Product catalog
Also known as: E-commerce catalog
In short
An organized collection of product information that describes what a business offers, including product identities, attributes, variants and commercial details.
Organize the information once
A digital product catalog connects the records needed to understand and sell an assortment. Those records include names, descriptions, images and identifiers. Depending on the system, prices and inventory are stored in the catalog or joined from other systems.
Product families and sellable variants need different treatment. A jacket may have one shared description, while each size and color combination has its own identifier and stock status. Keeping those relationships explicit prevents a family description from being mistaken for an individual offer.
A catalog is the information collection. A product page presents part of it to a shopper. A feed packages selected records for another service, often with different field names and requirements.
Illustrative example
Imagine a retailer selling lamps. Its catalog stores a lamp model, two finish variants and the appropriate image for each finish. The storefront uses those records for selection controls. An advertising export turns them into two offer records.
Changing the brass variant’s stock status should affect that offer without changing the black variant.
Watch for conflicting owners
Decide which system owns each field and how updates reach downstream uses. Copying a spreadsheet into several channels creates separate versions unless updates are coordinated. A complete catalog is useful only when the facts remain accurate and its product identities stay consistent.