eCommerce merchandising best practices to boost online sales
In this article, you will learn about eCommerce merchandise and the
difference between traditional and eCommerce merchandise. You will also
understand the importance of strategies to be implemented on eCommerce
merchandise to make the online store better.
eCommerce stores unlike brick-and-mortar shops (traditional stores) don’t use the
strategies to hold the customers to their online shopping. Although they provide
multiple offers and sales, traditional merchandising is gaining popularity due to
their strategic techniques.
The importance of establishing strategies has gained a wide range of polls after the
pandemic. According to recent reports, 60% of people prefer eCommerce shopping, a
20% increase rate compared to the previous reports. The increase in online customers
has been increasing based on the personalized experience they receive from shopping
websites.
What is eCommerce merchandising?
eCommerce merchandising is a combination of using both technology and art, to
showcase how well the products are sold online to the customers. With an objective
being increasing the ROI/sales.
When it comes to eCommerce merchandising, holding your customers onto your website is
more challenging compared to traditional merchandising. Because to communicate and
navigate, you will have guidance when needed. However, in an eCommerce store, you
need to find yourself.
The ultimate goal of an e-commerce merchandise store is to make you buy the product
by adding it to the cart. From when a user enters the online store until he leaves,
the customer’s behavior will be studied to make them add products to the cart.
However, only through the best clever practice, a business will achieve this.
Why is e-commerce merchandising so important?
Ever since the increase in eCommerce has been observed, the importance of eCommerce
merchandise has been increasing. It is technology now and art to capture your
customer's interest on your e-commerce website.
With eCommerce merchandising, you can persuade customers and help the business
exhibit a variety of products. Also, you can generate website traffic with SEO and
can entice them with products/special offers. With all these, you can easily convert
browsers into buyers.
Elements of E-commerce Merchandising
The 3 main elements that should be focused on eCommerce merchandising are the
homepage, product page, and category-based alignments to ease the customers'
journey.
Home Page
It is the first page where the user lands soon after opening your eCommerce website.
The home page should consist of all the elements that the business is aiming for. It
should contain images of products, deals & offers, and an eye catchy CTA that makes
them buy your products.
Product Page
When you are interested in a product from the home page, you directly land on a
product page. The important elements a product page should hold are a detailed
description, a 360-degree view of a product, videos, demos on how to use it, color
options, a similar product list, and a CTA button.
Category-based selling
Category-based selling becomes an important part of eCommerce merchandise when a
customer is looking for a particular product. This helps in ranking a product based
on its available size, color, brand, star ratings, and best-selling products on your
list.
While improving the appearance of these important elements, eCommerce merchandise can
be improved. Let us see how we can technically implement eCommerce merchandise
strategies to improve the goals of the business.
Strategies to Improve E-commerce Merchandising
Every day the growing interest in eCommerce store purchases has led to a rise in
competition. To stand out from the competition, all you have to do is the
implementation of eCommerce merchandising best practices.
Design your home page
The home page is the important page every user notices when they land on your
website. Therefore, how you craft your home becomes significant. The first
impression is what you leave on your customer’s mind, advise an eCommerce
web design company in Bangalore - Webomindapps.
To make your homepage appealing you need to include large images and videos that
align with each customer’s interest. Graphics, alignment of categories, color
combinations, and everything that can capture customers' attention should be present
on the home page. Along with appearance, user experience and interfaces also play a
major role in grabbing users' attention.
Highlight major products that bring conversion.
Always promote currently trending products on the home page.
Provide easy access to menus with categories.
Facilitate the highest-rated products.
Products must be grouped into categories
How easy is it to find one product you want from a heap of products? It becomes
important to categorize products for individuals' interests. Few might be interested
in brands, few for colors and a few may go on budget-friendly products. Therefore,
it becomes necessary to group products.
You can also create promotional offers on particular categories of products to keep
your potential customers interested. Here are a few examples of products that can be
grouped under categories of brand, product type. Color. size, style, features, and
many more.
Include visuals
How do you plan to convince your customers that the products they want to buy have
everything that they are seeking? Yes, with visuals. You need to add images and
videos of every product including demo videos as well.
Visual merchandise is mandatory on all pages. The pages that don’t have visual
representation are likely to end up with a high bounce rate. Also, make sure to add
a 360-degree angle view to capture customers' attention to the fullest.
Read customers based on their data collection
One of the best ways to understand customers is to read the collected data from their
existence on the website. By using data and analytics you can locate the customer
and their interest. How much time did they spend on your website? And the average
total bag amount made by customers and many more.
This helps businesses to understand the customer's needs and requirements. Also, with
the help of analytics, you can get to know what your target audience's interest lies
in and focus on converting them from the audience to your loyal customers.
Make sure to offer a personalized experience
If you are looking for formal attire in a section you like with the brand you want
to buy, provide similar products and other products that go with the formal. This
creates a personalized experience for the customer and they may end up purchasing
the product along with their search.
Also, make sure to let your customers know that you are caring for their interests.
Add a section like you love or things that are for you. These kinds of sections
interest more customers, and most of the time you get your goals met.
Provide smooth navigation
If customers don’t like your website it is likely estimated that they will visit the
site within 10 seconds55. Always make sure to keep your bounce rate low. Provide a
better user experience and navigation to every page and category from the home page.
Therefore, your users won’t lose interest nor will you lose your customers.
Differences between traditional merchandising and e-commerce merchandising
Traditional merchandising
eCommerce merchandising
It is concerned with physical spaces, such as brick-and-mortar
stores. It involves arranging products on shelves, displays, and
store layouts to attract customers and encourage sales.
It takes place in a virtual space, on online platforms or websites.
It involves organizing and presenting products in a way that
optimizes the online shopping experience.
Product displays attract customers based on visual aesthetics.
Strategies include window displays, mannequins, and creative
arrangements.
Presence of digital visual presentation, including high-quality
product images, well-designed websites, and user-friendly
interfaces.
Have a space for face-to-face interaction between customers and
sales staff. Sales staff will always provide personalized
recommendations based on customer preferences.
With the help of algorithms and data analysis, eCommerce offers
personalized product recommendations. This is often based on
previous browsing and purchase behavior.
Traditional merchandising relies on in-store experiences, including
physical touch and immediate access to products.
Focuses on providing a seamless online shopping experience,
including easy navigation, secure
payment options , and efficient checkout processes.
Traditional merchandising often involves local marketing efforts,
such as flyers, billboards, and community events, organizing events,
and running sales offers.
E-commerce merchandising takes the help of digital marketing
channels like social media, email campaigns, and online
advertisements.
Conclusion
While both traditional and eCommerce merchandising share the goal of driving sales,
they require different strategies and approaches due to their unique settings and
customer interactions. However, by using the eCommerce merchandising best practices
listed above, you will be able to gain more success and turn your customers into
regular, loyal customers.
