eCommerce Product Data Standardization for a Premium Sports and Outdoor Brand

The Client

An eCommerce Seller of Sports Products with a Catalog Consisting of 1 Million+ Products

Our client is a premium sports and outdoors brand with a large product catalog of 1 Million+ products, such as sports equipment, athletic apparel, footwear, and fitness accessories. With over 6 years of experience in the eCommerce industry, the client also operates retail stores at selected physical locations.

The Requirement

Standardization and Management of Product Data for a Premium Sports Brand

With the expansion of the product catalog, our client was facing challenges such as data inaccuracies, inconsistencies in product taxonomy, and missing information. This was leading to poor search performance, cart abandonment, and delays in new product launches, negatively affecting customer experience, marketing campaigns, and inventory planning.

To resolve these challenges, the client requested support in the following areas:

Organization of products under appropriate categories
Standardization of product attributes to improve online merchandise and navigation
Review and optimize product descriptions, pricing details, and promotional information
Convert the catalog into a consistent format for ease of navigation and better performance

Project Challenges

Managing an Inconsistent Product Catalog

The client's product data was fragmented and lacked consistency. This led to limited merchandising flexibility and delays in launching new products. The major challenges were:

Manually Reviewing and Correcting Inaccurate eCommerce Data Categorization: Instead of proper categorization, many products were placed under the ambiguous 'General' category, which reduced product visibility. Several attributes were missing within the catalog, hindering filtering capabilities.
Limited Merchandising Functionality: The presence of incorrect taxonomy terms affected merchandising functionality, such as directed navigation based on attributes such as color, price, or size.
Requirement of Subject Matter Experts: To organize product taxonomy, we needed an expert in the client’s product line who could identify gaps in product data and categorize the products accurately.

Our Solution

Enforcement of Full-Scale eCommerce Data Standardization & Management Services

To resolve the project challenges, we assigned a team of 10 experts for eCommerce product data management. After a comprehensive training session conducted by the client, we offered them the following solutions based on our expertise:

Product Data Cleansing

We first analyzed and cleansed the product database by removing duplicate entries, spelling errors, and formatting inconsistencies. We also used product data matching techniques to eliminate duplicate values, decreasing redundancies within the database.

Product Data Standardization

Our experts centralized all product listing data in the client's system and aligned key elements such as descriptions, titles, and measurement units throughout the database. We also standardized the product information by unifying formats, correcting spellings, terminology, and ensuring consistency in numerical values and abbreviations.

Product Data Enrichment

The client’s database was incomplete, with several missing data entries. We used product data enrichment services to extract data from different sources and consolidate it within the central database.

Product Sorting and Categorization

We prepared a well-organized taxonomy to place the client’s products across the correct categories and sub-categories. Our team also worked on standardizing UPCs (Universal Product Codes) for efficient interoperability of retailers, suppliers, and manufacturers. We also sorted products and assigned them with the correct attributes to enhance product visibility.

38%

Increase in on-site search conversions due to well-structured product taxonomy and categorization

40%

Client marketing initiatives saw a 40% lift in campaign performance because of consistent product attributes