Print Catalog Software – Four Reasons Why You Need It

“Steve” manages a small camera business that has successfully acquired a highly-knowledgeable sales force, a wonderful inventory of products, and a loyal customer base. It takes a commendable amount of effort and energy to build and sustain this, and the camera shop has steadily grown thanks to the hard work of Steve and his colleagues.

However, this run of success has also exposed a new set of challenges. One particular problem is the lack of a well-organized product information management (PIM) system, which has made it terribly difficult for Steve to keep his website, his print catalogs, and his latest product data in sync. Let’s take a look at the following ways a properly planned and implemented print catalog software solution could help:

1. Print catalog software could have helped him make updates to his print catalog far more quickly. Thus, merchandisers can spend more time making decisions and less time styling.
2. Print catalog software streamlines the delivery of content. Thus, merchandisers can independently make updates without the help of a graphics designer.
3. Catalog software allow for synchronization between catalogs across media. Thus, a catalog software would have prevented catalog inconsistencies.
4. Catalog software allows for better management of product information.

1. Print catalog software could have helped him make updates to his catalog far more quickly. Thus, merchandisers can spend more time making decisions and less time styling.

At its core, a well-managed PIM system with print catalog software is one that logically and efficiently stores and presents product information. When a business is starting out and has only a select number of products, many businesses manually produce spreadsheets with prices, product specs, copy, etc. along with images.

In fact, for businesses with a limited spectrum of products, it is probably the cheapest and most efficient way to go.  After all, if you’re a very small company just starting out with only 100 or so products, you have an intimate knowledge of each product and could just as easily manage all the information vendors provide you with the tools you have available.

However, Steve’s camera shop had developed its product offering to somewhere between 1,000-3,000 products. There was no way that he could keep track of all this information himself, and the production of the print catalog and upkeep of the web catalog could no longer be managed by one or two employees. Sorting through and synchronizing copy, items, and pricing from different vendors was now a daunting task that required a substantial amount of time and effort.  In essence, Steve’s business had grown to a point where he needed a centralized PIM system.

Merchandising departments work with a wide variety of vendors who often send product information as email attachments.  Print catalog software is able to automatically import these excel files into a centralized database. OneSource in particular has a bulk import function which can quickly process a whole set of spreadsheets. Such solutions save your team the time of sorting through and manually consolidating the spreadsheets.

Powerful print catalog software is also able to store multimedia information along with specs and copy. These solutions help merchandisers put all the product copy and images in one place and link relevant information together.  After a merchandiser imports the data into a full-featured, multimedia print catalog software, the information now becomes easy to search, review, and edit.  For example, merchandisers can store image and product information together, group sets of products in a hierarchical tree structure, and run search queries across the entire product database. Being able to quickly import, navigate, and revise thousands of SKUs with speed and accuracy is the main reason why most catalog merchandisers have invested in powerful third-party print catalog software.

Steve’s camera business had multiple spreadsheet files for his variety of products. Product information, images, and pricing were recorded in separate systems and were often manually linked prior to production. Merchandisers also manually made updates to pricing and product specs in the various spreadsheets and emailed them to the graphics designers. If merchandisers at the camera shop were able to quickly store information in a centralized easy-to-browse database, errors could more easily have been spotted and corrected.

2. Print catalog software streamline the delivery of content. Thus, merchandisers can independently make updates without the help of a graphics designer.

Powerful print catalog software also acts as a content management system for presenting information in catalogs. Thus, an effective print catalog software solution will separate the content development process from the layout development process so that they can be independently produced in parallel and seamlessly integrated. For a merchandiser, this means that he or she can produce, update, and review catalog content more quickly and cost-effectively.

Steve was a merchandiser who was very familiar with products but did not have the software know-how or the time to lay out the information into a weekly circular.  He outsourced this task to a graphics designer who was more well-versed in designing flyers and catalogs. However, this delegation added a step between Steve’s merchandising and the final product.

With a robust print catalog software solution, Steve could avoid the costs and delays of this added step because he would be able to update the content without needing to modify the layout.  For example, Steve should have been able to update the information in a centralized database, open the catalog layout in Adobe InDesign, and click “catalog refresh.”   The latest content from the database would then flow into the existing layout because all content was tagged.  No content problems, no layout problems, no delays.

3. Product Information Management (PIM) systems allow for synchronization between catalogs across media. Thus, a PIM system would have prevented catalog inconsistencies

A company with a sophisticated PIM system can update their layout quickly without tedious and repetitive actions for each page, and without worrying about how the content will be formatted. In fact, you can very quickly and easily test and modify new layout designs or publish multiple catalog layouts.  This is because the layout side is managed by “templates” that you can create, which are directly tied to the same centrally stored database of product information and images.  This means your content and formatting are both preserved, independently, up until the point where you create the output.  Then, once on the page, as data and images change or get updated, the page content can also be “synchronized” with the latest content in the database because the links are persistent.  This feature benefits companies that produce multiple print catalogs as well as companies that produce catalogs across media such ones for the web or mobile apps.

Steve produces two main catalogs: one print catalog and one web catalog.  These were manually synchronized and had significant inconsistencies as a result. Print catalog software would not only centrally store the relevant content for review and revision, it would also facilitate quick and automated updates to catalogs across many different media channels—simultaneously!

4. Catalog Software allow for better management of product information.

Finally, print catalog software that supports automatic bulk uploading makes it easier to store the full breadth of product information in an easy-to-navigate interface. As a business begins to offer a wider variety of products with wildly varying product specifications, it can becomes cumbersome to navigate.  This is especially true if this is being doing manually using multiple spreadsheets.  For a company like Steve’s, catalog merchandisers with this type of print catalog software can quickly add more information to their catalogs in response to customer requests.  Updates happen far more often because it’s easier to do and the process is virtually instantaneous.  In turn, this data flows more quickly to the print & web catalogs because it is “live” data.

In Conclusion…

Although companies with only a few products can manage these effectively with spreadsheets and manual updates, companies with around 500 products or more would benefit from some degree of PIM software.  Obviously, the more products there are, the more management involved.  But, there can be a great amount of variance between the number of fields one company needs to manage versus another.  While Company A might only have 500 products, they may have 350 fields.  Company B has 2,000 products, but only 23 fields.  From a management standpoint, Company A actually has more data to manage.

For companies that fall into this boat there are many concrete and powerful benefits to having versatile print catalog software beyond just the data management side of things.  Managers who invest the time and money in planning and implementing print catalog software in an efficient Product Information Management (PIM) system will be able to store, manage, review, and present their product information more quickly, accurately, and effectively.