Mars United Commerce is committed to being leaders in innovation. To help our clients stay ahead of the competition in a fast-paced, constantly evolving environment like the digital shelf, we closely monitor new technology releases and other events across the industry’s top retailers and solution providers.
By Kristin Wall, Mars United Commerce
Salsify launched PXM Advance, an update to its product experience management platform designed to help brands further centralize, connect and automate product content and data across workflows and retail partners.
Addressing the need among clients to combine content workflows across retail partners to achieve a seamless experience for shoppers, PXM Advance now provides support for grocery retailers — the Grocery Accelerator — along with several exciting new features and capabilities. The following article presents Mars United’s analysis of the improvements.
New Capabilities Abound
PXM Advance comes with a new three-tiered pricing model that will let Salsify customers select the edition that best meets their needs, including the ability to purchase and bundle a variety of add-on features (see image below).
Customers at all levels, however, will enjoy a variety of new and improved capabilities, according to the company.
- A content syndication experience that is faster, simpler and more streamlined to improve speed to market.
- Retailer connectors that are fully configured to the new activation experience.
- An OpenAI workflow task that lets users generate product content at scale within the platform.
- Digital shelf operations data feeds that deliver a comprehensive view of all activities and their impact on the business.
- Attribute management to more smoothly validate content according to retailer schemes.
- Configuration management APIs that let client IT teams administer set-up across the organization.
- A central PXM App Center to access all Salsify features, integrations and add-ons.
The Salsify PXM Advance platform boasts an easy-to-navigate user interface, with all activation functions grouped within a single dropdown.
Add-Ons Deliver Further Enhancements
Add-on packages that can be added to any product tier for an additional investment enhance the platform’s capabilities even further. These include integration with two commonly used third-party platforms, Shopify’s GraphQL and the Salesforce Commerce Cloud, as well as two other major additions to the toolbox:
The Grocery Accelerator is a customized tool providing features and functionality that makes it easier to send accurate, high-quality and validated content to each grocery retailer. This includes the ability to generate and store SKU-level nutrition facts panels.
2. Enhanced Content Module builds rich below-the-fold content to increase dwell time and improve shopper engagement. These include premium enhanced content layouts that will be available across all retailers — although it won’t support syndication of Amazon premium A+ enhanced content.
Improved Kroger Connection on the Way
Salsify used the PXM Advance reveal to also tout the launch of a direct API connection to Kroger within the new platform later in 2024. The new connect will:
- Facilitate mapping, editing, and optimizing channel content without impacting the client’s core product data.
- Stay current with the latest, most up-to-date retailer requirements.
- Deliver data errors and other feedback in-app for immediate review and resolution.
Key Takeaways for CPG Brands
1. Consider how Grocery Accelerator can improve your data accuracy and item setup for retail partners in those channels.
2. Shoppers value engaging content. Consider how video and other types of enhanced content can improve brand presence and increase conversion.
3. These updates to Salsify’s platform will improve the overall user experience throughout the app. In particular, improved functionality in channel mapping should make the system easier to use and reduce setup time.
One more takeaway: The Mars Agency’s Digital Shelf Shop is Salsify-certified, which makes us qualified to help with your syndication and content management needs.
About the Author
Kristin Wall is Vice President of Ecommerce at Mars United Commerce, where she leads the digital shelf center of excellence and helps brands navigate the art and science of creating connected shopping experiences. A marketing leader with 15-plus years of experience in digital strategy, she builds innovative, compelling programs that create impact for clients.
To learn more about how Mars Ecommerce can help you win at the digital shelf contact Kristin at [email protected].
