inRiver Blog

5 Absolute musts for taking your products to market successfully: 3. Inspiring Product Stories

Must nr 3: Inspiring Product Stories

You will build your reputation for authority and knowledge when you promote enriched product information across channels and markets. Think about the number of touchpoints that involve product information. It’s not just about point of sale, catalogs and ecommerce – it’s about online retail portals, mobile marketing and social media updates.

When you have a central source of enriched product information, you have a goldmine full of unique and flexible content that’s easy to optimize into stories for each channel and market. You go beyond the industry standard – for example, providing Amazon with basic information in certain fields – and stand out because you’re showing an in-depth understanding of your customers and how your product fits into their context. When you juggle large assortments, multiple channels and disparate geographies, information generally comes from many sources, from supplier portals and ERP systems to individual documents, spreadsheets and image files spread across different teams. This means it can take hours, days or even weeks to compile product information for a launch, and it’s easy to end up with inaccuracy and inconsistency.

Having a central repository of product information, it becomes a single source of the truth. It saves a lot of time while helping you deliver a better customer experience. Würth is a prime example. They sell assembly and fastening materials for the trade and construction sectors. By moving to a central product information management system – which integrates with its enterprise and content management systems – new products can be live on the website and ready to order in just 2 hours.

Jimmy Ekbäck, Executive Vice President Product & Services, inRiver

How to Pop-up Successfully

Just because retail stores are experiencing some hard times does not mean that shoppers aren’t making purchases. It is true that US. retail sales fell again in June 2017 (by 0.2%) after a small decline in May (by 0.1%). However, two months of small declines after 16 months of increases may not yet be a “trend.” Let’s wait and see. Summer vacations may spur some impulse vacation shopping and spending in restaurants and at summer resorts.

In the meantime, let’s look at a trend that does seem to have some upward momentum—pop-up shops. Vogue calls pop-up shops the future of shopping. With some retailers leaving malls and store-fronts due to a myriad of reasons—downsizing, bankruptcy, and changes in marketing and sales strategy—pop-up shops are taking advantage of these vacancies. Some retailers are now hesitant to sign long-term leases, leaving more locations available for pop-up shops.

Goals of Pop-up Shops

Constructing a pop-up shop can provide you with many benefits. For retailers who are selling only online, having a popup shop can provide that “touch and feel” opportunity for customers to interact with their products. The increase in foot traffic can raise visibility and brand awareness. Pop-up shops can help you to create a deeper relationship with your customers—building loyalty or showing your appreciation for their business. You can test a new market and educate prospective customers on your product line. In addition, you may be striving for “Boundaryless Retail”—a notion introduced by Mindy Grossman of HSNi—the expansion of products into more and more channels.

Location of Your Pop-up Shop

How do you decide where and when to erect your Pop-up Shop? Economics, such as the cost of rent, marketing, and inventory, will likely have a huge impact on your decision. However, store-fronts and malls with high foot traffic that are close to your target demographic should be considered.

Products That Work Well for Pop-up Retail

When we think of pop-up shops, we invariably think of temporary Hallowe’en and Christmas stores. It is true that seasonal products are a good option for pop-up shops. However, other products are also conducive to this format. Products that are an impulse buy, have a lower price point, or offer the shopper a taste of affordable luxury are good possibilities for pop-up shop success. In addition, products that support the urgency to buy are also promising. After all, the pop-up shop is only there for a limited time!

Get Started with Your Pop-up Shop

inRiver PRIME Partner, Sophelle, recently published their latest Focus Report, entitled “Boundaryless Commerce: Pop-up Retail.” We invite you to learn more about the strategies, tactics, and technologies that are available to support you in this effort. Don’t miss this trend and opportunity! Download the report today.

Kathryn Zwack, Senior Content Marketing Manager, inRiver

5 Absolute musts for taking your products to market successfully: 2. Collaboration

Must nr 2: Collaboration

As a Product Marketer, there’s pressure to do more of everything, from campaigns to releases. Thus, there’s an opportunity cost associated with not having control over your product information– time you spend on searching for the right information is time you’re not spending on sales and marketing.

This means you need systems and processes that help teams collaborate more efficiently and free up resources to focus on adding value.  The right system support means the same resources can do more in less time, they can be more creative rather than administrative. And it adds more value by creating richer product information.

Jimmy Ekbäck, Executive Vice President Product & Services, inRiver