In a brick-and-mortar store, retailers put a lot of energy into how and where products are displayed to take advantage of behavioral psychology and encourage customers to choose certain products and hopefully increase the average order value of each sale. Merchandising is a great way for merchants to boost sales in-store, but how can online retailers use merchandising to help them increase conversions and reap the benefits of this age-old strategy?
Searchandising is a hybrid approach combining merchandising with product search. As opposed to simply browsing, many customers visit a website and go straight to the search bar to find what they’re looking for. This presents a unique opportunity for UX designers to use the search bar to help guide customers in the right direction. It’s not just the search bar; however, there are many actions a customer can take to narrow down what types of products they see, like filtering products based on specific characteristics. The search engine in your eCommerce store is what enables the shopping experience, so it’s important to ensure that search functionality is powerful and supports your team’s marketing efforts, too.
How does searchandising work?
With searchandising, it’s important to strike a balance between displaying relevant results while also highlighting seasonal or popular items as well as products with higher profit margins. The idea is to manipulate the algorithm so that search results display specific products in a certain order to benefit the customer and the retailer. Many site search engines these days use natural language processing to truly understand what customers actually want, not just what they think they want. This allows modern search solutions to provide a much more tailored, focused approach to search.
Most customers prefer personalized online shopping experiences. When combined with personalization based on historical customer data, you can take searchandising even further for the best results. For example, a search query for “walking shoe” might have similar intent to “running sneakers” or “tennis shoes,” and with searchandising, the search engine should find relevant results no matter how they’re described. The combination of semantic analysis, personalization, and understanding product performance will help you create a shopping experience that effectively mimics the in-person version. By evaluating customer intent from every search query to gain a better understanding of their preferences, you can build a strategy that helps them find exactly what they’re looking for and takes your eCommerce success to the next level.
How can retailers use searchandising to increase eCommerce revenue?
If you’re looking to bring your in-store experience online, the first step is to collaborate with your eCommerce platform provider to determine your goals, including which products you want to emphasize, as well as which metrics and rules you want to focus on. These rules will impact how search results rank, and can include many factors such as when the product was released, promotions, shipping options, profit margins, product popularity, and more. What’s most important here is to consider as many elements as possible, as if you only display products with high profit margins, that may increase revenue but not necessarily help your customers find what they’re looking for.
How to get started
The best part about implementing a searchandising strategy is that it can be almost fully automated. With some input and accurate data, you can leverage the power of AI to help you build a searchandising strategy that's ready to convert, but it starts with the right platform. It's important to make sure you’re working with a partner who is willing to help you fine-tune site search for better performance, who understands your business inside and out, and is truly invested in your long-term success. Virid’s eCommerce platform marketAgility can help you leverage the power of machine learning with custom built integrations and apps that can help businesses increase AOV, reduce TCO, and enable sustainable eCommerce growth. Set up a consultation today to get started.