60-second takeaway
- Online sellers spend ~16 minutes on average uploading a product catalogue, mostly because of a lengthy and tedious form that needs to be filled.
- So we set out to develop a simple cataloguing process that required minimal time, effort and knowledge.
- We used data science and machine learning algorithms to provide autofill options, contextual nudges, aided recalls, micro-interactions and relevant recommendations while a seller uploads the catalogue.
- Consequentially, the number of inputs required from sellers came down by 50%.
- Results:
75% sellers have seen a dramatic drop in upload times
63% suppliers are able to list more due to the time reduction
Most sellers are able to complete their catalogue uploads independently.
Did you know online sellers spend 16.3 minutes on average uploading a single product catalogue? And if they’re new to e-commerce, like many of our sellers are, add a few extra minutes.
That’s valuable time that a small business owner could invest in ideating new strategies, managing finances and inventory, or building ambitious business plans.
With just 2-3 million out of India’s ~63 million registered SMEs currently online, such hurdles to their digital adoption must be removed. In our efforts to bring the smallest of businesses online, we decided to…
Make the cataloguing process so simple and intuitive that the time, effort and knowledge required by suppliers to create a good quality catalogue is minimal.
Light but Long
When we started, uploading a catalogue would require selecting the relevant category and then uploading an image of the product. This would be followed by filling up a form with the entire taxonomy, including the product's colour, size, and material.
Alternatively, sellers could download a spreadsheet, fill out all the relevant information, and bulk upload multiple catalogues. These catalogues would then go to the Taxonomy tagging agents, who would review each upload and run quality checks.
While this was still lighter than most e-commerce apps, there was scope for improvement. This is how our catalogue upload screen looked before the update:
A few things are immediately evident. This long-established catalogue uploading mental model:
- is tedious, information-heavy, and has a complex structure
- has multiple tasks on each page
- requires the uploader to pay close attention throughout the process
Big businesses with bandwidth and manpower have dedicated teams to meet the uploading requirements of online platforms. Our sellers, mostly MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises), do not have that luxury and end up spending their limited time and resources on catalogue uploads. The process seemed long, complex and potentially confusing for them.
Convenient Cataloguing
We started identifying and systematically removing bottlenecks to build the simplest and smoothest-running catalogue that India’s e-commerce sellers have ever used.
- We decided to do away with restrictive rules, cut down on the number of questions and keep the system agile for all supplier cohorts.
- We introduced a mix of data science and machine learning algorithms on the platform to autofill certain product attributes based on the image the sellers provided.
- We also added some contextual and discoverable nudges to assist sellers while filling out initial details, along with added recalls, micro-interactions and relevant recommendations.
Here’s how the catalogue upload form looks like now:
On average, 52% of the upload form comes pre-filled, while recommendations are generated for ~75% of the catalogue inflow.
As a result, three in four suppliers have seen a dramatic drop in upload times, while 63% are able to list more on account of the faster process. More importantly, most of our suppliers are able to successfully complete their catalogue uploads independently – in the true spirit of Atmanirbhar Bharat.
But we’re not done just yet. We feel catalogue uploads should be…
#JustLikeSocialMedia
The idea is simple – can uploading a catalogue become as easy as posting on social media?
(1) Upload product image
(2) Write product name and description
(3) Add price
… And you’re live.
Watch this space to find out!
CREDITS
Design: Gopal Panda, Rahul Prakash
Subject matter experts: Kaustubh Fule, Nihal Singh, Heli Fajalia
