B2B buyers increasingly expect a consumer-like online shopping experience —one that presents a well-organized product catalog, enables quick and efficient product discovery, and simplifies the purchasing process. These buyer expectations are not unreasonable, and B2B companies that integrate B2C-inspired features into their eCommerce platforms are seeing higher conversion rates and improved customer retention.
Why Product Relationships Matter in B2B eCommerce
According to a survey by Accenture, 74% of shoppers said they’ve abandoned their online shopping carts because they felt overwhelmed by the number of product options and frustrated by the amount of effort needed to make a purchasing decision. This frustration isn’t exclusive to B2C buyers—wholesale distribution buyers face the same challenges and won’t hesitate to seek alternatives if they struggle to find what they need. For manufacturers, distributors, and specialty retailers, streamlining product discovery is crucial. One effective strategy? Creating product relationships within your catalog. By grouping similar items, highlighting complementary products, and linking accessories, businesses with large inventories can eliminate endless scrolling and guide buyers toward confident purchasing decisions.
What are Product Relationships?
Product relationships are associations you make between products. They include grouping multiple items that are the same but only differ by a variant like size, color, or finish. Other relationships can consist of complementary items, product accessories, replacement parts, and even associating competitor products. These relationships help target buyers according to their interest in or search for a similar or related product. While product relationships can be displayed in different ways on an eCommerce site, the key is to include the related items on the same product page for buyers. This approach keeps the buyer from having to look elsewhere for similar products and makes it easy to add any additional items to their cart. Let’s take a look at the different types of product relationships that help condense and organize onsite search results and create a quicker path to purchase the products a buyer wants – as well as items they otherwise may not think about or realize you sell.
Types of Product Relationships That Enhance Your eCommerce Site
1. Product Families: Simplify Variations for Faster Decisions
If your products come in multiple variants like size, finish, and color, you can combine these similar items and present them as one product family with their available options on your website. Product families eliminate buyers having to scroll through pages of individual items to find a specific size or color. The variants for the item can be shown in a dropdown menu on the product detail page, displayed as a list of offered SKUs below the “parent” item, or, in the case of a product with multiple variants, presented with button choices the buyer can click to customize to their specs. Product families are beneficial for any industry vertical where size or color/finish is the only differentiator for an item. Why show 30 different SKUs for every size of an item you sell when you can represent the item as a single product with the 30 size options on one web page? Whether you sell conduit, fasteners, apparel, faucets, lumber, or HVAC units, product families can consolidate your variant SKUs and present them in a clean, space-saving manner on your website.
2. Related Items & Similar Products: Upsell & Cross-Sell Opportunities
Related item associations can include alternative products that serve the same purpose, upgraded items with additional features/capabilities, and replacement parts for the product or solution. Associating similar items that are higher quality, more popular, or have a better profit margin than the item the customer is considering is a great marketing strategy that yields up-sell opportunities.
3. “Frequently Bought With” Items: Smart Cross-Selling
To remind shoppers of additional items they may need with the product they are viewing, businesses can present relevant components, attachments, and accessories that other customers have bought. This effective cross-selling technique not only encourages buyers to add more to their cart, but it also shows them the business knows them and their needs by suggesting products they may not have considered but are helpful or even essential to their application.
4. Competitor & Manufacturer Part Number Mapping: Keep Shoppers on Your Site
Another strategic application for product associations is to link competitor or manufacturer part numbers with your items so, if a site visitor searches your site using their part numbers, your product equivalents will display. Even if you don’t carry the exact item they are looking for, you are offering them an alternative and keeping them on your site.
How to Implement Product Relationships on your eCommerce Site
Building multi-faceted product relationships and displaying them on your digital commerce site requires two critical components: a sophisticated product information management (PIM) solution and robust product content. Together, they give businesses the ability to better showcase their products, offer more relevant and comprehensive solutions, and strengthen customer loyalty.
- A PIM solution: A dedicated PIM tool enables you to create different product associations and groupings to elevate your online product offerings. It also provides dynamic taxonomy management needed to set up category hierarchies as well as define and utilize the differentiating attributes to create product groupings. If you don’t already have a PIM tool integrated with your eCommerce platform, look for a PIM solution that can handle all your product data management needs, not just house your product content. There are plenty of imposter PIMs out on the market, so choose wisely.
- Rich product content: You can’t build product groupings and relationships without having the content to connect them. Enriched product content provides detailed attributes that differentiate like products from one another. SKUs that lack critical specifications and information buyers look for won’t be searchable or distinguishable on your site. Invest in content enrichment services or subscribe to a content program that provides access to continually enriched, normalized, and up-to-date product data for your industry vertical.
Need Help Optimizing Your Digital Commerce Strategy?
Make your B2B eCommerce site more than just another sales channel where customers can place orders. Turn it into a customer-centric marketing tool to expose buyers to your products, provide personalized solutions, and create a more efficient shopping experience. Product relationships not only help your online buyers, they also generate increased AOV and online revenue for your business. Need help turning your digital branch into a valuable resource that drives traffic and sales? Contact Unilog to learn how our connected product content and commerce solutions can transform your business.