SEO Friendly Product Data
I've been studying why unique, up-to-date product data is important for e-commerce stores. There are several reasons, but I am going to mention just the top few.
#1 - Reduce backorders / customer cart-dropping by ensuring that your products in your store are up to date
#2 - Save advertising money by focusing your advertising on products that are in stock. Imagine trying to buy a TV from a classified ad just to have the seller tell you that they won't have it in stock for 2 weeks. Would YOU wait? Probably not and therefore, advertising money was wasted. EVERY dollar you spend on advertising should go toward scenarios with a 100% chance of making a sale (not that everyone will buy, but certainly they COULD buy if they choose...) and NO money should be spent advertising where there is a 0% chance of making a sale.
#3 - Unique product data means that your data will be indexed better in search engines, giving you more free traffic to your site. Google mentions several times that they penalize "duplicate content". If your store has the exact same product listings as your competitor, you will likely rank lower than your competitor with the most clout. It seems unfair, but it's reality. Unique content is a must.
So how can this be accomplished? Find a good inventory management software to handle your data needs!