Product Data was a big topic here on Tamebay in 2016 and it will continue to be in 2017. Marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon are demanding product identifiers and even search engines like Google are insisting on this data if you want your products to be found in shopping search results.
Collating product data from a variety of suppliers each of whom make it available in a different format (and sometimes that format is still a paper catalogue!) can be time consuming and even when in an electronic format, the requirements for eBay or Amazon are very different to the upload specifications for say Tesco.
We know that this is an issue, partly because it’s difficult and complicated and partly because it’s so time consuming. Vendlab is an online retail consultancy focused on optimising product data and exploring new sales channels. It was founded by Trevor Ginn using the experience he gained running his own online retailer business Hello Baby. We asked him more about VendLab and how they can help sellers:
What does VendLab do?
VendLab helps ecommerce companies and their suppliers create and optimise product data so they can get selling online quickly. Many retailers miss out on sales as they have inventory that is only listed for sale across limited channels or has poor product page data. By outsourcing the product creation process to us, we can get a larger range of inventory live, to a high standard, thus generating more sales. We can also create templates to increase the efficiency and accuracy of product listing creation.
What are the benefits of using your service?
Many retailers struggle with the data manipulation required to sell successfully online. They are good with inventory but not with excel! The result is inventory that is slow to market and of patchy quality.
We help companies improve the speed and accuracy of their product creation, helping to improve not only sales, but also other areas that we know can be affected by poor quality data, such as dispatch and customer service.
Why would someone use VendLab over competitors?
We have 10 years’ experience of multi-channel online retail, which has given us a deep knowledge of major online sales channels such as eBay, Amazon and Google. We also have hands-on experience of the complexities of selling on multiple channels via third-party tools. We understand the pain online retailers go through when obtaining product data from suppliers and then turning this into something usable, as we have been there many times ourselves.
What would your ideal customer look like?
Our ideal customer would be an ambitious retailer who is having difficulties getting their inventory to market quickly due to the speed of their product listing processes. They could also be looking to expand the channels they sell through, both in the UK and internationally.
We also work with suppliers and brands to help them manage their product data, enabling better communication with retailers and higher quality, more up-to-date product data, in an easy to use, standard format. We know from experience that many suppliers struggle to provide retailers with the data they need.
Which platforms do you support or integrate with?
For our retail clients, VendLab is platform neutral and will work with multiple channels and ecommerce software providers as required by our clients. For suppliers, we have developed Productiser (productiser.xyz) to simplify communication and data sharing with retailers.
What else would you like to tell Tamebay’s readers?
Creating quality product data, including product images, is vitally important to running a high performing, efficient ecommerce business. Rich product data is clearly the future, and eBay and Amazon are constantly raising the bar as to what they expect from retailers. The rise of mobile commerce and visual marketing is also putting more emphasis on high quality product images. Many retailers and their suppliers need to raise their game or risk being left behind. If this is something you are struggling with then VendLab can help.
How to contact VendLab
You can contact Trevor and the VendLab team on [email protected] or 0330 043 0989
