Merchandising Tips to Drive Online Sales in 2020
As part of our 50 Best Retail Tips of 2019 report, Total Retail's editorial team spent time in last year's fourth quarter poring over each piece of content we published during the year to identify the 50 best tips. We reviewed the content published in our e-newsletter (Total Retail Report) and on our website, identifying the 50 tips that we believe will help retail executives boost their company's sales and profits in 2020. As part of that research, we examined content across a multitude of categories, from customer experience to e-commerce to marketing to mobile to technology, and much more.
This week, I've chosen to highlight the merchandising tips offered in the report. With more consumers opting to shop online, including on mobile, retailers have been forced to learn how to best merchandise their websites, apps, and stores to account for today's digitally savvy, omnichannel customers. These tips are intended to help your business best leverage its merchandise assortment to drive gains in conversion, average order value, and lifetime customer value.
- Supply as many content and media opportunities as possible. To shoppers, the more details, the merrier. Therefore, retailers should furnish brands with a platform emphasizing product content galore. Today, shoppers want at least six images and two videos, with shoppers ages 18-24 and 35-44 expecting eight images and four to five videos for each product. — Andrew Waber, Salsify, “How to Satisfy Today’s Digital Shopper and Ease Pressure on Brand Suppliers,” Total Retail Report, May 15
- For many retailers, a deep well of product data remains untapped. Brand, category, sub-category, price, description, specifications, warranty, call-outs, shipping information, and customer reviews can all advise the kind of recommendations your customer will most appreciate. Each retail SKU already belongs in an “ontology” of its own that offers rich insights into customer needs. If you’re not currently leveraging this product data, you're missing a critical piece of the puzzle. — Spencer Price, Halla, “Unless Retailers Do This, They Could Lose 50% of Consumers' Holiday Spend,” Total Retail Report, Nov. 21
The 50 Best Retail Tips of 2019 report was created to help retailers propel themselves into a successful 2020. The chosen tips are meant to drive top- and bottom-line gains for your organization, and are prescriptive in nature. Make it a priority to begin incorporating these tips into your 2020 business processes. The results will be worth the effort!
Furthermore, these tips are meant to be shared with others within your organization as well as with peers across the industry. Educate not only yourself, but those around you as well. Total Retail’s mission is to be the retail executive’s source for content and community. It’s through annual features such as our 50 best tips of the year that we hope to fulfill that mission.
Download our 50 Best Retail Tips of 2019 report today, and prepare for a more prosperous 2020.
