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Online shopping has garnered immense popularity because of the convenience and flexibility it offers. Nowadays, customers can shop online from anywhere at any time. Nearly every major brand in the fashion industry today has begun its ecommerce business journey. Those that have not lose the chance to stay ahead of competitors and to improve their customer engagement. E-commerce merchandising is therefore an important and effective strategy to catch the attention of potential customers.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the world, the landscape of the retail industry has changed completely. As per the statistics, it is expected that global retail sales will go up to 22% as against the recorded 14.1% in 2019. So, it is the best time to know about e-commerce merchandising and how it can help in achieving strategic business goals. Here, in this post, we are going to discuss what e-commerce merchandising is, its importance, and the ways to drive more sales.
An Introduction to E-commerce Merchandising
When we make a purchase online, we have to get it done through an e-commerce store that mainly sells goods via a site. This is where e-commerce merchandising comes into the picture.
E-commerce merchandising basically means how an individual business is selling its products to its customers. The main purpose of e-commerce merchandising is to generate more sales by connecting the customers with the appropriate products.
Creating a brand that conveys the business' message and reflects its mission is a separate thing. But, expressing that brand’s identity visually is another challenge altogether. The 21st e-commerce merchandising has the power to grab a potential customer's attention and urge them to check a particular brand via appropriate fit-outs and displays.
One of the major functions of e-commerce merchandising is to provide guidance to customers through their journey. In many cases, even if the e-commerce stores are in operation, the customers prefer to shop in-store.
What is the reason behind this? Well, it happens because they wish to have a sense of the products in real life before making their purchase. They want to touch and feel the material to check the quality of the product. High shipping charges can also be a possible reason. As per the statistics, almost 63% of online shoppers do not make a purchase after looking at the shipping charge. Here, e-commerce merchandising can help you combat this type of issue to accelerate your online business growth.
Importance of E-commerce Merchandising
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In such unprecedented times, investing in a well-functioning e-commerce store is a wise decision. We live in an era where the competition of e-commerce stores is increasing daily as each demands to provide its customers with a unique experience. It not only helps online stores to maximize their conversion rate but also creates a long-lasting brand image to attract customers coming back on a repeat basis.
Here, e-commerce merchandising plays a very vital role when it comes to achieving strategic business goals. Showcasing the brand’s products in a very simple yet aesthetical way has already been adopted by many businesses. But some websites did the experimentation with e-commerce merchandising to drive the attention of the customers to their sites.
The role of eCommerce merchandising is to strategically display the brand’s products on a website to maximize their searchability, revenue, and conversion rate drastically. It also helps in optimizing the way of purchasing, which further influence the buying habits of the customers. Additionally, it plays a huge role in converting website visitors to potential customers.
4 Ways that Ecommerce Merchandising Has Evolved
The 4 Ways that the Ecommerce Merchandising Has Evolved
With the emerging advancements of technology, eCommerce merchandising has also changed over the years. Let’s explore the four effective ways in which eCommerce merchandising has evolved.
Introduction to Artificial Intelligence or AI
AI has interfered with lots of industries starting from law to healthcare. Over time, it has entered the eCommerce industry as well. Websites have developed in several ways and become much more user-friendly than before, especially if we talk about the eCommerce industry. As per the statistics of the Insider Intelligence Forecasts, it is said that eCommerce is expected to make up 24.5% of all retail sales globally by the year 2025.
The ever-changing algorithms of artificial intelligence have taught us to implement new and advanced features and functionalities. Those features include customer service requests, product recommendations, and augmented reality website experiences.
On the contrary, in brick-and-mortar stores, staff are also expected to do the same to get more customers to their stores. But it is not possible for them to keep their customer service level really high. But, with the help of AI technology, you won’t face this kind of issue in online stores.
2. Personalization
Customization has become one of the major ways through which eCommerce merchandising has drastically evolved. Earlier, when the concept of the eCommerce store was first introduced, there were technical constraints in tracking users, generating advertisements, and customizing pages.
But, these days, you can easily get better insights into your business with just a few clicks and identify your targeted customers. It does not imply that through eCommerce merchandising you can only attract more people to your site; rather, you can make your customer experience more personalized.
For example, some buyers love to create wishlists where they save their favorite items but do not make the purchase. Others are there who left items on their cart which is called ‘abandoned cart’. So, personalization helps the website to show those customers items according to their liking.
3. Adapting to the Browser of the User
In online marketing, the main purpose is to make your customer's journey as smooth as possible. When a customer visits a store, they are greeted by the staff of the store. Not only that, they try their best to help them through their entire purchasing process. Similarly, it happens with online merchandising.
Adapting to the browser of the user is considered to be one of the major ways that eCommerce merchandising has evolved. People generally use multiple devices to browse different websites. Hence, it is really crucial for any eCommerce store to identify how the customers are accessing their website to adjust the layout accordingly.
Since the number of mobile users is increasing day by day, mobile traffic has now exceeded desktop traffic. As per statistics, 53% of people visiting online stores did it through their mobile devices. Hence, customers often leave websites that they find difficult to navigate on their mobile phones. In this scenario, the bounce rate can go higher if the usability gets poor.
4. Sophisticated Inventory Management
Since online shopping has garnered immense popularity, inventory management has become more sophisticated than before. Giant companies manage both offline and online stores. Therefore, it is crucial to check what is going on in both their online and offline stores. Hence, it has pushed inventory managers to optimize their way of work.
In conventional retails, it is very important to have adequate stock of items. There is no difference in online stores as well. In online stores, they need to hold maximum stock before running out of items. Hence, it has become mandatory to invest in inventory management software to keep track of everything.
Conclusion
Ecommerce merchandising is constantly evolving and it is encouraging customers to spend their money. It not only helps businesses to maximize the conversion rate but also improves the business processes to accelerate business growth.
To get a better understanding of eCommerce merchandising and stand out from your competitors, you can refer to Fashinza. Our company will help you brainstorm effective strategies to boost your conversion rate. We provide everything: starting from end-to-end production to eCommerce merchandising support.
Fashinza uses Artificial Intelligence and Data Science to transform the way companies usually source their products. So, feel free to get in touch with us to take your online business to a higher level.
