Onsite merchandising in e-commerce: strategies for digital sales promotion

The significance behind onsite merchandising in e-commerce

Onsite merchandising is a sub-area of e-commerce marketing and encompasses all measures you can take to effectively present products in your online shop in order to positively influence the purchase decision. It is the digital version of typical sales promotion at one of the most important moments of the customer journey: the point of sale.

The core of onsite merchandising is the strategic interplay of:

• Product placement: e.g., cross-selling on product detail pages or bestsellers on the home page
• Personalization: individual product recommendations based on user behavior
• Assortment management: prioritized display of high-margin or sales-relevant items
• Content elements for product presentation: videos, 360° views, trust symbols, or detailed product information
• UX optimization: intuitive navigation, helpful filter functions, and sales-promoting page design

Onsite merchandising aims to present customers with the right product at the right time in the best possible way in the online shop—tailored, data-driven, and sales-oriented. This makes onsite merchandising crucial for brand management, customer experience, and shopping cart value.

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Onsite merchandising vs. onsite marketing

Although the two terms are often confused, they differ in their focus: onsite marketing forms the overarching framework, while onsite merchandising is a specialized sub-area that focuses on the targeted presentation of products.

Onsite merchandising therefore focuses on products and their optimal presentation in the online shop. The aim is to optimize the purchasing process and increase sales by specifically controlling product ranges, categories, and placements. Typical measures include targeted product placements, customized sorting, highlighting new or high-margin items, product recommendations such as cross-selling and upselling, and product bundles.

Onsite marketing, on the other hand, focuses on target groups and campaigns. It aims to activate visitors, retain them, and encourage them to take a desired action, for example through banners, pop-ups, personalized content, or campaign teasers. These activities are often part of a long-term communication strategy in which content and messages are tailored to the individual visitor.

In practice, however, it is not always possible to strictly separate the two areas. Many measures, such as personalized product recommendations or seasonal campaign placements, can fall under both onsite merchandising and onsite marketing, depending on whether the focus is on product presentation or targeting the target group.

Connection between onsite marketing and onsite merchandising (Source: Own representation)

Onsite merchandising pursues these goals

First and foremost, onsite merchandising should specifically control the shopping experience of store visitors and make it as sales-promoting as possible.

Important goals are:

• Increase relevance: Guide customers to interesting articles through personalized recommendations, clever product placements, and clear structure.
• Increase dwell time: encourage browsing with inspiring and interactive content
• Facilitating purchasing decisions: Seamlessly accompanying users from initial impulse to checkout
• Increase shopping cart value: encourage customers to buy more by offering suitable additional products (cross-selling) or higher-value alternatives (upselling).

Short-term vs. long-term measures in onsite merchandising

Successful onsite merchandising combines impulses for immediate purchases with strategies for the sustainable optimization of the product range presentation. It is worth distinguishing between short-term and long-term measures and combining both in a targeted manner.

• Short-term measures aim to boost sales quickly and increase revenue in the short term. These include temporary purchase incentives such as direct product discounts, exclusive coupon codes at checkout, flash sales, countdown offers, free shipping for a limited time, or special placements for selected items.
• Long-term measures improve the product experience and encourage repeat purchases. Examples include personalized product recommendations, strategic assortment optimization, cross-selling and upselling elements, product bundles, well-thought-out categorization, and the prominent placement of new or high-margin products.

The ideal strategy combines both approaches: short-term campaigns generate noticeable sales peaks, while long-term measures permanently increase the discoverability and attractiveness of the product range.

Comparison of short-term and long-term measures in onsite merchandising: comparison of focus points, examples, and goals (source: own representation)

Home

Love at first click? The home page is the most important entry point and therefore fundamental to your onsite merchandising. It shapes your customers' first impression and determines the rest of their customer journey. In our guide, you can read about how to design the perfect home page for your online shop.

Your customers can quickly find their way around on the home page. Here you can clearly display your product categories, highlight bestsellers, prominently place sale items, or present new products. For returning customers, a recommendation engine can also be used to display individual product recommendations, e.g., items that are regularly repurchased (drugstore products, pet food, etc.).

Important categories, top-selling products, and current sale items are prominently displayed on the Fritz Berger online shop homepage
(Source: Screenshot from fritz-berger.de)

Product overview pages

When it comes to product listing pages (PLPs), there are two types: category pages and search results pages. Both serve the key function of presenting customers with suitable products, either through navigation or search.

Category pages support targeted browsing within a product range, while search results pages serve a specific search intention. The targeted optimization of search results pages as part of onsite merchandising is also known as searchandising. Despite the different starting points, many onsite merchandising measures can be applied to both types of pages.

For example, you can prioritize certain brands or items in the results list to bring them more into focus. It is also effective to integrate banners as tiles in the product list or above the results to highlight specific products, promotions, or topics. These banners link directly to specific products or product groups and thus serve as targeted product presentations. In addition, you can control the sorting according to criteria such as popularity, new arrivals, availability, or margin to quickly guide customers to the most relevant offers.

The more intelligent and relevant the results display is, the more satisfied customers will be. This reduces the bounce rate and increases the likelihood of a purchase.

Rule logic: Targeted use of visibility

Rule logic allows you to control your onsite merchandising efficiently and automatically. Instead of moving products manually, you define fixed criteria according to which items are prioritized and displayed.

• Assortment logic: Products can be displayed ("pushed") according to performance, season, inventory, or business objectives such as sales, margin strength, or new products.
• Time control: In the backend, you can specify that certain products or areas are automatically displayed or hidden at a defined time—for example, at the start of a promotion or at the end of a season.
• Trigger-based campaigns: Seasonal or event-related campaigns can be triggered automatically using rules, without the need for manual intervention.

This ensures that your most important products are always visible at the right time—regardless of whether you want to sell off stock, promote new products, or highlight high-margin items.

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Targeting: From the product to the individual user

While rule-based logic primarily works on the basis of product range or time, targeting ensures that content, products, and placements in the online shop are displayed to the right customers at the right time. You can proceed at different levels of granularity—from product-based approaches to 1:1 personalization in real time.

Product-based Targeting

Individual products, brands, or categories can be highlighted specifically for those customers who are identified as particularly relevant based on their click and purchase behavior. Example: A new book release is preferentially displayed to users who have already purchased similar titles—whether on the home page, in the results lists, or via cross-selling on the product detail page.

Segment-based Targeting

Segment-based targeting is aimed at groups with similar interests or behavior patterns, such as "outdoor enthusiasts" or "frequent buyers of drugstore items." In onsite merchandising, this means that bestsellers or high-margin products can be prioritized for these segments, displayed higher up in the results list, or highlighted on the home page using targeted modules.

1:1 Personalization

The highest level of targeting is 1:1 personalization. From the very first click, product recommendations, sorting, or promotions can be dynamically adjusted in real time —even without an existing profile. For returning customers, previous purchases and interactions are taken into account, so that the entire product presentation is tailored even more precisely to individual needs. The result: a customized shopping experience that increases sales potential and boosts customer value in the long term.

Important: Balance between sales promotion and customer experience

Successful onsite merchandising only works when the interests of the customer and the goals of the shop are aligned. Products, banners, or promotions should be placed and prioritized in such a way that they encourage the purchase decision without appearing intrusive.

This means that while you, as a shop operator, want to promote specific brands or highlight certain items, the shopping experience for the customer should remain natural, relevant, and inspiring. Dynamic recommendations, prioritized products in results lists, or targeted campaign landing pages should fit harmoniously into the customer journey. This creates a win-win situation: the customer finds suitable products quickly and feels well advised, while at the same time supporting corporate goals such as increasing sales, selling off stock, or focusing on margins.