Merchandising for e-commerce

Today, with so much revenue generated online, e-commerce companies are discovering ways to grow sales by making strategic visual decisions beyond designing a clean and responsive website. As an online store owner, you’re probably thinking about how e-commerce merchandising exactly works and why it’s so important to use it in your store. Merchandising helps guide customers through your website, facilitate their shopping journey, and encourage them to return. In this article, we will take a closer look at this question.

An essential function of e-commerce merchandising, whether you have a small or large catalog of products, is to guide customers through the buying process. While almost all visitors in your physical store interact with the same visuals, scents, and related elements when they enter the store, online customers can choose many different paths to get to your site. Merchandising can help any customer who visits your website have a similar experience with your brand, no matter how they came or navigated there[1].

What is merchandising?

Generally speaking, merchandising is a way of presenting goods at points of sale. It is a science that has developed along with the development of self-service sales, in which each product you offer should be displayed correctly[2]. Merchandising must effectively reconcile the interests of the three main entities, i.e., the consumer, the supplier, and the distributor.

The consumer who comes to the point of sale expects the selection of appropriate products and assortment, the immediate availability of goods, and an environment conducive to the purchase. Therefore, the main goal of the supplier is to sell their products by presenting them in the best way possible. On the other hand, the distributor intends to generate an appropriate margin by submitting its products to customers’ expectations, taking into account some of its specificities. Thus, merchandising reconciles good commercial practices and marketing mindset to meet the expectations of these three players successfully.

Merchandising strategies for e-commerce

Although traditional merchandising strategies are used in physical retail stores, they are often also practiced in the e-commerce industry as well. The goal is the same. Retailers want to sell more products, and customers want to find products that meet their needs. Now that you know what merchandising is let’s look at how you can put its solutions into practice in your e-commerce business.

SHOW THE PRODUCT IN AN ATTRACTIVE WAY

One of the advantages of online stores is that they use bold visuals to make products more attractive and thus visually interestingly present the brand. That’s so-called visual merchandising, an example of which is clothing photography. However, in addition to the photos, you should also illustrate the application of the product. For example, if you sell health products, use pictures of healthy people. In this way, you show how products work, and at the same time, build a positive image of the entire brand[3].

Let’s take a look at some examples of how large e-commerce companies use visuals to present their products:

CREATE BUNDLES

Creating product bundles is an excellent way to merchandise for e-commerce. Creating product bundles makes the whole set look more attractive. Customers frequently assume that buying it will be more profitable than buying each of these products separately. And of course, product bundles create an opportunity to present them visually in a captivating way. Bundles also work perfectly as gifts. We invite you to read the hyperlinked article to find out more about bundle pricing.

Image source: https://eu.facetheory.com/collections/skincare-kits-pre-configred-skincare-gifts-kits/products/the-ultimate-set

SUGGEST RELATED PRODUCTS

People who shop in your online store may receive recommendations from you such as: “people who buy this product often also buy the following products” or “you may like this product, too”. So, it works just like in a physical store where an assistant recommends the best choice. You need to analyze your customers’ consumer habits and make recommendations based on their search results[4].

E-merchandising: Integration with the digital experience

Unlike terms such as retail merchandising, which we initially used to describe physical experiences in a store, e-commerce merchandising strategy should be 100% integrated into the digital experience of selling a product. Digital merchandising covers all advertising media and means used to sell a product online. Bringing merchandising into the world of e-retail is not difficult, but you should be mindful that everything on your site, from product descriptions to photos and videos, should tell your brand story and present products in an eye-catching manner. In addition, the customer experience should be at the forefront so that site visitors will want to be part of your story by placing an order.

Keep in mind that Internet users can very quickly close the browser window and go to another page. If you are a reseller and want to convert potential customers into recurring customers, it is essential to understand their behavior, master e-merchandising techniques, and keep your prices at an optimal level. And this is where we can help. Dealavo provides pricing solutions for online stores. Find out more and tweak your prices!

[1] https://constructor.io/blog/e-commerce-merchandising-everything-you-need-to-know/

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchandising

[3] https://www.apptus.com/blog/ecommerce-merchandising/

[4] https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/ecommerce-merchandising-strategies/#6-strategies-to-improve-ecommerce-merchandising