Jun
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Written by:
Lori McDonald
6/3/2009 8:31 PM
One common dilemma that we have seen companies struggle with is how to get a large number of products setup on their e-commerce site. For companies who are just starting an online store, this endeavor can set back the entire project by months. In the interest of helping businesses get their e-commerce site launched and having online sales coming in sooner, I offer these suggestions for getting products listed quickly on your e-commerce site.
- Consider listing a smaller set of products when you originally launch your website and adding more products over time. What are your top selling products? What are your products with the best profit margin? Consider putting these products on your website first.
- Develop a template that defines the information you want to collect for each product. Most e-commerce software packages have bulk import tools available to assist in getting data setup. Many time this involves entering your data in a predetermined format (for example, an Excel file with specific columns) and then the file can be uploaded into the website – quickly adding hundreds or thousands of your products at once.
- Make use of software tools to import as much data into the system as possible and speed up the process. Are your products already in a software program or database? Many times product data can be exported into a format that can then be imported into your website. Even if this data needs to be changed or modified before it is imported on your new website there are many tools available help with that. For example, SQL Server Integration Services is a great tool for data extraction, transformation and loading.
- Plan resources (internally or externally) to work on entering products into a format that can be imported into the website database. Carefully consider what it will take to prepare your products for your e-commerce site. It isn’t enough to throw the product codes and prices on a page, you need to provide enough information for buyers to get their questions answered about your products, and ideally, present it in a manner that compels them to make a purchase from you versus your competition. Plan to use resources (internal and/or external) to prepare and enter your products on your website.
I am also interested in other solutions or ideas, so please share how your company dealt with getting many products listed on your e-commerce site via the comments on our blog.
6 comment(s) so far...
Re: How to Get 10,000 Products on Your E-commerce Site
Each point you list above is accurate. When listing thousands of products the labor demands can be incredible. Our new website has been an on-going project for quite some time. We utilized excel spreadsheets to export the information, added additional details and uploaded to the site. Our biggest challenge has been taking the text descriptions and expanding them on the site to maximize our SEO. This will be an on-going process for some time. But rather than hold up the site we will continue to improve it and add as we go. Project management is also critical. Whether through your web development partner or in your own company. Making sure there is a clear direction for the development and keeping things on track so the project moves forward are musts. This can be the difference between a new site being a success or a flop.
By Scott Dorn on
3/22/2011 1:50 PM
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Re: How to Get 10,000 Products on Your E-commerce Site
Don't forget the manufacturer in the process. Working through the sales and customer service group at the manufacturer can uncover otherwise unknown sources of information on products/processes/warranties etc that can turn a so-so product descriiption into the buy-now decision maker for the consumer on your site.Do as much work up front to incorporate as many metrics on the products as possible to delay/prevent reworking your database down the road as you incorporate new features and search algorithms.
By Jim on
3/22/2011 1:51 PM
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Re: How to Get 10,000 Products on Your E-commerce Site
Scott -
Thank you for sharing about your experiences. I think getting products out there and improving over time for SEO purposes is an effective plan. I agree project management is critical.
By Lori McDonald on
3/22/2011 1:52 PM
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Re: How to Get 10,000 Products on Your E-commerce Site
Jim -
Thanks for sharing. Good points about getting information from the manufacturer. Also a good point to get as much up front as possible. You are right that as new tools are added (search, etc.) they will be limited by the quality of the product data you have.
By Lori McDonald on
3/22/2011 1:52 PM
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