We all know when it comes to selling online, every detail matters in order to convert visitors into customers. One often-overlooked but incredibly powerful tactic is strategic product placement on category or collection pages. Just as products in grocery stores are placed in specific locations to catch the eye and encourage purchases, the placement of products on your online store’s category pages can significantly impact your sales.
For BigCommerce store owners, this task can be particularly challenging due to the platform’s limitations in manually sorting products within categories. However, with the right tools, such as the Magic Sorter app by Your Store Wizards, you can take control of your product placement strategy and ensure that your best sellers, seasonal items, and promotional products are getting the visibility they deserve.
The Power of Product Placement: Lessons from Brick-and-Mortar Retail
Before diving into the specifics of eCommerce, it’s important to understand why product placement is such a big deal in the physical retail world. If you’ve ever wondered why milk is always at the back of the grocery store or why candy is placed at the checkout counter, the answer lies in strategic product placement. Retailers use data-driven strategies to place products in locations where customers are most likely to see and purchase them.
For example:
- High-margin items are placed at eye level where customers are more likely to notice them.
- Impulse buys, like candy or magazines, are positioned near checkout lanes to encourage last-minute purchases.
- Staples, such as milk or bread, are located at the back of the store, forcing customers to pass by other products that might catch their attention.
This same concept applies to eCommerce. The order and visibility of products on your category pages can influence a customer’s journey through your site and, ultimately, their purchasing decisions.
Why Product Placement Matters in eCommerce
When a potential customer visits your online store, their first interaction is often with a category or collection page. This page serves as a gateway, guiding them toward the products they need—or those you want to highlight. If your products are poorly arranged, customers might miss out on what they’re looking for or fail to notice items that could have sparked an impulse buy. On the other hand, a well-organized category page can lead to higher engagement, better conversion rates, and increased sales.
Here’s why strategic product placement matters:
- Maximizes Visibility for High-Value Products: Placing your most profitable products at the top of the page ensures they are seen first, increasing the likelihood of purchase.
- Promotes Seasonal and Promotional Items: Highlighting seasonal products or items on sale can create a sense of urgency, encouraging customers to make a purchase before it’s too late.
- Improves Customer Experience: By grouping similar items together or placing products in a logical order, you make it easier for customers to find what they’re looking for, reducing frustration and improving overall satisfaction.
- Drives Impulse Purchases: Strategically placing complementary or related products near best sellers can encourage customers to add more items to their cart.
- Increases Average Order Value (AOV): By showcasing higher-priced items or bundled products, you can encourage customers to spend more per transaction.
The Challenges of Manual Product Placement on BigCommerce
While the benefits of strategic product placement are clear, implementing this strategy on BigCommerce can be challenging. Unlike some other eCommerce platforms, BigCommerce doesn’t offer an easy way to manually sort products within categories. This limitation can be frustrating for store owners who want more control over their product arrangement.
Here are some common challenges BigCommerce store owners face:
- Limited Customization: BigCommerce’s default sorting options (such as by price or newest first) don’t allow for the nuanced placement strategies that can drive sales.
- Time-Consuming Manual Sorting: Without the right tools, manually arranging products can be a tedious and time-consuming process, especially for stores with large inventories.
- Inconsistent Product Visibility: Without strategic placement, some products may get buried on subsequent pages, reducing their visibility and sales potential.
Magic Sorter: Your Secret Weapon for Strategic Product Placement
Enter Magic Sorter, an app designed specifically for BigCommerce store owners who want to take control of their product placement strategy. Magic Sorter is a powerful tool that allows you to easily arrange products on your category pages, ensuring that the right products are seen by the right customers at the right time.
Key Features of Magic Sorter
- Drag-and-Drop Interface: Magic Sorter’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface allows you to easily rearrange products within categories without the need for complex coding or manual sorting.
- Customizable Sorting Criteria: Magic Sorter offers a range of sorting criteria, allowing you to sort products by price, rating, popularity, your own custom sort, and more.
- Grouping Similar Products: Easily group products by manufacturer, category, or other attributes to create a cohesive shopping experience. For example, you can group all products from a specific brand together or highlight a collection of seasonal items.
- Real-Time Updates: Any changes you make to your product placement are reflected in real time, ensuring that your category pages are always up-to-date.
Benefits of Using Magic Sorter
- Increased Control: Take full control over how products are displayed on your category pages, allowing you to implement your marketing strategies more effectively.
- Enhanced Customer Experience: By making it easier for customers to find what they’re looking for, you can improve their shopping experience and increase the likelihood of repeat purchases.
- Higher Conversion Rates: Strategic product placement can lead to higher conversion rates as customers are more likely to find and purchase the products they need or want.
- Boosted Sales of Promotional Items: Magic Sorter makes it easy to highlight promotional or seasonal items, helping you move inventory and increase sales during key periods.
How to Implement Strategic Product Placement with Magic Sorter
Now that you understand the importance of strategic product placement and how Magic Sorter can help, let’s explore how to implement this strategy in your BigCommerce store.
- Identify Your High-Value Products: Start by identifying which products are the most valuable to your business. These could be your best sellers, highest-margin items, or products with the greatest potential for cross-selling. Use Magic Sorter to position these products at the top of your category pages where they’re most likely to be seen.
- Group Products by Category or Manufacturer: Customers often prefer to browse products from specific categories or manufacturers. By grouping similar products together, you can make it easier for customers to find what they’re looking for and increase the chances of multiple purchases. For example, if you sell electronics, you could group all products from a specific brand together or create a “Bestsellers” section for your most popular items.
- Highlight Seasonal and Promotional Items: Seasonal items and promotions can create a sense of urgency, encouraging customers to buy now rather than later. Use Magic Sorter to bring these items to the front of your category pages during peak times. For example, during the holiday season, you could place all holiday-themed products at the top of your category pages.
- Create a Logical Flow: The layout of your category pages should guide customers through a logical flow, making it easy for them to browse and find what they need. Consider arranging products in a sequence that mimics the customer journey. For example, if you sell clothing, you might arrange products by category (e.g., tops, bottoms, accessories) and then by price or popularity within each category.
- Regularly Review and Update Your Placement Strategy: Product placement isn’t a one-time task. To maximize its effectiveness, you should regularly review and update your placement strategy based on sales data, customer feedback, and seasonal trends. Magic Sorter makes it easy to make adjustments on the fly, ensuring that your category pages are always optimized for maximum sales.
Strategic product placement is a powerful marketing tool that can significantly impact your online store’s success. By placing products where they’re most likely to be seen and purchased, you can increase visibility, drive sales, and enhance the customer experience.
Whether you’re looking to highlight best sellers, promote seasonal items, or create a seamless shopping experience, Magic Sorter is the tool you need to take your BigCommerce store to the next level.
Scott Sanfilippo began his eCommerce journey in 1994 by co-founding one of the Internet’s first online retailers, TheFerretStore.com, which was acquired by PetCo in 2006. In 2001, he co-founded the eCommerce design and marketing firm Solid Cactus, which was acquired by web.com in 2009. Today, Scott is the General Manager of Your Store Wizards and lives in Delray Beach, FL. Scott can be contacted at scott@yourstorewizards.com.