Seamless communication with customers is key in the e-commerce business: whether with videos, customer-specific offers, blog articles or on social media. All channels must be used correctly in order to create the most comprehensive shopping experience possible. For this to work, however, one thing is needed above all: high-quality product data.
In the Expert Talk, Prof. Dr. Darius Zumstein, Professor of Digital Marketing at the FHNW, explains what is meant by competitive e-commerce automation and why companies that want to use artificial intelligence should definitely focus on product data maintenance so that downstream processes are easier to implement. An example of this is the creation of automated product texts. These are central to the purchase decision and therefore have a direct influence on sales.
A robust, lean and future-oriented IT infrastructure that avoids the formation of various data silos as far as possible is central to considerations relating to automation options in the e-commerce sector. After all, only if all teams and managers know where which data is located can it be prepared in appropriate processes and made available for various use cases. In addition to the IT infrastructure, companies need to be aware of what their own customers expect and want from the company. Omnichannel approaches with long-tail options have a clear advantage here. The basic rule is: only those who maintain an overview and communicate in a focused manner can make a difference against the strong competition.
The effects of incorrect product data have far-reaching consequences. For example, products cannot be displayed in the store because too much information is missing, which in turn has a negative impact on the shopping experience. However, it is not only web stores that need to be able to access high-quality, e-commerce-ready data; marketing and sales efforts are also heavily reliant on correct data. This includes newsletters, Google Ads, Instagram and Facebook Ads with the correct product details. Competitive is whoever can play out the various channels with the right data at the right time for the right person.
In order to manage the huge amount of product data from a wide variety of systems and sources, companies need sophisticated automation processes. These start with article creation and must then be thought through and automated as far as possible along the customer journey through to the after-sales process. To achieve this, companies can rely on automation and artificial intelligence at various touchpoints. Today, AI applications are used in the areas of product data preparation and enrichment, the creation of product texts and display on various platforms. Artificial intelligence can offer real added value in all of these areas. Companies need to act now and prepare the basis for e-commerce, marketing and sales automation for the future. We are, of course, talking about product data.
