Magento 2 Merchandising: Types and Working

• What is Magento 2 Merchandising?

• Types of Magento 2 Merchandising

• Key Features of Magento 2 Merchandising

• How Magento 2 Merchandising Works?

• Challenges and Solutions of Magento 2 Merchandising

• FAQs

• Summary

What is Magento 2 Merchandising?

Magento 2 merchandising refers to the tools and features that help store owners organize, display, and promote products strategically.

The feature includes product sorting and filtering to simplify product organization. It allows drag-and-drop product arrangement and AI-driven recommendations like "Related Products" or "Up-sells".

Merchants can schedule promotions and use searchandising to optimize search results. Magento 2 merchandising improves user experience. It also helps save time by automating updates and providing flexibility.

Visual merchandising is a powerful solution for effective product management and sales optimization. It enhances customer engagement and boosts sales.

Types of Magento 2 Merchandising

Types	Explanation	Features	Use Cases
1. Visual Merchandising	It is a manual approach to arranging products visually on category pages. It is used for optimal presentation.	Drag-and-drop product arrangement. Pinning specific items to the top of a category. Rearranging products for promotional purposes. These include seasonal campaigns or featured collections.	It highlights holiday-themed items or trending products at the top of a category page.
2. Dynamic Rule-Based Merchandising	It automates product placement and category population based on predefined rules.	It automatically updates categories based on criteria like price and product attributes. Rules can include filters such as “products under $50” or “new arrivals in the last 30 days.”	It helps create a “Clearance Sale” category that dynamically includes discounted items.
3. Searchandising	It enables the optimization of search results to influence product visibility and discoverability.	It boosts or demotes specific products in search results. It helps create search rules for targeted product placement. You can add synonyms and alternative keywords to improve search relevance.	It helps promote high-margin products when customers search for related terms.
4. Seasonal and Campaign Merchandising	It aligns product displays with specific seasons and campaigns.	It offers scheduled content staging to update product displays at predefined times. Seasonal categories include summer collections or holiday deals. Time-limited banners and promotions tied to product categories.	You can launch a “Back-to-School” category with special discounts on supplies.
5. Analytics-Driven Merchandising	It uses customer behavior data and analytics to inform product placement and promotions.	You can identify top-performing products and place them prominently. Monitor trends to adjust merchandising strategies. A/B testing for optimal category layouts and promotions.	It highlights best-sellers based on recent sales data to attract more buyers.
6. Content-Based Merchandising	It helps integrate content into product pages, such as blogs, videos, or banners. It enhances the shopping experience.	It enables rich media integration to complement product displays. Cross-linking between related content and products. Storytelling through curated product collections.	It features a “How to Style” blog alongside a product category for fashion items.
7. Cross-Channel Merchandising	It ensures consistent product display and promotion across multiple sales channels. These include marketplaces, social media, and the main eCommerce store.	It offers unified catalog management for marketplaces like Amazon or eBay. Synchronizing product displays across mobile, desktop, and social platforms.	You can run the same promotion on your Magento store, Instagram shop, and Amazon listings.
8. Customer-Segment Merchandising	It helps target specific customer groups with tailored product arrangements and promotions.	Segment-based product visibility. VIP customers can see exclusive items. Customized pricing or offers for different user groups.	It offers a “Loyalty Member Discount” category that is visible only to registered members.

Key Features of Magento 2 Merchandising

1. Product Sorting and Filtering

• Magento 2 offers a variety of sorting options that allow customers to view products by:

  1. Price

  2. Relevance

  3. Popularity

  4. Newest arrivals

• The flexibility ensures customers find what they’re looking for quickly.

• Advanced layered navigation enables filtering by product attributes. These include color, size, material, or brand.

• It improves the browsing experience and increases the likelihood of conversions.

2. Product Recommendations

• Magento 2 leverages AI and machine learning to provide intelligent product recommendations. These include:

  1. Related Products

  2. Up-sells

  3. Cross-sells

• These features help boost average order value. It is by encouraging customers to explore complementary or premium products.

3. Promotions and Pricing Rules

• Magento 2 enables the creation of catalog and cart price rules to run promotions, such as:

  1. Discounts

  2. Buy-one-get-one offers

  3. Tiered pricing for bulk purchases

• Merchants can highlight discounted products within the catalog. They can also dynamically apply promotional pricing at checkout, encouraging customer purchases.

4. Personalization

• Integration with tools like Adobe Sensei allows for personalized product recommendations and dynamic content. It is based on:

  1. Individual user behavior

  2. Purchase history

  3. Preferences

• The personalization enhances the customer experience. It helps build loyalty and increase conversion rates.

5. Content Staging and Preview

• Merchants can schedule changes to:

  1. Product displays

  2. Category arrangements

  3. Promotions

• They can also preview these updates before they go live.

• The feature ensures that merchandising adjustments are accurate. It also ensures they align with specific marketing campaigns or seasonal events.

How Magento 2 Merchandising Works?

1. Setup

• The initial setup helps define the structure and rules of your merchandising strategy.

• Create categories and subcategories based on your catalog structure. Define dynamic category rules to include products based on attributes like:

  1. Price

  2. Stock Status

  3. Newness

• Set up product attributes, including color, size, and brand, to enable layered navigation and filtering. Use these attributes to customize product sorting and filtering options for customers.

• Establish sorting criteria for category pages. These include sorting by:

  1. Relevance

  2. Newest arrivals

  3. Price

• Define featured products or pinned items that you want to prioritize on specific pages.

2. Product Organization

• Efficient product organization ensures that customers see products in a way. The way aligns with their interests and your business goals.

• Access the Visual Merchandiser tool to arrange product positions on category pages. It is done via drag-and-drop manually.

• Pin high-priority products to the top of a page, such as:

  1. Best-sellers

  2. Seasonal items

  3. Promotional offers

• Automate product arrangement using dynamic rules, such as:

  1. Displaying items with the highest stock first.

  2. Prioritizing products with recent price drops or special offers.

  3. Automatically adding new products to "New Arrivals" categories.

• Boost visibility for high-margin or popular products in search results using searchandising rules.

• Configure synonyms or alternative search terms to improve product discoverability.

3. Campaign Management

• Merchants can use Magento 2’s staging and preview tools to effectively plan and execute merchandising campaigns.

• Schedule content updates for specific dates or events to:

  1. Product arrangements

  2. Category structures

  3. Promotional banners

• Ensure seasonal or time-sensitive products are displayed at the right moment.

• Review and test how product pages or categories will look before changes go live.

• Adjust displays to ensure consistency and alignment with campaign goals.

4. Monitoring and Optimization

• Tracking the performance of your merchandising strategy helps in continuous improvement.

• Use Magento’s analytics tools to monitor:

  1. Customer interactions

  2. Search queries

  3. Purchase patterns

• Identify which products or categories are performing well and which need adjustments.

• A/B test with different product arrangements or promotions to see what drives better engagement and conversions.

• Use real-time updates to respond to:

  1. Changing trends

  2. Inventory levels

  3. Marketing priorities

• A product can automatically be removed from relevant categories if it goes out of stock. Alternative products can also replace it.

Challenges and Solutions of Magento 2 Merchandising

1. Managing Large Product Catalogs

Manually organizing and updating the catalog can be time-consuming and error-prone. This is especially true for stores with thousands of products.

Solution:

• Use dynamic rule-based categories to automate product organization.

• Implement batch updates for attributes and pricing to make large-scale changes efficiently.

• Leverage the Visual Merchandiser for quick adjustments. You don’t need to navigate through endless lists.

2. Maintaining Relevance in Product Listings

Ensuring products remain relevant to customer preferences and trends can be difficult without frequent updates.

Solution:

• Set up automated rules to display products based on:

  1. Stock levels

  2. Sales performance

  3. New arrivals

• Use personalized product recommendations powered by Adobe Sensei. It dynamically adapts to customer behavior.

• Regularly analyze sales and customer behavior to refine sorting rules.

3. Optimizing Search Results

Search results may not prioritize high-margin or popular products. It leads to missed sales opportunities.

Solution:

• Use Magento 2’s search boosting feature to promote specific products.

• Configure synonyms and alternative keywords to improve search relevance.

• Monitor search queries through analytics and adjust rules to address gaps or low-performing terms.

4. Delivering Personalized Experiences

Providing tailored recommendations for diverse customer segments can be complex.

Solution:

• Leverage AI-driven tools to offer automated recommendations. These include:

  1. Related Products

  2. Up-sells

  3. Cross-sells

• Use segmentation tools to create customer groups. It helps offer tailored promotions or product displays.

• Integrate third-party personalization tools for more advanced behavior tracking and insights.

5. Handling Seasonal and Time-Sensitive Campaigns

Updating seasonal event categories and promotions manually can be labor-intensive and error-prone.

Solution:

• Use content staging and preview to schedule updates in advance for seasonal campaigns.

• Automate category updates based on data-driven rules.

• Preview changes to ensure accuracy and consistency before campaigns go live.

6. Limited Resources for Merchandising

Small teams or limited expertise may make it difficult to fully utilize Magento 2’s advanced features.

Solution:

• Invest in training or hire Magento-certified professionals to optimize merchandising efforts.

• Use Magento’s out-of-the-box tools like Visual Merchandiser. It simplifies complex tasks.

• Integrate third-party extensions to fill functionality gaps or enhance automation.

7. Analyzing and Adapting to Customer Behavior

Identifying trends and actionable insights from customer behavior can be overwhelming.

Solution:

• Use Magento’s analytics tools to track performance metrics like:

  1. Product views

  2. Conversion rates

  3. Search queries

• Implement A/B testing to determine the effectiveness of different merchandising strategies.

• Regularly update product displays and rules based on analytics insights.

FAQs

1. What is a visual merchandiser extension in Magento 2?

The visual merchandiser extension allows merchants to arrange products on category pages. It is done using a simple drag-and-drop interface. The tool enables quick adjustments to sort orders. It ensures top-priority products appear in the first position for better visibility.

2. How does category merchandising improve product organization?

Category merchandising automates organizing products into specific categories. It is based on attributes like price or SKU. Merchants can assign products dynamically. It ensures customers a more relevant and personalized product list.

3. How does Magento 2 allow merchants to assign products by rules?

Magento 2 offers dynamic rules to assign products automatically to categories. It is based on stock status, price range, or SKU criteria. It ensures new or updated items are instantly included in the appropriate categories without manual effort.

4. Can Amasty extensions enhance Magento 2 merchandising?

Amasty extensions enhance Magento 2 merchandising. It provides advanced features like rule-based product sorting and enhanced category management. These tools simplify managing drag-and-drop arrangements. It also sets the first position for key items.

Summary

Magento 2 merchandising simplifies online store product organization, display, and promotion. The article explores the types of merchandising, including:

• Visual merchandising offers drag-and-drop tools for manual product arrangement.

• Rule-based merchandising automates category updates and product placement.

• Searchandising optimizes search results and product visibility.

• Cross-channel merchandising maintains consistent product displays.

Boost your store’s performance and simplify product management with Magento 2 Merchandising. Pair it with managed Magento hosting for a high-performing online experience.