{"id":10964,"date":"2024-01-17T16:09:43","date_gmt":"2024-01-17T16:09:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shipbob.com\/au\/blog\/product-catalog\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T00:21:04","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T00:21:04","slug":"product-catalog","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.shipbob.com\/au\/blog\/product-catalog\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Complete Guide to Ecommerce Product Catalogs (+ Guide to ShipBob\u2019s Product Catalogue )\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Table of Contents<\/p>

** Minutes<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

What is a product catalogue ? <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are product catalogues used for? <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

4 benefits of a well-optimised product catalogue  <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to optimise your product catalogue  <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Product management just got a makeover: Introducing ShipBob\u2019s Product Catalogue  <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Product catalogue FAQs <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Your ecommerce product catalogue serves as a digital storefront where you can present your products for customers to peruse and (hopefully) purchase. This makes it one of the most crucial aspects of running a successful ecommerce business.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A product catalogue that contains all the necessary information about your products benefits both you and your customers. While a well-organised product catalogue can help your brand drive sales, it can also be a valuable back-office tool for merchants as they manage their inventory<\/a>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this post, we\u2019ll cover some examples of great product catalogues and share some tips for optimising your own.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a product catalogue ? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A product catalogue is a means of communicating product information to guide buyers in their purchasing decisions. It includes important product details, such as its features, price, colour, description, dimensions, weight, availability, ingredients, and customer reviews.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, product catalogues (also called product brochures) were a type of printed marketing collateral shared with potential buyers. Today, product catalogues are digitalized so that ecommerce businesses can easily share their product information with shoppers through their websites.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Online product catalogues also make it easy for brands to export information about their entire product range and manage inventory levels<\/a> and details across different sales channels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are product catalogues used for? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Externally, ecommerce brands use product catalogues to display their products to customers visiting their website. This kind of catalogue page allows shoppers to view all a brand\u2019s products in one convenient place, without having to visit an in-person retail location. Customers may also be able to apply certain filters (such as item type, price, colour, etc.) to narrow their search, and help them find the products they\u2019re interested in more quickly.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Internally, ecommerce brands use product catalogues to help them manage their inventory strategy<\/a> \u2013 especially across different sales channels and platforms.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, using a product catalogue page that\u2019s built into an inventory management system, a brand can see key information about each SKU<\/a> (such as SKU number or product code, price, item description, and related product variants) at a glance.   <\/p>\n\n\n

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Product catalogues also make it easy for ecommerce stores to create separate groups of products and publish them for certain customers based on specific conditions. For example, you could have a catalogue to publish products available for North American customers with USD pricing and a separate catalogue with EUR pricing for European customers.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is especially useful when presenting the same products across multiple sales channels. For instance, on ecommerce platforms like Shopify, you can create catalogues tailored to your B2B<\/a> customers which display wholesale<\/a> pricing, rather than your DTC pricing. The platform even lets you customise your catalogue so that volume pricing is applied only to specific products, while you have fixed prices for other products. For example, you can set it so that the 20% wholesale discount applies to all your products except for two items that must be sold at a fixed price because they cost more to produce. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Product catalogue examples to be inspired by <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To better understand how product catalogues work, let\u2019s take a look at a few well-crafted product catalogue examples.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ShipBob <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

ShipBob\u2019s Product Catalogue is a tool that brands can leverage internally to organise their inventory and track SKU movement throughout the entire fulfilment process.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The page is neatly organised, with tabs to navigate between active, inactive, digital, and bundle products. Besides product names and SKUs, merchants can easily view other essential information, such as product categories and sales channels. The page also allows a merchant to   add variants, merge them, move them under a different product, and many other actions that may be necessary for effective catalogue management.  <\/p>\n\n\n

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Fabletics <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Fabletics uses their external-facing product catalogues to create highly personalised shopping experiences for potential customers. The brand asks you a series of questions related to the products you\u2019re looking for, the colours and patterns you like, and the size you need. The website then displays a product catalogue that\u2019s uniquely tailored to the needs and preferences of each customer. For example, if you specify that you\u2019re looking for \u201cbottoms\u201d in the questionnaire, you\u2019ll get a personalised selection of leggings and pants that match your preferences. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Nordstrom <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, Nordstrom tailors the product catalogue displayed to a customer based on where they\u2019re located. The website displays product prices in the respective currencies of each shopper\u2019s country, and also has a \u201cTrending Near You\u201d section where it showcases the most-viewed items by shoppers in the respective areas. <\/p>\n\n\n

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4 benefits of a well-optimised product catalogue  <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Having an optimised product catalogue is essential for ecommerce success. Here are some key benefits of having a well-crafted product catalogue . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enhancing the user experience <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When your product catalogue is optimised, products are displayed with the most updated and accurate information. Shoppers can easily access this information in one page or in just a few clicks, meaning they don\u2019t have to dig too deep or navigate too far to find the information they need. This makes it much easier for customers to find what they\u2019re looking for, which increases the likelihood that they will convert.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organising product information <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A well-constructed product catalogue lists all the necessary product information \u2013 including features, prices, reviews, images, and more \u2013 and organises it in an easily-digestible format. This means that both shoppers and merchants can find the data they need quickly.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guiding purchase decisions <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

With access to crucial product information, customers have the data they need to confidently decide whether to buy a product. On the backend, merchants can use their existing product catalogue to hone their product assortment<\/a>, and make better decisions about what inventory to invest in.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Managing product variants <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Well-optimised product catalogues make it easy for merchants to manage all their product variants, which is particularly important for brands that have hundreds of SKU variations<\/a>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can use a product catalogue dashboard to add or remove product variants as needed, with many platforms giving you the option to bulk import your SKU variants in one go. You won\u2019t have to create a separate webpage for each variation, as all the variants will be housed under the parent product page. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the front end, different variations of each product will be displayed on a single page and shoppers will simply have to click on the variation they want to view instead of having to search for it separately. For example, they\u2019ll be able to click on the yellow colour icon on the same product page, without having to navigate to a separate one.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to optimise your product catalogue  <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With so much riding on it, deciding how to organise and display your product catalogue can feel a little overwhelming. Here are some steps to help you optimise your external-facing product catalogue efficiently and effectively.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Product selection <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Start by carefully selecting the products to include in your catalogue . To select the best product assortment for a catalogue , ask yourself a few questions: <\/p>\n\n\n\n