The landscape of e-commerce is complex and comprises many types of content. Here you are dealing with product information, product images and descriptions, rich media, promotional content, and more. These content types are generated during different stages in a product’s journey (Manufacturing, Distribution, Online Sales etc.) and flow through vastly different systems like PIM, CMS, CRM etc. to serve different purposes.
This presentation will take a holistic view of the entire content journey and how it impacts each aspect of a business and what retailers and brands can do to streamline and synergize their content systems, institute content quality processes, and thus improve your consumer experience.
For more information, please write to us at marketing@iksula.com or visit our website www.iksula.com
How to enrich eRetail consumer experience | Iksula
1. K E Y S T E P S T O E N R I C H e R E T A I L C O N S U M E R E X P E R I E N C E B Y
S T R E A M L I N I N G T H E C O N T E N T J O U R N E Y
2. 1 . e C o m m e r c e C o n t e n t – A p e r s p e c t i v e
2 . C o n t e n t q u a l i t y – I m p a c t o n c o n s u m e r e x p e r i e n c e
3 . K e y O p e r a t i o n a l S t e p s t o s t r e a m l i n e t h e c o n t e n t j o u r n e y
AGENDA
4. DATA/INFORMATION IS NOT CONTENT
• It is a raw fact or value
• It has only one in meaning
• It has no context or subtext
• It has no aesthetic appeal
D a t a P o i n t s
E.g.
• Length – 12 cm
• Brand - Samsung
Product Information, though, is still not Content
Data
Point
Data
Point
…
• It is an organized grouping of related Data
• It usually fitting of data in a defined
template/format
• It still has no context or aesthetic value
E.g.
• Product Dimensions
• Tech Specs
• Pricing Information
P r o d u c t
I n f o r m a t i o n
5. THEN WHAT IS eCOMMERCE CONTENT?
eCommerceProduct
Information
A d d i n g
C o n t e x t C o n t e n t
eC o m merc e C ontent i s t h e
C o ntex t ua l rep res e ntation o f Pro d u c t
I nfo rm ati on, fo r mu l t ip le co n s u mer
s et s an d p u r p os e s
• End Consumer
• Internal Consumers
• Supply Chain Staff
• Sales Staff
• Customer Service Staff
C U S T O M I Z E D F O R A
S P E C I F I C A U D I E N C E
D E F I N I N G F E AT U R E S O F C O N T E N T I N R E TA I L A R E
A I M E D T O M A X I M I Z E
U N D E R S T A N D I N G
• Simplified Language
• Use of Keywords
• Use of Visual aids
• Searchable, Navigable
Format
F O R M S A P O S I T I V E
I M P R E S S I O N
• Aesthetic Appeal
• Aspirational Tone
• Relates to current
Trends
• Builds Trust
• eCommerce Catalogue
• Inventory Catalogue
• Promotions
• Loyalty etc.
C R E A T E D F O R A S P E C I F I C
P U R P O S E
6. CONTENT IS MERELY THE EVOLUTION OF DATA
• New data is generated at every stage of a Retail SKU’s lifecycle
• This collection of information keeps growing with each stage
• Content is created at each stage, for different audiences and
purposes, drawing from the same information
DEVELOPMENT
DESIGN/FORMULATION
END OF USAGE
RECYCLING/
DISPOSAL
POST-SALES
USAGE, CUSTOMER
SERVICE
SALES
ONLINE/OFFLINE
LAUNCH
PROMOTIONS, SKU GO
LIVE
DISTRIBUTION
DISTRIBUTING,
WAREHOUSING
MANUFACTURE
SOURCING, PRODUCTION,
ASSEMBLY
Overall SKU Lifecycle
Hence, content items are not standalone items, but dif ferent evolved
versions of the same information
7. CONTENT JOURNEY FROM THE MANUFACTURING AND
CONSUMER JOURNEY PERSPECTIVE
Design &
Manufacturing Distribution & Storage Launch Post-Launch
Exploration Purchase Post-Purchase
C O N S U M E R ’ S P U R C H A S E J O U R N E Y
E - R E T A I L E R ’ s C O N T E N T J O U R N E Y
D a t a
g e n e r a te d
• ProductDesign
• Tech Details
• Warranty Policy
• Inventory Data
• Weight & Dimensions
• Campaign Plan
• Photoshoot Images
• Customer Feedback
Analysis
• Marketing Analysis
D a t a
g e n e r a te d
• Search Data
• Navigation
• Queries
• Ratings & Reviews
• Customer Service
• Order Details
• Payment Details
C o n t en t
C r e a te d User Guides Booklets
Labels Brochures VendorCatalogue
eCommerceCatalogue
CustomerService Guidelines
FAQs Videos
InventoryContent Loyalty Program Content
PromotionalContent
8. SOME EXAMPLES OF CONTENT EVOLUTION
Policy Document Warranty Card
Warranty attribute in
catalogue
Customer Service
Guidelines
Design &
Manufacturing
Distribution & Storage Launch Post-Launch
Product Design Art,
Labels, Docs
Warehousing Catalogue
Attributes
eCommerce Catalogue
Attributes
W A R R A N T Y
P O L I C Y :
Campaign Planning
Promotional Banners,
Emailers etc.
Offer Redemption/
Reconciliation
P R O M O T I O N S :
Each content piece evolves, customizing for each stage and
using newly generated data
P R O D U C T
F E A T U R E S :
10. CONTENT CREATION ACROSS MULTIPLE TEAMS CREATE
“GUIDELINE ERRORS”
D a t a F o r m a t
Q u a l i t y G u i d e l i n e s
• Guidelines don’t cover all possible errors
• They are not customized at a category level
• Formatting is inconsistentacross fields
• Data labels are confusing and misleading
Ta x o n o m y E r r o r s
• Inconsistentclassification and terminology by
different business teams
11. TEAMS WORKING ON CONTENT INTRODUCE THEIR OWN SET OF
“HUMAN ERRORS”
C O M M O N E R R O R
T Y P E S
P R O C E S S &
G O V E R N A N C E
I S S U E S :
• Factual errors in content
• Data entered in the wrong fields
• Mistakes in manual data cleaning
F a c t u a l A c c u r a c y
• Data Loss while transferring
between systems
• Junk Data created
D a t a C o m p l e t e n e s sL a n g u a g e I s s u e s
• There is variationin grammar and language
of different executive
• Guidelines struggle to standardize
subjective aspectsof grammar
R e w o r k c y c l e
• Errors get missed in QA cycle, and
have to be later fixed in reworks
U t i l i z a t i o n
W o r k f l o w M a n a g e m e n t
• Batching and work assignment
• Tracking and monitoring of work
• Resource performance
• All executives arenot optimally utilized
• There are delays in assigning work in
between process step
12. IMPACT ON CONSUMER EXPERIENCE
P o o r B r a n d I m a ge L o w er R e v en u e
Exploration Purchase Post-Purchase
• Wrongly classified products
• Missing or wrong keywords
• Missing Images
Higher rate of returns
• Wrong images, facts
• Vague/misleading data
• Incomplete data with customer service
team
Poor Ratings and ReviewsPoor Search Ranks
Poor Customer ServicePoor Promotions Targeting
P o o r M a r ke t in g R O I
Poor Brand Visibility
Higher Cart Abandonment
• Poor quality of copy and images
• Lack of FAQs and other help
• Vagueness in specifications
Shift to competing website
Errors
made:
Impact:
End
Result:
14. HOW TO IMPROVE CONTENT AT EVERY STEP
A two-pronged strategy is required to streamline the content
journey
Technology Operations
• U s e a c e n t r a l i z e d D i g i t a l A s s e t M a n a g e m e n t
( D A M ) s y s t e m
• U s e W o r k f l o w T o o l s a n d Q A A u t o m a t i o n
T o o l s
• O p t i m i z e p r o c e s s f l o w a n d I m p r o v i n g
G u i d e l i n e s
• I m p r o v e G o v e r n a n c e M o d e l f o r c o n t e n t t e a m s
15. DIFFERENT BUSINESS TEAMS USE SYSTEMS SPECIFIC TO THEIR
NEEDS
Design &
Manufacturing
Distribution &
Storage
Launch Post-Launch
PRODUCTLIFECYCLE
MANAGEMENT (PLM)
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP
MANAGEMENT (CRM)
MASTER DATAMANAGEMENT
(MDM)
PRODUCTINFORMATION
MANAGEMENT (PIM)
CONTENTMANAGEMENT SYSTEM
(CMS)
16. DO WE NEED THOSE INDEPENDENT SYSTEMS?
Strengths Weaknesses
PRODUCTLIFECYCLE
MANAGEMENT (PLM)
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP
MANAGEMENT (CRM)
MASTERDATA
MANAGEMENT (MDM)
PRODUCTINFORMATION
MANAGEMENT (PIM)
CONTENTMANAGEMENT
SYSTEM(CMS)
• Good system for visual media and copy
• Has good Version Controls
• Better suited for Digital Media, not eCommerce
• Does not have Catalogue Validations
• Is a legacy system of offline retail (POS systems)
• Not good at version control
• Can be used for marketing automation and Customer Service
• Has analytics modules
• Good at storing Specifications
• Has basic validations
• Good at storing specification
• Has basic validations
• Is an up and coming solution
• Can be used as an end-to-end software for all stages
• Is not primed to properlyutilize Catalogue data
• Originally designed for backend content
• Not good with visual media and other front-end content
• Still not reached a mature level for eCommerce
• Rarely used end-to-end by big players
17. OUR SUGGESTION – A DAM SYSTEM WHICH GETS ALL THESE
INDEPENDENT SYSTEMS AND TEAMS TOGETHER
Digital Asset Management (DAM) system
QA Automation Layer
ETL Layer
Design & Manufacturing Distribution & Storage Launch Post-Launch
PLM PIM/MDM CMS CRM
A
P
I
A
P
I
A
P
I
A
P
I
CustomerServiceTeamMarketingContentTeamCataloguingTeamProductDesignTeam
Workflow Tools
ContentVersioning ArchiveMaster Taxonomy ChannelMaster Change LogEditingModule
e R e t a il C o m pa n ie s n e ed a c e n tr a l DAM s y s tem a r t eri a l ly i n t egr a t ed t o e v er y c o n t en t
s y s t e m a n d a c ce ssi ble t o a l l c o n t e nt c r ea t io n t e am s
18. WORKFLOW TOOLS
• First In First Out (FIFO) is implemented
in assignment
• Team Leads should have the option to
flag and re-assign priority tasks
A U T O M A T E D P R I O R I T I Z A T I O N
• Algorithms to estimate effort for individual
tasks, based on task details and input data
• Tasks are grouped based on degree of
similarity
E F F O R T E S T I M A T I O N O F T A S K S S M A R T B A T C H I N G A N D
A S S I G N M E N T
Capabilities defining a good Workflow Tool for Content Creation Processes
are:
• Work progress is tracked real-time for everyone
• Custom batches are auto-assigned to each
executive, based on daily targets, progress,
priority etc.
• Progress bars and short-term goals can
displayed
• A points system can be instituted, which
rewards executives collecting the most
points
G A M I F I C A T I O N
• There should be workspaces for each task
type (design, imaging, cataloguing,
copywriting etc.)
• There should be useful tools and
validations in-built in the workspace
W O R K S P A C E
• Workspace should be synced to a cloud or
local server, to save work progress
• Change log should be maintained for each
action, and provided to re-assigned
executives and QA executives
C H A N G E L O G & R E -
A S S I G N M E N T
S t a n d a r d i z e d W o r k f l o w t o o l s o f t e n d o n o t f u l f i l a l l t h e s e r e q u i r e m e n t s
19. CONTENT QA AUTOMATION – WHAT CAN BE DONE
C h e c k s s u c h a t o o l m u s t b e a b l e t o c o nd uct :
F O R M A T T I N G C H E C K S
• T e x t C a s i n g
• I n c o r r e c t S p a c i n g
• I n c o r r e c t L i n e / P a r a B r e a k s
• I n c o r r e c t H T M L t a g s
D I C T I O N A R Y C H E C K S
• G r a m m a r C h e c k s
• S p e l l i n g C h e c k s
• M u l t i p l e l a n g u a g e s a n d d i a l e c t s
( U K / U S E n g l i s h e t c . )
B L A C K L I S T C H E C K S
• B a n n e d w o r d s
• B a n n e d S p e c i a l C h a r a c t e r s
• U n d e s i r e d C o n t a c t D e t a i l s
( W e b s i t e / E m a i l I D / P h o n e n o . )
• B a n n e d w o r d s
• B a n n e d S p e c i a l C h a r a c t e r s
• U n d e s i r e d C o n t a c t D e t a i l s
( W e b s i t e / E m a i l I D / P h o n e n o . )
C O N S I S T E N C Y C H E C K S
• D u p l i c a t e S K U d e t e c t i o n
• P a r e n t / C h i l d S K U C o n s i s t e n c y
• M a n d a t o r y a t t r i b u t e p r e s e n c e
• L i s t o f V a l u e ( L O V ) c h e c k s
• T i t l e / A t t r i b u t e L e n g t h
• A t t r i b u t e S y n t a x
• D i m e n s i o n s S y n t a x , U n i t s a n d
R a n g e
S Y N T A X & G U I D E L I N E C H E C K S C O M P A R I S O N & R E F E R E N C E S
• I n t e r - A t t r i b u t e r e f e r e n c e s
• I n t e r - D i m e n s i o n A r i t h m e t i c
C o m p a r i s o n
• C o n d i t i o n a l l y D e p e n d e n t
A t t r i b u t e C h e c k s
S t a n d a r d i z e d D a t a Q u a l i t y To o l o f t e n d o n o t f u l f i l a l l t h e s e r e q u i r e m e n t s , a c u s t o m i z e d
e R e t a i l s o l u t i o n i s w h a t i s n e e d e d
20. OPERATIONS – PEOPLE & PROCESS, MARRIED WITH TECHNOLOGY
C e r t i f i c a t i o n P r o g r a m
• R e d u c e r e s o u r c e o n b o a r d i n g
t i m e
• S t r e n g t h e n t h e p r o d u c t i o n
l a y e r ( S M E p a t h )
K n o w l e d g e M a n a g e m e n t
• S i n g l e r e p o s i t o r y o f l a t e s t
p r o c e s s g u i d e l i n e s , t r a i n i n g
m a t e r i a l a n d Q & A
R e w a r d s & R e c o g n i t i o n
• P M I b a s e d p r o c e s s t r a n s i t i o n
a n d p r o j e c t m a n a g e m e n t
m e t h o d o l o g y
• S t r o n g S i x S i g m a D N A &
c u r a t e d a p p l i c a t i o n o f S i x
S i g m a b e s t p r a c t i c e s
• S i x S i g m a d r i v e n p l a t f o r m f o r
m e t r i c b a s e d c o n t i n u o u s
i m p r o v e m e n t i n i t i a t i v e s
• R e d u c t i o n o f p r o c e s s v a r i a t i o n
• C o n t r o l l i m i t s t o m e a s u r e
p r o c e s s m a t u r i t y
K n o w l e d g e M a n a g e m e n t
p l a t f o r m f o r t r a i n i n g
m a t e r i a l
R u l e b a s e d e n g i n e s t o
i m p r o v e e n d q u a l i t y
C o n f i g u r a b l e w o r k f l o w
e n g i n e w i t h A P I s i n t e g r a t i n g
t o t h e c e n t r a l D A M s y s t e m
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P E O P L E P R O C E S S T E C H N O L O G Y
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21. OPERATIONS – GUIDELINES TO DEFINE EXECUTION
• Guidelines should be customized for each
Leaf-level category
• Soft copies of guidelines should be
suitably tagged, so you can navigate by
category, by attribute etc.
• Create Lists of permitted values, wherever
possible
• This eliminates data entry errors
• E.g. Brand, Colour, Material can have LOVs
C R E A T E L I S T O F V A L U E S
( L O V S )
S T A N D A R D I Z E T I T L E S Y N T A X
A Systemic approach to creating and updating guidelines can work wonders.
Key aspects are:
• Strictly define the sequence of different
components of Title
• E.g. Title of a smartphone:
[Brand]+[Series]+[Colour]
• List down scenarios where value of one
attribute depends on another
• E.g. If Colour Family is “Blue”, only
shades of Blue to be allowed in “Colour”
L I S T D O W N D E P E N D E N C I E S
• Have uniform units in related attributes
• Fix number of decimals
• Create upper & lower limits for permitted
values
S T A N D A R D I Z E N U M E R I C A L
A T T R I B U T E S
• List each scenarios where the value of one
attribute occurs within another, and should
be referenced
• E.g. Brand written in Title should referenced
against the Brand attribute
L I S T D O W N R E F E R E N C E S
C U S T O M I Z E D , N A V I G A B L E
G U I D E L I N E S
22. OPERATIONS – PROCESS FRAMEWORK FOR CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
S K U C R E AT I O N
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Q U A L I T Y C H E C K
C T Q
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Q u a l i t y
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C a t e g o r y L e v e l
A c r o s s R e s o u r c e s
R e s o u r c e L e v e l
A c r o s s C a t e g o r i e s
C E R T I F I C AT I O N
P R O G R A M
S K U D E L I V E R Y
F o c u s e d
T r a i n i n g
T r a i n i n g
A s s e s s m e n t
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Q U A L I T Y E R R O R S
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R E W O R K
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23. TO SUMMARIZE
• e C o m m e r c e C o n t e n t i s n ’ t j u s t d a t a , b u t a c o n t e x t u a l r e p r e s e n t a t i o n o f i t
• A l l c o n t e n t p i e c e s e v o l v e f r o m a c o m m o n d a t a p o o l ,
• C o n t e n t i s c r e a t e d a n d c o n s u m e d d u r i n g e v e r y s t a g e o f a p r o d u c t ’ s j o u r n e y
• M a i n t a i n i n g q u a l i t y i n a c o n t e n t c r e a t i o n p r o c e s s i s a c h a l l e n g e
• T e c h n o l o g y a n d O p e r a t i o n s a r e t h e k e y l e v e r s t o s t r e a m l i n i n g t h e c o n t e n t j o u r n e y
• A c e n t r a l i z e d D i g i t a l A s s e t M a n a g e m e n t ( D A M ) s y s t e m a n d Q A A u t o m a t i o n T o o l s a r e r e q u i r e d
• W o r k f l o w T o o l s , i m p r o v i n g G u i d e l i n e s a n d G o v e r n a n c e h e l p y o u t o s t r e a m l i n e c o n t e n t o p e r a t i o n s
24. I k su l a i s a l ea d i ng e- co m m er c e so l ut io n s p r o v ide r f o r
b r a n d s a n d r e t ai ler s gl o b a lly. L ed by a t e a m wi t h o ve r f ou r
d ec a d e s o f ex p erie n ce, I k s ula a ss is t s o v er a d o ze n b illion
d o l la r c o mp an i es i n m a n ag i ng t h ei r e- c o m m er c e o p er a t io n s
se a ml e ssly.
I k su l a h el p s b r a nd s a nd r e t a i le r s r ea l i ze su p erio r
ec o n o m ic p er f o r m an c e b y t r a n sf o r m in g t h ei r s up p ly c h a in
a n d r e t a i l o p er a t io ns f o r t h e d ig it a l er a. We e ng i n eer
c ut t in g- edg e t ec h f or c re a ti n g en ga g in g e xp e rien c es f o r
y o ur c us t o me r s a n d a u t o m a ti n g b u si n es s p r oc e sse s f or
y o ur s t a ke ho l d e r s .
ABOUT US
25. ABOUT US
I f y o u wa n t t o k n ow m or e a b o ut t h e v a l ue we ’ ve d el iv er ed t o
o ur c li en ts in th e C o n t e n t, w ri t e t o u s a t m a r ke ti n g@i ksu la . co m
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