As markets gain in complexity and the shopper can be reached in more places using ever more instruments, a new concept is emerging to sum up sellers’ efforts to take control of this whole process of showing their products in the best possible light, in the largest number of windows to the largest number of people:
Product-to-Consumer or in short
P2C. As Vincent Peters, CEO of Productsup puts it:
“The strategic management challenge is not about optimizing today’s digital processes. It’s about transforming future relationships. Only by entirely rethinking the P2C journey will organizations ever be able to deliver the personalized, consumer-centric experiences their shoppers have come to expect.
By taking effective control over every aspect of the global P2C product information value chains, organizations can manage powerful outbound digital flows and also the deep feedback loops which link them to buyers. That is how to create seamlessly brilliant shopper experiences. This is not just the most important operating model to which brands, retailers, service providers and marketplaces need to shift. It is the only one.”
Context
E-commerce is unstoppable. According to Forbes, 2021 has seen global e-commerce transactions volume rise above 4.2 trillion US dollars. “The changes we’re seeing are things that are going to carry forward for generations,” said Jason Woosley, vice president, commerce and developer experience, at Adobe. “There’s just too much momentum and durability.”
Businesses will either be exclusively online, or they will have to integrate online and in-person channels. In this context, every organisation needs a Product-to-Consumer (P2C) strategy. And if they do create this strategy, then product information management is bound to play a central role there.
Poor product information is a silent killer
If you’re an online vendor, product information is everything you have to offer prior to making a sale. So that information really needs to be good.
Recent research has demonstrated that the wrong approach to product information management is costing organizations an average of 3% in profits and 6% in revenue every year. Adding reputational damage into the mix, costs are even higher and long-term.
Product information errors can result in significant damage to a product or brand, or a vendor’s reputation. Just put there an unflattering image for your product, or the incorrect price point or an inaccurate description for a product and you will be quickly losing hard-earned consumer loyalty, revenue and profit. Because today’s customers are more aware than ever about what they buy, and brand loyalty doesn’t play the fundamental role it once played.
In fact, using PIM will let you play in the same league as the deep-pocket hyperscalers. You don’t have to have armies of product managers or buy expensive software suites for that. You just need to invest wisely, in a PIM that can best handle your product portfolio and cover all your desired sales channels, with the least possible human effort.
Not quite there? Put a plan in place and act upon it
Controlling the way you present your products to your customers and also controlling the myriad of your possible sales and marketing channels is key to success. Failing to do that may threaten a company’s ability to survive, let alone thrive in today’s ultra-competitive environment. Often, merely optimizing digital processes is not enough and a fundamental change in approach is needed. And this is true regardless of the size of your business, and no matter if you are a digital-native hyperscale retailer or local brand, retailer or service provider.
Modern PIM solutions designed with future in mind, including Pimics, are ready to connect to product data syndication platforms like Productsup or Channable, thus giving you the ability to access virtually any sales and marketing channel your business will ever need in order to reach King Customer.
Having a reliable tech stack is key, and PIM is a crucial link in this stack that any online-selling business must (re)design from the ground up through P2C management. The goal? Attaining a performance that’s so matter-of-fact and yet so rare: thriving in today’s and tomorrow’s crowded and demanding market.