Safety concerns surrounding COVID-19 are the reason why 60% of this year’s holiday consumers will prefer online shopping rather than a physical store, according to Deloitte.
Curbside pickup use will more than double. A majority (62%) of consumers will shop online retailers. Think with Google reports that 67% of shoppers will first confirm in-store availability if they choose to shop brick and mortar.
To meet these unprecedented holiday shopping demands, brands must have engaging, complete, and thorough product experiences.
Missing product specifications, sparse product content, bland product detail pages (PDPs), and incorrect inventory and pricing, will damage future relationships and loyalty — if not the immediate sale itself.
It’s not too late to get started on your 2020 holiday ecommerce plans. This last-minute checklist to get your product content ready for holiday shoppers.
What Can Brands Do Right Now? Uncover Origins and Destinations for Product Content
Identify the key stakeholders who have answers to the following questions. This group will become your brand's digital transformation team.
Send them a copy of the Salsify product content readiness checklist before the meeting. This checklist will help your team establish a more structured product-content-management process that ensures your brand is represented well to consumers across every point of engagement for every SKU in your portfolio before the meeting.
Before the conversation ends, make sure your team can answer the following questions:
- How many SKUs are in your product catalog?
- Which sales channels do you sell on today, including retailers, wholesalers, distributors, and direct-to-consumer (DTC)?
- How does your content get delivered to those channels?
- What are the content requirements for those channels?
- Where does your product content live internally?
What Can Brands Do by Tomorrow? Check Product Content Readiness
Once you know where product information is stored, survey your product content to ensure each has the basic needs consumers expect. Completing an inventory of the following will help you understand your product content readiness.
Product Specification Details
Materials, ingredients, size, and package dimensions are the foundation of PDPs. These details are so essential that consumers expect them to be present and think something is wrong when they aren’t.
In cases where there are issues with product content, 79% of consumers will not make a purchase, according to the 2020 Salsify consumer report.
Where can you locate this content internally? Look to manufacturing, production, merchandising, or sales teams.
Price and Colorways
Fairly self-explanatory, but what’s key is understanding how and if these two things change from channel to channel. Maybe your brand has channel-exclusive products. Maybe certain colors are offered in certain places. Maybe one channel mandates the lowest-price offerings. Have all these nuances at the ready.
Where can you locate this content internally? Merchandising, programming, price-planning, and inventory teams.
Basic Product Content
Think about the best PDP content you see when you shop: descriptive marketing copy and an average of seven bullets. Consumers also expect clear and detailed product descriptions that answer potential questions.
When it comes to images, a minimum of seven above-the-fold full-length, editorial, and detail shots show consumers the product and how to use it.
Where can you locate this content internally? Creative, marketing, and sales teams.
What You Brands Do by Next Week? Collect Enhanced Content Assets
Enhanced content is the immersive, engaging brand and product storytelling at the bottom of PDPs. Sometimes called A+ content, below-the-fold content, or rich media, enhanced content is where the full brand and product story unfolds for consumers.
Image galleries, branded videos, how-to videos, in-depth product details and uses, 360-degree spins, and comparison charts engage consumers, answer outstanding questions, and build connection and loyalty to set the stage for future purchases. The ability to tell your brand story and explain product uses and functions will help you win this holiday season.
Where can you locate this content internally? Creative, marketing, and sales teams — or you might need to initiate the creation of these assets for future shopping seasons.
What Brands Do 30 Days From Now? Optimize and Update Regularly
Even before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, 88% of shoppers begin their shopping discovery, research, and journey online. Make sure they are finding the product answers and information they need.
Optimizing content to be discoverable and helpful should happen on a daily or weekly basis — as is the habit of 63% of high-performing brands. Ensuring your team is equipped with the tools needed to keep up with changing markets and buying behaviors is essential.
The product content work you do now is for more than the holiday season. It’s the start of a solid ecommerce strategy to kick off 2021 right.
Download “The Complete Digital Shelf Guide to the Holidays” to get a complete guide to winning on the digital shelf this holiday season.
