E-Commerce: How to create a catalog to present the Products?

With the advent and the overwhelming success of E-Commerce, creating an online product catalog represents a truly unique business opportunity of great added value.

It does not matter whether you are a designer, a stylist or a salesman or a digital entrepreneur, but what matters is knowing how to advertise the products and attract the attention of end consumers.

Know that now thanks to WooCommerce you have the opportunity to create an online catalog that advertises your creations or your products in an appealing way, in a format that can be easily browsed like a digital magazine.

But how to create a product catalog that is really appealing and meets the needs of end customers?

Let’s find out in this dedicated guide!

E-Commerce: the importance of creating a product catalog

If you are the owner of a company or you are an online seller with an E-Commerce and you are tired of paying printers for printing flyers and paper catalogs that nobody wants to read, then the solution for you is to implement a WooCommerce Plugin which allows you to create an online catalog at no cost.

If you have not done it yet then it is the right opportunity to start considering the possibility of collecting all the products in a practical browsable digital magazine.

Creating a product catalog gives you the opportunity to reduce the costs for advertising and to expand the pool of potential customers thanks to the high visibility offered by the digital showcase, without spending too much.

The product catalog is the main commercial and marketing tool available to a company or an E-Store.

The first rule to follow when designing an effective catalog is to put yourself in the customer’s shoes.

Product Catalog: how should it be done?

A good online product catalog, compared to a paper catalog, can be updated without additional costs, enriched with information, easily shared with customers and suppliers.

A good product catalog must be:

• easy to consult;
• rich in information such as product features and available colors;
• intuitive and with a clear navigation;
• accompanied by images showing the product. The photo gallery is essential to show the products that the seller offers to customers;
• organized by categories or product lines. You can easily manage the different product categories;
• also visible on tablets and smartphones for iOS, Android and Windows Phone.

Creating a product catalog full of information is the most important thing to attract customer attention.

It is not enough to insert a title and a price to sell online and not even having an E-Store is enough, but hours of work and a lot of effort are needed to create an informative and complete product catalog with details.

You will have to assign to each article a category, a photo, a description, update prices, select promotions etc.

Creating a Product Catalog: the importance of details and technical features

The technical characteristics are a set of structured information that describes the peculiarities of a product, such as the materials of a garment, the capacity of a disk or the speed of transfer, the size in inches of a PC screen or the ingredients of a perfume.

In short, regardless of the product category of the product, it is essential to report as much information as possible on the product to be included in the catalog.

For example, if you are a seller of running shoes, it is essential to provide details on the sole, upper, fit, materials, weight, drop, to whom they are addressed and also to report some reviews or opinions of those who have tried it.

In the case in which known brand products are sold, commercial details can be overlooked as the brand already has a certain reputation and has already loyalized the consumer target.

An example? If you sell a lip contour pencil you must enter a product description and useful features that allow customers to evaluate the product before completing the purchase.

Here is an example of a product description:

Lip contour pencil:

• gives the lips a matt satin effect and offers a well-defined make-up and a perfect result,
• the presence of silicones offers a remarkable ease of application and a long hold,
• highly purified oils help to obtain a rather soft cream consistency,
• the chamomile extract with soothing and softening properties allows a delicate application,
• a vitamin E derivative has an anti-free radical effect,
• pack with brush for shades and sharpener.

Attention to product photography

Once we have chosen everything and created a detailed description, we move on to the photographic phase: at this point it will be necessary to decide whether to use models or simply mannequins, in the case of clothing sales or simply taking photographs of the products, highlighting also the details.

It would also be good to take photos of details, fabrics and seams. Maybe you won’t use all these photos but it doesn’t matter, you should have more photos so you can choose.

Creating a photo gallery will allow you to create a product catalog that is as detailed and rich with elements that are subject to customer evaluation.

Taking photos of products seems trivial, but it may require the intervention of a professional photographer who carefully studies the lights and the sharpness of the colors in the photographs.

In fact, it is not just a question of aesthetics. Showing high quality photos can become the determining factor in a sale.

Digital Product Catalog: what are the benefits?

Consumers are today, and increasingly will be thanks to digital natives, accustomed to having the information always available to them, quickly and wherever they are. Especially thanks to mobile devices, especially the smartphone.

In line with this now established trend, which has become everyone’s expectation, mobile digital catalog apps offer significant benefits to companies that use them to reach more customers and get more sales.

Thanks to a product catalog it is possible:

• make purchases at any time of the day and wherever you are,
• spreading a digital catalog is simpler than a paper one,
• do research very quickly and very targeted even if there are thousands of products,
• access the catalog at any time of day or night,
• publish multiple versions of the catalog based on the language or on the products you want to push by geographical area.