The profit margin continues to shrink, making the life of manufacturers increasingly difficult. Now, the retailer team has more data than ever before, and knows how to use this data to increase its profit share. Historical data, competing product data, supply chain transparency, and the ability to use rule-based tools and AI tools for intra-category comparison have improved the status of retailers, making it even more difficult for manufacturers to earn profits.
Although profit sharing is a protracted battle, there are still some areas that have not yet been fully developed, and manufacturers can optimize ways to increase revenue in these areas. One of them is to become a "product data joint ninja", or to cultivate a "ninja" in the team.
The reason is simple. If you want to succeed in this era, manufacturers need to simultaneously control two related but completely different worlds:
1. The material, tangible, and physical worlds. Goods are perishable and will exceed the pallet weight limit. Cannot be put on the shelf, if there is a defect, it will be returned (even if the claimed defect does not exist);
2. Online, digital, conceptual world, with content, instructions, specifications, pictures and 360° videos. Like the physical world, there are many problems!
Manufacturers have always relied on promoting physical transactions. But in recent years, the digital world has become equally important, or even more important. Especially in the current “social isolation” environment caused by the epidemic, online shopping is more common.
Just as people use certain digital roles to represent themselves online, manufacturers and retailers also need to create roles for their products, as one of the fathers of modern linguistics Ferdinand De Saussure said. , They need a referent. That is, these roles act as digital avatars of physical products.
In this way, the physical supply chain is integrated with the digital supply chain, and in this unified world, the data and content that are the avatar of the product need to be at least as good as the actual physical product. Just like your physical goods, this type of information needs to arrive at the destination and be presented to potential customers with the same excellent delivery status. Otherwise, someone will return the goods because the information does not meet their data requirements.
Therefore, if in the real physical world, you hire the best people, give the best systems and resources to build physical world assets, it is only natural to make the same investment for digital world assets.
Become a product data joint ninja
Although their names may be different in the real world, the meaning of your ninja function is firm and true: protect your online income by supplying as many digital shelves as possible. This also includes the shelves of your retail/distribution partners.
We have clarified the importance of success, the following provides you with a five-step plan to help you and/or your designated data joint/digital ninja achieve the required level of ability.
Step 1: Speed, speed, or speed
When feeding data for all your sales channels, it is bound to involve piles of data such as spreadsheets, data portals, data pools, APIs, etc., and they have their own usage requirements. For example, feeding data to Home Depot requires the use of their IDM Portal and QuickSheets tools, while feeding data to Lowe's now requires content service providers (CSP). At the same time, Kroger requires data to be delivered via GDSN, but Amazon requires different delivery methods...
For many manufacturers, the complexity and diversity of methods have led to slow processing schedules and sharp increases in training costs, and the inevitable turnover of employees has further exacerbated these problems. A unified method of sharing data with all business partners is the key to speed and efficiency. A single platform that hides the complexity of all channels and realizes standardized processes can bring a single and simplified training method and working method. The need for speed follows.
Step 2: Quantitative change
Product data joint ninja must be a master at increasing numbers. The only way to achieve this goal is to continuously increase speed. If you can speed up the delivery of product avatars and use the same size team, you can have more delivery numbers and types. This is the same as supply chain turnover in many ways. If any manufacturer claims that their products cannot be delivered to a certain region, that sounds incredible, they just don’t have time. Although time may be limited, nothing is impossible for a data joint ninja with talent and excellent skill reserves.
Step 3: precise action
Although faster speeds and larger quantities are an advantage, they often mean poor data quality. If you lack data quality, you will lose the trust of your retail partners. Data Union Ninjas rarely make such mistakes. Therefore, while taking into account the speed and quantity of delivery, accuracy is crucial.
Precision in the digital supply chain means "fit". The information sent by the manufacturer needs to meet the expectations of the recipient. But within these conditions, the data must have excellent performance when selling the products represented by the data to the target group of the retail channel. We all know that content that suits the audience can sell more products. But without the right tools, only the right bandwidth and accuracy, it will still make us difficult, especially when you want to increase speed and quantity.
Step 4: The right tools
Although the data joint ninja can complete tasks with bare hands, if these tools are available, the result will be more effective. And tools can make this kind of work "close to the people", so that everyone who uses tools can become a ninja. At each step of the journey, corresponding empowerment tools are provided.
For example, the use of product master data management (product MDM) can improve product data settings and collaboration for product marketing and "virtual image creation". Use product data federation or PDS to more easily achieve "last mile" data enrichment and product data delivery. The data federation ninja chooses its tools wisely. Factors such as the number of SKUs, product categories, supply chain complexity, point-of-sale distribution, geographic coverage and other factors can effectively help determine which tools are suitable for which tasks.
Step 5: Player mentality
The right tools allow you to prepare in advance, have the spirit of experimentation, and know how to adapt to changes. The ability to swap out copies, change images, or use information and content localized in real language has a decisive impact on conversion rates. For example, for a channel that focuses on B2B and a channel that focuses on consumers, providing slightly different content may increase the income of both sides at the same time. A well-trained data joint ninja will have the ability to do this, allowing the company to truly play to its strengths.
The right information, the right place, the right format, the right time.
Excellence in the digital field has become a key requirement for large and small manufacturers. Prepared product data joint ninja can help your company achieve this goal in a short time.
Manufacturers in a highly competitive market may want to increase their visibility through the Buy Box of Amazon Vendor Central. They may want their products to be seen more easily and more frequently on the Wal-Mart website. Or, they hope to provide rich, persuasive, and tailored content on the Home Depot website.
No matter what digital challenges your company is facing, the product data joint ninja is of inestimable value whether it is competing in the digital shelf or in the battle to seize the digital shelf. Discover the right person in the team, and carefully armed with the above five steps, you will definitely get what you want.
Stibo Systems PDS is a simple and efficient way for manufacturers and brands to share and update product data with retailers, data pools and CSPs. In the era of increasing emphasis on “digitalization first”, PDS provides everything needed to succeed on all channels through a flexible one-stop cloud application.
About Stibo Systems
Stibo Systems is a master data management company, adhering to the unique concept of business first and people-oriented to provide reliable MDM solutions. Our solutions drive forward-looking companies around the world to release the strategic value of master data; help them conduct business with confidence, improve agility, enhance customer experience, and promote innovation and growth. Our solution can integrate isolated data in different systems to lay a solid foundation for digital transformation. Stibo Systems is a private subsidiary of Stibo A/S Group, founded in 1794 and headquartered in Aarhus, Denmark.