Product Catalog Website

Product catalogs are an essential type of marketing material. Catalog marketing is a specialized form of direct marketing that still holds an important place among the various marketing strategies used today, including social media and digital advertising. As more people purchase goods online, product catalogs remain a preferred source of information about a company’s products and services.

Consumers like using product catalogs because all of the relevant product information is concisely organized. This enabled consumers to easily review and compare products. Companies can include detailed product descriptions that allow consumers or any employees to understand the important aspects of each offering. Product catalogs allow consumers to make informed purchasing decisions quickly, this accelerates the buyer’s journey.

Digital product catalogs are easier to distribute by email, text, or include it on your website or social media channels. You can easily distribute physical copies in store by handing them out in person or having them available to pick up when a consumer walks in the door. However, one of the best things about digital product catalogs is that consumers can access them at any time and always have the most up-to-date information. Printed product catalogs are commonly outdated shortly after printing. With digital product catalogs, consumers can access them by clicking a link, or in-store by scanning a QR code. With a digital experience, you can get the best of both worlds when it comes to getting your product catalogs to your consumers.

Digital product catalogs offer consumers a better customer experience. Want to improve your brand awareness, loyalty, or reputation? Who doesn’t? By evolving your product catalog from a printed tome to an engaging and visually appealing digital experience, you will delight consumers.

What Is a Product Catalog?

A product catalog, also referred to as a product guide or product list, is a document that contains information on all of the company's products. Product guides enable your consumers to make educated decisions about your products. With all of the relevant information readily available, consumers have all the information they need to decide whether or not a product is for them. When you use a product catalog as a marketing tool, you can more easily control what your consumers are reading and watching about your products.

Although product catalogs may vary based on the company and its solutions, there are several basic elements that should exist in all versions:

• Product name - It is essential to assign a distinct name to each product to help consumers differentiate. 
• Product description - This element contains detailed information about a product such as weight, dimension, specification, etc. 
• Visuals - Visuals or images are an important element of a product catalog. Eye-catching photos or renderings boost consumer confidence and build trust.
• Features - Features include the most important key points that build knowledge on the product and explain what makes it unique among the competitors.
• Pricing - Provide consumers, dealers, or partners with the product cost.
• Discounts - If the company has offered any seasonal discounts or coupons, it should be displayed in the catalog. 
• Certification - Highlight a product’s industry qualifications and distinctions, such as International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certification.
• Usage guide - A user guide or an owner’s manual can be an essential element to ensuring a consumer is successful post-purchase.
• Warranty or guarantee - Specify the product’s warranty or guarantee clauses and return policy.

How Do I Create a Product Catalog?

The purpose of a product catalog is to provide consumers with a list of all available products so they can easily find the right product for their needs. So it's important to keep that in mind when creating your product catalog. It is beneficial to include accessories and parts in your product catalog and designate related products. The easiest and most effective way to create a product catalog is to use a product catalog template.

The product catalog template can serve as a layout for your product catalog. Depending on how you plan to deliver your product catalog will affect what type of product catalog template you will use. You can use a product catalog template PDF if you plan on delivering your product guide in the form of a PDF. The best way to deliver your product catalog, however, is by creating a digital experience that acts as a product catalog.

When creating your product catalog, the final of your product catalog should align with the type of product information you would like to include in the product catalog and what information consumers will most find helpful. Collecting the product information that you need to create your product catalog and placing it in a product information management (PIM) solution is essential in ensuring your product catalog will be filled with up-to-date information and ensures the actual process of creating a digital product catalog takes less than 30 minutes with a solution like Lumavate.

When you have finished all the preparation work, you can start creating your product catalog by using a solution like Lumavate. Lumavate is a digital experience platform (DXP) that provides you with a template to create your product catalog quickly and effectively. When creating your product catalog, make sure you tie your digital experiences to their PIM solution that is filled with your product information. That way when you update your product information within the PIM solution, your product catalog and any other digital experiences you have created will automatically update. This ensures that your consumers will always have up-to-date information when reading your product catalogs.

What Is a Product Catalog Website?

One of the most common challenges of creating a digital catalog is ensuring that all the product information and digital assets included in your online catalog are accurate. Many companies store their product information and digital assets across multiple Excel spreadsheets. Using a product information management solution (PIM) will improve your product information management strategy.

Having your product information stored in spreadsheets is a good solution when you have a few products, but it is unsustainable as your brand expands to hundreds of products and parts. Having a product information management solution allows your team to store, edit, and manage all of your product information and related product assets in one centralized location. Goodbye to the days of looking through pages of spreadsheets just to find one piece of product information you need for a marketing campaign.

PIM solutions can also help you keep your product information and product assets organized through product types and product relationships. You can utilize product types to distinguish products from parts and accessories or product lines from different business units. In a PIM teams can associate related products to one another to drive increased revenue from upsells, cross-sells, and bundles. Not every PIM provider offers this type of functionality, so make sure you ask when evaluating the options.

Some PIM solutions can connect with a variety of external channels, so when you create any online content, you can tie it to a PIM solution and it automatically updates it whenever you update your product information within the PIM solution. This helps you save time, especially if you have multiple pieces of online content that uses the same product information. 

The Lumavate digital experience platform includes a PIM solution within its suite of functionality. This means, when you store your product data in Lumavate you can seamlessly create a product catalog website in under 30 minutes.The most effective way to create a digital product catalog is to use a simple product website template to begin. When you use a website catalog template you have an outline of where everything should go while also have the option to customize it for your brand and products.

What Is an Example of a Product Catalog? 

Product catalogs that are delivered in PDF form can be considered digital since consumers access them online. Many companies gravitate towards this type of approach because the PDF product catalog is more accessible than the traditional printed product catalogs. However, in recent years, more and more companies are providing their consumers with interactive product catalogs or product catalog websites.

Companies are making this switch because their product data changes on a regular basis and the PDF product catalog becomes inaccurate when product information changes. You can combat this by creating a product catalog website that is tied to a PIM solution, so your product catalog will automatically update whenever your product information is updated within the PIM solution.

What Makes a Good Product Catalog?

A good product catalog contains up-to-date information that is helpful to your consumers. Creating a digital product catalog that is on your website is extremely accessible, and the information inside is always accurate because you tied it to a PIM. Tying your catalog to a PIM enables you to save time when updating your product information and ensures that the information is automatically updated across all digital experiences.

So if you have both a product catalog and a user guide connected to the PIM wherever you update the product data within the PIM both the product catalog and the user guide will be automatically updated. Using a digital product catalog improves your consumers’ experience by being more accessible.

Consumers can access digital product catalogs by clicking on a link or scanning a QR code. You can disrepute the link to your consumers online via email, mobile message, or any online platform you desire. You can also offer consumers to scan a QR code in-store or at in person events. This feature alone creates a lasting impression on your consumers.

What Program Can I Use to Make a Catalog?

You can use a program like Lumavate. Lumavate offers the functionality you need to create an engaging product catalog. Offering you the opportunity to create digital experiences for every use case along with mobile messaging and PIM functionalities makes Lumavate one of the best tools on the market. 

Having your digital experience tied to a PIM solution ensures that your consumers access the most up-to-date product information when reading about your brand and its product line. Lumavate allows your PIM to do more than just store your product data. You can tie your PIM to multiple digital experiences and organize your product data with different product types and relationships.

When implementing a new tool to your tech stack, you want to ensure your team is using it to its full potential. With Lumavate’s PIM solution you can customize the setup of the PIM to meet the needs of your business and dynamically pull your product data into a digital experience for any use case.

Lumavate’s PIM also offers users functionality like:

• Multiple Product Types - Utilize Product Types to distinguish products from parts and accessories or product lines from different business units or brands. 
• Unlimited Products - Create a product record for every single product or SKU you offer.
  
• Digital Asset Management - Centralize the management of your product images, documents, videos, and more tied directly to each product record.
• Unlimited Custom Attributes - Quickly add custom attributes for each Product Type to align with your product data and related digital assets.
• Product Relationships - Relate products to one another to drive increased revenue from upsells, cross-sells, bundles, parts, accessories, and more.
• Change Log - Track product record changes made by any system user.
• Integrate to Existing Systems - Connect your existing data and content tech stack to create a unified product record.
• Unlimited Users - Enable multiple users in your business to create and manage product data and related digital assets.
• Drive Dynamic Digital Experiences - Launch data-driven digital experiences that always display the most up-to-date product information.

Want to learn more about Lumavate’s PIM solution? Book a demo or take a tour and see for yourself.