How Do I Make a Catalog for My Product?

Averi Easley Picture

by Averi Easley | Last Updated: Apr 10, 2023

Consumers are faced with numerous product choices when they visit a store or shop online. They may also find themselves searching in various places when trying to find product information. By creating a digital product catalog, consumers can more easily find the information they are searching for.

What Are the Types of Product Catalogs?

A product catalog is commonly delivered in two different formats. These two primary delivery mechanisms are a PDF and digital version. Manufacturers are a common group who have defaulted to having a PDF version of their product catalog available for their customers. Normally the product catalog PDF was created using software that made the PDF feel more interactive, like a flipbook. While this is a good option and can provide customers with the information they need, this is still a static document. This means that it is not connected to your product data and will not update automatically when the product data changes.  Another option is to create a fully digital version of the product catalog or catalogue. By investing in a product information management (PIM) solution, you will be able to add all of your product data and related assets and tie them to a product catalog. This means that as you update your product data in the PIM, it will automatically update in your product catalog. 

How Do I Make a Catalog for My Product?

Whether this is the first time you are creating a product catalog or you have created many of them, it is still important to follow these steps when creating a new one:
  1. Determine the structure of your product catalog and the information you want to include in the catalogue.
  2. Gather all of the product information and related assets.
  3. Add all of your product data and related assets to a product information management (PIM) solution. If you do not have a PIM solution, you can instead use an Excel spreadsheet.
  4. Determine how this information will be available to customers. This can be either a PDF or a digital version. The additional steps needed to create your product catalog will depend on your chosen delivery method. 
If this is the first time you have created a product catalog, starting off with a simple product catalog is a great starting point. Over time, you can continue to add to it and expand on the products and data that displays.

How Do I Make an Online Product Catalog?

Product catalogs can be created in various ways. A great way to get started when creating a product catalog is by utilizing a PIM solution. By using a PIM, you can store all of your product data in one place, along with any related assets for these products. Another important thing would be to utilize a digital experience platform (DXP) to display all of this data. A platform that offers a PIM solution in its digital experience platform (DXP) is Lumavate. Lumavate offers an easy-to-use product catalog template that pulls data stored in the Lumavate PIM into a digital experience. This means that you can reduce your speed to market and have a product catalog ready in no time.  When creating a good online catalog, it is important to make sure that your product data is easy to read and is clear and concise. Ultimately the best online catalog is one that provides customers with the product information they are seeking.

How Much Does It Cost to Make a Product Catalog? 

The cost of creating a product catalog can vary greatly depending on how the information is collected and the delivery mechanism. A good example is a company that uses Excel to manage its product data and decides to create a PDF version of its product guide. Depending on the number of products, the company will likely spend 30+ hours updating a product guide, and possibly way more, every single year. If this is the first time a catalog is created, it would likely take hundreds of hours to create from scratch. An alternative option is for a company to use a product information management (PIM) solution that is tied to a digital experience platform (DXP). Using a PIM that is connected to a digital experience product guide will require substantially fewer hours to create and update. When using a platform like Lumavate, once all of the product data and related assets are in a PIM, it can take less than 30 minutes to build out a comprehensive product catalog digital experience.  Lumavate’s pricing is also available on a scalable structure. This means that the product information management (PIM) solution is available on both the Professional and Enterprise plans.  Ready to learn more? Take a tour of the Lumavate PIM.
Previous Post
Next Post

See Lumavate in Action

Meet with one of our experts to see how easy it is to centralize your product data, manage digital assets, and create digital product experiences. Trust us…you’re going to be wowed.

Schedule Demo