Online Catalog Template

When Does a Product Catalog Do?

You may be wondering what is an online catalog template? A product catalog example is a comprehensive inventory of all the products offered by a company. It provides detailed descriptions and specifications for each item. This essential tool, often interchangeably referred to as a product guide, product catalogue, or product list, serves as a vital resource for all stakeholders in a company, including customers, distributors, and sales teams.

Traditionally available in printed format, modern advancements have expanded its accessibility, with digital versions now common. These digital catalogs can take various forms, from static PDFs displayed on a product catalog website to dynamic iterations updated in real-time through integration with Product Information Management (PIM) solutions, ensuring accurate and up-to-date product information for any user.

What Is an Example of a Product Catalog?

The purpose of a product catalog is to act as a comprehensive place for a company's offerings, allowing customers to efficiently navigate through the range of products available and identify the ones that best meet their needs. By providing a detailed list of all available products, complete with specifications and descriptions, the catalog serves as a valuable resource for customers seeking specific items. This accessibility and clarity streamline the purchasing process, empowering customers to make well-informed decisions and enhancing their overall shopping experience.

Additionally, a product catalog serves as a strategic tool for promoting related parts and accessories, facilitating additional purchases. By showcasing compatible add-ons or complementary products alongside the main items, the catalog not only simplifies the shopping journey for customers but also encourages them to purchase all necessary components from the manufacturer or authorized channel partners. An integrated approach like this not only maximizes convenience for customers but also strengthens brand loyalty and fosters a deeper relationship between the company and its customers.

How Do I Create a Product Catalog in Excel?

The Challenges of Simple Product Catalog Template

One of the biggest challenges in creating a product guide is due to the painstaking task of collecting and verifying all product data and associated digital assets for accuracy. This job can be particularly daunting for manufacturers, as many lack a centralized Product Information Management (PIM) solution for their employees, often resorting to managing product information through disparate Excel spreadsheets stored on individual computers or within the company network. Without a unified platform to store and organize product information and assets, the process of compiling all necessary data for the product guide on an annual basis becomes excessively burdensome and prone to errors.

What Is an Example of a Catalog?

Companies across many industries often maintain product catalogs to showcase their diverse offerings. An example of catalog would include manufacturers of light fixtures, faucets, home appliances, and lawn and garden tools, all of whom might invest in how to make a catalog with pictures.

For instance, manufacturers specializing in light fixtures would present an array of lighting solutions, ranging from ceiling lights to wall sconces, in their product catalogs. Product catalog examples from companies producing faucets would display a range of designs and functionalities, such as kitchen faucets, bathroom faucets, and shower fixtures. Home appliance manufacturers would feature a comprehensive catalog encompassing kitchen appliances like refrigerators, stoves, and dishwashers, as well as laundry appliances such as washers and dryers. Additionally, manufacturers of lawn and garden tools might offer a variety of outdoor equipment including lawnmowers, trimmers, leaf blowers, and gardening implements within their product catalogs.

How to Create Catalog in PDF

There are two primary delivery mechanisms for product catalogs: PDF and digital. Many manufacturers opt for a PDF format, often enhancing its interactivity through software to mimic a flipbook-like experience.

However, despite these efforts, the PDF catalog remains relatively static, disconnected from real-time product data updates. Conversely, a fully digital product catalog offers a dynamic solution, seamlessly integrated with a Product Information Management (PIM) system. This digital approach ensures that product data and related digital assets are automatically synchronized and updated whenever changes occur in the PIM, providing customers with accurate and up-to-date information at all times.

How Do I Make a Simple Product Catalog?

Use software such as Adobe InDesign, Word, or Canva to design the product catalog.
Finalize the design and export the file into a PDF format.
Promote the PDF through relevant channels.
Note that manual updates are necessary whenever product data changes to maintain accuracy.
Managing the product catalog is an ongoing process that requires regular updates to the PDF version.

What Is a Good Product Catalog?

Many companies make the mistake of relying solely on creating a PDF version of their product guide using design software like Adobe InDesign. This approach is problematic as product data evolves quickly, making the static PDF version outdated nearly as soon as it is created.

By contrast, opting for a digital version of the product catalog hosted on the company website offers significant advantages. This digital solution, when integrated with a Product Information Management (PIM) system, ensures real-time updates to reflect any changes in product data. This means the digital catalog remains consistently up-to-date, providing customers with accurate information. Hosting the catalog online allows businesses to leverage search engine optimization (SEO) strategies tied to their product content, enhancing visibility and accessibility for potential customers.

Software to Make Catalog

PIM (Product Information Management) software centrally stores and manages various types of product data, including descriptions, SKUs, pricing, features, dimensions, and more. It can also handle related digital assets like photos, videos, manuals, and spec sheets if equipped with Digital Asset Management (DAM) functionality. Multiple users can access the PIM solution to update product data in real time, establishing it as the authoritative source for all product information.

Online Catalog Examples

Utilizing a PIM (Product Information Management) solution offers numerous benefits, especially when integrated with a Digital Experience Platform (DXP) like Lumavate, facilitating the seamless creation of digital experiences linked to product data. Lumavate stands out as an excellent choice for managing product data and digital assets while constructing digital product guides. With Lumavate's PIM functionality embedded in its DXP, manufacturing marketers can effortlessly develop digital catalogs.

How Do I Create a Product Catalog

The steps for creating a product catalog include:

Determine the structure and content of the catalog.
Collect all necessary product information and assets.
Upload product data and related assets to the PIM solution.
Develop a digital experience linked to the PIM for real-time product information.
Continuously update product data and assets using the PIM, ensuring instant availability in the digital catalog. Lumavate simplifies this process, allowing for efficient management of product data and assets within 30 minutes.

How Do You Structure a Product Catalog?

The Product Information Page

A product information page serves as a critical resource, whether in print or digital format, providing customers with essential details about a specific product. Typically dedicated to individual products, these pages offer comprehensive information including specifications, images, descriptions, allowing customers to make informed decisions about purchases.

Product information pages are also valuable post-purchase, offering troubleshooting guides, owner's manuals, and other helpful content. These pages can be used internally to educate employees about specific products, making for better product knowledge and customer service.

The Product Detail Page

A product detail page is a crucial component of e-commerce and online retail platforms. It provides comprehensive information about a specific product. At a minimum, it includes the product name, description, features and benefits, product specifications, and multiple product images to aid customers in their purchasing decisions. Depending on the use case, additional information such as related parts or accessories, product videos, manuals, customer reviews, and more may also be included. A product detail page serves to share all relevant information necessary for a customer to make an informed decision at whatever point they are in their customer journey.

Catalog Management Example

Creating a product detail page varies a great deal depending on the software used by a company. Most companies require a Product Information Management (PIM) solution to manage product data and Digital Asset Management (DAM) functionality to handle related digital assets effectively.

Once data and assets are managed, integrating them into digital experiences like online product catalogs or websites is crucial. For some companies, this integration may require technical resources to connect PIM and DAM to their website via API.

Alternatively, Lumavate's Digital Experience Platform offers a streamlined solution. With Lumavate, data-driven product detail pages can be built in minutes, automatically pulling data from its built-in PIM and DAM solutions. This ensures that product detail pages are always up-to-date, reflecting any changes made to product data or digital assets in real time.

Catalog Marketing Examples

Lumavate offers a comprehensive suite of solutions under its Product Experience Management (PXM) platform, empowering companies to streamline and optimize their digital product experiences. Here's an overview of what Lumavate provides:

Built-in Product Information Management (PIM) Solution: Lumavate's PIM solution enables companies to efficiently manage all aspects of product data, including descriptions, specifications and pricing.
Digital Asset Management (DAM) Functionality: With DAM functionality, Lumavate allows companies to organize and manage digital assets such as images, videos, and documents related to their products.
Digital Experience Platform (DXP): Lumavate's DXP empowers companies to create and manage engaging digital experiences that showcase product information tailored to their customers' needs and preferences.
Text Messaging: Lumavate provides text messaging capabilities, allowing companies to execute highly targeted text messaging campaigns to reach customers directly with relevant product information and promotions.
Form Builder: Lumavate includes a user-friendly form builder tool, enabling companies to easily create and customize forms for collecting valuable data such as product registrations and lead registrations.
More than 40 Integrations: Lumavate seamlessly integrates with over 40 other tools and platforms, enhancing functionality and enabling companies to streamline workflows and processes.

As an all-in-one solution, Lumavate equips companies that manufacture and sell physical products with the technology needed to effectively manage their product data and digital assets, create and update engaging digital experiences, execute targeted text messaging campaigns and collect valuable customer data. Lumavate stands out in the market for its comprehensive suite of solutions, offering a wide range of functionality that is unmatched by other platforms, all at a fraction of the cost compared to platforms with much less functionality.

How to Implement Lumavate

Implementing Lumavate is a straightforward process designed to empower businesses to quickly leverage their capabilities. Lumavate’s 14-day free trial allows you to get the best free product catalog example. After that, Lumavate offers multiple subscription plan options to meet the needs of every business. These plans start at $499 a month, making Lumavate stand out from the competition for its transparent pricing.

Here's how to get started:

Start with a 14-Day Free Trial or Schedule a Demo: Begin your Lumavate journey by initiating a 14-day free trial to experience its features firsthand or schedule a demo to explore its capabilities.
Choose a Subscription Plan: Lumavate offers multiple subscription plan options tailored to meet the needs of every business, starting at $499 per month.
Onboarding the Same Day: Once a subscription plan is purchased, companies are on-boarded the same day, allowing them to immediately begin implementing the Lumavate Platform.
Built for Marketers, No Technical Resources Required: Lumavate is built with marketers in mind and does not require any technical resources, making it exceptionally user-friendly and easy to use.
Professional Services Available: For companies needing assistance with implementing their product data initially, Lumavate offers professional services to ensure a smooth onboarding process.
Rapid Launch: Many companies launch digital product guides within days of starting with Lumavate, showcasing its ease of use and versatility.
Expand Usage: Companies often expand Lumavate's usage beyond digital product guides to their company website, sales resources, events, and more, leveraging its capabilities across multiple touchpoints.

Many companies can expand quickly, implementing these expanded touchpoints within days of beginning use of Lumavate. By choosing Lumavate to coordinate your product catalog, you'll find yourself not only coming out ahead of the competition but that every aspect of your company runs more smoothly. That's because a company that deals in physical products is only as good as the quality and accessibility of the information about those products.