E-commerce Merchandising 101: The Ultimate Condensed Playbook

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The retail commerce industry comprises various faces and layers that would take days to uncover. We all know that the retail sector has grown exponentially over the past few years. The global market size of the retail industry was valued at 21237.64 billion dollars in 2022 and is expected to touch 41368.44 billion by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 7.76% (2023-2030). 

Following the given stats, it is easy to assess the significant contribution of retail to the global markets. But what do the merchants do to grow their business? 

Operations and logistics indeed form the backbone of the industry. Without these two components, any firm would not be able to survive. That said, audiences will always look after what and how you present your products. This is one of the prevalent faces of the retail industry, known as merchandising.

The traditional retail industry has always been upfront with its merchandising, which is not the same as the e-commerce industry. In this article, we will focus on merchandise for e-commerce and how you can implement it into your marketing strategy. 

What is E-commerce Merchandising?

The art of displaying products on the website is the core aspect of e-commerce merchandise. It is a strategy entrepreneurs use to attract customers to their websites and make them buy something from the marketplace. 

Some key components of e-commerce merchandising are– branding, product placement, images, innovation, and out-of-the-box marketing. Before planning merchandising, you must understand how your customer thinks and behaves throughout their journey. If you cracked this code, you got it all!

E-commerce merchandising, if done correctly, can give you wonderful results with revenue, more add-to-carts, more purchases, and so many other things. Besides compelling visuals, efficient merchandising prioritizes implementing aspects like SEO optimization and user-friendly interface to enhance overall customer experience, drawing value both in terms of marketing and finance.

In 2023, e-commerce sales are about to touch the mark of 20.8%, which was approximately 17.8% in 2022, implying room for potential growth in sales in the upcoming years. Therefore, it has become even more imperative for online retailers to present their products innovatively enough to attract customers. 

Let’s look at the importance of e-commerce merchandising.

The Importance of E-commerce Merchandising

E-commerce merchandising is based on making customers stay at the website and creating a long-lasting impression. Since the cost of an online store is relatively low compared to the traditional ones, investing your capital in a well-functioning website could give you excellent results.

Moreover, e-commerce merchandise helps businesses devise strategic goals for their marketing. It holds the potential to make your brand go viral! Marketing campaigns such as advertisements, banners, social media posts, content marketing, and so on helps your business build an impressive reputation.

Leveraging impactful merchandising strategies can ensure your brand piques the interest of different types of customers, drawing them to try out your products. Powerful merchandising could make the brand exquisite in a friendly way and also promotes cross-promotion. 

Displaying products aesthetically gives your business an art form that appeals more to the audience. The main objective of your e-commerce merchandise should be enhancing customer experience that creates a long-lasting impression. 

Merchandising can:

  • Attract customers
  • Help you display multiple products at once
  • Generate the website traffic with SEO-geared listings
  • Cross-promotions
  • Convert browsers into buyers

4 Components of an E-commerce Merchandising Strategy

Merchandising strategy is all about displaying products attractively to the customer, and they can find everything they are looking for. To implement this, entrepreneurs can focus on these four main elements: brand identity, layout, product grouping, and recommendations.

Brand identity

It is a crucial component of e-commerce merchandise that amplifies the visual representation of your brand. It includes elements such as– logos, icons, your color pallet, style, and many more. Coordinating these elements aesthetically can help your brand identity to stand out, helping customers to recognize your brand by its compelling and original identity. 

UX/UI design

UX (user experience) and UI (user interface) are two sides of the same coin. Combining these two elements gives you a complete perspective of making the online store more realistic. User experience focuses on improving a customer’s entire experience visiting your web store- from surfing through the product catalog to making a purchase. 

It keeps the interface simple and comprehensive by displaying more innovatively and user-friendly homepages, landing pages, and product pages. The factors you should consider while improving UX/UI design are:

  • Grab the attention: Include images, USPs of your business, infographics, and more to attract their attention. Make sure that the elements you use can grab customers’ attention.
  • User-friendly and effective commands: Avoid getting overflowed by e-commerce merchandising that makes the online store hard to operate. Customers should be able to find the search bar easily and help them get what they need.
  • Intuitive navigation: Another goal should be to help them browse and find what they are looking for. Some shoppers are indecisive about what they should buy when they enter your store. These customers should not feel overwhelmed when they enter your site. Your website should be appealing enough and have navigation directions for customers visiting for the first time. 

Curation

This means grouping specific items that share common attributes. Online merchandising curates these items to one place, ensuring cross-selling and making customers happy.

Grouping can be done by aligning their similar attributes such as material, collection, price range, or demand so that customers can buy more similar items they may be looking for. For instance, pick a category- western clothes, and add other subcategories. These could include pants, shorts, shoes, accessories, and more. This would trigger the customer to buy more items or combine some items.

You can also categorize the item as materials, price range, and popularity among shoppers. Curation can link trending products and offers to the landing pages along with discounts, sales, and promo codes. 

Personalized recommendations

A good e-commerce merchandising strategy utilizes personalized product experiences based on specific customers. It is based on the unique search and purchase history backed by customer data. Entrepreneurs can recommend or navigate the customers to their desired shopper site based on what they purchased earlier and might be interested in again. 

Using customer browsing history makes it feasible for entrepreneurs to keep their consumers attracted to their store and make them feel valued. Moreover, it generates a satisfactory experience and escalates customer retention. 

Combining e-commerce merchandise with personalized recommendations gives you exponential results catering to customers and business owners. You can also use email marketing to notify them about upcoming sales, new product updates, etc. 

How is E-commerce Merchandising Different From Traditional Visual Merchandising?

Both e-commerce and visual merchandising speak about product placement in an alluring way. It should be able to grasp the audience’s attention in one go. However, one focuses more on the online store, while the other relies on the physical shop. 

Visual Merchandising

This merchandising strategy is based on physical stores, where products are placed strategically to create a strong brand identity at first glance. Shoppers look forward to sensory information in offline stores– things they can touch, see, feel, and smell. 

Visual merchandising in brick-and-mortar stores is all about creating a life inside a room. Customers feel attracted to the use of colors, lights, scents, how products are displayed, and many other visually appealing elements. Moreover, they also feel valued by store employees’ presence and behavior towards them. A survey conducted by Delloite found that 48% of shoppers are more likely to make purchases if the store has knowledgeable associates.

However, visual merchandising can lack personalization as online merchants use browsing history and customer data to provide the customers with what they want. They also recommend certain products and create native experiences for their customers. 

E-commerce Merchandising

This merchandising strategy is solely based on giving customers exactly what they want through personalization. According to Accenture, 91% of shoppers are more likely to purchase from stores that understand and recognize them and give them more recommendations based on their previous choices. 

Moreover, e-commerce merchandising also builds extraordinary home and product pages so customers stick to their platform and return more often. This way, merchants can track customer movement and tailor their online stores accordingly. 

Elements of E-commerce Merchandising

Now that you have a basic understanding of what e-commerce merchandising is all about, let’s look at some of the vital elements of merchandising strategies. 

1. Home page merchandising

The home page is the first impression customers get when they visit your website. Therefore, entrepreneurs must focus on creating a visually compelling and informative homepage. Home pages work as the face of any e-commerce store, which should be attractive enough to make customers stay.

Include your top-most offers at the beginning with catchy taglines, which may include incorporating seasonal offerings, best products, collaborations, etc. This implies using your home pages as brick-and-mortar stores inviting your customers to pay the visit. 

2. Product pages.

Next are the product pages, which are explicitly created for each product. It is created by grouping one type of product under one roof, also known as curation. For instance, your categories could be– appliances, makeup, clothing, accessories, toys, and many more. Your product pages should have the following:

  • Images in a 360-degree view
  • Detailed product description
  • Product videos and demos
  • Cross-selling or cross-promotions
  • Different color options
  • Upselling similar products
  • CTA like “add-to-cart”

3. Category-based merchandising.

It comes under the product page, where each category is present under each product type. These categories are used as filters: size, price range, weight, latest, demanded, and so on to receive optimized results. For instance, you can make a filter inside the home appliances section for– the kitchen, bathroom, living room, dining area, and many more.

Category-based merchandising generally includes:

  • Product image
  • Highlight best-selling product
  • Star ratings or reviews
  • Comparison among multiple similar products

Strategies to Improve E-commerce Merchandising

Here are some e-commerce merchandising strategies you can pursue to create a superlative user experience. 

1. Mobile optimization

Mobile penetration has increased exponentially over the past decade. With the accessibility of the latest technology, such as AI, biometrics, and automation, people use their cell phones more than ever. In 2022, there were approximately 5 billion active internet users worldwide. 

E-commerce entrepreneurs can leverage this opportunity and expose their audience to more advanced shopping experiences. They can also make use of the internet to tailor their website based on the audience’s demand, easy to navigate, and make them organized. 

2. Optimize search results with autocomplete

Implementing the autocomplete option on search results completes the information added on the search bar based on what’s popular or the product the customer had previously searched for. For example, if the customer types ‘tops’ on their search bar, the result would autocomplete the rest by suggesting crop tops, tank tops, full sleeves tops, and more. 

Autocomplete can work as an exceptional tool to assist shoppers by giving them recommendations and even correcting misspellings. The feature has the potential to increase conversion rates drawn by customer satisfaction. 

4. Craft your homepage

As discussed, the homepage is the first noticeable thing about your website that should attract a good number of visitors. Moreover, it should also have the potential to convert browsers to customers. To make your homepage more appealing, you can use graphics, images, taglines, color palettes, collaboration if you have any, and much more that could grasp their attention.

The homepage should neither be too simple nor too overwhelming. It should not be cluttered so customers can easily find things on your website. 

5. Group-related products

Grouping or curation makes things easier for customers as they don’t have to turn things upside down. Many retailers have started to categorize similar products. This way, customers find their desired product quickly and get attractive recommendations. You can also create promotions, upselling, cross-selling, and combos of similar products.

This can be achieved by including

  • Brand
  • Product Type
  • Color
  • Size
  • Style
  • Features
  • Product uses

6. Cater to your brand with visuals

You must have a clear idea by now that brand visuals and its identity are some of the most significant aspects of merchandising. It creates brand identity and positions your company better to build a robust brand reputation in the market. Experimenting with visuals isn’t something that could be achieved easily. It requires heavy brainstorming with designing so customers can pay attention to your brand.

Visual merchandising is one such way entrepreneurs achieve a strong brand identity. In e-commerce, it focuses on homepages to product pages and experiments with 360-degree visuals. Other companies also work on building social media and SEO rankings to fabricate brand identity in-depth. 

Some elements you can include are:

  • Minimal text and maximum imagery on the homepage
  • Demo videos
  • Mention your social media feed on the homepage
  • Post high-quality product pictures

 Ways Ecommerce Merchandising Has Evolved

Here are some of the ways e-commerce merchandising has evolved through the years. 

1. Adapt to the user’s browser.

Let’s compare retail stores to e-commerce shopping. We can observe that many elements in both worlds are similar—the customer journey and experience matter in both online and offline stores. In brick-and-mortar stores, when customers enter the store, they are greeted, asked what they want, guided throughout the shop, and recommended the best.

Similarly, in e-commerce, when a customer enters your website, they should be greeted from the beginning. Or if not, the home page should be generalized that caters to every type of audience. Retailers must also prioritize offering guidance to new visitors for easy navigation, recommending what’s best for them, and also make their payment process smooth. 

Earlier, the audience were majorly dependent on TVs and desktop. Since cell phones have penetrated the e-commerce industry with their efficiency and ease, many industries now consider mobile phones as one of their major navigation tools.

Poor usability leads to high bounce rates, especially when customers find navigating hard. Therefore, e-commerce merchandising should comply with mobile as well as desktop-friendly user interfaces to deliver the optimum user experience. 

3. More personalization

With the assimilation of enhanced tech strategies like data analytics, e-commerce leveraged the power of personalized shopping experiences. Businesses now use customer browsing history and data to provide more personalized recommendations. Not only it entices the customer to the platform, but it also helps build customer loyalty as well as satisfaction.


4. Utilizing AI

Artificial intelligence’s introduction in e-commerce has significantly boosted business growth, enabling customers to have a more personalized, quicker, and better shopping experience. From intelligent product recommendations to displaying the most relevant promotional offers to customers, AI does it all!

Conclusion

E-commerce merchandise has come a long way. From making a simple homepage to strategically curating it to form a brand identity, the merchandising segment has made its own space in the industry. Since the shopping behavior of many customers is continuously changing, as an entrepreneur, you also have to look out for ways by which you can grab their attention. 

In this article, we understood the importance of visuals, product placement, and how it deeply impacts the audience’s mind. Strengthening your e-commerce merchandising strategies can grant your brand the recognition it deserves to emerge as a leading entity! 

FAQs

What is digital product merchandising?

Digital merchandising, or e-commerce merchandising, undertakes all the activities related to marketing goods and services online. It includes images, graphics, use of color palettes, 360-degree view, and many more.

What is an e-commerce merchandiser?

An e-commerce merchandiser is a professional who organizes and plans to build the brand online. They are responsible for attractive social media campaigns, designs, and more to increase sales.

What are the 5 R’s of merchandising?

According to Paul Mazur, the five Rs of merchandising are– the right merchandising, the right quantities, the right time, the right price, and the right place.

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