Good Product Information Source?

[jwswholesale]

I am just wondering where suppliers and distributors get the product information they use on the sites they run. If you look at one site, say at a digital camera, you see acceptable product information that you see is enough to make an informed decision on what camera to buy. But what about going to like amazon.com and seeing a full page or TWO of information about the SAME product? More is better right? You want your customer to be able to make a decision about your product without having to search the web to get more info, right?

Well, where does amazon get all that information? Are there any webmasters here that use a specific "service" or website/database to look up more potentially helpful product info? Please post if you can help. Thank you.

Please note that I have what I call, "enough product info", but to give my customer a COMPLETE shopping experience at one store, I would like to look into getting more if it's available.

[jestep]

More is better right? You want your customer to be able to make a decision about your product without having to search the web to get more info, right?

More is better to a point. What I have found that has been very effective, is writing a personal description for a product, and then having a popup link to additional detailed information.

Depending on the product that you sell, many shoppers either already know what they want, or just don't care about all of the little details. In either case, you don't want to burden them by providing more information that they need. By giving them a personalized description, it shows them you are professional and care enough to write your own description. For the people who need more info, it is a click away, and they still aren't directed away from the page.

As far as getting information about a product, the manufacturer usually has huge descriptions. Otherwise you can write your own or hire someone to give an objective description of the product.

[brian.mark]

Originally Posted by jestep

Depending on the product that you sell, many shoppers either already know what they want, or just don't care about all of the little details. In either case, you don't want to burden them by providing more information that they need.

This is why I think having add to cart buttons on a category page which shows a listing of all of the items is a good thing. You're saving those people from going another click and seeing that unneeded information.

Originally Posted by jestep

As far as getting information about a product, the manufacturer usually has huge descriptions. Otherwise you can write your own or hire someone to give an objective description of the product.

If you're going to use manufacturer descriptions, be aware that everyone else does this too. In our industry, we had to make some changes to our internal policy to get the products from being seen as duplicate content from our competitors. Unique is very good.

Brian.

[Map Books 4 U]

Originally Posted by brian.mark

This is why I think having add to cart buttons on a category page which shows a listing of all of the items is a good thing. You're saving those people from going another click and seeing that unneeded information.

I have to completely agree on this. Many of my customers already know the product and can get in and out quickly from the product section. Others will click on the title or picture for more information which is a tremendous time saver because they don' t have to call or email questions about the product.

Most merchants I know get the information about the products from the manufacturer. Providing extra details, safety warnings, demos, etc. helps set you apart. Even if you are only providing links to other areas that provide more info.

Always try to incorporate the information in your own words as much as possible to avoid the penalties from the search engines for duplicate content.

[brian.mark]

We've been working on changing some of our better selling products, or those that should be, form feature driven to benefit driven. It's a lot of effort, but well worth it.

As an example, this product had 3 features until Matt (our resident IT guy that has also worked construction) added in the benefits of those features and the editorial text. A few hundred more of those and we should see a change in sales, which will allow for us to convince management to allow us to do the other 7,000.

Brian.

[jwswholesale]

Thanks for the replies. It is all helpful information.

Brian.Mark -
I had another quick question. I didn't want to start a new thread, but how do you feel about fixed shipping vs. calculated shipping in the shopping cart?


Thanks again!