A type of product matching is already being used by potential buyers to compare prices. You ought to be ahead of the game. Retail strategy already heavily relies on automating pricing decisions for margin and promotional strategies, but after customers perform that brief search, you will lose sales conversions if you don't also take the competition environment into consideration.

Global retail eCommerce sales were expected to be $4.9 trillion just last year. It is expected to increase by 50% over the following four years, reaching about $7.4 trillion by 2025.

One of the most crucial components of any pricing monitoring strategy is product matching, but what is it and why is it so crucial?

What is Product Matching?

The key to a successful retail strategy is product matching. Finding a product that is identical to or comparable to yours throughout the competitive landscape is known as product matching. Not all of the time is it simple or easy. Even after spending hours personally going through the websites of their competitors, some shops are still unable to find what the customer is looking for in a quick web search.

Interesting fact, or were you aware? An individual can match 80 photos in an hour, or it would take 16 hours to manually match 1000 goods, which QL2 completes in two minutes.

What Role Does Product Matching Play in E-Commerce Platforms?

Product matching carefully compares product details across several platforms using complex algorithms. Everything is analyzed by these algorithms:

Do the titles refer to the same size, model, and brand?

Descriptions: Do they have similar essential qualities and attributes?

Images: Do the images have the same visual characteristics?

Features: Do they have the same color, texture, or other particulars?

E-commerce systems may boost consumer happiness and improve the overall shopping experience by effectively matching customers with products that suit their unique requirements and tastes. In addition to making, it easier for customers to find what they're looking for, this individualized approach increases conversion rates and cultivates brand loyalty.

What are the Benefits of Product Matching in E-Commerce?

Finding the exact same item is only one aspect of product matching. It can be useful in the following ways:

Increase sales Through Tailored Suggestions

Consider a consumer looking at a yoga mat. Product matching evaluates their selection and recommends related accessories such as straps, yoga blocks, or a carrying case. By anticipating their wants, these well-considered suggestions not only improve the client experience but also encourage them to add additional goods to their basket, increasing the average order value.

Get a Competitive Advantage and Maintain your Lead

Product matching gives you access to competitive intelligence, a potent tool. You can use dynamic pricing strategies by precisely matching products. This enables you to maximize income and guarantee that you remain ahead of the competition by modifying prices in response to sales targets and market fluctuations.

Improve Product Listings to Increase their Visibility

In e-commerce, product matching can be a useful tool for examining the best-performing listings for comparable products from different retailers. You may learn a lot about high-converting descriptions, popular keywords, and successful titling techniques by looking at these listings. You may use this information to boost search ranking and increase organic traffic to your products by optimizing your own listings in various ways.

Manage Inventories across Platforms with Ease

Product matching can revolutionize inventory management if your products are sold on several online marketplaces. Product matching systems make it simple to find comparable products on several platforms, guaranteeing precise stock levels and preventing overselling. In addition to saving, you time and money, this also avoids consumer annoyance caused by out-of-stock scenarios.

In e-commerce, copyright infringement is a major worry. Your digital guardian is product matching. To prevent copyright strikes, it can quickly detect situations in which your designs or goods are being unlawfully copied or misrepresented by third parties. This enables you to act quickly, protecting your intellectual property and guaranteeing an equitable marketplace for everybody.

What Challenges do Company Face While Product Matching?

Messy and Non-Uniform Data

Product matching is severely hampered by the absence of standardized data. The smooth matching of products is hampered by non-normalized names of brands and uneven manufacturer names on various websites.

Product Information Gaps

It can be challenging to create precise matches when websites lack important product information, such as model numbers and UPCs.

Time-consuming Manual Matching

Product matching by hand is a time-consuming and resource-intensive process. This manual method frequently results in inefficiencies and inconsistent matching logic.

Absence of Internal Consensus

It might be challenging to define and reach internal agreement on product matching criteria, which could result in inconsistent matches and organizational confusion.

Restricted Coverage and Scalability

Conventional approaches to product matching, including dispatching individuals to physically examine rival shelves or conducting manual web searches, may not scale well and may only cover a limited geographic area.

Constant Price Changes

To make competitive pricing decisions, firms must have access to real-time data due to the frequent price swings, particularly in e-commerce behemoths like Amazon.

Risk of Inaccurate and Unreliable Product Matches

Cutting corners or depending only on model numbers for matching can lead to erroneous and untrustworthy product matches, which can upset customers and reduce sales. All products share the same model number.

How to Implement Product Matching?

Product matching has the potential to revolutionize your online store by increasing sales, enhancing customer satisfaction, and providing you with a competitive advantage. However, how do you really implement it? The steps involved are broken down as follows:

Research Product Matching Solutions

There are many different product matching alternatives available, from basic, free options to more advanced, premium services. When choosing, take your needs, financial situation, and technical know-how into account. While some systems need a more complex setup, others link easily with well-known e-commerce platforms.

Integrate your Store with the Solution

After selecting a product-matching solution, adhere to the provider's integration guidelines. Installing plugins or APIs is usually required to link the product matching software to the database of your store.

Make your Product Listings More Effective

Effective product matching in e-commerce requires high-quality product listings. Make sure your titles contain pertinent keywords, are correct, and are descriptive. Make use of succinct, straightforward descriptions that emphasize the salient characteristics and advantages. Investing in high-resolution product photos with consistent backgrounds and from several perspectives as well.

Implementing the model

Now that your product listings have been optimized, it's time to use the product matching solution you have selected. This could entail evaluating the selected solution to make sure it precisely fits items, adjusting settings within it, etc.

Track and evaluate

After you've put product matching into practice, monitor its effectiveness. Examine the effects it has on conversion rates, click-through rates, and product visibility. Utilize this information to improve your listings and further hone your product matching approach for even greater outcomes.

To make sure you are getting what you can possible from your product matching strategy, keep up with the most recent developments in technology and trends.

Conclusion

There were 1.46 billion digital buyers globally in 2015. This number skyrocketed to 2.14 billion by 2021, demonstrating the explosive expansion of e-commerce. This trend emphasizes how important it is to offer a flawless online buying experience, and product matching is essential to doing so.

You can make sure that prospective buyers can quickly find your products by using product matching on many platforms. In the fast-paced world of e-commerce, this enhanced visibility can greatly raise your sales and support the expansion of your company as a whole.