Where's the Information When You Need It?
While many manufacturers have already developed the rich product descriptions and enhanced merchandising tools that can help differentiate their products and better educate their online consumers, most of this information remains unavailable to their consumers at their channel partners' websites.
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Quick Fact
Web retailers are using more syndicated information because the cost of developing new internal content can be substantial, ranging from $80 to more than $500 per hour, depending how much internal time and resources are needed to build out a new product page and to what lengths the retailer has to go to obtain the initial information.
Source: Internet Retailer, "How syndicated information enhances content delivery for Office Depot", June 21, 2005 |
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That's because a typical online retailer, or reseller, site will usually focus on factors such as operational efficiency, minimizing content expenditures and maximizing their clicks-to-buy ratio. Limiting their product content to basic information like price, a description, perhaps an image and a few specifications, they are often missing the information that helps customers when making a purchase decision: detailed product features, external reviews, comparison charts and compatibility information to name a few.
Welcome to the product marketing gap.
Manufacturers often have the tools to provide a rich online merchandising environment however their customers will usually turn to their online channel partners first when looking to make a purchase. On the other hand, these online channel partners often lack the information needed to aid in the purchase decision and subsequently risk losing the sale to either another online retailer or the manufacturer themselves.
