Are you one
of the catalogers that understands that product categorization
is a critical asset? If you answered no, then this article
is a must read as it will clearly explain what leading
catalogers have discovered and are using today.
Successful
catalogers leveraged one key aspect of their catalogs:
categorization. They are using categorization not just
for product classification, but also as an underlining
structure to streamline people and processes during pre-sales,
point-of-sale and post-sale scenarios. They have learned
and implemented a categorization strategy that offers
tremendous benefits not just in the areas of sales, but
also in merchandising, product management, copywriting,
and customer service.
In this article,
we will look at the various options organizations have
when categorizing product information and how to benefit
from it. We take a look at the requirements of sound categorization
from an organization's internal operations standpoint
and also the best way to categorize products for "consumers"
such as customers, partners, sales reps and customer service
reps.
To create an
effective categorization the first question you must ask
yourself is should there be a unified, all-inclusive and
collectively exhaustive categorization for internal operations
and for customers within your company? Or, should there
be one categorization for internal operations and a different
categorization for external customers?
The basics
Categorization as viewed from different audiences has different
meanings and interpretations based on their perspective.
From an organization's operational standpoint, the requirements
for categorization are quite different from the requirements
of external consumers. Understanding this distinction is
the first step in determining how to implement categorization
in your company. We found that categorization within an
organization cannot be a cognitive process and hence it
should not mean different things to different people. Hence,
let's accurately define what categorization is. The best
definition we put forwards for catalogers goes like this:
"Categorization
is a process in which products are recognized, differentiated
and understood at a given point in time." Everything
around us is changing and so are the trends, interpretation
of words, language and the products. Traditionally categorization
was viewed as fairly static. But in today's multi-channel
world, it is more dynamic - a living breathing organization
of content that is evolving along with customer buying patterns.
Once categorization
is defined for an organization, here are a few guidelines
we have established with our clients to create a successful
implementation.
- Single and Unified.
Categorization is a means to communicate as to what
is important to the customer. Hence creating a single
unified internal categorization is key for most small
and mid-size companies.
- Categorization
must be mutually exclusive and collectively
exhaustive of all products. If all the products
in a catalog are not categorized, then you might have
"orphan products" that will in turn create operational
and sourcing bottlenecks.
- Limit your category
levels. Some catalogs might require a category structure
several levels deep. Studies have proven that a balance
needs to be struck between correctly defining a product
category and keeping it simple and intuitive so users
don't have to click several levels to get to the products.
Striking this balance is key. For web catalogs, a 3
level category is a good rule of thumb.
- List popular product
categories at the top. By listing popular categories
at the top, the awareness within your organization can
be increased of the products you sell and so the importance
of keeping these products fully authored copy, images
correctly identified and attached, and the necessary
stocking and inventory. On the consumer side, this helps
in pushing your best selling products to the forefront.
- Limit the number
of top level categories. Most organizations have
between 13 to 50 top level horizontal categories. Going
more than that defeats the purpose of categorization.
Staying around 25 top level categories is our recommendation.
- Create "Empty" categories.
By design, categorization cannot have empty categories.
But since the focus of this article is for internal
audience and content managers, creating empty categories
might be helpful if future products are anticipated.
(For customer facing or external categorization, we
don't recommend empty categories).
- Create an "Uncategorized"
category. As new products are added to a catalog,
some products definition can be fuzzy. So to ensure
that these products are properly categorized, it might
need some discussion. In the meantime, these products
can reside in the uncategorized category.
- Track history of
products as they get re-categorized. This information
is necessary for business intelligence so you know what
your suppliers and vendors are referring to their categories
as within their organizations. This can be accomplished
with a special field called "Vendor Category".
- Recognize that there
are limitations to categorization. There is no easy
way to adopt a standard categorization like UNSPSC or
eCLASS to a product catalog - simply because most organizations
operate in a niche area that is not well covered. So,
organizations have to employ professionals to keep the
categorization in sync with new product offerings.
An internal
catalog is simple and straightforward, from the standpoint
of someone who knows how to use it, but that probably would
not be the case if one of your customers were looking for
a product.
In our experience
catalogers have attained the most successful acceptance
when they employed a different categorization schema to
accommodate customers. This varied quite a bit depending
on the size of the catalog and the audience it was geared
towards. This approach of having an internal categorization
for the organization and one for customers is typical. The
downside to this approach is that as the number of audiences
and channels increases the more difficult managing this
categorization becomes.
Multiple-categorization
schemas allow for information management in multiple channels,
for example, one for the use of employees or business partners
one for online customers and one for print customers.
This leads
to the most strategic move by leading catalogers: They
put their internal categorization on the web site and then
created publications based on the audience. This reduced
the amount of effort involved in managing content and increased
operational, sales and customer clarity.
Successful catalogers
have setup their categorization based on the above guidelines
and found the following benefits:
Pre-Sale Benefits:
- Adding new products
is a breeze since the fields that need to be filled
and the photos that need to be shot for a product are
predefined based on the category.
- If a product didn't
fit well into an existing category, a new category can
be created and until then new products can reside in
the "Uncategorized" directory, creating an implied workflow
step of "Draft" products.
- Photography can group
products and work on like products at the same time.
- Product Line managers
can be assigned, trained and their knowledge retained
better since they can be assigned to one or more top-level
categories.
Point-Of-Sale
Benefits:
- Members of their sales
force were able to access product information quickly
because they knew that the information was fully unified
and meant for their consumption.
- The amount of retrieval
time from the moment there was a product query was optimized
since categorization now has vertical and horizontal
boundaries.
- Most online buyers will
find it easy to buy products from you since you have
a clear categorization strategy with popular categories
on the top. This usually results in increased repeat
sales.
Post-Sale Benefits:
- Customer service representatives
know their top selling product categories and could
make product recommendations appropriately.
- Technical documents
and user manuals are easy to locate saving time for
customer service reps.
To Cap It
Successful catalogers
have learned new ways to thrive in the world of cross media
marketing. They have learnt that categorization can be viewed
as a stable platform on which organizational efficiencies
can be built and sales can grow due to pre-sales, point-of-sale
and post-sales benefits.
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About
The Author
Sanjeev Teku is a Vice President at
Apsiva. He has been instrumental in leading the development
of the Apsiva solution, as well as in successfully managing
a number of client installations. He has over seven years
of experience in catalog publishing field.
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About
Apsiva
Apsiva brings the same speed and consistency
to multi-channel publishing that robotics brought to manufacturing.
We offer you unprecedented efficiency and accuracy, so you
can create appealing catalogs quickly and economically.
Apsiva
is pioneering the way catalogs are created and maintained.
By combining the capabilities of content management and
catalog management applications, Apsiva offers the industry's
most comprehensive solution that can deliver consistent
product information to Print Catalogs and Electronic Catalogs.
Our offerings help suppliers, manufacturers, distributors
and catalogers in leveraging their product content assets
in pre-sales, point of sale and post-sales efforts.
