Dos and Don'ts of eCommerce Merchandising

Familiarize yourself with the dos and don'ts of eCommerce merchandising to make the best of your merchandising strategies.

Ali Shah - Writer for Fast Simon
By Ali Shah
Michelle Meyer - Editor for Fast Simon
Edited by Michelle Meyer
Olivia Kashti - Writer and Fact-Checker for Fast Simon
Fact-check by Olivia Kashti

Updated November 14, 2023.

Online shoppers can be hard to please. Up to 75% of them will judge your eCommerce store based on just its website design. This means you have 50 milliseconds to make sure their opinion of you is a good one. By understanding the dos and don'ts of eCommerce merchandising, you can make a positive and lasting first impression.

Diagram explaining the dos and don'ts of eCommerce merchandising


Dos of eCommerce Merchandising

  • Prioritize clear product presentation Merchandising should showcase your products and entice customers to buy them. Try using clear, high-resolution images of your products and providing comprehensive product descriptions. Interactive content like videos can also engage customers.
  • Implement personalized recommendations Leverage customer behavior and browsing history data to provide personalized product recommendations. This way, you create upselling and cross-selling opportunities. You can improve customer engagement and enhance the overall shopping experience.
  • Optimize user-friendly navigation An intuitive site search functionality can help your customers rapidly find what they're looking for in your store. Consider using merchandising elements like well-organized menus and filtering choices. This minimizes friction while your customers search and can help boost conversion rates.
  • Leverage social proof Social proof can influence customers' buying decisions by demonstrating your credibility. Try incorporating reviews and user-generated content into your merchandising strategy to enhance trust in your products.

» Still struggling to visualize the right merchandising strategy? Here's how to implement visual merchandising

Don'ts of eCommerce Merchandising

  • Overwhelm with cluttered product pages Keep your product pages clean and organized to avoid overloading shoppers with too much information. Maintain a visually pleasing layout that helps customers focus on important information and make educated judgments without feeling overwhelmed.
  • Neglect mobile optimization Over 70% of your customers visit your store via their smartphones. So it's essential to make sure your site is optimized for mobile. This includes having a mobile-responsive design and quick loading time so you can capitalize on every m-commerce opportunity.
  • Ignore data and analytics While analyzing numbers may not be your favorite thing, you can use data to better understand your customers' behaviors and preferences and bigger industry trends. In the long run, this can help you make more educated decisions and optimize your eCommerce merchandising efforts.
  • Underestimate the power of A/B testing Your store has unique needs and ways of doing things. So, it's important to constantly test your merchandising strategies until you find what works best for you. A/B testing coupled with AI can help you optimize your store and increase your overall AOV and customer satisfaction.

» AI is versatile: Here are other ways AI can help you optimize your online merchandising

Fast-Track Your eCommerce Business to Success

If you want your eCommerce business to skyrocket, make sure you implement the dos and avoid the don'ts of eCommerce merchandising. Focus on showing off your products clearly, giving personalized suggestions, making navigation a breeze, and using social proof and data analysis. Don't forget to keep tweaking and improving your strategy based on the numbers to create a shopping experience that wows your customers and drives your business forward.