Back to Blog
martijn-hoogeveen
CEO at Icecat
CONTENTS
product taxonomy taxonomy

Product Taxonomy Challenges & Mapping Solutions

2 min read
Published: June 9, 2022
Updated: February 27, 2023

The new challenge in the world of Product Information Management (PIM) is certainly what I call “the taxonomy challenge”. The long tail of retailers and marketplaces is using a single source and adopting the taxonomy of their content provider. However, the leading marketplaces, retailers, and brand owners, all but comply with a taxonomy standard.

It implies that for connecting to Amazon, Walmart, and many other marketplaces, a lot of mappings are needed of specs, spec values, categories, brands, etc. Not just once, but continuously as the taxonomies of marketplaces are fluid, and constantly evolving.

Read how to develop product taxonomy in an understandable way:

How To Develop Product Taxonomy
11 min read
Maryna Tarasenko
Product Data Syndication

Product Taxonomy Definition. 7 Steps To Develop eCommerce Product Taxonomy

Product taxonomy definition, best practices, and product data taxonomy examples and find out what challenges you might face.

product taxonomy taxonomy

To make the picture even grimmer: the lack of transparent exchange mechanisms between PIM systems leads to recreating the same mappings over and over again. As the number of well-trained taxonomy specialists is scarce, they are continuously overloaded with bigger and bigger taxonomy management challenges.

Smart Mapping

Partly, the mapping challenge can be overcome by smart mapping approaches: avoiding mapping repeats per category, providing mapping suggestions by using natural language processing techniques, support of language-independent taxonomies, and better usability to support complex mapping logic. However, this doesn’t resolve the whole challenge.

Taxonomy Mapping Exchange

To avoid defining the same taxonomy mappings over and over again, per PIM system, a mapping exchange language and mapping rules are required. This allows for the re-use of the same mapping intelligence throughout an ecosystem, whether in open source environments like Pimcore, or corporate environments like Gepard or Icecat.

Within Icecat re-use of mappings would allow its Vendor Central to show all the key retailer’s templates, projected on Icecat’s taxonomy. A great tool to make the lives of a brand’s product managers easy.

All these developments – although necessary because of experience bottlenecks – will make the taxonomy challenge manageable. Still, the silver bullet would still be agreeing on a global taxonomy standard per category, between brand owners and marketplaces. Like the toys data model that we agreed upon with leading players, which limits the taxonomy mapping challenge to a bearable minimum.

Read more about the retailer’s taxonomy of the toys market:

Comparison Of Toys Retailers Taxonomy
5 min read
Maryna Tarasenko
Retail Best Practices

Retailers’ Taxonomy Comparison: Toys Market

Let’s review the differences between the world’s top retailers’ taxonomies on the Toys vertical example.

product taxonomy taxonomy

martijn-hoogeveen
CEO at Icecat
Investing in ebusiness opportunities with a global and sustainable scope, including adtech, e-publishing, e-commerce, PIM/MDM/DAM, DLT, fintech, and ICURY tokens. Specialties: Ecommerce. Multimedia. Data Science. Open content and open source based business concepts. Making ventures profitable, general management, financial management.

View Other Articles

Top 10 Mist Read Publication About Shopify
9 min read
Expert Opinion

Top 10 Most Read Publications About Shopify in 2022

We have collected the top 10 most-read materials about Shopify in 2022 so you can get complete information about this platform.

Read more
Dan Taylor SEO
5 min read
Expert Opinion

Expert Interview: Maximize The Value Of Your PIM Asset For eCommerce Website SEO

How to boost your eCommerce website SEO and enhance your sales and shopping experience with the help of PIM? Read on to find out.

Read more
​​Gepard PIM: May 2025 Product Demo Recap
3 min read
Gepard Updates

Gepard PIM: May 2025 Product Demo Recap

Discover Gepard PIM’s May ’25 updates: real-time imports, PDF product imports, drag-drop media, inline attribute creation and AI extraction.

Read more
Preparing for the Circular Economy Act 2026

Preparing for the Circular Economy Act 2026

Learn how manufacturers can align with the EU Circular Economy goals by preparing for the Circular Economy Act 2026.

Read more
How Top Brands Use PIM to Rule the Digital Shelf

How Top Brands Use PIM to Rule the Digital Shelf

See how top brands use PIM solutions to manage product content, improve digital shelf performance, and grow faster across eCommerce channels.

Read more
eCommerce Product Data Compliance with EU Regulations [Checklists]

EU Compliance Made Easy: Essential Checklists for eCommerce Success

We’ll dive into key EU regulations like EPREL, GPSR, the Digital Product Passport, and more, complete with handy checklists you can use.

Read more
What Is Jobs To Be Done?

Jobs To Be Done For eCommerce Customer Journey Map

Learn what is jobs to be done approach and how to apply JTBD framework for an eCommerce customer journey mapping.

Read more
Customer Journey Touchpoints

A Guide To eCommerce Customer Journey Touchpoints And Mapping

Comprehending eCommerce journey mapping and touchpoints can help you drive sales and enhance consumer experience. Learn all the essentials in this guide.

Read more
SME eCommerce

B2B eCommerce SME Growth: Connecting To Marketplaces

Learn how small and medium B2B eCommerce enterprises can drive growth and reach out to a larger customer audience by harnessing international B2B marketplaces.

Read more
What Is Customer Journey Map?

Customer Journey Map For eCommerce Website

Learn about Customer Journey, the stages of it, and specifics for eCommerce websites to reach the most effectiveness in Customer Journey Mapping.

Read more

Let’s Get In Touch

Need to contact us? Just use this form

Gepard Privacy Policy
Success