What Is Search Merchandising (Searchandising), and How Can It Benefit Your Business?

What makes eCommerce search successful? Part of the answer, of course, is deploying a solid search engine that can accurately interpret shopper queries and display results that customers find relevant.

But simply having a great search engine at your disposal is often not enough on its own to optimize the value that search brings to your eCommerce business. To take the power of search to the next level, online retailers must also be able to leverage techniques like search optimization and machine learning to deliver personalized search results that align with sales and marketing goals.

This is where search merchandising comes in. As we explain in this blog, search merchandising makes it possible to double-down on the value of search as a vehicle for enhancing the customer experience, boosting eCommerce conversion rates and maximizing business success.

What is search merchandising (searchandising)?

Search merchandising (also called searchandising) is the art and science of presenting search results in ways that account for relevancy, shopper intent and business objectives. The purpose of search merchandising is to call shoppers’ attention to specific items or types of items that the business wants to promote. Search merchandising works by taking the results generated by a search engine, then modifying them in some way that adds value. Examples include:

  • Personalizing search results by highlighting products that a specific shopper is most likely to find relevant based on their search and purchasing history.
  • Dynamically presenting facets and filters based on shopper context making it easier to find products.
  • Highlighting products that have a higher profit margin than other products. In this way, search merchandising would help the business boost its profitability.
  • Promoting closeout items to free up space for new stock. This strategy would help the company achieve its inventory management goals.
In short, instead of simply relying on the results generated by a search engine to determine how products are presented, search merchandising leverages analytics, shopper behavior and other contextual signals, along with marketing and sales goals, to enhance the effectiveness of search results.

How does search merchandising work?

Typically, search merchandising strategies are driven by a combination of three types of data. The first is information that reflects customer goals and intent, such as a shopper’s purchasing history and click-stream behavior. The second is data from backend systems that track revenue, margin, stock status, ratings and reviews, and availability (among others). The third is data associated with marketing and sales priorities, like products that the company wants to promote. By configuring search to deliver results based on each type of insight described above, online retailers can ensure that each search generates results that are optimized for the needs of the business and shoppers.

Why is search merchandising important?

The main reason why ecommerce search merchandising is important is straightforward enough: Search plays a central role in helping shoppers find products on online shopping sites. By ensuring that search results align both with shopper preferences and marketing goals, search merchandising maximizes the value that search brings to eCommerce businesses.

To place those statements in context, let’s dive a bit deeper into the significance of search in eCommerce and why generic search results – meaning those that have not been merchandised – often fall short.

43 percent of visitors head straight for the search box when they open a website, and shoppers who use search functionality are more than twice as likely to purchase products as those who don’t. This means that the better your site’s search is at leading shoppers to relevant results, the more likely it is to drive sales and increase revenue.

Unfortunately, not all search engines are fully optimized for the task of connecting shoppers with the most relevant products and enabling business success. To achieve those goals, online retailers need search engines that are not only capable of interpreting shoppers’ intent accurately, but that can also tailor search results in ways that help support business goals.

The three pillars of effective search merchandising

The most effective search merchandising strategies are based on three essential practices: Leveraging AI and machine learning, providing business users the ability to merchandise search results and optimize shopper experience. Let’s dive a little deeper into what each of these “pillars” of search merchandising entails.

  1. Leveraging AI and Machine Learning

    With this approach, there is no need for employees to configure curation criteria manually each time the data changes. Instead, retailers can simply define overall goals – like increasing profit margins or aligning search results with marketing campaigns – and let the search engine customize each search result accordingly.

  2. Merchandising Search Results with Human Touch

    Merchandising search results with human touch brings a unique, shopper-centered perspective. By carefully selecting and promoting products and brands that resonate with shoppers, merchandisers can create more meaningful connections and guide shoppers toward the best options. This personalized approach allows online retailers to shape search results in ways that align with shifting preferences, seasonal trends, and brand identities. Doing so makes it possible to leverage search in support a variety of priorities, including:

    • Product promotions: Search merchandising can help businesses promote certain products that they want to prioritize. Just as important, it can bury or exclude others.
    • Personalized search results: Each shopper is unique. With search merchandising, retailers can dynamically optimize search results for individual shoppers based on data like purchasing history – as Migros did, for example, with help from FindTuner.
    • Shopper-specific results: Sometimes, as in B2B eCommerce, certain products may only be available to certain customers based on factors like the region the customer is located in or the type of relationship it has with the retailer. With search merchandising, eCommerce sites can ensure that the products each customer sees are actually available for that customer.
    • Collection-based merchandising: Effective search merchandising makes it possible to group certain products together. For instance, if you want to highlight products related to an upcoming holiday, you could tailor search results accordingly.


  3. Optimizing the Shopper Experience

    When implemented effectively, search merchandising can help optimize the overall shopping experience.

    For example, a solid search merchandising tool can generate dynamic facets – meaning facets that are generated automatically based on the product data returned from a shopper’s query. Because dynamic facets reflect the unique context of each shopper’s journey, they can help with filtering search results and finding relevant products quicker. In turn, dynamic facets help to boost conversion rates and revenue.

    Along similar lines, search merchandising enables facet customization, either by machine learning or human touch. For instance, a site could use machine learning to display facets that allow shoppers to sort product results based on brands they’ve purchased previously or price points that align with their prior purchasing behavior.

    Search merchandising can also power visual navigation which helps shoppers find what they’re looking for faster. For instance, a search for “appliances” could provide a list of results with prominent visual elements that draw shoppers’ attention toward popular categories of appliances, while deemphasizing appliance types that may be of less interest.

    Displaying banners helps capture shoppers’ attention and guide them toward specific promotions, products, or categories, enhancing their overall shopping experience. Banners can highlight special deals, new arrivals, or trending items, making it easier for them to discover relevant products and feel inspired to explore further. Strategically placed banners add a visual, curated layer to the search experience, encouraging higher engagement and driving conversions.

    Through practices like these, search merchandising not only helps online retailers achieve their sales and marketing goals, but also enables the smoothest possible shopping experience for customers.

Search merchandising best practices

In virtually any form, searchandising can deliver major advantages to retailers. But to get the very most out of the it, eCommerce companies should consider best practices like the following.
  1. Start with a Strong Foundation

    Effective search merchandising begins with search results generated by a well-tuned search engine. When the search engine accurately interprets shopper queries and delivers relevant results, merchandising efforts can focus on enhancing rather than correcting those results. By starting with a strong foundation of precise, reliable search results, businesses can use merchandising techniques—like product promotions, banners, and custom ordering—to add value, spotlight key items, and create a cohesive shopping journey that truly resonates with shoppers.

  2. Combine Automation with Merchandiser Control

    Combining machine learning and AI with merchandiser’s insights enables search merchandising to achieve scalable, impactful results. AI and machine learning analyze vast amounts of data quickly, identifying patterns and optimizing search results at scale, while merchandiser control enables alignment with brand values and evolving trends. This approach allows retailers to manage large product assortments effectively, balancing efficiency and personalization to create search experiences that feel both relevant and thoughtfully curated at scale.

  3. Perform A/B testing

    A/B testing is essential in search merchandising because it allows retailers to understand what truly resonates with their shoppers. By comparing different versions of merchandising strategies—such as product placements, banners, or promotions—businesses can identify which approach drives the most engagement, conversions, or satisfaction. This data-driven approach enables continuous optimization, ensuring that merchandising decisions are informed by real shopper preferences, which ultimately leads to a more effective, responsive search experience that aligns with evolving shopper behavior and business needs.

  4. Implement no-code search merchandising

    To get the most out of search merchandising, businesses shouldn’t have to devote the time and expertise of their software developers. Instead, they should adopt no-code and low-code solutions, like FindTuner, that allow business teams to configure the criteria that shape search results.

    With this approach, anyone involved in eCommerce – merchandisers, product managers, search managers and beyond – can configure search without having to learn special technical skills or tools. In addition, no-code or low-code search merchandising helps ensure that retailers can update search strategies quickly. They don’t need to begin preparing months in advance to update their search engine’s configuration so that they’re ready for a holiday sale, for example. They can also react quickly to changing market or inventory conditions by factoring them into search results.

Getting started with search merchandising

Because search merchandising involves multiple techniques and complex technology, it might seem challenging to begin benefitting from the practice at your business. But when you choose a solution like FindTuner, that’s not the case.

FindTuner’s search merchandising capabilities enable anyone to define the criteria that power personalized search. Whether you want to promote important products, tailor the search experience to different types of customers, target certain shopper attributes or all of the above, FindTuner’s low-code/no-code approach makes it easy to do so.

Learn more by requesting a demo.

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