One of the biggest challenges of ecommerce versus brick-and-mortar is the sensory experience ecommerce simply cannot provide. As a result, ecommerce brands need to reach their audience and present their goods and services in other ways. That is where ecommerce merchandising comes in.
What is Ecommerce Merchandising?
Ecommerce merchandising boils down to showcasing and promoting products on your online store in strategic ways to boost sales. It works by leveraging shoppers’ data to simplify the shopping experience. The result is ecommerce that offers personalized product recommendations that give customers exactly what they want while also enticing them to return frequently. Think of it as the art and science of making the shopping experience delightful, guiding customers in their buying choices, and leaving them happy and satisfied.
There are several key components of merchandising strategy, but some of the most effective ones include:
- Personalized recommendations
- Strategic and optimized catalog curation
- Promos, giveaways, and coupons
In this blog, we’re going to address ways merchandising helps you grow your ecommerce business and provide some tools we offer through our platform to improve your overall marketing strategy. We’ve collated just a few of our favorites and most impactful ones here, but there are plenty more.
Let’s start with personalization and curation.
Personalization
According to McKinsey, over 70% of shoppers now expect tailored experiences and get annoyed when companies miss the mark. Those online stores that nail personalization see a 40% boost in revenue compared to their competitors. It’s no wonder ecommerce merchandising strategy should absolutely include personalization. In fact, ecommerce merchandising thrives on personalization through customized recommendations and curation. But how do they work?
Customized recommendations are powered by algorithms that analyze various data points you can set, such as your shopping history, location, or even details from your personal profile. This data can then be used to tailor suggestions to individual customers based on their unique browsing and purchase habits.
If you’re dealing with a good ecommerce platform, you have the power of personalization at your fingertips to leverage the wealth of customer data available, monitor how visitors navigate your site, and use those insights to craft a shopping journey that’s uniquely catered to each person.
Curation
Curation piggybacks onto personalization by organizing products that share certain features into specific groups. When it comes to your ecommerce store, you can achieve that by bundling products with similar characteristics—for example, short-sleeved cotton shirts from the vacation wear collection. You can fine tune your curation even more by using key words in your product listing. This optimizes search and helps customers choose items that meet their specific needs.
Logicblock offers several personalization and curation options for your ecommerce site:
Personal Product Reviews
There’s no question that people are more likely to purchase your products and services if another customer gives it a glowing review. It’s human nature. There are plenty of reasons why you should be encouraging customers to review products. Relating to merchandising specifically, however, these reviews help with the following:
- Provide free advertising
- Improve site rank
- Build your reputation
- Boost brand awareness
The more people talk about your brand, the more likely it will show up in other people’s feeds and the higher it will rank in SEO. Not to mention reviews build brand loyalty, which improves sales and conversion rates.
If you are a current Logicblock customer, here’s how to incorporate and enable product reviews on your site.
Promos, Coupon Codes & Giveaways
Let’s face it – everyone loves a sale, a discount, and a giveaway. Are you incorporating these into your merchandising strategy? If not, it’s time to change that.
Logicblock offers the following tools to help you create promos, giveaways, and coupons:
- Special Offers: Offers | Admin Documentation | 7Cart Documentation and Tutorials (logicblock.com)
- Loyalty Points: Loyalty Points | Admin Documentation | 7Cart Documentation and Tutorials (logicblock.com)
- Gift Certificates: Gift Certificates | Admin Documentation | 7Cart Documentation and Tutorials (logicblock.com)
- How to Run Contests & Giveaways That Get You Fantastic Promotion (logicblock.com)
Promote Your Promos
We talked about curation earlier, but we’re going to get back to it here, because it also relates to promos, coupons, and giveaways. Curation can also mean highlighting trending products and special offers. For example, you can use a prominent spot on your landing page to showcase your top-rated items and any current discounts, sales, or promotions, like free shipping. After all, there’s no point in having promos, coupons, and giveaways if you aren’t using a variety of channels and tools to tell customers about them. Keep customers in the know about any promotional actions by ensuring those actions are highly visible and widely distributed via:
- Homepage Banners
- Pop Ups
- Email Campaigns: Email Templates | Admin Documentation | 7Cart Documentation and Tutorials (logicblock.com)
- Social Media
Make Merchandising Work for You!
As you can probably see by now, a well-crafted merchandising strategy using the tools laid out enables online retailers with the tools and map to guide customers through their shopping journey. It also enhances marketing efforts, increases sales, and fosters customer loyalty, making ecommerce merchandising a crucial element for any online store.
So, are you ready to fire up your ecommerce merchandising strategy?
Already a Logicblock customer and need help implementing these strategies into your site?