Customers today are addicted to the experience offered on top e-commerce platforms, anything less and they will leave the platform. An Accenture study reveals “48% of customers are likely to leave without purchasing if the website is not following established standards or is poorly formatted”. Since customers are so particular about online experiences, it makes sense to surpass the existing standards or simply copy them.

With standards becoming the keyword in online store creation and optimization, it is reasonable for e-commerce players to invest in data standardization. Perhaps, this is yet another reason, why we see nascent e-commerce players following Amazon so closely. Since Amazon has a huge audience base and every new feature touch millions of people within a few days of launch, it gets necessary for other stores to adopt or watch their audience churn.

What is Data Standardization?

Data standardization is the practice of storing, sorting and display in a format that is accepted by all end-users and offers symmetry through industry or a website. For e-commerce players, data standardization is more or less about offering a consistent experience throughout the site irrespective of the category being browsed.

Data standardization serves a very important purpose, it prepares the existing data for easier collaboration, large-scale analytics, and processing complicated applications of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

With the proliferation of e-commerce organizations and an uptick in customer preferences with regards to features, data standardization became a necessity for the players. Customer journey maps and customer feedbacks highlighted challenges like “I couldn’t locate Wishlist button”, and “there was no shortcut to cart”.

Data standardization:

• Facilitates easier comparison by displaying all products in a similar format
• Allows customers to bank upon muscle memory and browse freely
• Ensures customers can make quick decisions
• Leverages relevant practices to highlight unique features of a product

Numerous e-commerce players have started investing in data standardization because:

Governments want them to: In India, e-commerce players were recently asked to display “country of origin” on all products. Similarly, numerous governments are asking online marketplaces to display certifications, warranty info, and other relevant metrics to save customers from fraud.

It levels the playing ground: Multiple newly funded e-commerce players believe “why to start from scratch when we can start from where Amazon already is”; this way they can ensure that customers can access an experience similar to that of Amazon.

By leveraging the data standardization followed by competitors, e-commerce players can render all customer expectation challenges obsolete. Any new feature will serve as an addition and can be used as a hedge against the contemporaries.

It Builds Trust: Customers appreciate the efforts made by e-commerce stores to help them browse effortlessly by shopping repeatedly. Since customers have start valuing quality experiences and are even willing to pay additional charges, data standardization can be a great way of building trust and promoting a new platform.

Why Data Standardization is Important in E-commerce?

Innumerable engineers and designers believe that data standards are crap and it affects the end-product. Even e-commerce stakeholders have a similar view. They think of data standards as obstructions and believe it lessens creative space.

Everyone loathes these standards but still end up following them because:

• Customers won’t change their preference just for one website
• Compliance & certifications want them to follow a set of rules
• International governing bodies are tightening norms

Well, while standardization is being imposed on e-commerce players and they have no choice other than to abide by it, why not leverage it as a weapon and not seethe about it?

Here’s how data standardization can help E-commerce stores flourish:

Maintains Data Sanity: Well, the first e-commerce store came up almost 3 decades ago. While you have access to pre-built plugins and pre-defined formats, the initial players went through a series of hit & trial methods to reach the contemporary state. Some valuable processes need no change and need to be left uninterrupted.

By following e-commerce data standards, one can easily carve out the “most important” and “relevant information” for users and leave everything else behind. Following standards will ensure that only useful stuff is displayed on the site, everything else is put behind a façade and is used for creating theme-based buckets and improving product discovery.

Facilitates Better Decision Making: If yours is a new e-commerce store, customers will be looking for reasons to not shop from your site. Use all the relevant practices to help them find relevant information faster. With data standardization e-commerce stores can facilitate better decision-making for end-users. It is never a marketing campaign or a lucrative offer that turns a user into a loyal customer. It is always the mix of quality service, incomparable experience, and better offers that help customers settle down as repetitive buyers.

Following standards will help customers make quick decisions by ensuring that all-important data is available in the format, they are used to. This way, customers who are in hurry will be able to make purchases without committing an error.

Improves Customer Acquisition: Marketers spend hours optimizing their landing page, ad copies, and graphics only to have visitors who spend 1-4 mins and then leave. When data standards are followed and all requisite information is displayed in a prescribed format, customers are likely to act. They will either bookmark, add to cart, leave their email, Wishlist a product, or simply accept push notification requests adding to the customer acquisition game.

Factors affecting E-commerce Data Standardization

By now, we are all well-versed with the benefits of e-commerce data standardization but why is it required? Isn’t it ideal that all features and formats are prepared in a way that suits customers from the start itself? Well, that is true and should be the case but for e-commerce marketplaces that house millions of sellers from varied countries and states, not all of them need to follow the same tool, practices, or platform to upload it.

Top factors affecting e-commerce data standardization are:

1. Asymmetry in Seller Content

E-commerce marketplaces have opened new doors of opportunities for resellers as well as local sellers selling their products.

Sellers are now able to sell:

• Locally procured products to a global audience
• Products through product description in native languages
• Assortments by highlighting locally known keywords

Since the local factor helps people identify products faster but it doesn’t go well with other products and global audiences. Often native product names interfere with other languages and it disrupts the entire on-site search.

When on-site search results interfere, a phenomenon is known as Brand Interference occurs, which contributes to poor customer experience, increased return requests, and lower conversions.

2. Manufacturer’s Product Descriptions

Both sellers and manufacturers want their products to sell like hot pancakes on these marketplaces. Everyone wants to repeat the magic Redmi and OnePlus did with a flash sale on Flipkart & Amazon, respectively.

To achieve a higher ranking and more visibility, manufacturers are flunking international guidelines and internal norms. These majors are affecting the overall standardization of an e-commerce store. Customers are unable to find relevant products because search engines failed to identify the right product and rank it.

Sellers are also tweaking their product description and adding keywords deliberately to gain more visibility, which impacts other genuine sellers and disrupts the entire standard of a site.

3. Deviation in Units of Measurement

Some countries measure weight in Kgs while some follow the ounces metric. Similarly, some countries prefer displaying the size of a product in CMS while some use inches. Then there are numbers of shoe sizes, which vary from one country to another.

Countries like India & Japan have decided to do away with UK standard clothing and develop their metrics. The countries are in process of creating new sizes, which are more relevant for their population instead of blinding following UK standards.

Such deviation in units of measurement occurs because:

• Some sellers import products from other countries
• Some products are being imported
• Some products are being meant only for an international audience
• Some products are patented in other countries and cannot be transcribed

4. Formats Followed in Product’s Country of Origin

Paris is called the Fashion Capital of the World, similarly, India is referred to as the world’s pharmacy. Products designed and manufactured in these countries often followed local practices unless focused entirely on export.

Countries with a huge contribution in any industry aim to establish domination hence they push their standards. It is similar to Amazon asking non-prime users to pay additional shipping charges. You either subscribe to Amazon Prime or pay for shipping.

The lack of relevant documents from these manufacturers is affecting the entire platform. Customers have to convert shoe sizes manually before placing an order, which impacts:

• Customer experience
• Faster decision making
• Conversion rate
• Customer loyalty

E-commerce Data Standardization Best Practices

By now, we know why data standardization is important, how it affects and how it can be used for growth. Now let’s drill down to the processes and steps of e-commerce data standardization.

1. Show Product Comparisons

The following screenshot is taken from Amazon and it showcases an illustrative comparison between varied versions of Kindle. The popular e-reader is known for offering ease of reading electronic books and PDFs.

Amazon recently launched several Kindles, aiming to help customers have more options. Upon launch, customers were caught in trouble of identifying the best kindle for them. With this illustrative comparison chart, Amazon simplified it for users.

This comparison chart is undoubtedly the perfect example of data standardization because:

• It reduces effort on the customers part
• Offers instant decision-making capabilities
• Showcases multiple products simultaneously
• Offers accurate comparison free of unwanted disparity

2. Hire Data Analyst

Everything starts with hiring an e-commerce expert that can be stored create anatomy and establish practices to abide by it. For example, a fashion analyst with an intricate understanding of measurement, sizes, metrics, and styles, will help e-commerce players:

• Label all products correctly
• Reduce errors related to brogues, double-monk, oxfords, and boots
• Use popular measurement metric as a standard

Hiring a data analyst can swing the entire momentum towards an e-commerce store, which can be leveraged as a hedge against the contemporaries. Customers love platforms that simplify processes and improves the ease of buying. With proper measurements available in local metrics, e-commerce stores are doing customers favor and offering a swift shopping experience too.

3. Follow Customer-Centric Practices

In contemporary times, India, China, Singapore & Japan are estimated to be emerging markets for e-commerce players. Global players are now trying to cement their presence in these countries. The exodus from retail to digital in these countries is huge, backed by Fintech penetration, India and China are now the biggest emerging e-commerce markets.

When Amazon expanded to India, it became completely Indian. They started work on the ground level, started offering content in native languages like Hindi & Tamil. Similarly, they onboarded sellers who could sell local products and native art. Now Amazon is full of India-specific products including art and daily usage.

Why did Amazon diversify into local products? It could have continued selling phones, laptops, international books, and other shiny products. Amazon invested because of its customer-centric practices.

All e-commerce players that are willing to expand to other countries and establish a strong presence must start by putting customers at the helm. With customers taking control, it gets easier to:

• Identify underlying patterns
• Decipher wants of a customer
• Understand the challenges faced by customers
• Innovate products that are loved by customers

4. Showcase Unit of Measurement Along with Comparison 

Let’s try to understand this with an example. The following screenshot is from Myntra, a leading Indian e-commerce store. The image is from Nike’s shoe page. We can see how they have offered shoe sizes in the US, UK, and Euro.

Similarly, we can also spot there’s an option to see sizes in “cm” as well as “in”. With such practices the e-commerce store can:

• Cater to all local as well as the international audience in India
• Help customers use the prevalent measurement
• Facilitate better product understanding & improved decision making

What happens when such comparisons are not provided?

Well, in India, UK sizes are followed because of the colonial hangover. The country is working on building its standard sizes. With such a comparison chart customers can make an informed decision.

Lack of comparison table can lead to: 

• Customers ordering wrong products
• Increase in return requests
• Poor customer experience
• Seller’s loss in shipping products only to receive it in return
• Loss of commission charged to sellers
• Payment of logistics going to waste

Final Thoughts on E-commerce Data Standardization

Data Standardization is not a luxury anymore for your e-commerce store or platform; it is a must-have process. With the right processes and support for data standardization, your platform can evolve into one that shoppers love and recommend to their community. Data Standardization can even become your precursor for an exceptional customer experience while displaying your products the right way.

From the outside, building and running an e-commerce store look like child’s play. All you need is AWS hosting, a WordPress theme, 2-3 paid store builders, or a simple Shopify subscription. Whereas in reality, running an e-commerce store is aligning several moving pieces like catalog management, product management, seller management, while offering quality customer experience, managing seller experience, ensuring fraud prevention, and a lot more.

Trying to build a successful e-commerce business with a small team is possible but running it, expanding it, and making it the preferred platform is a herculean task. If you are struggling with managing these challenging processes, E-commerce outsourcing is the way forward for you. Outsourcing your non-core processes can help you manage your time and resources better to focus on your core processes.

Find out more about MattsenKumar’s E-commerce Outsourcing Capabilities here.