If you’re in the ecommerce business, you probably know that it’s no longer enough to just put products on a website. Today’s customers are empowered with information and want to make their own choices. They want personalized experiences and tailored recommendations—and they expect them at every step of the buying journey. That means that the art of merchandising has evolved rapidly in recent years and is now all about how retailers can meet their customers’ needs across channels and devices while delivering relevant messages at the right time and place. This article will walk through all aspects of successful ecommerce merchandising strategies so that you can keep your edge as an online retailer!
What is Ecommerce Merchandising?
Ecommerce merchandising is the process of making a store look attractive to customers.
Ecommerce merchandising plays a huge role in helping you convert more shoppers into buyers–the goal being that these shoppers will make repeat purchases over time, which means more revenue for your business!
Here are some tips for ecommerce merchandising:
-Use a visual merchandising plan. The first step to ecommerce merchandising is deciding how you want your store to look overall. This can include everything from where products are placed on shelves to what colors and textures you want your store’s theme to have. It may sound obvious, but having a clear vision in mind before making any changes will help you stay organized and focused while planning out your strategy.
-Focus on your customers’ needs.
-Repurpose your existing marketing materials. You can then use this board as a resource when planning out how to visually display products on the website!
What Are Today’s Ecommerce Merchandising Trends?
In this section, we’ll look at the most important trends in ecommerce merchandising. These are the must-know concepts and tactics that will help you create an amazing customer experience.
We’ll also cover some other hot topics in ecommerce merchandising such as segmentation, personalization and data analysis. Let’s get started with customer experience!
Customer Experience is the new frontier for ecommerce merchandising. Today’s consumers are more demanding than ever before and they expect a seamless, personalized experience that makes their lives easier. Brands must be able to deliver on this expectation in order to stay competitive. Here are some of the most important trends in ecommerce merchandising that will help you create an amazing customer experience:
• Personalization
• AI (Artificial Intelligence)
• Omnichannel Retailing
Personalization is one of the most important trends in ecommerce merchandising. Consumers are demanding a personalized experience and brands must be able to deliver on this expectation in order to stay competitive.
Deep Personalization from AI
If you’re an ecommerce store owner, the future of your business is with AI.
AI lets computers learn from past experiences and make predictions based on that data. For example: if a customer buys a pair of shoes from your site once before getting them personalized with their name and size, then returns again to order more pairs as gifts for friends or family members–the next time they come back (and even if they don’t), AI will recognize this pattern and automatically suggest personalized options for each person in their cart! This saves both time and money since you don’t have manually enter all those different sizes again yourself each time someone buys something new from you; instead the system does it automatically based on previous orders made by other customers who also ordered personalized items before them.”
Focus on Holistic Customer Experience
You can use data, AI, and A/B testing to understand your customers better and improve the shopping experience. This will help you increase sales and conversions.
Less Manual Work
Ecommerce merchandising is the process of organizing products on a website to maximize sales and improve customer experience.
Ecommerce merchandising automates many of the manual tasks involved in product placement (like deciding where to put each item) by analyzing your store’s performance data; then it uses that information to make predictions about which changes will bring you more sales or improve engagement with your customers.
Adaptation to Omnichannel
Omnichannel is a key component to ecommerce merchandising, and it’s one of the most important things to consider when you’re planning your store layout.
Consistent experience across channels: Creating a seamless user experience is crucial for customers who want to shop online or in-store.
Single customer view: This means having all of the information about an individual customer available in one place so you can market directly to them across devices without having multiple data sets or platforms involved (like Facebook ads).
4 Must-Haves for a Successful Online Merchandising Strategy
Merchandising is the process of presenting products in such a way that they are more likely to convert. In other words: merchandising is about making sales! It’s not just about placing items on shelves or arranging them on tables; it’s also about how consumers discover those items in the first place.
To make sure that people find what they want quickly when they visit an online store (or any store), there are four essential components of effective merchandising: optimized search and browse functionality; navigation built for ecommerce; basic segmentation; detailed personalization
Optimized Search and Browse
Search and browse are the most important elements of ecommerce. They should be easy to use, fast, personalized and mobile-friendly.
Easy: The user should be able to find what they’re looking for without too much effort. The fewer clicks it takes them to get there, the better.
Fast: The search results should load quickly so that users can see their options right away, and then make an informed decision about which item(s) they want to buy based on those results. If there’s an error message or delay in loading times while browsing through products then this could frustrate customers and drive them away from your website entirely!
Personalized: If someone has visited your site before then give them suggestions based on their previous purchases or interests so that you don’t have another customer walking away disappointed because there was nothing new for them at checkout today…or tomorrow….or next week.
Navigation is a crucial part of any website, but it becomes even more important when you’re selling products online. When designing your site’s navigation system, keep these things in mind:
Easy To Use. Try using clear titles that describe each section of your site–for example “Shoes” instead of “Footwear.” This makes it easier for users who aren’t sure where they want go next when browsing through categories like this one!
Intuitive – Make sure every option is easy enough for everyone including those who may not know anything about computers or technology at all! It doesn’t matter how advanced some features might seem because if no one can figure out how they work then there isn’t much point spending money developing them further down the road either.”
Basic Segmentation
Segmentation helps you understand your customers, their needs and how they shop. With this knowledge you can create unique experiences for each segment that will increase engagement, sales and customer satisfaction.
The first step in segmentation is deciding what to segment on. This can be anything from age or gender through to purchasing history or even specific interests – it all depends on your business’s goals and audience profile. Once you’ve decided what criteria you want to use, then it’s time to start building segments!
For example let’s say we have two different types of ecommerce sites: one sells baby products like clothes while another sells dog accessories such as collars and leads; these two sites have very different target markets so we need separate segments for each type of product which means four total groups (two examples below):
Detailed Personalization
Personalization is the process of tailoring your products and marketing materials to individual shoppers’ needs and preferences. This can mean anything from offering different sizes, colors and styles of a single product to showing customers different items based on their previous purchases or browsing history.
Personalization is becoming more important as customers expect businesses to deliver experiences that reflect their unique needs–and it doesn’t stop at personalizing content: retailers are also using data collected through customer interactions with digital channels (like websites, apps or social media) in order to make better decisions about how best serve those shoppers in-store via merchandising tactics like shelf labels and signage placement.
Is Your Ecommerce Merchandising Strategy Future-Proof?
If you’re not sure whether or not your current ecommerce merchandising strategy is future proof, ask yourself these questions: Is my product list up-to-date? Do I have enough product images? Are there any gaps in my assortment or categories that need filling? Do I have a plan for dealing with seasonal peaks or troughs in demand?
Conclusion
Ecommerce merchandising is a powerful tool that can help you increase your sales and improve customer loyalty. This includes making sure those products are easy to find (through search engines), priced competitively with similar items offered elsewhere online (competitor analysis), and visually appealing enough so people feel compelled by what they see before making any purchase decisions whatsoever!
