Struggling with Juggling

As their offerings grow, web retailers face the challenge of keeping product data timely, relevant and available in a nanosecond

When it was a smaller e-commerce site with $5.4 million in annual sales and 16,000 SKUs, managing the text, images and other content for about 1,000 product pages was a relatively easy job for The Grill Store and More, which operates BBQGuys.com.

But as The Grill Store and More works to transform BBQGuys.com into ShoppersChoice.com, a new online mega-store that will eventually carry more than 9 million SKUs, the company is scrambling to keep up with a growing list of content management challenges.

To build a new mass merchandise site that The Grill Store and More believes will give serious competition to Overstock.com and others, the company is upgrading an internally developed content management system that in short order must handle millions of new lines of code and a library of nearly 10 million product images. The Grill Store and More is also spending more than $200,000 on programming and web development to convert reams of new product descriptions, price sheets and merchandise photos into one central information repository.

A variety of feeds

“We have product information coming in to us from 300 manufacturers using a variety of formats—some send us an XML feed, some an e-mail with an attached spreadsheet or PDF and even some on a diskette,” says The Grill Store and More CEO Michael Hackley. “I need an army of programmers to meet our content management objectives.”

Finding newer and better ways to manage and deliver content is a top priority for The Grill Store and More as well as for many other web retailers as they look to upgrade or replace home-grown systems and outdated content delivery programs with more robust applications capable of handling more complex and information-intensive e-commerce sites. Just five years ago, before sophisticated online shoppers began demanding access to more product information and the ability to see merchandise in greater detail, most content delivery and web publishing applications were built to manage relatively straightforward information such as a price, a short item description or a product image.

But today web retailers must manage information across a wider variety of channels, including the web, catalog and stores. To handle the load, they are putting in place sophisticated content management systems that utilize XML applications, web services and virtual data repositories. In addition, web retailers are updating their content delivery platforms to handle a growing volume of outside information posted directly to the web store from third-party information providers or consumer brand manufacturers.

The end result for Internet merchants are platforms and programs that can react quickly and precisely to match changing shopper behavior and to personalize content in ways that generate more sales.

Just enough information

With early content management programs, web retailers often had to code each piece of text or image before posting it to the site. To create programs that pulled content such as pricing and available inventory from back-end databases and legacy systems, retailers also needed their information technology and web development staffs to create custom source code, a separate project that could take weeks to plan and execute.

“The early generation of content management systems were built around supplying the e-commerce site with just enough information such as a price, descriptive text and product image to get the customer to use the shopping cart and then complete the transaction,” says Monica Schrager, senior strategic analyst with Fry Inc., an e-commerce web site developer. “But now that web retailing sites are carrying far more products and related information, content management systems and tools are evolving to an entirely new level.”

Today, content management application development and third-party content delivery companies such as Astoria Software Inc., Ektron Inc., FatWire Corp., Fry, Interwoven Inc., Stellent Inc., WebCollage Inc., Vignette Corp. and others are building and marketing new tools or services that feature an open architecture, multiple page templates and formats, reusable business objects, XML editing tools and a central data repository. Many new systems also feature a graphical user interface that allows multiple retailing managers to use their personal computers and an Internet connection to enter or change content using simple drop-and-drag tools. Others feature dashboards that allow users to select editing or publishing tools, and click and move the dashboard across multiple web pages and templates.

Pricing for an enterprise content management system can range from about $25,000 to more than $200,000, depending upon the number of users and product features. FatWire, for instance, charges an entry price of $25,000 for Content Server, its core content management suite of applications, while Vignette’s price for Vignette V7, a content management system that lets retailers manage text and images using Microsoft Office, web browsers, XML authoring tools and wireless devices, starts at $75,000. “Many web retailers used to find some content management systems too complex and too time-consuming to really use effectively,” says Marci Maddox, Vignette’s senior manager of product marketing. “What they really needed, and what they are finding in content management products on the market today, are web-based tools that let them edit text or images and make instant changes across various channels or web sites, intranets or extranets.”

Greater role

When content management systems were first developed and deployed across e-commerce sites about a decade ago, web retailers used the tools primarily to post or change text and images on the home page and a few interior product pages. But today content management tools are taking on a far different role and helping merchants identify and close more sales by delivering timely and personalized product information to shoppers.

For instance, Benchmark Brands, which sells online at Footsmart.com, an e-commerce site that carries about 16,000 products and generates annual sales of more than $17 million, uses new rich media applications from Scene7 Inc. to let shoppers zoom in on particular products such as specialty or therapeutic socks and hosiery and click on color swatches. Over time Benchmark Brands has also updated its internally developed and maintained content management system with new features that enable marketing managers to package product text, images and articles on foot care to specific groups of shoppers such as customers looking for deals and tips on selecting a pair of walking shoes.

Benchmark’s content management system is now able to create dynamic pages and images and pull information quickly and easily from back-end inventory management and product information databases. As a result, if an analytics report tells site managers that shoppers are reacting positively to a particular item or price point, they can use the content management system to instantly create or update text and pictures on the home page or change the featured product box on a specific product page. With easier ways to package and modify content, Benchmark Brands can also segment its customer base and send highly targeted e-mail promotions to shoppers featuring specific tips on foot care, images of top-selling brands and text and links that direct shoppers to featured merchandise. “We can quickly change, package and modify content in ways we couldn’t do before,” says Karen Stern, director of e-retail operations. “We can now use our content management system to apply more specific information to targeted promotions and let our customers see the merchandise in greater detail.”

Not an inside job today

In the early days of business-to-consumer e-commerce, many retailers thought of content management and delivery as primarily an internal job where only the merchant’s merchandising or IT staff would make any changes to information on the web site, says Kyle McNabb, analyst with Forrester Research Inc. Now, with even some small and medium-sized retailers stocking hundreds of thousands of SKUs, adding new items each week and constantly making text and image changes to the site, a growing number of merchants are adding a new dimension to their content management programs: web links that use XML applications to pull constantly updated product information and images from third-party content providers and consumer brand manufacturers directly to their home page or merchandise categories. “Content on an e-commerce site can’t just be static any more,” McNabb says. “Information has to be constantly changed and updated. A new option for getting the latest updated or new information is through direct feeds from manufacturers and others.”

Rather than manage the job internally, Biblio.com, an online book retailer that carries an inventory of more than 20 million used, rare and out-of-print books, is using Muze Inc. to supply new and ongoing content such as book descriptions, author biographies, book reviews and book cover images. With more content from an outside source, Biblio can make almost instant changes to content and is expanding its image library to hold more than 9 million new cover images. “We’ve always built and maintained our own content management system using free and available open source code,” says Kevin Donaldson, director of sales and marketing for Biblio. “But by using new content supplied by Muze we are increasing the size of our site content by nearly 30 million records and adding more new sources of information such as book reviews.”

Adding direct feeds that use XML and web service applications to provide a constant new stream of information is providing a new twist to how web merchants can deliver content, says Rick Fawcett, vice president of North American sales for WebCollage Inc., which provides application and delivery services that allow retailers to integrate content such as new product specifications directly to their site from consumer brand manufacturers. Among the chain retailers and online merchants using WebCollage for new forms of content are Circuit City Stores Inc., CompUSA Inc. and Sony Electronics eSolutions Co., which oversees SonyStyle.com, a consumer electronics site.

Creating an appealing package

In the very competitive and highly information-intensive consumer electronics space, more retailers are looking at third-party content providers and services to provide a constant stream of new product information, particularly as they look to close more online sales of bigger ticket items such as plasma screen TVs. Sony, for instance, uses WebCollage to expedite the release of new product information such as the debut of its new T7 digital camera. Rather than post the product image and text on its own e-commerce site and then send out batch electronic data interchange messages or individual e-mail messages with attachments, Sony posts the information simultaneously on its site and on sites operated by its affiliated retailers such as CompUSA. “When we have a new product launch, it gets to these sites almost instantly,” says Scot Pettit, web merchandise manager for Sony. “At the high end on a consumer electronics site, new and constantly updated sources of information can be a valuable sales tool.”

Syndicated content and speedier delivery can be differentiating factors in measuring how successful web retailers are in converting more site visits into sales. But equally important is using a content management system in ways that assemble content in appealing and informative packages. For instance, improved site search featuring guided navigation may lead shoppers more quickly to product pages, but from there it’s the quantity and quality of the information that’s presented that will determine a visitor’s purchasing intentions. “The core product information has to be there and it has to be presented with images, text and other content that make shoppers want to carry through on a transaction,” says Bill Rogers, CEO of Ektron, which in May launched CMS400.NET Version 5.0, a .NET content management system that includes enhanced search capabilities and easier integration with other publishing applications such as Macromedia Dreamweaver. “The content needs to ensure that the shopper has a great experience,” he says.

To package and deliver content more effectively, a recent study by Forrester reports that web retailers are placing top priority on zoom technology, more detailed shipping information, A/B testing of site design elements and publishing more customer ratings and expert reviews.

Closing sales

With tightly packaged, but more information-intensive home and interior pages, web retailers are delivering content in ways that make it more inviting for customers to stay and shop. Some retailers, says Robert Hammond, chief technology officer for Mirror Image Internet Inc., a content delivery and services company, are also offering shoppers different experiences based on how they access the site. For instance, customers with a broadband connection may be directed to pages with more rich media-formatted content while shoppers with a dial-up connection are sent to a more straightforward products page.

At The Grill Store and More, the most immediate job is developing a content management delivery system that can quickly scale to handle vast amounts of new text and images for ShoppersChoice.com. In just the first month of operation, the new site added nearly 1.2 million SKUs, which generated dozens of new product pages and more than 1 million new images. Longer term The Grill Store and More plans to add content delivery applications such as viewing merchandise in three dimensions. “How well we can plan and expedite better content management on ShoppersChoice.com is a big part of our business plan going forward,” Hackley says. “It won’t be enough just to offer more inventory. We have to package and manage the content in ways that close sales and generate additional cross-selling opportunity.” l

mark@verticalwebmedia.com

nosecond

The many ways of getting product data

Whether they’re getting straightforward product updates or sophisticated digital commercials developed and distributed by consumer brand manufacturers, web retailers are relying more on outside third parties to supply content for their e-commerce sites.

For instance, Office Depot Inc., which carries more than 200,000 SKUs online, may use outside content from as many as 100 manufacturers and other third parties to update products and images. Office Deport receives product updates, photos and other rich media-enhanced information such as product demonstrations from Hewlett-Packard Co. and Microsoft Corp. through a third-party platform provided by WebCollage Inc. The flow of new product updates, technical specifications and images is constant. Office Depot takes about five working days to collect the information, edit it to comply with internal standards and work-flow procedures and post it to the web store. “Adding more content is critical,” says Noah Maffitt, director of e-commerce for Office Depot. “Creating content is expensive and we deal with multiple brands. Using more syndicated content, especially for technology products, which are constantly changing, enhances our customers’ shopping experience.”

Creating individual content for a product a retailer is adding to an online inventory can cost $80 to more than $500 per SKU, depending how much internal time and resources are needed and to what lengths the retailer has to go to obtain the initial information, says Steven Roth, program manager at Channel Intelligence Inc., which develops commerce data interchange services for web retailers, manufacturers and others.

Delivery costs for syndicated content vary, but can range from monthly subscription fees of $2,000 to $20,000. Retailers are using more syndicated product information because in many instances the manufacturer picks up the cost of the content creation and delivery.