Cuisinart Leans Into Retail-Specific Digital Catalogs
In forging new and more collaborative relationships with retailers, Cuisinart has found success with specially tailored digital catalogs.
The Conair-owned brand developed customizable digital catalogs and sell sheets for its top 20 retailers. Rather than creating individual creative for each customer, it expanded its relationship with product information management provider Salsify to leverage a template, in turn cutting out much of the red tape involved with uploading product information and images.
Cuisinart first teamed with Salsify four years ago when it was looking to centralize all of its product assets, as well as provide the sales team with a more efficient way of setting up new items with retailers. Doing so has benefitted its sales and marketing teams most immediately, but it’s also positively affected other business functions.
“The biggest benefit to our team has been the immediate and efficient way of setting up new products to our retailers,” Michael McNulty, Cuisinart senior e-commerce manager, tells CGT. “Our sales teams previously would take three to five days to get a product set up and would need to check multiple data sources. After working with Salsify, the time to get a new product set up was within minutes.”
Organizing all of its product data sources for the initial import did prove to be challenging, but Cuisinart alleviated some issues by dedicating a team member as the main point of contact between the two companies. This person has trained other Cuisinart sales associates on using retailer channels in the solution and kept users in the loop about updates, which has had the added benefit of enhancing team community, McNulty says.
When Cuisinart first entered direct-to-consumer selling in 2018, it was primarily done as a way to enable consumers to purchase replacement parts. Last year, it recorded direct-to-consumer revenue growth of more than 103% in 2020 as a result of expanded product offerings and new marketing initiatives.
The shift to digital catalogs has in turn enabled Cuisinart to maneuver its e-commerce marketing strategies more quickly and operate more nimbly, says McNulty. “We are better positioned to quickly shift products and resources to retailers’ digital shelves.”
The company also now has a dedicated customer service team to assist DTC consumers, which has helped the company improve consumer engagement. With consumers performing so much in-depth research before they make a purchase, it more important than ever to have accurate data, he notes.
