3 Steps to Using Product Categories to Drive Multi-Channel Sales

Hearing cranky men banter is amusing.  But their lack of concern for the difference between two types of bread made me think - who does care about the details of the bread they buy?  Consumers only care about the product details that matter to them, and what matters to each person is different. The second man in the conversation couldn't care less about how bread is processed, but there are people who will only make purchase decisions when detailed information about ingredients and processing is available.  Today, marketers and merchandisers are faced with meeting the demands of the different types of buying personas. I went to a diner early the other morning and happened to overhear a conversation behind me. Two senior citizens were chatting about Florida when the waitress interrupted them to take their order. The subject of toast came up, and one gentleman said to the other,  "There's whole wheat toast then there's whole grain toast. Is there a distinction?"  His friend stood silent, so he probed, "What's the difference?  You ever think about that?" His friend calmly replied, "No.  In all my years, I have never thought about that, and I can promise you I don't intend to start now."

To help solve this, retailers are focusing on delivering the personalized customer experience that consumers want.  And consumers want a more robust set of information to help them make the right decision. Obvious, but this means the need for a rich set of product content is only going to become more urgent, and the complexities of organizing the data in unique ways will grow with the demand.

One of the core areas of focus for retailers is building a faceted search experience that makes it easy for shoppers to find the products they're looking for. To effectively do this, retailers need a unique set of product categories and attributes for each product they sell. Categories are set by the retailers, but it’s up to the brands to determine where a product should be listed.  For brands, failing to include a category  or attribute when listing a product means it won't get listed in a search, won't get found, and won't get purchased. The Customer might not get the best product for their needs, and brands and retailers lose revenue.

Each retailer's product categories are unique, likely determined by their customers persona, search behaviors, and yes, margins. I took a look at bread to see how different retailers are shaping the landscape:

Peapod matches product categories to the in-store experience. When you drill down, they list products alphabetically.