Opening an online store has become easy with the advent of numerous e-commerce platforms. However, running such a business successfully requires lots of planning and forethought. In this article, we are presenting some useful suggestions to create product categories for online stores. Effective product category pages with efficient navigation help shoppers in finding what they are searching. A logical and structured page plays a huge role in providing a good shopping experience and boosting sales.
A Canadian online clothing store approached a Vancouver-based web design company to create its website. The agency held discussions with the client to understand the kind of merchandise being sold by the store and the nature of the target audience. It then used the information to create effective product categories which helped in providing a good shopping experience to a majority of visitors. The following tips will help e-commerce operators in providing a similar experience to their customers.
1. Create Logical And Sensible Categories
The main objective of a category page is to provide customers with all the necessary information about the products of the store. The various categories of a shopping site must be created according to the preferences of the target audience. For instance, an apparel store will have to create gender-based classification as well as list products according to age groups. Categories like “Men”, “Women”, “Kids” etc. will be appropriate for such an outlet. Depending on the shopping choices of the customers, the store can also list products under labels like “Footwear” and “Accessories”. This gives visitors a fair idea about the kind of items being sold by the store.
2. Include Well-shot Images
Everyone knows that it is essential to use product images in an online store. However, merely placing any picture is not going to be enough. Hire professional photographers to click high-quality images of the merchandise. If your portal deals in selling other merchants’ goods, then ask them to provide well-shot pictures of their products. Moreover, include the zoom feature so that visitors can take a closer look at the items. It will also be helpful to provide an idea about how a product is used. For instance, the web development firm in Vancouver asked its client to get images featuring models wearing the clothes being sold by the website. This helped the visitors to check how a particular piece of clothing would look on a person.
3. Arrange Products In A Hierarchical Manner
The most logical way to list products is to arrange them in a hierarchical manner. This makes it easy for customers to navigate through a store and locate the desired items. The Canadian e-commerce website selling clothes created sub-categories under the main heading “Men”. The subgroups were given names such as “Formal”, “Casual”, “Shirts”, “Trousers” etc. This helps visitors in moving efficiently through a specific category and check out the products. Always remember to be consistent in creating hierarchies in all categories on an interface.
4. Optimize Category Content With Keywords
Most of us know that the product description needs to be optimized with relevant keywords. This helps a product page to appear in related search results. The same strategy can be used to optimize category pages too. When the Canadian business owner was launching the online apparel store, a majority of searchers were looking for “ladies’ trench coat”. The entrepreneur smartly created a new sub-category with the same name under the “Women” section on its store. This helped the page appear prominently in local searches whenever a user typed in the term. This is one of the most innovative tips for people looking to create product categories for online stores
5. Choose Appropriate Category Names
Many entrepreneurs look to be creative while naming their categories. They feel that this tactic gives a distinct identity to their venture. They may be correct but at the same time, it does not help visitors at all. The Canadian e-commerce operator wanted to call the “Footwear” category as “Kicks” thinking the slang will resonate well with the young crowd. However, she was discouraged from using the term experts told her how neither people nor search engines will get the meaning immediately. The category names must be descriptive providing a fair idea to users about the kind of items they can find in it.
6. Display Only The Necessary Information On A Category Page
A category page can be enhanced with numerous features but overwhelming visitors with too much information can be detrimental to the health of the business. Keep things simple and display the category name and a representative image. User reviews can also be included on the page as people like to see the feedback before making a buying decision. Business owners can also display price-ranges to help customers. Anything more than the basic details will only clutter the page and discourage the visitors from spending more time at the outlet.
Conclusion
Business owners must research their target audience before starting the process to create product categories for online stores. This will help in conducting the whole procedure in a planned manner and achieve the best results.
Author Bio
Jacob Graves is a Web designer by profession and he works for a firm which provides Logo Design Vancouver – FernWeb. He uses to write useful tutorials on Web design and socialize its different social media platforms.