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Technological advances in retail and marketing have raised the bar of customer attraction to a
higher level. This is because people shopping online now have multiple options and for them to select one shopping site, they have to be quite impressed. First, the products you sell must obviously be quality and fairly priced. However, this alone is not enough as it is decent
competition on that front as well.
Having an impressive and immersive merchandising display can be just the edge a company has over the rest. The ultimate prize is getting customers to click on the purchase icon and bring revenue in. Online visual merchandising is a great means to this end. Let’s take a look at what it
entails:

What is Online Visual Merchandising?

Online Visual merchandising essentially refers to more engaging ways of visually displaying
products in an e-commerce store. This helps to better involve customers in the brand experience. Accordingly, a retailer finds the best way to connect to clients by using visual elements to enhance the customer’s overall experience. An immersive visual merchandising
the experience provides an experience that rivals an actual brick and mortar store.
This form of merchandising provides an engaging shopping channel that inspires customers to buy at every shopping level. Brands can effectively create richly engaging experiences to merchandise in smarter and more intuitive ways. Accordingly, retailers who deploy visual merchandising can have an uptick in average order value (AOV). Applied correctly, visuals can
effectively pull customers off the street improving conversions.

How Does Online Visual Merchandising Work?

Basically, visual merchandising enables companies and retailers to bridge the gap between
compelling photographic experiences and purchasing behavior. This means that you essentially
optimize existing product content through correct placement, strategic display and other
effective smart branding techniques.
Since the experience is visual, a clean and colorful layout is vital in this kind of merchandise.
Photos are the single most important marketing tool and they have to be of right color and clarity. Accordingly, always go for a professional yet visually stimulating. Since the goal is to get
an increase in Average order value (AOV), it is important to highlight product features which
allow customers to easily understand the product.

The name of the game is an interactive customer experience. A retailer, using visual marketing
solutions are then able to create compelling experiences for customers using mobile and tablet devices. Visual merchandising should aim at keeping the viewer longer on the site increasing
chances of a purchase.
Therefore, the aims of visual merchandising are to increase engagement, improve ease of use
and access, improve average order value and ultimately converting viewers to customers.
Accordingly, the retailer should be able to link the photos with purchase options. Without this,
customers may have to go manually searching for the product. It goes without saying that this can be a show-stopper.
Accordingly, visual merchandising shortens the journey to check out, driving up the AOV with many customers. Interestingly, most customers will not even notice the work put in to make the purchase easily. The trick is, therefore, to keep the customer engaged and psychologically
encouraged to make the purchase.

How to Effectively Merchandise

Almost every retailer with a significant presence now uses visual merchandising to improve
sales. These could be for any range of products that consumers need in due course. However,
not as many maximize their investments because they fail to effectively link customers to the products they see. This strong link is essential in sales and conversion.
Visual merchandising allows for multi-angle photography recording. This allows customers to view products in dimensions they would probably not get even with physical stores. Such
advanced graphics can create the customer experience you need to channel customer interest.
Viewing capabilities create engaging content. Besides, you can use easily purchasable product links. It goes without saying that you have to be versatile and creative. An example is the ‘add
to basket’ link which is probably a cliché now.
It is important to be dynamic and give the customer something they feel is unique. Moreover,
maintaining the right mood is vital. To achieve this, you can prompt browsers to identify a
product and click through. This allows the customer to feel in charge before going into detail and other functionalities. Accordingly, they can make purchasing decisions feeling like they are making a choice even though the great merchandising has left them with literally no choice.
Visual merchandising is great even for small catalog retailers. The amount of commerce on the internet justifies this investment even for small retailers. This is because the retailer has more
visibility even in a localized setting.

Placing the purchase links at appropriate locations on your site is also important. This is
because customers have to get to option of purchase when they are most immersed. As such,
you encourage the customer to click on the link after a remarkable feature, or a time the product is beginning to come into perspective. This ensures that customers feel that they are not being rushed into making a decision but rather are making an informed and rightful one.
This means that relevant information is essential. For instance, in a clothing merchandising video, you present viewers not only with product description but also how to wear. This provides browsers with engaging and rich content and allows them to buy the overall brand experience. This way, they can easily transition from prospective buyers to customers.
In summary, the main objective of visual merchandising is to make the customer journey short and effective. This means that their path from a moment of inspiration to making a purchase should be as smooth as possible. Visual merchandising, therefore, streamline that journey and
leverages the retailer’s most effective content to complete ease of purchase.

Is It Worth A Shot?

The simple answer to this is yes. This is because the online visual merchandising not only
makes customer experience smooth but also allows e-commerce managers to track views and customer interaction. The integrated analytics and conversion statistics facilitate the latter.
There is little doubt as to the competitiveness of modern retail space. The fight for customers is literally existential as technology has disrupted marketing fundamentally. Using this technology is not just a convenience but a necessity moving forward. There is definitely a direct link
between compelling visual content and converting browsers into buyers.
Because of this, retailers must explore this possibility as a way to increase order value. This is because there is great potential in the online retail space despite stiff competition. Using a
visual merchandising solution, you can channel customer interest into an immersive experience and hopefully a direct purchase. This has to be the way to go.

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