Building an ecommerce merchandising strategy
Most sellers merchandise reactively — a price cut here, a new photo there. A strategy is the same work with a goal, a segmentation and a cadence attached. Here is a six-step version small enough to actually run.
1. Pick one goal, stated as a number
"Raise average order value from £22 to £28 this quarter" is a strategy. "Improve the store" is not. One number keeps every later decision honest, and tells you when to stop.
2. Segment the catalog
Split your stock three ways: fast movers that sell themselves, steady sellers that respond to presentation, and dead stock that hasn't moved in 60–90 days. Each segment gets a different treatment — the common mistake is applying one tactic to everything.
3. Match a lever to each segment
Fast movers: protect them, improve imagery, cross-sell from them. Steady sellers: sharpen titles and photos, test price points. Dead stock: bundle it with a fast mover rather than cutting the price again — a discount loses margin permanently, a bundle borrows demand.
4. Set a cadence you'll actually keep
Half an hour weekly: what sold, what stalled, one change made. A longer monthly pass on assortment and pricing. Written down, not remembered — the cadence is what separates strategy from occasional tidying.
5. Measure revenue per visitor
Conversion rate alone rewards discounting. Average order value alone rewards bundles nobody buys. Revenue per visitor catches both. Give each change two to four weeks before judging it.
6. Kill what doesn't work
Bundles and placements have a shelf life. If a combination hasn't sold in 60 days, re-cut it with different items or retire it. A catalog full of failed experiments is harder to merchandise than a small clean one.
A worked example
Say 40 of your 300 listings haven't sold in three months. Cutting their prices by 30% recovers some cash and permanently lowers what that stock is worth to you.
The merchandising alternative: pair each dead item with a related item that does sell, price the pair 15% under the combined singles, and present it as a set with every item photographed. You move the dead stock, raise order value on the item that was already selling, pay one selling fee instead of two, and ship one parcel.
The reason sellers don't do this at scale is bookkeeping — every bundle sale invalidates the single listings behind it. Automating that sync is what makes the tactic repeatable rather than a one-off.
Frequently asked questions
What should an ecommerce merchandising strategy include?
A goal expressed as a metric, a segmentation of your catalog into fast movers, steady sellers and dead stock, the levers you will pull for each segment, a fixed review cadence, and the measures you will judge results by — typically conversion rate, average order value and revenue per visitor.
How often should I review merchandising?
Weekly for a small catalog: half an hour to look at what sold, what didn't, and which bundle or price change to make next. Monthly for a deeper pass at assortment and pricing. Daily checking produces noise, not decisions.
Which metric matters most?
Revenue per visitor, because it combines conversion rate and average order value. Watching only conversion rate can reward discounting that shrinks your revenue; watching only order value can reward bundles nobody buys.