Product Information & Specifications: What is it?

Product information and specifications are detailed descriptions of a product’s attributes, features, and technical details that inform the customer about what they are purchasing.

It comprises all the information supporting product design, production, usage, and maintenance. This includes technical specs, requirements, drawings, parts, instructions, assembly directions, bills of materials (BOMs), ingredients, nutrition, color/finish/size/pack variations, compliance evidence, and approved manufacturer and supplier lists.

Product info is critical for much more than a product’s customer-facing presence on the digital shelf, such as sourcing, manufacturing, and supply chain.

For example, if we consider a smartphone, the product specifications might include:

• Screen Size: 6.5 inches.
• Camera Resolution: 12 MP front camera, 48 MP rear camera
• Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz octa-core
• Battery Life: 4500 mAh, up to 24 hours of usage
• Storage Options: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB
• Operating System: Latest version of Android or iOS
• Connectivity: 5G, LTE, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0
• Additional Features: Water-resistant, fingerprint sensor, facial recognition

These specifications help customers clearly understand the product's offerings and compare them with other products on the market.

Why it Matters:

Product information and specifications are crucial to the digital shelf for several reasons:

• Informed Purchasing Decisions: Since shoppers can’t physically inspect products online, detailed product information and specifications help them understand what they are buying. This includes dimensions, materials, features, and benefits, which are essential for making informed decisions.
• Building Trust: Accurate and comprehensive product information builds trust with consumers. It assures them of the product’s quality and reduces the likelihood of returns or negative reviews due to unmet expectations.
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Detailed product specifications can improve a product’s visibility on search engines, making it easier for consumers to find the product when they search for specific features or types of products2.
• Comparison Shopping: Consumers often compare products before making a purchase. Clear and detailed specifications allow for easy comparison across different products and brands.
• Regulatory Compliance: Certain industries require disclosure of specific product information to comply with regulations. Providing this information upfront is necessary to avoid legal issues and build credibility.
• Enhanced User Experience: Detailed product information can enhance the user experience by providing all the necessary information in one place, reducing the need for further research or inquiries.

Product information and specifications are the foundation for a product’s online presence and are vital in driving conversions on the digital shelf.

Who is responsible?

A collaborative effort among product development managers, engineers, marketers, QA, legal, and other stakeholders ensures accurate and comprehensive product information. Product managers and data teams are often responsible for getting this information into technology systems. Every organization does this differently, so it is essential to understand who is responsible for ensuring this product-level information is complete and accurate in your organization.

What technology is used?

This essential product data typically resides in software tools and systems such as:

• Excel
• Customized In-House Systems
• Master Data Management (MDM) Systems
• Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Systems
• Product Information Management (PIM) Systems
• Product Experience Management (PXM) Systems

Challenges:

Because so many stakeholders in a product organization are involved in creating the product information & specifications, as well as storing and managing that information, this leads to many challenges, such as:

• Product Data Standards & Governance: Many organizations need help consistently following global, organizational, and brand content standards. Governance practices must be implemented to outline the guidelines, train stakeholders, and ensure product data standards are followed. Structuring product data is critical for access, use, and your company’s financial reporting.
• Storage & Technology: Despite all the technology tools organizations use to store and manage this product information, there must be one source of truth. It is efficient to have stakeholders know where to find this product information. If multiple locations exist, strive to automate the product data flow into one central location. Assess if you have the right technology to meet your organization’s needs or if what you have has been implemented and adopted correctly across the company. Clarifying the roles, responsibilities, and workflows of each individual responsible for entering and maintaining this information is critical.
• Product Revisions & Updates: Product information and specifications are frequently revised during product development, and products may be updated over time. However, most organizations do not have an end-to-end organizational process for updating these changes in the identified central source of truth. In addition, many need a workflow that triggers the cross-functional teams to update visual assets and marketing copy internally and to activate these changes on the consumer-facing digital shelves across all regions, channels, and retailers impacted.

Why it Matters:

Visual assets bring a product to life on the digital shelf and are a critical component of the digital shelf for several compelling reasons:

• Product Identification: Visual Assets are the primary way shoppers identify or verify they’ve found the product they’re looking for. A clear and high-quality image can make the difference between a sale and a missed opportunity.
• Consumer Experience: Since online shoppers can’t physically handle products before buying them, visual assets must do the heavy lifting to attract shoppers and position products as the best option.
• Impact on Sales: A well-designed visual asset, like a hero image, can significantly impact sales by allowing consumers to find and recognize products easily.
• Attention Span: Images can quickly capture and hold consumer attention in the fast-paced digital retail environment. This is crucial given that brands often have only a fraction of a second to stop a customer’s scrolling thumb.
• Brand Consistency: Visual assets ensure consistency across all digital platforms, providing a cohesive brand experience that is key to the omnichannel strategy.
• Information Conveyance: They can convey important information at a glance, such as brand, size, quantity, and variant, which aids in the decision-making process.

Visual assets are not just about aesthetics; they play a vital role in how consumers discover, evaluate, and choose products on the digital shelf.Product information and specifications are the foundation for a product’s online presence and are vital in driving conversions on the digital shelf.

Who is responsible?

In most organizations, the creation and management of visual assets are typically the responsibility of the creative or marketing departments and their agencies. This includes graphic designers, photographers, videographers, and brand managers who produce and maintain the visual content.

The responsibility for entering visual assets into a technology system, such as a Digital Asset Management (DAM) system, often falls to digital asset managers or content managers. These individuals ensure that the assets are correctly cataloged, tagged, and stored in a way that makes them easily accessible and usable for the organization. They also manage permissions and usage rights, ensuring the assets are used correctly and in line with brand guidelines.

In some cases, especially in smaller organizations, these roles may overlap, with the same individuals creating the assets and managing their entry into the system. In larger organizations, there may be dedicated teams or individuals for each aspect of visual asset management.

What technology is used?

Many organizations that focus most of their visual asset investments on product and brand imagery designed for digital shelf and product detail pages will use tools such as:

• FTP Servers
• Cloud-based applications
• Product Experience Management (PXM) Systems
• Content Management Systems (CMS)

Larger organizations that invest in global marketing campaigns will likely use:

• Digital Asset Management (DAM) Systems: These Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems act as comprehensive libraries, streamlining the process of storing, organizing, and retrieving image files. They save time and resources, ensure efficient collaboration among team members, and help prevent loss, duplication, or unauthorized use of the visual assets.Product Experience Management (PXM) Systems

Challenges:

Data Strategy Design

Each visual asset is a piece of data; however, many organizations use their technology as a storage repository only. Companies need to take the time to ensure these visual assets are organized in the global, organizational, and brand hierarchies to ensure accurate reporting. Naming standards and unique identifier codes must be standardized to link each visual asset to the correct Product Information and Specifications at the item level that lives in a PIM system. The combination of visual assets and product information creates a Product Record.

Metadata and Taxonomy

If your visual assets are not following an explicit metadata schema industry standard (e.g., IPTC, Dublin Core, SKOS) and using general and keyword tagging, it makes it very difficult for stakeholders across the organization to discover and find what visual assets have already been created, if they are current, and if they can reuse it.

Metadata: Is data about data. For visual assets, it includes details like the creator, creation date, format, and descriptive keywords. Metadata is crucial for organizing and retrieving content efficiently so you can:

• Find Assets: Quickly locate specific visual assets within a large repository.
• Check Relevance: Determine if the assets are up-to-date and suitable for current use.
• Reuse Content: Identify assets that can be repurposed, saving time and resources.

Taxonomy: A hierarchical system classifies content and subcategories based on relationships. It helps structure content in a way that humans and machines understand. The Semantic Web uses taxonomy to enhance content discoverability and management. Here’s an example: Imagine an online grocery store that uses a taxonomy to categorize its products. At the top level, you might have categories like “Beverages,” “Snacks,” and “Personal Care.” Under “Beverages,” there could be subcategories such as “Soda,” “Juice,” and “Water.” Each product is then tagged with metadata according to this taxonomy. For instance, a bottle of orange juice would have metadata tags like “Beverages > Juice > Orange Juice.” This structured data is then published using Semantic Web standards like RDF (Resource Description Framework) and linked to other data sources for richer context. This allows for:

• Enhanced Search: Customers can find products more efficiently through faceted search, which uses the taxonomy to filter results.
• Personalization: Recommendations based on browsing history and preferences aligned with the taxonomy.
• Interoperability: Different systems can understand and use the product data because it adheres to a common standard.

Data Mapping & Alignment

If organizations do not have a data map, this leads to a lack of asset consistency. Inconsistent tags, descriptions, and keywords make searching for and organizing assets challenging. Without alignment, data remains in silos, hindering cross-functional collaboration and asset reuse. This leads to wasting time and frustration. Users need help finding specific assets. Here are the benefits of data mapping and alignment:

• Efficiency: Proper data mapping ensures information flows smoothly across different systems and departments. This reduces the risk of errors and inefficiencies when data is misaligned or incorrectly translated between formats.
• Consistency: Alignment ensures that everyone in the organization works with the same information. This is crucial for maintaining consistency in product information, pricing, and inventory levels across various platforms and channels.
• Decision Making: Accurate and aligned data allows for better analytics and insights, supporting more informed decision-making. Companies can identify trends, optimize operations, and respond to market changes more effectively.
• Collaboration: When data is mapped and aligned, it facilitates collaboration between different parts of the company and external partners like suppliers and retailers. This is essential for coordinated efforts such as promotions, supply chain management, and new product launches.
• Customer Experience: Meeting customer expectations is critical in the CPG industry. Aligned data helps companies consistently ensure product availability, information, and marketing messages across all touchpoints, enhancing the customer experience.
• Compliance: Regulatory compliance often requires strict data management practices—proper data mapping and alignment help companies meet these requirements, avoiding potential fines and legal issues.
• Agility: Companies must be agile to stay competitive in a fast-paced industry like CPG. Data alignment supports this by enabling quick access to accurate information for rapid decision-making and adaptation to market demands.

Integration Challenges

DAM systems often integrate with others, such as PIM, PXM, CMS, CRM, etc. System data transfer becomes complex and error-prone without proper mapping. This mapping must be done since visual assets must align with the product information and specifications to create a Complete and Accurate Product Record. The Product Record is the foundational product data and content layer needed to develop channel, region, and retailer-specific marketing copy and content.

Marketing Copy: What is it?

Marketing copy communicates a product's headline, description, features, benefits, how to use it, and more relevant information to inform the consumer and drive a purchase. However, the marketing copy for the digital shelf must have a separate version for each channel and retailer partner. This is because all channel and retailer partners have unique requirements your brand must comply with to get your product on their digital shelf. This can include everything from character count, the order of information in a product description, to the number of bullet points permitted or required.

Marketing Copy is created starting from the Complete and Accurate Product Record, which comprises the product information, specifications, and visual assets at the product level. Although global marketing copy may be available, it can only be used as a starting point to create each channel and retailer-specific digital shelf marketing copy for each product.

Note that a workflow in your organization must be set up to flag when a product record is changed. This is more common than you think. For example, ingredients change, the packaging is updated, or size, flavor, or color variants are added. Once a Complete and Accurate Product Record has changed, the marketing copy must be reviewed to see if updates must be made to ensure accuracy and consistency with the product performance and the visual assets.

Why it Matters:

Marketing copy is essential on the digital shelf for several reasons:

• First Impressions: It’s often the first interaction that a customer has with a product online. Well-crafted marketing copy can make a strong first impression and influence the customer’s decision to explore further.
• Brand Voice and Identity: Marketing copy conveys the brand’s voice and identity, helping to differentiate the product from competitors and establish a connection with the target audience.
• SEO and Visibility: Good marketing copy is optimized for search engines, which can improve a product’s visibility on search results pages, making it more likely that customers will find and click on the product.
• Inform and Persuade: Effective marketing copy informs potential customers about the product’s features and benefits and persuades them to purchase.
• Conversion Rates: Compelling marketing copy can significantly impact conversion rates by convincing customers that the product meets their needs and is worth the investment.

In summary, marketing copy plays a crucial role in attracting and engaging customers, conveying brand values, and ultimately driving sales on the digital shelf. Visual assets are not just about aesthetics; they play a vital role in how consumers discover, evaluate, and choose products on the digital shelf. Product information and specifications are the foundation for a product’s online presence and are vital in driving conversions on the digital shelf.

Who is responsible?

The responsibility for creating marketing copy for the product detail page of each retailer and channel platform typically involves a collaborative effort between several roles within an organization:

• Content Writers and Copywriters: They are primarily responsible for crafting the marketing copy that highlights the product’s features and benefits in a compelling way.
• Marketing Team: This team strategizes the messaging and ensures the copy aligns with the brand’s overall marketing objectives and voice.
• eCommerce Managers: They oversee the product detail pages and must ensure the copy complies with each channel and retailer-specific requirements before successfully uploading the content to the digital shelf.
• Product Managers: They provide the necessary product information and ensure the marketing copy accurately reflects the product’s specifications and value proposition.
• SEO Specialists: They optimize the copy to improve the product’s visibility on search engines and within the retailer’s platform.
• Legal and Compliance Teams: They review the copy to ensure it meets all regulatory requirements and does not make unsubstantiated claims.

These roles work together to create effective marketing copy that resonates with customers and drives sales on the digital shelf. In some cases, especially in smaller organizations, these roles may overlap, with the same individuals creating the assets and managing their entry into the system. In larger organizations, there may be dedicated teams or individuals for each aspect of visual asset management.

What technology is used?

Marketing copy for the Product Detail Page (PDP) must be stored in a system that can store channel and retailer-specific content for each product. Yet, many Product Information Systems (PIMS) do not have the capability to store multiple versions of marketing copy for each product by channel.

For many companies, this marketing copy is stored in Syndication software required by the channel partner. However, as many brands have grown their channel strategy to fuel growth in recent years, we have seen the emergence of Product Experience Management (PXM) systems taking on a more significant place in the content flow technology ecosystem. This is because these software systems are built with the complexities of the channel in mind and offer functionality to create, store, and syndicate content to multiple channels.

Challenges:

Inaccurate and Incomplete Product Records

This seems like a basic concept, but this is where most organizations stumble. eCommerce sales, Omnichannel sales, and Digital Shelf team members need visibility and easy access to the Complete and Accurate Product Record of every item you sell to create the required and optimized marketing copy and visual assets for each region, channel, and retailer platform.

However, many Product, Creative, Agency, and Marketing Team members need to be made aware of this, and their role is to ensure it is delivered. If a Complete and Accurate Product Record is not easily accessible, setting up or refreshing an item on the digital shelf can be painful, time-consuming, and error-prone.

This is where an outside partner can help by working across teams, data silos, and technology systems to implement data and content strategies, governance, and change management.

Growing Content Demands

Brands and Retailers are having difficulty keeping up with all the content demands as personalization across the shopping journey grows. As you grow your channel strategy, the demand for content expands. Content must be updated when a platform, channel, or retailer changes requirements. It must also be refreshed as seasons, events, and promotions impact customer behavior.

Many exciting AI-powered tools are emerging to help keep up with the changing requirements and SEO keywords on each digital shelf by generating marketing copy that can be reviewed, edited, and published by a team member.

Optimizing for Dynamic Digital Shelves

As we mentioned at the beginning of this White Paper, not only is each platform and digital shelf unique, but many of the largest marketplaces are dynamic. This means you cannot ‘set it and forget it.’ Brands must continuously review and adjust their product listings to stay competitive and appealing to their audiences. As back-end algorithms change, competition enters the market, and retail media ad inventory grows, placing products at the top of the search, data-driven content must be created and refreshed. Brands must monitor search trends, analyze sales data, and optimize.