Boost Sales with Online Merchandising: Strategies for Business Owners

Online merchandising utilizes a variety of marketing strategies to effectively promote and sell products on e-commerce stores and other online platforms. When you build an online store, the use of online visual merchandising can help appeal to your target audience based on their specific demographics, wants, or needs.

With the use of visual digital merchandising, displaying products in an attractive and appealing manner in order to influence purchasing decisions is the ultimate goal.

Online merchandising doesn't just include factors surrounding individual products and how they are displayed. It includes developing an entire online experience with the right website layout, navigation setup, search box, and high-quality visual elements that are also reflective of the brand itself.

Benefits of online merchandising

Familiarizing yourself with some of the benefits of e-commerce merchandising is highly advisable before getting started. Understanding why online visual merchandising matters can help you craft a winning strategy of your own.

Increased sales

If you are searching for a way to drive sales for your online clothing store, visual merchandising is a great place to begin.

Online merchandising increases sales by making products accessible 24/7 to your customers. Compared to brick-and-mortar stores, it eliminates geographical barriers, allowing your paying customers to shop from anywhere in the world.

With well-designed product pages, high-quality photos, and persuasive product descriptions, online retailers can stimulate purchasing behaviors and improve conversion rates.

Improved customer experience

Online merchandising allows businesses to create a seamless and personalized shopping experience. With tools like chatbots, recommendation engines, personalized emails, and customer reviews, businesses can improve customer engagement, satisfaction, and loyalty. It also provides convenience with features like easy search options, secure payment methods, and multiple delivery options.

Expanded reach

Unlike traditional brick-and-mortar stores, e-commerce merchandising for online storefronts can help you reach customers around the globe.

Incorporating SEO strategies for e-commerce into your online store's pages, product descriptions, and blog articles can significantly improve its ranking on search results pages. Achieving a prominent position on the first page of popular search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo! makes it considerably easier to attract new visitors and potential customers to your website.

Data collection

Making data-driven decisions has become more important than ever nowadays. When you digital ads for your online store, remember to enable any analytics tools so you can collect useful customer data to get a better understanding of your customer's interests.

With these valuable insights, businesses can create targeted marketing campaigns, personalize customer experiences, and make informed business decisions. For instance, data can be used to determine which products are popular and should be stocked more, or which products are underperforming and need better marketing or even discontinuation.

Cost efficiency

Online merchandising reduces the need for physical stores, which comes with high costs like rent, utilities, and in-store staff. Also, online stores can automate many processes like inventory management, payment, and customer service, which can significantly reduce operational costs. Plus, digital marketing strategies can be more cost-effective compared to traditional advertising methods, and they can be easily adjusted and optimized for better performance.

Better inventory management

Online visual merchandising offers numerous advantages when it comes to managing merchandising systems and inventory as well. The process is typically smoother and more streamlined, allowing for efficient monitoring of stock levels, addressing overstock situations, and proactively preventing out-of-stock emergencies, all from a centralized location. By utilizing an inventory management system, you can gain valuable insights into the top online shopping categories, enabling you to make informed decisions regarding future product purchases and investments.

Scalability

Online merchandising is also highly scalable. You can start small and expand your online store as they grow. Furthermore, with cloud-based e-commerce platforms, you can handle a higher volume of sales and deal with peak periods more effectively. It also enables businesses to quickly and easily test new markets without significant investment.

Key elements of effective online merchandising

Getting started with effective digital merchandising is possible by integrating key elements into your strategy. Here are some key elements to consider:

High-quality product images and videos

Using clear, high-resolution images and videos of products is essential when it comes to successful online visual merchandising. The product page design you choose to use for your products can also play a role in engagement and sales.

Detailed product descriptions

When creating product descriptions, be sure to write in a voice that is friendly and appealing to entice customers. Include product specifications, features, and benefits in a succinct and direct way. Describe what sets your product apart from the competition or what makes it unique.

Customer reviews and ratings

Incorporate customer reviews, testimonials, and ratings into your product pages. This will help customers to learn more about an item before making an informed decision.

Personalized recommendations

With the use of collected customer data, personalize the shopping experience of your visitors. Suggest recommended products based on previously viewed products, past purchases, and even items in a visitor's current shopping cart.

Easy navigation

Ensuring your website visitors can easily access and navigate your website is essential. Your navigation menu should be informative, direct, and simple to manage, for both desktop and mobile users.

User-friendly interface

A user-friendly interface matters. This is extremely important for both desktop and smartphone users. Incorporate a user-friendly layout that is responsive and one that loads without issue regardless of a user's browser or device.

Effective search and filter options

With any e-commerce merchandising strategy, implementing an effective search feature with advanced filter options is highly recommended. Allowing visitors the ability to search for products by name or by specific keywords, price ranges, or brands can drastically increase the number of sales your store receives.

Promotions and discounts

Offering regular promotions and discounts can also encourage sales. Creating a newsletter for your e-commerce store provides an opportunity to launch an exclusive discount program.

Clear pricing and shipping info

Define pricing and shipping information upfront for your e-commerce store. Unexpected costs from fees and shipping are one of the most common reasons for shopping cart abandonment.

Stock availability

Keep customers informed of the stock you have available. When a product has low stock, you can also make this visible to your customers, prompting them to take action and make a purchase.

Mobile optimization

Ensure that your website is optimized for mobile phones and other devices such as tablets. Mobile optimization is one of the most important elements of launching any website today, including e-commerce stores. Users who browse and shop with their phones are not likely to stay on a website that is not optimized for their devices.

Easy and secure checkout process

Provide an easy and secure checkout process on your website with an updated secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate. This ensures that any and all data transferred between your visitors and your website is protected, secured, and encrypted.

Online merchandising best practices

It's not only about knowing which features to include on your online store, but also about understanding how to make everything work seamlessly. Here are some best practices to follow:

Promote user-generated content

Creating and promoting user-generated content can help encourage visitors to make a purchase and place their trust in your brand. Customer reviews, photos, and videos provide social proof to help newcomers become more comfortable with your business.

Schedule social media posts to create a consistent social media marketing strategy. This way, you can enhance your online visibility and ensure you stay front-of-mind for your prospective buyers.

Offer various payment options

Offering multiple payment options will significantly increase your chances of making a sale. Using third-party payment processors such as PayPal and Stripe can also help customers feel more comfortable entrusting your website with their payment data.

Conduct regular A/B testing

With any e-commerce storefront, conducting regular A/B testing is essential. Trying different layouts, landing pages, and product page designs can provide valuable insight into the behavior of your visitors and customers. It can help you uncover potential obstacles that could hinder their purchase decisions or lead them to switch to a competitor.

Highlight best-selling products

Integrate e-commerce tools and plugins that help to highlight your best-selling products. This will help to keep users engaged on your website while maintaining their curiosity about what you have to offer.

You can also use tools and plugins to highlight recommended and related products based on a user's browsing history, purchases, as well as any products they currently have in their shopping cart.

Present collections curated for specific buyer personas

Using collected data and analytics, present specific product collections that have been curated for specific buyer personas. With relevant information, target users who are in need of a specific product or users who have similar tastes as the products you currently have in stock.

Setup and launch your online store

Getting started with e-commerce merchandising is possible whether you are launching your first online storefront or if you are looking for a way to grow and scale an existing business. With an understanding of online merchandising, create a winning visual strategy that will result in more sales and increased engagement.

With Mailchimp, you have a host of marketing tools at your disposal, whether you want to segment your audience or create custom designs for your e-commerce store.