Walmart just released its new product content specification to its suppliers with a goal of collecting the rich product content that drives online discoverability and sales from all of its suppliers. This new specification is big news and a key part of Walmart’s Product Content Collection System (PCCS), a major initiative to expand its digital footprint and create great customer experiences online. Below you'll find everything you and your teams need to know about the new specification.
Why is Walmart doing this?
Walmart, like many other retailers, understands the value of great product content. They know that even brick-and-mortar sales are heavily influenced by online product data (e.g. doing research online before making an in-store purchase, doing online research on mobile device while in-store). Acquiring rich data directly from the brands gives consumers the breadth and depth of information they need to make purchase decisions.
Better digital product content means more retail sales, both online and in-store.
What does this mean for suppliers?
This initiative means that suppliers need to take proactive steps to effectively manage and deliver product content to Walmart. Walmart is craving the rich product content that showcases and sells products, and is relying on suppliers to help create the best customer experience possible.
There are implications here that extend to the entire retail supply chain. Gone are the days of “manufacturers make products and retailers sell products.” Both parties are now equally important in delivering the best customer experience to today’s shoppers.
Where can I find the relevant information on the PCCS program and the new spec?
Ram Rampalli, one of the architects behind Walmart’s PCCS program wrote a great blog post on the @WalmartLabs Blog with details on how the program plays into Walmart’s larger digital strategy.
For the user guide and specifcaiton templates, click here to download the relevant materials.
How can Salsify help?
Salsify is helping our customers prepare and manage this transition through our PCM and syndication platform and are prepared to publish directly to Walmart and meet their new specifications. This process works for a lot of the other marketplaces and retail sites you probably care about as well.
These new requirements are already built into the Salsify software, making it very easy to:
- Identify content gaps with Content Readiness Scorecards
- Fill in those gaps quickly with task workflows
- Publish product data under the new spec directly to Walmart
To learn more about the new specification and learn how other companies are taking advantage of the online opportunity with Walmart go to www.salsify.com/walmart.
Written by: Steve Johnston
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