Study Unearths Flaws in Digital Product Information in Online Stores

The Consumer Goods Forum, Paris, France November 7th, 2012: An analysis of eCommerce websites in North America and the UK found significant problems with the integrity of product information available to consumers in both geographies. The Clavis Technology/GS1 Food & Beverage eCommerce Information Insight Study, measured the information quality for over 7000 branded products across 10 leading online stores, during October 2012.
 
Missing or incomplete information was by far the biggest issue identified in the study – more than two thirds of the 23,000 product pages we analyzed (67%) were missing expected information such as nutrition panels, ingredients or extended product descriptions and marketing bullets.
 
“Missing information in online stores is a significant problem for food & beverage manufacturers as they look to digital channels for growth in 2012 and beyond,” said Garry Moroney, CEO Clavis Technology. “The results of the study show that despite the increase in eCommerce, many food & beverage manufacturers are missing out on the full extent of the opportunity as consumers will not buy products online if information is missing or inaccurate.”
 
“Digital product information is business critical: it drives sales of your products and trust in your brand. It is also necessary to comply with EU regulation for food products sold online that will come into force in 2014,” said Malcolm Bowden, President Global Solutions, GS1. “There is a real opportunity for forward thinking brand owners to increase their market share by proactively managing their information in online stores, and delivering consistent messages across all channels.”
 
The study was carried out using Clavis Technology’s cloud-based eCommerce Insight solution, which automatically audits product information in online stores and generates reports and analysis based on standardized metrics.

• 67% of the products were missing some expected piece of information.
• 18% were missing Nutrition panels.
• 14% had no Ingredients information.

Contact Information

Tom Golden

Marketing

Clavis Technology

(353) (0) 1 881 8580

tom.golden@clavistechnology.com