Did you know… 51% of customers would shop again from a retailer with sustainable or ethical practices?
(Source: Power Retail 26/2/24)
Consumers are definitely shifting their spending towards companies with environmental, social, and governance initiatives (ESG); products that can claim they are or have:
Animal welfare eg cage-free, not tested on animals
Environmental sustainability eg eco-friendly, compostable
Organic positioning eg organically farmed, organic certification
Plant-based eg vegan
Social responsibility eg fair trade, ethically sourced
Sustainable packaging eg plastic free, biodegradable
And because online shopping is such an important medium in the buying cycle (for purchasing AND researching) it’s the details and product descriptions that are helping consumers choose ethically.
Detailed product descriptions help customers to make sustainable choices
The product descriptions, labels and certifications are crucial to a customers’ buying decision, and the ramifications can be huge if they are inaccurate. Customers who think they are buying ethically or sustainably, but later find out the product information wasn’t sufficient or accurate, will punish your business by not buying from you again, creating more (and costly) returns, or worse, online vitriol that can damage your brand.
Detailed product descriptions aren’t that hard to create, and you can get help to do this (ask Ascend7 how). As well as the actual product description, you can mention your sustainability practices, and add links to your company policies. You can provide transparency information about your supply chain, and you can collaborate with influencers and experts to gain their opinion and recommendations. You can also integrate other customer reviews and ratings to share their views. And you can have a clear return and refund policy so there’s no disputing how that process works.
Managing detailed product descriptions – use a PIM
And while you think this may all create more work, the best way to manage product data that is lengthy, repeatable, and needing to be accurate every time, is to use a Product Information Management (PIM) system. This is a dedicated software tool that manages everything to do with your products like the descriptions, images, attributes for all your channels, product variations, price lists…
So what is a PIM and how does it work? It’s the one source of truth for all your products (your products hub). You upload attributes for each product into the PIM fields - you only need to put them in once – and the PIM is configured to output product data according to your requirements. If a product description is required for a reseller’s website, the PIM will grab all the relevant product data, and produce an accurate product description (you don’t have to rewrite each time). If a brochure is required, the PIM will download the required products and their attributes into a brochure format, and voila, you have an accurate brochure (even in different languages if you are international). If you need to sync to your ecommerce store, the PIM will produce the information in a format suitable for easy uploading into your online shop (no manual data entry so less mistakes). And managing differing pricing lists for all your customers/distributors/VIPs… just let the PIM do the work for you.
But back to the ESG initiatives… as you accumulate the details of your products’ sustainable and ethical attributes, you add them into the PIM where there will be fields dedicated to recording information about your sustainability credentials. You add it in once, and then whenever that piece of information is required, you add it to the outputs from your PIM.
A PIM is a game-changer when managing large product ranges, with many variations, and requiring detailed product attributes and descriptions, across multiple channels.
Our favourite PIM is Sales Layer
Sales Layer has been consistently voted as the most user-friendly PIM on the market (highest customer satisfaction rating on GS and Capterra). It features:
Products hub – it becomes your source of truth because you import and manage all your product information and digital assets into this one user-friendly hub
Instant catalogues – you can create digital product catalogues for internal and external use in just a few clicks
Multi-channel support – it connects your product catalogues to your marketplaces, apps and eCommerce platforms
Useful analytics – it identifies gaps and errors in your product data, so you’re always improving
Ascend7 is an Australian-based, certified Sales Layer Partner, with a proven record of enabling companies to achieve remarkable results through the successful implementation of PIM systems. Talk to us about how a Sales Layer PIM can transform your product data management – we are product data experts.
