What Is an Example of a Product Catalog?

Creating and maintaining a product catalog is a big task for your team. We will discuss the benefits and tools to help make the workload a little lighter. 

What Is a Product Catalog?

A product catalog or sometimes referred to as a product guide is a document highlighting a list of products and relevant product information. Information included in a product catalogue is often product descriptions, features, and photos. Oftentimes a catalog will contain related products or accessories that might interest the consumer. 

Product catalogs are a single document meant to provide as much product detail as possible to consumers and dealers. It is a reference guide your customers will use to find answers quickly. 

What Is the Purpose of a Product Catalog?

The goal of a product guide is to provide a comprehensive list of all products offered by your company. Traditionally, a product catalog has been a large, printed document that shares relevant data such as product specs, pricing, and other key information. More manufacturers are moving to a digital product catalog to incorporate multimedia content, link additional information such as product manuals, and to ensure product data is kept up-to-date.

When a customer or a dealer has a question about your product offerings a product catalog can answer all of their questions. A digital product catalog will enable you to capture all important product information in a single experience. 

Gone are the days of memorizing product information or referencing multiple tools for one answer. A product catalog is a one stop shop for all product related questions. Give your customers and dealers the answers they are looking for in one place.

What Is an Example of a Product Catalog?

Many industries use product guides. If a company has multiple products and needs to share information about them, chances are they have a product catalog. 

A product catalog example is a manufacturing company’s reference material outlining their complex products and pricing structure. Companies that make products such as faucets, light fixtures, home appliances, and lawn and gardening tools all have product catalogs. Product catalogs are a great way to share your entire product line up with consumers. 

Some companies opt for a product catalog website. The move to digital keeps information current. Oftentimes printed product catalogs are obsolete days after they were printed. Moving to a digital format keeps product information current. Changes to product details can be made to a digital product guide and in the hands of customers quickly. No need to worry about outdated product information circulating and confusing customers once you’ve gone digital. 

What Is the Best Way to Make a Product Catalog?

Creating a product catalog is a big task. It is an important resource that encompasses every product your company has. Approach this task with a detail oriented mindset and with care. 

It is easy to be overwhelmed with the amount of information that is included in a product catalog and the process it takes to make one. Break down the job into small parts and tackle it piece by piece. 

1. Determine the structure of your catalogue and the information you’d like to include. Begin with questions like: will this include all products including related products and accessories? How will we structure the content? Are our products best sorted by  product type, horsepower, or another category? Who will reference this catalog, what information are they looking for?
2. Next it is time to gather all of the product information and related content. Collect all of the assets that will be incorporated in this catagoue. Gathering  all of the information and assets now will allow you to build your product catalog faster.  
3. Now it is time to add everything to a product information management (PIM) solution. Using a PIM allows your team to streamline their work. Teams can work faster because all product information is in one place. PIM solutions allow for easy access, storage, and editing of your product information. This gives your team the tools they need to get the job done.
4. After information has been added to a PIM, create a digital experience using the information stored in the PIM. The connection between the PIM and the digital experience will ensure product information is up to date when a user accesses the experience. 
5. Finally, stay current. Keep your product information up to date using the PIM. When information is managed in a PIM solution like Lumavate’s product updates can be in the hands of users in a matter of seconds. A product guide connected to PIM data can be built in 30 minutes with Lumavate. The lead time to get your customers and dealers accurate information just shortened drastically. 

The first version of your product catalog does not need to be your last. Consider making a simple product catalog template and building on top of it. Collect feedback from version one and use it to inform decisions for version two. Using a PIM and digital experiences will allow for easy and quick iteration. You’ll get so comfortable you’ll become a pro product catalogue maker. 

Check out this product catalog template from Lumavate and build better resources today!