Most companies don’t realize it. But their product catalog is bleeding money every single day. Messy catalog data kills sales. Wrong descriptions confuse buyers. Missing attributes crush search rankings. Slow updates mean new products take weeks, not hours, to go live. And in a world where speed equals revenue, that wait is deadly. If your catalog is messy, outdated, or inconsistent, you’re not just losing sales—you’re losing trust. That’s the wake-up call many businesses are facing. And the solution? Smarter catalog management powered by AI Copilot support.
Key Takeaways
- 55% of consumers won’t buy a product if the content is bad .
- 39% return products due to inaccurate images and 54% due to wrong size/dimensions (there is no explicit ‘30% returns due to inaccurate info’ figure, but product info is a major cause).
- Accurate and complete product content is confirmed as a leading driver of sales and reduction in returns, but most summaries reference 55% as the high mark.
Why Catalog Chaos Strangles Growth
Let’s get real.
Think about your product catalog like a store shelf. If half the labels were missing, some products were in the wrong aisle, and others showed expired dates, would you shop there?
That’s what poor catalog management feels like for online buyers.
When they search for “red running shoes size 9” but your catalog tags it as “men’s sports footwear crimson,” you’ve just lost a sale. Not because the shoes weren’t great. But because the data was wrong.
Search engines play the same game. Incomplete attributes and messy product titles mean your items won’t even show up on Google Shopping or Amazon’s front page.
The result? Silent revenue leaks. Products exist, but they’re invisible.
Why Traditional Management Fails
Historically, catalog management depended on people. Teams of interns, merchandisers, or data specialists typing product descriptions, fixing SKUs, and uploading images.
That might have worked when a company sold 500 products.
But today? The average mid-sized eCommerce retailer carries 50,000+ SKUs across multiple platforms, from Shopify and Magento to Amazon and Walmart Marketplace.
Every platform has different attribute rules. Every customer expects rich descriptions, fast updates, and accurate stock counts.
Humans simply can’t keep pace.
Even with a Product Information Management (PIM) system, the grunt work doesn’t disappear. Someone still has to standardize images, rewrite descriptions, tag attributes, and ensure compliance.
That’s where AI copilots walk in.
AI Copilot Support: Not Just Speed, But Scale
Let’s make something clear. AI copilots don’t “replace” catalog managers. They supercharge them.
Think of an AI copilot as the best assistant you’ve ever had.
It does more than just follow instructions. It picks up on habits, guesses what will happen next, and points out what’s lacking before you realize it yourself.
Here’s what that looks like in catalog management:
- Auto-Enrich Descriptions
AI Copilot can generate SEO-friendly product descriptions in minutes, not days. Descriptions will be written according to channel—short on Amazon, detailed on Shopify, optimized for Etsy search. - Attribute Tagging on Autopilot
Instead of someone manually entering “Color: Blue” and “Material type: Cotton,” AI looks at the product data, identifies missing information, and writes it with accuracy. - Image Recognition
Copilots can analyze product photos and suggest or apply metadata: “red T-shirt, round neck, slim fit, front logo.” Suddenly your catalog is search-engine ready without endless manual tagging. - Error Detection
Wrong measurements, outdated pricing, duplicate SKUs—AI flags them instantly. That means fewer returns and higher trust. - Cross-Channel Formatting
Each marketplace has unique rules. An AI system can change the data respresentation, ensuring your product uploads meet every platform’s quirks in seconds.
The Growth Opportunity in Numbers
Why should leaders care right now?
Because mismanaged catalogs are a silent profit drain.
- Wrong product data = lost revenue. Forrester reports poor product information costs companies $12 billion annually in the US alone.
- Search drop-offs = lower visibility. If your product tags don’t match how buyers search, they won’t even see your products. Deloitte estimates over 22% of lost eCommerce sales trace back to poor catalog quality.
- Time wasted = growth delayed. Gartner found teams spend 30% of their workweek on repetitive catalog maintenance instead of growth-driving activities.
Now, consider what happens when AI copilots reclaim that time.
Imagine cutting catalog management hours nearly in half. Your marketing team suddenly has more time for launching campaigns. Merchandisers spend more time analyzing trends instead of wrestling with Excel. Leadership can expand into new channels faster without doubling headcount.
That’s why forward-thinking retailers are treating catalog AI not as an experiment—but as a core revenue driver.
Why Speed Matters Most
Think about Amazon.
Every extra week you delay putting a product online is a week customers can’t buy it. Competitors move in. Ranking algorithms reward those who publish sooner.
Speed creates compounding wins. Early movers earn more reviews, get better placement, and dominate categories before slower rivals catch up.
Now, picture two competitors.
- Retailer X takes six weeks to enrich, tag, and publish new products.
- Retailer Y, using AI copilot support, takes six days.
Who do you think wins over time?
Retailer B launches faster, ranks faster, sells faster. Speed literally turns into share of market.
The Human-AI Balance
Let’s be blunt. AI copilots aren’t perfect. They’ll make mistakes, especially with complex products requiring compliance-heavy details.
- But here’s the secret: humans plus AI are unbeatable.
- AI can process large amounts of work, while humans are better at understanding subtle details.
- Instead of writing thousands of descriptions, your team will work on what matters most.
- Simply put, AI handles the tough tasks, letting people focus on planning and big-picture thinking.
- This balance is what makes AI copilots practical for both startups and giants.
The AI Copilot Development Company Factor
Some businesses try to build this in-house. Others outsource.
Working with an experienced AI Copilot Development Company can make the difference between a clunky deployment and a smooth one.
Why?
Customizing AI Copilot for catalog management is a tough task. It requires:
- Training the model on your product taxonomy.
- Integrating with PIM, ERP, and eCommerce platforms like Kentico, Shopify, and othersr.
- Setting guardrails for compliance-heavy industries (think FDA labeling for supplements, or electrical certifications for appliances).
Getting that wrong means expensive mistakes. Getting it right can supercharge scaling.
Common Objections Businesses Raise
Let’s address the biggest pushbacks.
AI will mess up brand tone in product descriptions.
It can. That’s why humans still edit final drafts. But AI does 80% of the work, saving hundreds of hours.
Won’t this put my team out of a job?
Not if you utilize it in the right way. AI copilots can free your team from repetitive work so they can focus on campaigns, partnerships, planning, and strategy.
What about compliance?
Valid concern. The solution is hybrid workflows. AI generates drafts, and compliance teams finalize. Risk drops while speed remains.
Where the Future Is Heading
Catalogs are only the start.
The same AI copilots managing product attributes will soon:
- Suggest pricing changes based on competitor data.
- Recommend product bundling opportunities by analyzing buying behavior.
- Auto-generate localized content for global markets.
- Predict stock shortages before they hit.
Think about that. Catalog AI isn’t just about keeping your store neat. It’s a growth engine that will touch pricing, logistics, marketing, and even product development itself.
Companies that embrace this shift early won’t just clean their catalogs. They’ll dominate markets.
The Urgency to Act Now
- Every quarter you delay, competitors gain ground.
- Every inaccurate product detail risks lost sales.
- Every wasted catalog hour is time stolen from growth.
Adopting AI copilots isn’t optional anymore. It’s the difference between brands that keep expanding and brands that slowly shrink unseen.
The good news? The shift doesn’t need to be painful. Start with your biggest bottlenecks. Pick one channel, one category, and test how AI support cuts time and errors.
The results will make the next step obvious.
Final Thought
Here’s the blunt takeaway.
A messy product catalog will strangle your growth. No matter how good your marketing is. No matter how many ads you buy.
But with AI copilot support, the catalog goes from bottleneck to engine. It moves faster. It gets cleaner. It scales effortlessly across platforms.
Growth doesn’t just come from adding more products. It comes from managing them smarter, faster, and more accurately.
Businesses that understand this quickly and take action will do more than just survive.