PDP and PLP: what are Product Detail and Product Listing Page

In online shopping, PDPs and PLPs are essential elements.

In this article, you will discover the meaning of Product Detail Page and Product Listing Page, the difference between PDPs and PLPs, their structure and how PXM software can be decisive in building, populating and distributing them.

What PDP and PLP mean in the e-commerce and marketplace world

When it comes to online shopping, the acronym PDP stands for Product Detail Page, while PLP stands for Product Listing Page.

As can be guessed from the name, the product detail page contains all relevant information about an item or service promoted or sold online. 

The PDP usually highlights to the customer the name, description, price as well as information on model and variants, shipping and returns, and payment methods.

The Product Detail Page is also almost always accompanied by digital assets such as images – classic or 360° – and videos of the product.

The Product Listing Page (PLP), on the other hand, offers a cross-section of the company’s online catalogue via a grid layout.

The PLP appears after the user – within the online shop – selects a category, performs a search or applies a filter.

It offers a narrower data set than the PLP such as name, price, preview photo and any new or discount labels.

Why are PDP and PLP important?

Short answer: both are essential to the customer experience.

Resorting to a metaphor, we could say that the PLP is the lighthouse that guides navigation while the PDP is the harbour that welcomes those who sail an e-shop. 

In most cases, the PLP is the first interaction between user and product; a step often necessary to get to the PDP, the point of conversion, where the purchase actually takes place.

PDP, PLP and e-commerce: a bit of advice

There are PDPs and PLPs that work better than others. Why?

The answer is complex as it consists of a mix of copywriting, graphic and web design choices and skills; but we’ll try!

Product Listing Page (PLP): what to pay attention to

Given its exploratory nature, PLP must have little but essential information, offering the user quick searches, powerful filters and intuitive sorting.

E-commerce and marketplaces, in fact, break down the physiological limits of physical spaces by making the assortment potentially unlimited, but it must be searchable easily and immediately.

In addition, from an omnichannel perspective, it is crucial that PLP is responsive.

Product Detail Page (PDP): what are the key factors

As far as the Product Detail Page is concerned, in addition to an unambiguous and obvious Call to Action (e.g. Add to Cart), product information management is strategic for PDP.

The user in PDP, in fact, expects comprehensive, translated and always up-to-date data on the products and services offered, as well as quality images and videos.

PDP and PLP: key metrics to be analysed

Indicators for measuring the effectiveness of PDPs include the conversion rate of the page, the average time spent, and the percentage of clicks to CTAs.

For PLP, on the other hand, in addition to the average time and exit rate, the average number of products viewed, the share of clicks to PDPs are measured.

In addition to web analytics tools, heatmaps, which highlight the areas most clicked on or viewed (with eye-tracking devices) by users, are useful for analysis.

The Impact of Product eXperience Management on Product Listing Page and Product Detail Page

Especially in the case of multi-channel strategies with large and deep assortments, managing PDPs and PLPs can become a big issue.

A Product eXperience Management software centralises, optimises and distributes data and media content of the entire product catalogue.

In medium to large companies, a PXM is essential to have clear, precise information delivered in real time, which can be sorted and filtered on every channel.

Similarly, images and videos – of all formats – are dynamically optimised and published at the highest possible quality, while guaranteeing fast loading speeds for each web page, PDP or PLP.

On the other hand, poor attention to the quality of data and multimedia content is one of the main causes of negative reviews in online shopping.

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