Let’s have a look at how merchandising helps your business and ways to do it effectively. When you run a business, the last thing you want to worry about is the struggle of finding new customers. However, one of the key aspects that make up a successful shop is merchandising your business. It often goes overlooked because many people think it’s just some kind of peripheral tool that doesn’t really have any consequences on their success. This couldn’t be further from the truth as it turns out!

How Merchandising Helps Your Business

Merchandising is the act of making your products more appealing to customers. It reduces the risk of them simply walking by and not even stopping to look at what you have to offer, which is why it’s a crucial part of your overall marketing strategy. Merchandising can be split into two categories: in-store and online.

a) In-Store🏯

In-store merchandising is all about creating a visual environment that will make customers want to stop by and purchase something from you. It’s about customizing the look of your shop, so that people actually want to take a look inside and find out what treasures are inside. The advantage of in-store merchandising is that it provides you with an easy way to differentiate yourself from competitors. If your shop is more appealing to customers, then you’ll end up with more sales and profit. There are several important ways in which you can do this for your business.

i) Layout

The layout of your shop is one of the most powerful ways to attract potential customers. The first thing they will notice when entering a shop is how it looks, how big or small it is, whether they can find what they need or not, etc. You should always make sure that your products are clearly visible and easily found by browsing customers. You may even want to position your shop near the main drag or high street so that there is lots of foot traffic and the potential customers will see your shop name on the windows and think “hey, why didn’t we stop by there before”.

ii) Color

Colours are a very important element in making your products look attractive. If you set your product in bright and vibrant colours, then it will become more attractive to customers. It’s important that you have a clear idea of which colours should be used for different products/types of merchandise. This information can be found through testing different combinations on various stores.

iii) Design

The design of your shop is also very important. You can create a very attractive and modern atmosphere by using a few different elements to make your store stand out. For example, you may want to use items such as mirrors and banners so that your shop is much more bright and more inviting. There are some owners who decide to add animal paintings or figurines in their shop, which is something that definitely draws attention to it.

b) Online merchandising 👩‍💻

Online merchandising plays an important role in not just in-store but also online sales as well. It turns out that online merchandising is even more important than in-store merchandising because it’s much easier to make an online shop look attractive. Online shops have a chance to set themselves apart from the competition with their design and colours.

i) Website

The first thing to pay attention to is the design of your website. It can be very easy for customers to spend 10 seconds or less on your website and then ditch your product for something else, which is why you need to make sure that you catch their attention right away. One way you can do this is by creating a very eye-catching background image on your website, but this doesn’t mean that it has to be complex or fancy, just unique and colourful.

You may also want to try out some different colours on your website so that it stands out from the rest. But always stick to keeping it simple and not too hard on the eyes, as you don’t want to scare customers away. Another effective way to make your website look more appealing is by customizing its layout. If you can, then try to create a 2-column design that has a product on one side and information about it on the other. This way customers can browse through products easily and find the ones that interest them most.

ii) SEO

SEO or search engine optimization is a very effective tactic for driving traffic to your website, which in turn will increase conversion rates as well as sales for your business. What are the benefits of using SEO? When your website is ranked highly in search engines such as Google and Bing, it will show up on the first page of search results for your keywords. This means that more people will see your product because there will be more people interested in it which leads to an increase in sales and profit.

Your website is the first thing that people see when looking for products to purchase, so you should make sure it’s user-friendly and has a pleasant look. It should also be optimized to drive traffic to your store so that it ranks highly in search engines like Google.

iii) Social media

Social media is a great way to build a loyal customer base quickly and with minimal investment on your part. It’s the best way that you can connect with potential customers who are searching for your product online because they’ll be more likely to find your business after they’ve checked out all of the other results they can get.

Social media strategies for Online Merchandising

a) Creating different social media pages for different platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. Each of these platforms has its own audience and each of them plays a special role in helping you build your online shop. Find out what these platforms are best at and use them to your advantage. For example, Facebook allows you to promote your products on their timeline so that people can easily see what you’re up to. YouTube allows you to create product tutorials and add them to your channel so that more people will click on them and visit your page on YouTube.

b) Writing compelling blog posts that can help you generate more traffic to your website and inspire people to visit your social media pages.

c) Post interesting and creative photos of your products on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter so that people will talk about them online.

d) Posting coupons and discounts on social media pages so that people will feel like they are getting more value when they purchase your products.

e) Creating and promoting a contest on social media, which is a great way to increase customer engagement. For example, you can give away a free product to one lucky person who comments on your Facebook post or talks about your product on Twitter. The more creative your contest is, the more people will be drawn to it. You can even offer them something like free shipping if they order X amount of products within the next week.

f) Influencer marketing. It’s much easier to advertise your business when you have the right people promoting your products. If you’re able to get people who already have a large following on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube to promote your products for free, then you’ll be able to get more sales from these same networks.

Try doing a little research and find out what kind of brands these influencers are associated with in the past and how popular their posts are. Then figure out what it is about their posts that trigger interest among people so that you can take this into consideration for your own business.

Conclusion

Merchandising is a very important part of e-commerce because you need to be able to attract customers quickly and effectively. There are a few different things that you should focus on when merchandising your products, including clean, unique, and simple designs. These types of designs will help your customers find what they are looking for quickly and easily.

Read more on 11 ways to ensure your website is effective.