When a store has a wide array of products, being organised with how the products are presented to customers is key to marketing and sales success. Moreover, department stores that market their products online, like big w catalogue, need more organisation than ever due to the extensive range of products they sell.
According to a 2014 study by the University of Pennsylvania, how products are arranged and organised changes the customer’s perception of the store. Such as when the products or services are presented in a horizontal versus a vertical direction. When products are viewed horizontally, customers think there are more selections and variety than a vertical direction. With this being said, knowing the proper way to organise products in a store is key to leaving a positive impression.
Listing All the Products Actively Available
The first and most important step in organising a store’s catalogue is creating an inventory of all the items. By getting to know what products are available and how many each item sets the stage to creating product categories later. This is because knowing what items you have and how many of each there are lets you know whether a set of products is enough in quantity to create a product category.
Moreover, it is highly recommended to use an excel sheet or any spreadsheet program in creating a product inventory. An excel file is one of the most organised methods that do automatic functions. Remember that this is not a daunting task as it may seem since the inventory will only need your product’s name and code.
Creating Product Categories and Subcategories
Once the product inventory is done, it is time to divide and rule out the products into categories and subcategories. The important function of categorising is to search for an item both faster and easier. As there is no single way to categorise products in a store, you can easily set themes such as colour, function, season, brand and gender. It is all truly up to you to decide which type of division will entice and make your customers’ experience more satisfying. Do keep in mind that a special section for promotions is an important category on its own since it will make special offers easily accessible to your customers and will overall help drive up your sales.
After creating categories, you might have the feeling that some items under a category have similarities. This calls for the time to create subcategories such as when you are selling coffee; you can further create divisions or subcategories for the type of bean. The essential need to create subcategories is visible in a study in which more customers are enticed to view the products page when more products are on sale on a page. But the aftermath is that less people are likely to purchase because they feel overwhelmed by the wide variety of choices offered by the store. The end lesson is to create categories and subcategories so that the products are organised into smaller quantities per section. Through this, it will reduce the chances of overwhelming your customers at first glance.
Frequent Checking and Reorganizing
Especially for digital store catalogues like that of the big w catalogue, nothing stays permanent. This means to say that your customers’ buying behaviour will essentially determine how you should organise your store’s catalogue. Therefore, it is important to check your store to see what products and services your customers are purchasing more than others from time to time. Sooner or later, you will notice that you will have a new bestseller’s category to direct your customers to where your sales and customer recommendations are. Moreover, it is vital to ensure that all product categories follow the trend and the buying patterns of your customers during the checking and reorganising process. Through this, everything remains relevant and timely according to customer preferences.
Organising Store Selections to Increase Sales
With the facts understood that organisation through a product inventory, categories, and updating are essential for a store’s success, it is also important to know the end goal. The reason why organising the products and services of a store is essential is because customer experience is what drives sales upwards or downwards. Specifically, the organisation of offerings is a factor that increases sales because the process of customers searching and retrieving the goods that they need becomes faster and more efficient. Even if a store has all the products that a customer desires, the customer will only feel overwhelmed and end up not purchasing anything if there is no organisation. Therefore, it is vital to keep in mind what factors positively contribute to a better customer experience. Furthermore, a method of organising a store’s products improves customer experience and increases positive reviews and overall sales.