Supplier Checklist: Managing and Distributing Your Product Content

Engaging your shopper is the most important element to driving better engagement and sales online. The product content you provide for each Product Detail page is the core to that engagement.

Here is a checklist to consider as you plan or evaluate your product information management and syndication strategy.

Coordinate With Internal Departments

Many departments may need product content. Before capturing information, consider reviewing across your organization. It is often more efficient to capture all information at once than through multiple stages or vendors.

Consider Your Options for Content Creation And Validation

Content can be captured manually, and while you may be able to upload content to a retailer, the burden is on you to ensure proper specifications or your item may not be accepted. A quality content partner should have multiple ways to accept your information, with relationships across suppliers and recipients. That way, your items are displayed accurately, to each recipient’s requirements.

TIP : In addition to formatting, retailers may require additional content in their requirements. This helps them sell more, which is a good thing! However, if your syndication partner simply passes along your information, your data may not be accepted

Build Enhanced Content into The Plan

Accurate Core product content is only the beginning. Shoppers are accessing more Enhanced content than ever. Top retail sites (Amazon, Costco, Google, Lowe’s, Target, Walmart) favor or even require additional Enhanced content such as Engaging Hero images, comparison charts, usage videos or other marketing content to meet content readiness requirements.

Choose Your Platform / Portal for Management And Syndication

Not all portals are created equal. The Syndigo Content Experience Hub (CXH) connects your entire content process – ingesting, managing, syndicating, enriching and optimizing your digital assets through a single platform. It’s all connected, so you can add and update information in real time, any time.

TIP : Understand True Retail Network Size and Makeup An easy-to-use tool is important, but it is just as important to have a large content distribution network. Syndigo connects directly to a global network of brands and retailers, enabling efficient and accurate transfer of information across 1,750+ retailers worldwide.

TIP: Build Custom Direct Feeds (Amazon, Google, etc.) While many content providers can deliver data, the definition of “direct feed” may vary. Syndigo has preferred partnerships with both Amazon and Google, which means that we ensure your content matches their delivery needs and the data is fed directly into their systems – no manual uploads or file transfers needed.

TIP: Leverage a Walmart connected content partner Walmart developed its Connected Content Content Partners to simplify product information requirements. Syndigo is approved across Syndication, Enriched core content and Rich Media. This means you have a Connected Partner regardless of whether you need to collect, enrich or syndicate your content to Walmart’s online platform.

Confirm Retailer Acceptance, Not Just Distribution

Suppliers may tout a large retailer network, but if they simply distribute content for free, there may be no validation that it is being used. There is little incentive to ensure retailer needs are met and your content is in the proper format. At Syndigo, our retailers are also clients, which means they are invested in having the proper content requirements needed for their systems.

Optimize Content And Quality Scoring (Real Time)

By understanding your product activity across PDPs you can continually improve performance. In CXH, Syndigo provides a data quality score for each item and for your data across each recipient, with workflows to manage your progress and improvement. Syndigo’s analytics capabilities help you implement real-time adjustments to continually optimize your pages for better results.

Core Content helps you deliver brand consistency and transparency above the fold, while enabling eCommerce and in-store category management programs to drive sales and supply chain efficiency.

Syndigo can help you with your Core Content needs, allowing you to create, collect, audit, enrich and manage your product data content for in-store and eCommerce optimizations, all from an integrated single platform.