Methods and issues of managing product
Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2025 9:08 am
Because web catalogs cannot fully utilize the benefits of the web, it has become common to use a CMS (Content Management System) to optimize and publish product data for the web. In addition, as the COVID-19 pandemic has made face-to-face sales activities more difficult, there has been an increased trend to promote sales using EC.
So how should you manage the product data displayed on your CMS or EC site? The first method that comes to mind is to manage it using Excel. With Excel, anyone can easily create a list of basic product information, specifications, related products, and image files.
When inputting product data managed in Excel into a CMS or EC, the contents of the Excel must be converted into a registration format. Conversion is mainly done manually or using ETL tools. When done manually, the amount of work required increases as the number of products increases. Also, incorrect information may be published due to human error. Conversion can be easily done using ETL tools, but if the Excel format is uniquely optimized for each department that manages products and the number of formats increases, creating conversion rules becomes very difficult.
Once product data has been registered in a CMS or EC and operation has begun, there will be requests to be able to search by information such as dimensions what is 99 acres and weight. To achieve this, the dimensions and weight fields of the product data must be registered as numerical values. However, since users can freely enter values in Excel, it is possible that ranges such as "10 to 15" are entered in numerical fields, or that caution notes are entered after the numerical values, which can result in errors when registering in the CMS or EC. It is possible to set input restrictions by incorporating Excel macros, but in that case, it will be difficult to create Excel.
Methods and issues of managing product data in a proprietary database for use in CMS and EC
When managing data using Excel, problems such as those mentioned above may occur due to the flexibility of Excel.
To avoid this, you can build your own product database, impose input restrictions so that each item of product data can only be entered in the correct format, and perform automatic checks. Building your own product database requires designing the database and developing a user interface that allows operators to easily register data, which requires a large initial investment.
Furthermore, because product data is used in a wide variety of marketing channels, it is often necessary to add additional data items to be managed, or to register translated data for overseas expansion, and every time a new request arises, the database needs to be modified or additional user interface development is required. This type of development takes a certain amount of time, which can lead to delays in responding to requests, which is an issue.
So how should you manage the product data displayed on your CMS or EC site? The first method that comes to mind is to manage it using Excel. With Excel, anyone can easily create a list of basic product information, specifications, related products, and image files.
When inputting product data managed in Excel into a CMS or EC, the contents of the Excel must be converted into a registration format. Conversion is mainly done manually or using ETL tools. When done manually, the amount of work required increases as the number of products increases. Also, incorrect information may be published due to human error. Conversion can be easily done using ETL tools, but if the Excel format is uniquely optimized for each department that manages products and the number of formats increases, creating conversion rules becomes very difficult.
Once product data has been registered in a CMS or EC and operation has begun, there will be requests to be able to search by information such as dimensions what is 99 acres and weight. To achieve this, the dimensions and weight fields of the product data must be registered as numerical values. However, since users can freely enter values in Excel, it is possible that ranges such as "10 to 15" are entered in numerical fields, or that caution notes are entered after the numerical values, which can result in errors when registering in the CMS or EC. It is possible to set input restrictions by incorporating Excel macros, but in that case, it will be difficult to create Excel.
Methods and issues of managing product data in a proprietary database for use in CMS and EC
When managing data using Excel, problems such as those mentioned above may occur due to the flexibility of Excel.
To avoid this, you can build your own product database, impose input restrictions so that each item of product data can only be entered in the correct format, and perform automatic checks. Building your own product database requires designing the database and developing a user interface that allows operators to easily register data, which requires a large initial investment.
Furthermore, because product data is used in a wide variety of marketing channels, it is often necessary to add additional data items to be managed, or to register translated data for overseas expansion, and every time a new request arises, the database needs to be modified or additional user interface development is required. This type of development takes a certain amount of time, which can lead to delays in responding to requests, which is an issue.