Merchandising is a key consideration for e-merchants and eCommerce stores. It ensures that your brand, the on-site experience, and the products offered are immersive enough to convince visitors to explore and make a purchase.
Elements of your store such as the layout and content on the homepage, collections, product pages, search, and checkout should all work together to showcase your products in the best possible light. So, to get you well on the way to optimizing your merchandising prowess, here are some of the best apps on Shopify that you should try.
Related: E-commerce Visual Merchandising Strategy: All You Need To Know
The design and layout of your pages are of utmost importance when it comes to communicating your brand’s image and presenting your products. This is particularly vital on the homepage as it is where consumers will make their initial judgments of your store.
Whilst Shopify themes do provide merchants with some page-building options, they are often not flexible enough. Instead, try using one of these great page builder apps.
Rating: 4.9 stars
Price: From $15/month with a 10-day free trial.
Great for merchants who want to build pages with speed in mind.
GemPages is a popular all-in-one page builder that offers complete design control with ease thanks to its drag-and-drop system. The app comes with over 65 elements and 50+ pre-made templates suitable for a variety of sales and marketing needs.
Anna Sui uses an image effect to bring a sense of movement to the collections.
There are a multitude of design elements to bring the vision of your store to life. This includes images with effects, customizable CTAs, and tabs. If you have a knack for coding, Liquid elements can also be added so you can customize your pages down to the last pixel. E-merchants can include media such as banners and video on their pages, and enhance product display with color swatches and before/after images.
A standout feature of this app is it’s speed optimization. With lazy-loading, pre-loaded resources, and high-speed CDN, your pages are guaranteed to work without a hitch no matter what. Pages are also optimized for mobile as a standard.
Rating: 4.9 stars
Price: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $19/month.
Great for Shopify merchants of all design skill levels and sizes.
PageFly is a highly-rated app used by thousands of Shopify merchants thanks to its user-friendly interface and versatility.
Biion uses PageFly to create a versatile, image-rich homepage.
The app has an extensive library of elements to take your pages to the next level. This includes over 80 ready-made templates (they even have holiday-themed ones so merchants can instantly be ready for sales seasons), hero banners, slideshows, countdown timers, color swatches, and so much more.
The drag-and-drop system makes it super easy for merchants to build any page in their desired layout. Created sections can also be saved - the number will depend on your plan - so that they can be effortlessly added to any page you wish. Whatsmore, creating a variety of product pages and collections is lightning fast as they can be assigned with a simple tick of a box. All pages created are mobile-friendly as well.
Many shoppers begin their journey on an eCommerce website at the search box, and it is these customers who bring more revenue to your store. They are almost 2x more likely to convert than those who do not search. This means search should be a shining star in your merchandising efforts.
Both search and product sorting have the power to increase sales for products that align with your business goals and customer preferences. Let’s take a look at an exceptional app that is guaranteed to supercharge your search merchandising.
Rating: 4.9 stars
Price: From $19/month. 14-day free trial
Great for SMBs and enterprise stores that want powerful customizations.
If you aren’t already familiar with this app, Boost AI Search & Discovery is Shopify’s #1 search and discovery solution. The app is a powerful tool for searchandising due to the extensive features that will complement any promotions strategy.
Are there specific products you want to bring searchers closer to? With Boost’s Pin rule, Shopify merchants can set the position of a particular product in search results. This can also be applied to a group of products with preset conditions or a collection using Boost rule. How about outdated or out-of-fashion items? Let's use Demote rule to lower the ranking of them so your best offerings will show up higher in the search result pages or collection pages. You want to remove some products (like free gifts) from the listing pages? Boost's Merchandising will get you covered with the Hide rule.
IMPLEMENT VISUAL MERCHANDISING IN YOUR STORE WITH JUST A FEW SIMPLE STEPS - NO CODE NEEDED!
14-day trial - Instant installation - No card required!
Need to dive more into what’s in Boost AI Search & Discovery?
☑️ Explore our AI search features
☑️ Learn about the technology behind Boost AI: Inside AI Search Feature Of Boost AI Search & Discovery
Another great feature of the app is the use of visuals within the search box. As a user is typing their search query, popular search suggestions can be displayed alongside images of the product.
Rebag gives their searchers a head start by suggesting popular search terms and displaying their most desired products.
Additionally, to ensure a search always has the chance to result in a sale, synonyms can be created to merge the results of similar keywords, misspelled words are autocorrected, and shop owners can select products to display in case of no results for a search term.
Pro Photo Supply is able to include specialized filter options that are crucial to their customers such as mount type, focal length, and lens style.
To help shoppers get closer to their desired products, the app allows merchants to create any filter options they want to feature in collections and the search results page. Similarly, users of the app can now create custom sort options based on Vendor, Tag, Ratings, Published date, Percent sale, Metafields, and more.
Read more: Latest Updates of Boost Product Filter & Search in Q2/2021
Boost Product Filter and Search also gives its users access to analytics to help inform filters and filter placement, understand how customers react to search results, and gain knowledge of the types of products shoppers are looking for.
Providing personalized product recommendations is a must. It’s an expected component of the shopping experience that helps to provide a more pleasing experience and increase AOV.
Product recommendations enable customers to stay on your store for longer and dive deeper into your site. They should be found all over your site, from the homepage, collection, and product pages, to the cart and checkout page. Here are some top apps to help you achieve this for your store.
Related: All you need to know about online product recommendation and how to optimize it
Rating: 4.9 stars
Price: From $19/month. 14-day free trial
Yes, this wonderful tool for search, merchandising, and filter also offers a great product recommendation feature.
In all pricing plans & packages, users can intuitively create recommendation widgets on Homepage, Product page, Collection page, and Cart page (to spill the beans, Search result page and Thank-you page will be added shortly). What's more, there is no limit in the number of product recommendation widgets you can add to a page.
Some ready-to-use recommendation models are Newest arrivals, Bestsellers, Recently viewed, Most viewed, Hand-picked products, Trending products. If you purchase the AI-powered add-on or subscribe to a higher package, you will unlock Frequently bought together and Related items (including Complementary products, Alternative products, and the mix of these two).
Rating: 4.8 stars
Price: From $18/month. 15-day free trial
Great for stores that want complete control over how they recommend products and lots of options to do so.
Limespot uses AI to deliver personalized product recommendations in real-time on every page of a Shopify store.
Recommendations can suggest frequently bought-together products, upsells, cross-sells, bundles, and more. There are multiple ways for them to be displayed, such as carousel and grid.
Relevant product recommendations instantly surface on the homepage the moment visitors start exploring the store. (Source: Bohme)
The suggestions for upselling and cross-selling are based on recently viewed products, past purchases, items in cart in addition to the current product and related items. Creating a segmented recommendations strategy is also possible. The app enables its users to create audience segments from browsing history, purchasing patterns, device, location, and more. There is the option to segment customers in real-time as they are browsing too.
Some other notable features of the app include A/B testing, personalized storefronts, and dynamic collections that adjust based on customer segments.
Rating: 4.9 stars
Price: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $49/month. 14-day free trial
Great for almost all Shopify stores with varying needs due to a variety of price plans.
Wiser also uses AI to curate personalized recommendations based on a shopper’s browsing history.
Hallmark uses the app to help increase AOV by recommending complementary products to the one being viewed.
There are a number of product recommendations with this app including frequently bought together, related products, bestsellers, and new arrivals. Users can manually create a suite of products to recommend to visitors. These recommendations can be added to product pages, the cart page (if you are a Shopify Plus store), thank you page, and in emails.
The display options available are diverse. Some pop-ups are triggered based on exit intent, page scroll, and on click of add to cart. Wiser comes with an analytics feature that provides in-depth data to help merchants track sales via the app.
Featuring content from real customers is a surefire way to make your products shine. Reviews and ratings have very strong convincing power as they prove the legitimacy of your products. In fact, it is this type of content that shoppers are actively looking for. Moreover, UGC becomes even more influential and engaging when incorporating visuals such as videos or images.
You may also be interested in: How to Utilize the Benefits of User Generated Content
Take a look at how you can best include UGC in your Shopify store.
Rating: 4.9 stars
Price: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $23/month. 7-day free trial
Great for stores of any size that want a wide range of UGC and a variety of ways to display them.
Stamped Product Reviews & UGC is a comprehensive app that allows its users to choose from seven different types of UGC including visual product reviews on paid plans. They can be displayed on the homepage, product pages, and checkout page to build trust in your products throughout the shopping journey. There are a variety of layout options such as carousel, star rating on products, side drawer, and dedicated reviews pages.
LIV Body uses visual UGC to demonstrate product use and form a health-conscious community.
Besides gathering UGC from automated emails, SMS, and directly on-site, users of this app can easily include UGC from social media. A shoppable Instagram gallery can be added to any page on your store in an instant. There’s no need to worry about legalities as the app automatically seeks permission from the poster before it is added.
The reviews and content collected via this app aren’t limited to use on your Shopify store only. They can also be displayed in Google Ads, social media ads, and Google Shopping. Furthermore, the app integrates with Boost Product Filter & Search meaning searches and filters can include reviews.
Rating: 4.9 stars
Price: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $15/month
Great for any Shopify store looking for a simple and effective way to utilize UGC
Yotpo Product Reviews & Photos is a popular app with some great methods to collect and display UGC.
Steve Madden features a wealth of UGC throughout their site using the Yotpo app.
Reviews can be collected via automated emails and SMS in a highly-customizable way. Smart review prompts for customers to comment on high converting topics can be included alongside custom questions. This ensures the UGC is of the most relevance to your store and customers. Like Stamped, Yotpo supports visual UGC on paid plans only.
Your store's best reviews and highly-rated products can be shown on the homepage, category pages, product pages, and at checkout, ensuring that compelling content is surfaced at the moments of highest intent.
Users of this app can add shoppable Instagram galleries on those pages too. There is an automated process for requesting and securing the rights to customer content. It's also possible to share reviews directly to your social media pages. This will help drive engagement and increase the visibility of your products.
You can use Yotpo to increase the efficacy of your paid ads by using the content collected in Google Ads and Facebook Ads. Furthermore, the integration with Boost Product Filter & Search allows searches and filters to feature review ratings.
Merchandising is one of the key ways to drive sales on an eCommerce store. Although there are some merchandising capabilities inbuilt in Shopify themes, to really enhance the shopping experience, powerful apps with high converting features are necessary. With them, you can make a customer’s experience in your store so enjoyable that they are convinced to make a purchase.
