Product data mapping is a critical aspect of e-commerce success. The best product data mappers must improve their skills and knowledge to execute at a higher level. This article will cover several topics that can help you jumpstart your learning process and apply product data mapping techniques to help your business succeed.

What is Product Data Mapping?

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Product data mapping (PDM) translates data from processes, systems, and applications designed for other purposes to a common language. Using it, you can analyze product performance and drive improvements. This transfer of information requires a sense of business processes, application architecture, and IT systems.

An essential part of PDM is mapping the data from one format to another. This step enables product information to be available in one place to be analyzed at a detailed level. It can include categorizing products by product groups that are relevant to your business or the industry you are in. For example, retailers might want to group products by clothing sizes and colors so that they can evaluate reports based on these attributes.

In addition to mapping data from one system to another, product data mapping involves combining data from multiple sources. It can include combining product database information with other methods, such as inventory and ordering systems. An enterprise-wide view of product performance is only possible when product information can be accessed in a single place.

Why Use Product Data Mapping?

Your e-commerce business will benefit from using product data mapping techniques. These techniques allow you to identify opportunities for improvement, identify key performance indicators and provide detailed information about the performance of key products that can be used to drive changes and modifications. Mapping product data provides an overview of several KPIs that can help your business succeed, including:

Identify Revenue Trends.

Historical data can be challenging to interpret as it can be subjective and may not reflect the business's current performance. Mapping data from multiple sources provides a clear picture of performance over time. It allows you to identify trends that can help identify business improvement opportunities.

Gain Detail on Product Performance.

Information from multiple databases can provide more detail about product performance, as evidenced by top-performing products and how certain products are sold within a range of units. This data can drive changes and improvements in product selection and help your business reach other sales goals.

Utilize Performance-based Marketing.

Mapping performance-based marketing data provides a more comprehensive overview of your business. These data sets can be compared to your competitors and give a clearer picture of the areas in which you stand out and areas in which you could improve.

Use Data for Decision Making.

To make appropriate decisions, PDM requires knowledge of how products are stocked. It requires knowing how frequently they are purchased and why certain products are being purchased compared to others. Mapping data can provide detailed information about product performance within your business. It can help you better decide what products should be stocked and when.

Identify Opportunities for Product Innovation.

Product data mapping can help to identify opportunities to improve product performance by providing more than just a list of products that are selling well. It is vital for those e-commerce businesses that sell similar products. It allows you to identify the best-performing products within your business and those that could be doing better. This information can be used to drive changes towards less-performing products.

How Can You Apply Product Data Mapping?

While there is no single method of PDM, there are some basic steps you can take to spur your understanding of the PDM process and its benefits.

Analyze Data Sources

If you're mapping information from multiple systems, it's essential to understand the types of data that can be mapped and the different systems where this data is stored. This step can help you identify opportunities. Such as for improvement by determining what information is missing from each system. This data might not be available in all systems, but some clues can help you decide whether it exists, and it's worth investigating further. An overview of your business processes and IT architecture will provide a helpful foundation for mapping.

Create a Data Dictionary

After identifying your business processes, develop a common language for mapping your product data. This language should consist of several basic questions that can be answered.

For example, when mapping data from multiple sources, consider developing a set of questions about the data. Questions could include:

  • What is the name of that product?
  • What is its category?
  • What is the primary attribute that defines it?
  • How many units are in stock for this product?
  • How often does this product come up in search queries or web starts?

These questions help you better understand your business and the data available from different systems. This overview can then be used to identify areas for improvement and an opportunity to increase sales.

Map Data

Map the data you have collected using this new language. Check your findings to ensure they align with your business processes. This step can help you identify data gaps as well as duplications. It could then drive changes in how products are managed within your business. In many cases, these changes can be implemented without outside help.

Analyze Results

Once you have mapped your product data, looking at this analysis's results is essential. These results can include anything from a list of underperforming best-selling products and products to a list of key competitors and product categories where your business is lacking. Reviewing your results can help you to make any needed changes. It should spur you to develop a plan for future development.

Understanding the benefits of PDM and the key areas where you can improve is essential to mapping your product data. When appropriately implemented, PDM can help you to uncover new insights. It can help you adapt and grow in ways that were previously unavailable. This process is more than worthwhile for any business that wants to understand its products better.

The companies would benefit from making the necessary changes.

Conclusion:

Data has become the most vital commodity and potent weapon for any business in this digital transformation era. PDM has become a critical component in harnessing the power of data.

Data is the fuel every business needs to power through these turbulent times. To continue growing and innovating, companies need to tap into their data and use it to break through into a new future. The traditional data approach can be costly but has many limitations because of its latency. The emergence of Big Data has changed the tools prevalent in analytics.