It takes more than just creating a website to succeed in online sales. It’s no less critical to make your online store work at full capacity and interest buyers to order goods from you instead of your competitors. And Online Store Visual Merchandising has a big part to play in this, which involves a well-formed product catalog either.
The catalog of your online store is the same as a showcase of a physical shop. Therefore, you have to fill it with goods in such a way as to arouse in the consumer an acute desire to buy one of the items—or even several ones—right away.
Achieving this effect is quite possible if you take 7 practical yet simple online catalog management steps to get the most out of your online sales.
Tips for Increasing Online Store Conversions
How do you improve the customer experience while they browse through your catalog? Undoubtedly, this topic is worthy of proper discussion because a great user experience leads to increasing online store conversions. And if you’re wondering how to reduce your bounce rate, apply our tips below.
#1. Get to know your target consumer
Start by learning about your target consumer. The advice seems obvious, but only some follow it when forming an online store catalog. Whereas product management should be based precisely on knowing your average buyer, namely:
- What gender prevails among your consumers?
- What is their age group?
- What are the financial capabilities of your average consumer?
- How do your customers spend their free time?
- What are their hobbies?
The list of questions goes on, you got the main idea.
Omar Pallante, a recognized expert in visual merchandising, explains: “Visual merchandising has assumed a more strategic role, not only linked to an attractive way of distributing the product but also to the selling logic. The sales monitoring in relation with the distribution of the product, let you define the consumers’ behaviour, giving out important informations about the product and its presentation into the store”
It may seem Omar Pallante is talking about physical shops, but the same logic applies to online stores too. It’s essential to understand your consumer and study their behavior to turn this data into a tempting target for potential buyers, which is an appealing product catalog, thus skyrocketing your online store conversion rate.
#2. Take care of customer experience
Now that you’ve thoroughly researched your customers, you can find ways to inspire them to make as many purchases as possible, which results in improved online sales conversion. And above all, you should take care of a flawless user experience, the best basis for successful online store visual merchandising.
In the end, let’s face it: if your product catalog is inconvenient to use, the customers are unlikely to stay on your website, which means you failed to inspire them to shop! And that’s the opposite of what you have in mind, right?
Here are a few simple interrelated tips to ensure a positive user experience:
- The customer journey comes first. Consider every step your customers take when browsing the product catalog. Don’t make them work to find the item they want.
- Slow the buyer down. One of the tasks when creating a customer journey is to slow your shoppers down. Get them to buy something even if they didn’t have that intention in the first place. You’ll find a couple of useful ideas in the section on spontaneous purchases.
- Stimulate users with visual techniques. Of course, the best way to slow down a customer is to use attractive catalog visualization techniques. And if you’ve studied your customers, you know what might grab their attention in this respect.
So now you know how to lower the bounce rate: by slowing down customers on the catalog page, you increase the likelihood of purchase and get a chance to win them over to ensure they shop in your online store repeatedly.
#3. Create conditions for spontaneous purchases
The next step, which follows logically from the previous one, involves creating a special environment that initiates an impulse for spontaneous purchases among customers. After all, you, too, have probably faced numerous situations where an accidental opening of an online store page ended in your unplanned shopping. So your task is to manage the catalog in such a manner that the consumer cannot resist the temptation to buy something.
According to statistics, more than 75% of all purchases are spontaneous. Bear this in mind when managing your product catalog
Now let’s consider some ideas to achieve the effect of impulse purchases:
- Combinations of related items. Say, how about a hat, scarf, and gloves set for an online clothing store? Or a set consisting of a ring, earrings, and a pendant from one collection if you sell jewelry? Such combinations will trigger the imagination of your customers and encourage them to buy more at once. An essential condition: these ready-to-sell sets must be displayed in your product catalog in a visible place!
- The discount comes first. Do you have a seasonal sale or holiday discount? Then let those consumers who happen to be on your catalog page know about it. Such an advertising move can lead to them making a purchase, even if they originally had no such intention.
- Last item(s) in the collection. If some items in your catalog are marked limited, the consumer is more likely to buy them. That’s the perfect example of a spontaneous purchase: since this product may no longer be available tomorrow, the shopper has no choice but to order it immediately.
As you understand, the effective product catalog should be flexible to manage; otherwise, working with it will be pretty challenging and time-consuming. That’s where various online store visual merchandising tools come in handy. Keep reading, and we’ll provide you with more insights on the matter.
#4. Be Creative & Innovative
Don’t be afraid to experiment with your product catalog and implement new ideas in managing it—at least if you want to decrease the bounce rate of your online store and make it more profitable.
The main trick is the ability to exceed customer expectations and constantly surprise them with something new. If the catalog is always the same, it becomes boring, and the buyer is less interested in visiting your online store after a while.The conclusion is simple: successful online catalog management is only possible with a bit of creativity. It never hurts to be innovative!
#5. Get inspired by successful competitors
Every business has competitors, and eCommerce is no exception. So why not use this to your advantage? Pick successful companies in the same niche as you and try to figure out what makes them market leaders. What is their approach? What do they focus on in their product catalogs? Some of their tactics can be useful for your online store as well.
In other words, an effective online catalog management strategy should definitely include a competitive analysis.
#6. Create your own product management rules
Another cool idea is to automate some of the basic tasks associated with catalog management, for example:
- low sellers or new products appear at the top of the catalog listing;
- when the stock of goods reaches the identified level, the product is moved to a specific place in the catalog;
- automatic movement of goods depending on the season (which can be helpful when selling clothes online).
There are special solutions that can help you set these and other similar rules to manage your online store catalog.
#7. Never Stop Striving for the Best
And finally, never stop working toward your goals. An online store is like a living organism that needs constant care, which also applies to the product catalog. Work on it, update it, improve it and achieve better sales.
Okay, we’ve explained how to increase the online store conversion rate by enhancing your catalog. It may sound challenging but let’s reassure you: you’ll be able to implement our tips and improve customer experience with Online Store Visual merchandising tools with no difficulty. One of these tools is Sortler. Let’s discuss what it can do and why it’s so good when it comes to smart product management.
What Is Sortler?
Sortler is an eCommerce Visual Merchandising Tool, compatible with all popular CMS platforms, including Magento, Bigcommerce, Shopify, WooCommerce, and others, and easy to install and use. Most importantly, it decreases the bounce rate of online shopping and provides a great customer experience, leading to better sales.
Sorler.com offers convenient online catalog management using the Drag-&-Drop feature and allows you to create your own rules (see the advantages of this approach above). You can better control underperforming items, manage product placement, show top combinations, and more. Read about Sortler and its key benefits at the link in our detailed article.
