.

Private Labeling: What Sellers Need to Know

Private Labeling: What Sellers Need to Know

Are you an e-commerce seller looking to expand your business? Do you want to increase your sales and profits without creating a product from scratch? Private labeling may be the answer you’re looking for. But what exactly is private labeling and what do you need to know to make the most of it? 

The world of private label selling is an exciting and rapidly growing market. As a seller, it’s important to understand the ins and outs of private labeling in order to stay competitive and succeed in this industry. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at what sellers need to know about private labeling, including the benefits, risks, and best practices for success.

What is Private Label Selling?

Private label selling refers to selling products manufactured by another company, but are branded and marketed as your own. This allows you to sell products under your own label without having to create them yourself. Private labeling is a great way to quickly and easily expand your product offerings without having to invest in the design, research, and development of a new product. 

Private labeling is popular among e-commerce sellers for a few reasons.It’s an easy and cost-effective way to expand your product offer without investing in design or development. Allows sellers to control the branding and messaging of your products, giving you an edge over competitors who are selling the same products. And it gives the flexibility to choose exactly what products you want to sell and when allowing you to respond quickly to changes in the marketplace.

Benefits of Private Label Selling

There are many benefits to private label selling, including:

Increased profitability: By selling private label products, sellers can often mark up the price of the product and earn a larger profit margin than they would with a traditional retail product.

Increased control over product selection: When selling private label products, sellers have more control over the products they offer to their customers. This allows them to better cater to the needs and preferences of their target market.

Increased brand recognition: Private label products are branded with the seller’s own branding, which can help increase brand recognition and loyalty among customers.

Risks of Private Label Selling

While there are many benefits to private label selling, there are also some risks to consider, including:

Quality control: As a private label seller, you are relying on the manufacturing company to produce a high-quality product. If the product is defective or of poor quality, it can reflect poorly on your brand.

Limited ability to customize: Private label products are typically mass-produced and may not offer the same level of customization as products that are manufactured in-house.

Dependence on the manufacturing company: If the manufacturing company goes out of business or experiences production delays, it can disrupt your ability to sell the product.

How to Get Started With Private Labeling

Now that you know the benefits of private labeling, you may be wondering how to get started. Here are some tips to help you get started:

Research Your Market

The first step in finding the right product for private labeling is to research the market. Take the time to explore what’s already out there and get a feel for the competition. Look at the products that are currently available and try to identify any gaps in the market. Are there products that don’t have a strong presence or don’t seem to be selling well? If so, this could be an opportunity for you to capitalize on.

You should also look at the trends in the industry. What products are gaining popularity and why? Are there any new technologies or materials that could be used to make a product more desirable? By understanding the current market, you’ll be better equipped to find the right product for private labeling.

Identify Your Target Audience

Once you’ve done your research, the next step is to identify your target audience. Who are you catering to? Are you targeting a specific demographic or a certain type of consumer? You should also consider their needs and wants. What do they need that isn’t currently available? What products could you offer that could meet their needs?

Once you’ve identified your target audience, you can start looking for products that they would be interested in. This will enable you to narrow down your options and make it easier to find the right product for private labeling.

Find a Manufacturer and Negotiate the Price

Once you’ve identified a product to private label, you’ll need to find a manufacturer. Visiting the manufacturer is the best way to get a firsthand look at the facility and process. You can get a better sense of the quality of the products and services the manufacturer provides. It’s also a good idea to ask for samples of the products the manufacturer produces, so you can gauge the quality for yourself.

You can also do this by searching online for manufacturers in your area or by contacting a trade association for referrals.

After it, you’ll need to negotiate a price. Make sure you get the best deal possible by negotiating for better terms, lower prices, and bulk discounts.

Evaluate Different Products

Once you’ve identified your target audience and the potential products that could meet their needs, it’s time to start evaluating different products. Take the time to really research each product and consider the pros and cons. Is it something that you can realistically manufacture and supply? Does it have the potential for growth? What kind of customization options are available?

You should also consider the cost of each product. It’s important to find a product that you can produce at a reasonable cost so that you can make a profit. Also, consider the time it takes to manufacture each product. If you’re looking to launch quickly, you may want to look for products that can be produced quickly.

Design Your Brand and Test the Product

Once you’ve negotiated a price, you’ll need to design your brand. This includes creating a logo, designing packaging, and deciding on a name.

Before you launch your product, it’s important to test it. Test the product to make sure it meets your standards and that it will be well received by your customers.

Best Practices for Successful Private Label Selling

To succeed as a private label seller, it’s important to follow a few best practices, including:

Research manufacturers carefully: Before partnering with a manufacturing company, research their reputation and track record for producing high-quality products.

Maintain strong communication with the manufacturer: Maintain open and regular communication with the manufacturer to ensure that all orders are fulfilled on time and that the product meets your quality standards.

Create a strong brand identity: Develop a strong brand identity for your private label products to help them stand out in the marketplace.

Monitor your competition: Stay informed about the competition and their private label offerings to ensure that you’re offering competitive products and prices.

Private label selling is an exciting opportunity for sellers to expand their product offerings and increase profitability. By understanding the benefits and risks of private labeling, as well as following best practices for success, sellers can take advantage of this growing market and build a successful business.

How Can Cluster Help?

Sellers can save time and get a positive ROI by utilizing deep learning to optimize their stores. If you’re ready to start growing your store with the most accurate cross-channel eCommerce data in real-time, book a demo with us today!

Why is Product Taxonomy So Important for eCommerce

Why is Product Taxonomy So Important for eCommerce

Product taxonomy is an essential element of any eCommerce business. It helps to ensure better navigation of products and can assist in search engine optimization, as well as product management. Investing in a well-defined taxonomy can pay off in the long run as it can help to increase visibility, rankings, and sales.

In the digital age, product taxonomy is more important than ever before. Customers expect a shopping experience that is easy and intuitive, and product taxonomy can help to provide this. It is an essential tool for any eCommerce business and should not be overlooked. Investing in a well-defined taxonomy can pay off in the long run and help to ensure a successful and profitable business.

What is Product Taxonomy?

Product taxonomy is the practice of organizing products into categories and sub-categories to create a hierarchical structure. This structure helps shoppers find the items they’re looking for quickly and easily. Product taxonomy is also known as product categorization, product classification, or product categorization.

Taxonomies are made up of product attributes such as color, size, material, and style. These attributes are organized into categories, sub-categories, and product types. For example, a product taxonomy for clothing might include attributes like color, size, material, and style, which are organized into categories like tops, bottoms, and outerwear.

What is a Product Taxonomy in eCommerce?

A product taxonomy in eCommerce is an organized system for categorizing products according to their attributes. It helps shoppers find the products they’re looking for quickly and easily, and provides retailers with valuable insights into customer behavior.

Product taxonomies are typically created and maintained by the eCommerce platform or by the retailer. A well-structured taxonomy is essential for providing shoppers with a seamless and intuitive shopping experience and can help to boost sales and customer loyalty.

Why is a Product Taxonomy Strategy Important?

A product taxonomy strategy is an important part of any business’s operations, regardless of size or industry. A product taxonomy is a hierarchical structure that organizes all the products of a company into logical groups and subgroups. It is used to classify and categorize products, making them easier for customers to find and for businesses to manage.

Having a well-structured product taxonomy strategy is essential for a company’s success, as it allows them to improve the customer experience, simplify product searches, and increase sales. Here are three key reasons why a product taxonomy strategy is important for businesses.

Improves the Customer Experience

A product taxonomy strategy is important to improve the customer experience. It makes it easier for customers to find the products they are looking for, as the product categories are clearly organized and logically structured. This makes it easier for customers to browse the website, as they can quickly find the product they’re looking for without having to search through an overwhelming number of products.

A well-structured product taxonomy can also help customers find related products and upsells. For example, if a customer is looking for a laptop, a product taxonomy strategy can help them find related accessories or upgrades easily.

Simplifies Product Searches

A product taxonomy strategy can also simplify product searches. Customers can use the product categories to quickly narrow down their search to find the exact product they’re looking for. This makes the process of finding a product much easier and faster for customers.

A product taxonomy can also help businesses improve search engine optimization (SEO). By organizing products into a structured taxonomy, businesses can ensure that their products are more easily found by customers. This can help them drive more organic traffic to their website and increase their sales.

Increases Sales

A product taxonomy strategy can help businesses increase their sales. By organizing products into logical categories, businesses can ensure that customers are presented with the most relevant products for their needs. This makes it easier for customers to find the products they need, which can lead to higher sales.

Better Recommendations

A product taxonomy can also help businesses create personalized product recommendations. By analyzing customer behavior, businesses can make product recommendations based on the customer’s previous purchases and interests. This can help businesses increase their sales by presenting customers with the most relevant products for their needs.

Product Taxonomy Best Practices

There are a few key best practices for creating and managing product taxonomies. The following tips can help you ensure that your product taxonomy is well-structured and effective:

1. Start with the customer in mind

When creating a product taxonomy, it’s important to think about the customer first. Think about the attributes that shoppers use to search for products, and organize these into logical categories.

2. Keep it simple

A complex taxonomy structure can be confusing and overwhelming for shoppers. Keep your product taxonomy as simple as possible to ensure that shoppers can navigate it easily.

3. Be consistent

Make sure that your product taxonomy is consistent across all channels and devices. This will make it easier for shoppers to find what they’re looking for and ensure that search results are accurate.

4. Monitor and update

Product taxonomies should be regularly monitored and updated to ensure that they remain accurate and up-to-date. This will help to ensure that shoppers always have access to the products they’re looking for.

Product Taxonomy Challenges of the eCommerce Retailers

Creating and managing an effective product taxonomy can be challenging for eCommerce retailers. Here are some common challenges that retailers face:

1. Scalability: Product taxonomies need to be able to scale as the business grows. As the number of products and categories increases, the taxonomy needs to be able to keep up.

2. Internationalization: If you’re selling products internationally, you need to be able to create and maintain product taxonomies in multiple languages. This can be a time-consuming and complex process.

3. Complex products: Some products are complex and have multiple attributes that need to be taken into account when creating a product taxonomy. This can greatly increase the complexity of the process.

4. Changing products: Product taxonomies need to be regularly updated as products change and new products are added. This can be a time-consuming process, and it’s important to ensure that the taxonomy remains accurate and up-to-date.

Differences between B2B Product Taxonomy and B2C Ecommerce Product Categorization

Level of detail

The primary difference between B2B product taxonomy and B2C product categorization is the level of detail. B2B customers typically have a more focused, specific list of needs, and thus require more granular product categorization. This means that B2B product taxonomy should be much more detailed, enabling customers to easily find the exact product they require. B2B product categories should be highly specific, and include sub-categories to further refine the search. For example, a B2B customer looking for a laptop may be interested in a specific model, processor type, or other features. A B2B product taxonomy should have categories for each of these features, so that customers can easily find the exact product they are looking for. 

B2C customers are typically more general in their needs and are shopping for a wider range of products. As such, B2C product categorization should be much broader, allowing customers to quickly find the items they want without getting overwhelmed by too much detail. B2C product categories should be broad but still organized logically, allowing customers to easily find what they need. For instance, a B2C laptop category may include sub-categories such as laptops by brand, laptops by budget, and laptops by use case. 

Structure 

The structure of B2B and B2C product taxonomies also differ. B2B product taxonomy is often organized around the customer’s workflow, whereas B2C product taxonomy is organized around the customer’s buying journey. B2B customers are typically looking for a specific product to solve a particular problem, so the product taxonomy should be structured around helping customers find the products they need. This could include categories such as products by industry, products by application, and products by use case. On the other hand, B2C customers are often browsing and exploring products, so the product categories should be organized around the customer’s buying journey. This could include categories such as products by trend, products by lifestyle, and products by price. 

Keywords

B2B and B2C product taxonomies also differ in terms of how keywords are used. B2B product taxonomy typically uses more technical and specialized keywords that target buyers at a more specific level, while B2C product categorization typically uses more general keywords that target a wider audience. For example, a B2B product taxonomy may use keywords such as “high-performance processor” or “rugged laptop”, whereas a B2C product categorization may use keywords such as “bargain laptops” or “gaming laptops”.

How Product Taxonomy Can Boost Sales

Product taxonomy can be a powerful tool for boosting sales. A well-structured taxonomy makes it easier for shoppers to find the products they’re looking for quickly and easily, increasing the likelihood that they’ll make a purchase.

Product taxonomies can also be used to target specific customer segments. For example, a retailer could create a taxonomy that focuses on customers who are looking for eco-friendly products. This would enable the retailer to target customers who are specifically interested in eco-friendly products, increasing the likelihood of successful sales.

How Can Cluster Help?

 Build and enhance product data efficiently to understand insights from channel to channel. Complete solution from catalog integrity and assortment to seller onboarding and more. Schedule a demo today.

Why Marketplaces Need eCommerce Catalog Management

Why Marketplaces Need eCommerce Catalog Management

Catalog management is essential for any eCommerce business. It is the process of creating, organizing, and maintaining product information, such as product descriptions, images, and pricing. Catalog management helps customers find the products they are looking for and enables the retailer to drive sales and increase their bottom line. Marketplaces are no exception – they need catalog management to ensure their product listings are accurate, up-to-date, and relevant. This article will outline the challenges faced by product catalog management in eCommerce, the benefits of catalog management for eCommerce retailers, and best practices for eCommerce catalog management.

What is Catalog Management?

Catalog management is the process of organizing, managing, and maintaining a catalog of products for an eCommerce store. It involves tasks such as creating product descriptions, adding and updating product images, categorizing products, and setting pricing. Catalog management can be done manually, but it is often automated with the help of software and tools. A good catalog management system should provide the ability to quickly and easily add, update, and delete products from a catalog. It should also provide the ability to assign product categories, set prices, and manage product images.

Why is eCommerce catalog management important?

Catalog management is an essential part of running a successful eCommerce store. It is important because it allows you to easily manage, organize, and update your product catalog. It also helps to ensure that customers have access to accurate information about the products they are interested in, which can help to increase sales. Furthermore, a well-managed catalog can help to improve customer engagement and create a better shopping experience.

Why does your eCommerce need Catalog Management?

Catalog management is essential for any eCommerce store. It helps to ensure that customers have access to accurate product information, which can help to increase sales. It also helps to create a better shopping experience by making it easier for customers to find the products they are looking for. Additionally, catalog management helps to improve customer engagement by providing customers with relevant product information and images.

Challenges for product catalog management in eCommerce

Catalog management in eCommerce poses a number of challenges, including:

Data accuracy: Inaccurate product data, such as price and availability, can lead to a poor customer experience and lost sales.

Data consistency: Customers expect consistent product data across different channels and platforms.

Data organization: Product data must be organized in a way that makes it easy for customers to find what they are looking for.

Data integration: Product data must be integrated with other systems, such as inventory management and fulfillment, to ensure accuracy and efficiency.

Data security: Product data must be protected from unauthorized access and data breaches.

Data scalability: Product data must be able to scale with the business as it grows.

The Benefits of Catalog Management for eCommerce Marketplace

eCommerce catalog management is a powerful tool that can help eCommerce marketplaces improve their customer experience, increase efficiency, and reduce the amount of manual work required to manage their product data. By utilizing catalog management, eCommerce marketplaces can ensure that their customers have access to accurate and up-to-date information about the products they are interested in. This can result in increased customer satisfaction and loyalty, as well as improved search engine optimization and inventory management.

1. Improved Customer Experience

By providing accurate and up-to-date product information, customers can easily find the items they need and make informed decisions about their purchases. This can lead to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.

2. Increased Efficiency

Catalog management makes it easier and faster to add new products to the marketplace, as well as update existing products. This can result in increased efficiency and cost savings in the long run.

3. Enhanced Search Engine Optimization

Having accurate and up-to-date product information can help boost the visibility of the marketplace on search engines. This can result in increased traffic and sales.

4. Improved Data Quality

By using catalog management, eCommerce marketplaces can ensure that their product data is accurate and up-to-date. This can make it easier to identify and fix any errors or inconsistencies in the data, resulting in improved data quality.

5. Better Inventory Management

By having accurate and up-to-date product information, eCommerce marketplaces can better manage their inventory. This can help reduce the risk of running out of stock, as well as improve customer service.

6. Reduced Duplication Of Work

By using catalog management, eCommerce marketplaces can reduce the amount of manual work required to manage their product data. This can save time and resources, resulting in increased efficiency.

7. Improved Reporting

By having accurate and up-to-date product information, eCommerce marketplaces can generate more accurate and detailed reports about their sales and inventory. This can help them better understand customer trends and make more informed decisions.

Best practices for eCommerce catalog management

To maximize the benefits of catalog management for eCommerce retailers, there are a few best practices that should be followed:

Organize product data: Create a clear and organized structure for product data that makes it easy for customers to find the products they’re looking for.

Integrate with other systems: Integrate product data with other systems, such as inventory management and fulfillment, to ensure accuracy and efficiency.

Automate data entry: Automate data entry to reduce manual data entry and eliminate errors.

Optimize product data: Optimize product data for search engine optimization (SEO) to ensure customers can find the products they’re looking for.

Monitor data quality: Monitor product data for accuracy and consistency to ensure customers have the best experience possible.

How to Improve your eCommerce Product Catalog Management?

One of the best ways to improve your eCommerce product catalog management is to use automated tools and software, such as Cluster. Automated tools can help to reduce the amount of time needed to manage the catalog, as well as help to ensure that product information and images are kept up to date. Additionally, it is important to make sure that product information is accurate and up to date, and that images are of high quality. Finally, it is important to make sure that product categories are well organized, as this can help to improve the customer experience.

The Role of Product Catalog Management in Business Results Improvement

Product catalog management can play a critical role in improving the results of an eCommerce business. A well-managed catalog can help to increase sales by providing customers with accurate product information and images, which can help to improve the shopping experience. Furthermore, it can help to reduce costs by reducing the need for manual catalog management. Additionally, it can help to improve customer engagement by providing customers with relevant product information and images.

How Can Cluster Help?

Complete solution from catalog integrity and assortment to seller onboarding and more. Cluster’s flagship capabilities and use cases for marketplaces are also effective for adjacent enterprises including aggregators, remarketing and fulfillment. Schedule a demo today

CEO Chat on Changing the Product Data Catalog Ownership Story

CEO Chat on Changing the Product Data Catalog Ownership Story - Ori Greenberg

For eCommerce marketplaces, it’s always the same story: they rely on sellers to provide complete and accurate product data, but what if changing ownership were a possibility? What if marketplaces actually owned their own product catalog data and took the reliance off of seller inputs, while still being able to provide accurate product information for consumers? 

There are many roadblocks typically that prevent marketplace enterprises from achieving this outcome, but it is not an impossible feat. That’s why we caught up with Cluster CEO Ori Greenberg, in an interview to talk about the challenges, opportunities, and best practices for driving this industry to change. By transferring ownership of product catalog data from sellers onto marketplaces – success becomes possible for all parties involved, and below we dive into how and why. 

Q: Who owns the product data catalog today in the eCommerce market and why? Is this the standard for most marketplaces? 

GREENBERG: In the eCommerce marketplace landscape it always tends to be the same story. A marketplace starts by relying on sellers or merchants to provide product data, but quickly realizes it is a mess: 

  • The data is insufficient, and not normalized
  • The marketplace catalog experience is bad for consumers.
  • The marketplace catalog is underperforming in SEO and marketing in general.
  • It is actually hard for sellers to list items and causes friction, sending 50% of them to abandon the onboarding process.

However, owning the product data catalog makes so much sense. The sellers can help, but the marketplace must own the process, the guidelines and the standards – to help your sellers comply with those standards.

And if you’re thinking this is not possible, this has been done successfully by enterprises like Amazon’s marketplace, and Google Shopping – and in looking at those examples, the results are clear. That being said, no one has the breadth that Amazon and Google have by themselves – and that’s why Cluster was created.

Q: What does the ideal marketplace product data catalog look like?

GREENBERG: The ideal marketplace product data catalog should be: 

  • Rich with structured product data.
  • Detailed in taxonomy.
  • Inviting, filterable and pleasant in every way.

Q: What is the best practice when it comes to ownership of the product catalog data?

GREENBERG: As mentioned earlier, marketplaces should own the catalog onboarding process, guidelines, and standards – and marketplaces need to help their sellers and merchants comply with those guidelines. 

Q: Why is it so essential to follow these best practices?

GREENBERG: Loosening the rules on product data catalog ownership can cause a mess that spills into other business aspects across the board, and result in poor customer experience, bad seller experience, and poor performance overall.

Q: What are the roadblocks that keep marketplaces from gaining ownership of their product catalog data?

GREENBERG: Gaining ownership of your product catalog data is hard to set up, and taking the first steps can be difficult. You’ll ask yourself why would the sellers go through all the trouble to onboard their product information, and how do I even decide what to ask from them? 

The reality is that it is a lot easier just to tell people, “Here you go – a platform – now just list your products! We’ll use Machine Learning and AI in the future to make sense of what you write!” And then you find out you can’t accomplish this, and the technology just isn’t there – but it’s too late. And, changing your practice becomes even more difficult. 

Q: How can marketplaces work with sellers to create a mutually beneficial catalog onboarding process?

GREENBERG: First, marketplaces need to realize what data they need in order to provide a good customer experience and a frictionless seller experience. Next, help the existing sellers by adjusting their current catalog data. Provide clear guidelines on what is needed moving forward, and proactively help them provide the required catalog data. Examples of how to do this include: 

  1. Pre-build a product data catalog. Start with top-of-mind categories,
  2. Match existing items with the ones in the pre-defined catalog.
  3. Provide matching tools for new products added to the catalog.
  4. Enhance items that are not in that pre-defined catalog on the fly using advanced tools and third-party data providers like Cluster.

Q: How does Cluster help?

GREENBERG: Cluster is an eCommerce data provider that solves for creating a superior online shopping experience through quality catalog and product data for marketplaces and online enterprises (including adjacent markets like eRetail, brands, and financial institutions).

When marketplaces do not have a complete understanding of their product variants, they can oftentimes end up with duplicate listings, which confuses shoppers and in turn, sends them to competitor sites. Building a quality product data catalog is a challenge, but Cluster can identify, validate and enhance product data by matching duplicate products, so inaccurate information doesn’t find its way in front of your shoppers.

Q: What does the future of eCommerce marketplace data look like? 

GREENBERG: No new marketplace can provide an Amazon-like experience, which consumers are now expecting, from the get-go without requiring any help. From the product data catalog to the fulfillment of orders, marketplaces will need to partner with industry-leading vendors to get ahead of the game.

Mutual Marketplace and Merchant Benefits

Changing the script of a story (especially in the middle) is not an easy task, but the results can make for a much happier ending. In this case, restarting can seem daunting but the mutually beneficial results for merchants, marketplaces, and ultimately consumers, can make a major impact on success. Talk with a Cluster expert today and see how our game-changing insights can work for you. 


FUN FACTS

Little-Known Fact: 

When time allows, I love to geek out with customers’ data. Even if the customer didn’t ask for anything, I love finding trends, data gaps, assortment gaps, and insights in general that are intriguing. Usually, I keep it to myself, but sometimes I can’t help but share it with the customer/account owner. 

Quotes to Live By: 

Be kind.

Favorite Marketplace:

For basic purchases, Amazon and Walmart. For fun, spontaneous or emotional purchases: Facebook Marketplace. I love the sustainability aspect, plus the fact I can ‘Uber’ a product my way in 20 minutes!

Favorite Snack:

Coffee.

Describe Cluster in 5 Words: 

  1. Comprehensive
  2. Granular
  3. Accurate
  4. Unique
  5. Insightful