Product Discovery: A Practical Guide for Ecommerce

As more and more competitors enter the eCommerce world, focusing on effortless product discovery can make you stand out. While many eCommerce companies have invested years of data science and thousands of dollars to help shoppers find the products they want, a lot of retailers are now paying more attention to this science.

When your visitors are in the discovery phase of their customer journey, this is your chance to inspire them with your wide range of collections and latest looks or give them that “a-ha” moment that will push them to make a purchase. This is the moment product discovery comes in handy.

What Is Product Discovery?

Product discovery is a crucial process that helps you develop, design, and deliver exactly what your customers want from you. This can be done in plenty of ways, from visual and text search functionalities to shopping recommendation engine, intelligent tagging, and smart merchandising. Product discovery aims to pop up relevant products for your customers at the right moment.

Ecommerce Product Discovery Phase

The customer journey of an online shopper nowadays is much more complex and dynamic than it was in the past. It’s no longer a straightforward transaction. From online marketplaces to social media, there are now plenty of ways for customers to discover and shop for products.

To address the modern needs of your customers in terms of product discovery, you need to understand their behavior and lifestyle. You need to find out who they are, and how they decide and search for what to buy.

In the interconnected world we live in, consumers find inspiration at every turn, from blogs, websites, magazines, social media, celebrities, influencers, and their friends. However, you need to remember that consumers look at brands as a whole package – their values, service, brand story, experience, and products they offer. Everything from your sustainability efforts to your website loading speed is under a magnifier.

‍Younger generations have increased the shift to long-term online shopping, and you need to keep in mind they feel strongly about their style. Not only are they looking for brands with a similar aesthetic, but also brands that recognize what looks they’re trying to create.

Why Product Discovery Is a Must for Every Online Fashion Retailer

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Try and imagine a store with enough storage space to fit whatever you can think of, and one that sells an unlimited number of items. If this sound unbelievable to you, we’re here to tell you that such stores exist, and they’re called online stores.

However, even though it might sound like a blessing, it can also be a curse. A huge offer of items is not helpful when you can’t decide what you need or can’t find what you’re looking for. According to statistics, 94% of US consumers abandoned a shopping session because they received irrelevant search results.

With so many choices, people often experience a thing called the “Paradox of choice”, where they end up feeling dissatisfied and blaming themselves for making a bad decision. Luckily, with product discovery, more product data is categorized and available, which makes it possible to answer to the shopper’s needs more precisely and increase the sales of the retailer.

What Better Product Discovery Can Do for Fashion Ecommerce Businesses

Product discovery for fashion clothing eCommerce businesses can have a huge influence on developing brand loyalty and creating long-term relationships with customers. Below, we’re going to take a look at some of the advantages that a seamless product discovery website brings to eCommerce businesses:

• Your online conversion will grow when you meet your customers’ expectations. Moreover, as a result of the intuitive and pleasant customer experience you provide, you will achieve retention across all channels.
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• When you understand what your customers are looking for, you can make well-informed business decisions, predict trends, and manage your inventory better.
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• Product discovery and eCommerce personalization make shoppers feel understood, which isn’t an easy thing to do online.
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4 Proven Strategies for Fashion Retailers to Improve Their Product Discovery (+ Examples)

So, now that you understand what product discovery is, what you can do to improve the product discovery of your brand?

1. Use data and analytics

To improve your product recommendations, you will need many types of customer and retail data. These include source of traffic, product page and image engagement, search queries, landing page conversion, and so on.

2. Create a digital catalog

‍ An online catalog will provide your visitors with an immersive brand experience, where they can find plenty of products and make a purchase in fewer steps.

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3. Pay attention to navigation, search, and filters – The navigation of your website needs to be seamless for your products to be accessible.

For instance, even though the menu panel on Amazon seems overwhelming at first, customers who are looking for a specific product can find it right away. You should include text and visual search to your website, as well as filters that allow your visitors to customize their results by different factors like color, size, price, etc.

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4. Keep your homepage dynamic – Your homepage should not only grab the attention of your customers; it should also guide them to explore more of your products.

Showcase your latest product, or create trendy collections of your products with attractive discounts and promotions.

How Can AI Improve Product Discovery in Ecommerce

With the help of AI, you can suggest relevant products to your customers based on their behavior and make the shopping journey more engaging and fun. Artificial intelligence has completely changed the customer experience for the better.

According to research, 62% of UK millennials, and 70% of millennials in the US, stated that they would appreciate a retailer or brand using AI technology to show more interesting products.

This is very important, especially when you take into consideration that the number of businesses adopting AI grew by 270% in four years.

Conclusion

Even though eCommerce product discovery will likely evolve in the future, in the present it’s enough to make your product discovery an iterative and interactive process. Track and analyze the discovery process of your customers to improve their overall shopping experience. See how Pixyle develops solutions that help shoppers find exactly what they’re looking for. Start now and get ahead of the curve before your competitors.

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