An introductory guide to e-merchandising

What is e-merchandising? Also known as online merchandising, e-merchandising is ‘the art of staging a product offering to optimise its sale’. Drawing direct inspiration from physical merchandising practices and adapting them to the digital world, this strategy combines creativity and technique to :

• Staging the product offering, presenting it in an attractive and strategic way to maximise its visibility and impact.

• Optimise the user experience, guiding visitors through the buying process and making their decisions easier.

• Organise product information, enabling effective searches and filtering, through the use of structured data.

In this comprehensive guide, we explore the essential principles, advanced strategies and essential tools for mastering e-merchandising and getting the most out of it.

The levers of action in e-merchandising

Staging products

Good product presentation is essential for capturing visitors' attention. Here are a few key principles:

• Optimise visibility: inspired by in-store practices, e-merchandising applies certain tried and tested principles to digital. For example, in a supermarket, flagship products such as Coca-Cola are strategically placed at eye level to attract attention. Online, this means optimising visible areas without having to scroll (‘Above the Fold’).

• Prioritising the offer: This involves highlighting popular or high-margin products, while repositioning items when stock is limited to avoid frustrating customers. This approach effectively directs shoppers' attention towards strategic items, while maintaining a positive experience that encourages conversion.

Facilitating product discovery

The aim of product discovery on an e-commerce site is to encourage visitors to explore the entire offering. Intuitive navigation, supported by a clear tree structure and understandable categories, plays a key role here.

Helping you choose

Filters and facets are essential tools for helping customers make the right choice. For example, on a fashion e-commerce site, well-structured filters for size, colour or material enable consumers to quickly target products that match their preferences, making their choice easier.

What's more, in certain specialist sectors such as DIY, comprehensive buying guides provide key information on complex products such as lawnmowers. They help consumers to make an informed choice by answering their questions and simplifying the decision-making process.

Reassuring the user

Trust is a key element in e-merchandising. There are a number of effective ways of reassuring users. Displaying customer reviews, for example, helps to reinforce the credibility of products by offering authentic feedback. In addition, guaranteeing the security of transactions is crucial; the use and display of badges helps to reassure consumers that their personal data is protected and that payments are reliable.

Advanced UX/UI concepts in e-merchandising

UX/UI and e-merchandising, although two distinct fields, clearly converge. Indeed, user interface choices such as zoning, font size and the placement of elements on the page have a direct and significant impact on sales performance. Let's take a closer look.

Strategic zones: ‘Above the Fold’ and Z-reading

Two UI concepts are essential for an e-merchandiser: visible areas without scrolling (‘Above the Fold’) and the Z-reading model. The former, being the most visible on arrival on the page, are decisive in capturing users' attention. As for the layout of the elements, it must follow a Z-shaped path, where visitors' eyes move from the top left-hand corner to the bottom right-hand corner. It is therefore strategic to place the most relevant information there, the information that will guide visitors through their purchasing journey.

Accessibility

New European regulations require sites to be accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. This includes, for example, the use of high contrasts and adapted fonts to make reading easier for the visually impaired.

The importance of data as a performance driver

Structured data plays a central role in optimising e-merchandising. It improves the relevance of searches, recommendations and product classification.

Data quality and organisation: the cornerstone of e-merchandising

Product descriptions need to be precise, inspiring and meet customer expectations by highlighting essential features and characteristics. Every word counts: a well-crafted title or description captures attention, provides relevant information and reflects your brand's DNA. And, beyond internal search, the quality of the wording also influences your acquisition and your SEO.  Structured attributes that characterise your offering, such as the screen diagonal for a television, make navigation more intuitive thanks to effective product filtering. A clear hierarchy of categories plays a key role in guiding customers naturally through each stage of their journey.

Using data to understand shopping paths

Exploiting data is an essential step in optimising e-merchandising performance. By analysing key indicators such as click-through rates on product sheets, conversion rates and additions to the shopping basket, it is possible to pinpoint weak points in the customer journey and make targeted improvements. In addition, behavioural data offers a unique opportunity to personalise rankings and recommendations, creating a tailor-made shopping experience for each user and maximising the chances of conversion.

Search optimisation: a powerful lever

The search bar is a central tool in e-merchandising. Here's how to optimise it to maximise conversions.

With 73% of users using it to find products and conversion rates up to six times higher than with traditional browsing [1], the search bar is essential. By offering relevant suggestions, it simplifies discovery, stimulates engagement and increases conversions. On mobile, where menu navigation is less practical, it offers a quick and intuitive alternative, becoming a key lever for capturing attention and guiding customers effectively.

Three keys to optimised search

Optimised search relies on three key elements to respond effectively to user expectations. Firstly, the relevance of results: advanced algorithms make it possible to better interpret search intentions and suggest appropriate products. Secondly, dynamic suggestions play an essential role in guiding users through the search process, improving their experience and speeding up the buying process. Finally, effective filters, limited in number but well targeted, help to refine the results while remaining simple and intuitive to use.

Measuring search performance

Measuring search performance is essential for optimising the user experience and maximising commercial results. Analyse key indicators such as the search bar usage rate, which reflects its role in the customer journey, clicks on results, which show the relevance of suggestions, and post-search conversions, which assess overall effectiveness. This data enables you to identify areas for improvement and adjust your strategies to best meet user expectations.

By hyper-personalising search results for each visitor, offering experiences that encompass dynamic suggestions, generative AI, enriched filters and UX best practices, Sensefuel greatly optimises the conversion rate of e-commerce site search results.

The importance of ranking in e-merchandising

Product ranking is a major lever for influencing online sales. Its evolution reflects technological advances and consumer expectations. Ranking used to be manual, based on simple criteria such as price or popularity, and these rankings were set by humans. Over time, mixed rankings emerged, incorporating dynamic rules based on real-time data, such as stock availability. Today, ranking is personalised: algorithms analyse past behaviour and user preferences to adjust rankings, taking into account more than a hundred variables to optimise performance.

The impact of the first positions is considerable: 75% of sales come from the first page, and 50% from the first products visible without scrolling [2]. This means strategic stock management to avoid highlighting items that are out of stock or in limited sizes, thereby preserving the user experience and customer satisfaction.

Sensefuel enables you to optimise the ranking of products within the list pages of your e-commerce site. They enable you to implement your sales strategies (best sales, promotions, destocking, etc.) and personalise the product ranking according to the desires and needs of each visitor. Find out how here.

Product recommendations: converting and building loyalty

Personalised recommendations are a strategic pillar of e-merchandising, turning every interaction into a sales opportunity. By suggesting complementary or alternative products on your product sheets, on the home page or at check-out, they help to increase the average basket while enriching the customer experience. By highlighting more profitable items, they also help to optimise margins. Finally, by anticipating customers' recurring needs, as Amazon does with ink cartridges, they strengthen loyalty and establish a lasting relationship between the brand and its consumers.

With just a few clicks, Sensefuel enables you to implement these AI-based recommendation algorithms throughout the buying process, in line with your merchandising strategy and in a totally personalised way.

Conclusion

E-merchandising is a strategic discipline based on a subtle balance between creativity, technique and data analysis. By following the best practices outlined in this guide, you will be able to optimise your e-commerce site to meet users' needs while improving your sales performance.

In order to generate sales and have an impact on your e-commerce, it's important to be equipped with the right tools to activate all the e-merchandising levers. Search & Product Discovery platforms make it possible to control all the levers, personalise the experience and optimise your e-commerce site. Sensefuel is one of them, and we invite you to find out more.

To go even further, implement advanced analysis tools, keep abreast of technological trends and never forget that the user experience is at the heart of your success.

[1] Sensefuel - Survey of product search habits on e-commerce websites, 2024 edition
[2] Sylvain Duthilleul, Marketplace Quality Leader, e-merchandising.net