Consumers are shopping online

Since the advent of the internet, more consumers have transitioned from shopping in brick-and-mortar retail locations to online retailers. This trend accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic and has since stabilised; however, it continues to grow steadily year over year. Although technology has developed rapidly, the relationship between brands, retailers and distributors remains as unsystematic as ever. At Eebz, our mission is to leverage state-of-the-art software driven by reliable data to help you sell more online, faster.

Source - Retail E-commerce sales worldwide from 2014 to 2027 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Merchandising

a brief history

During the glory days of physical retail, teams of merchandisers would be dispatched to brick-and-mortar locations armed with planograms, diagrams agreed upon by both the brand and retailer, often as part of a paid arrangement. These planograms dictated product placement, ensuring items were ranked based on demand and margins. The most in-demand, high-margin products were positioned at eye level to maximise visibility and sales.

“We used to hire dedicated people in key stores over Christmas to delve into the warehouse and pull out the stock. The stores were just so busy, with so much going on, that managing the store like this was the best way to win sales.”

Planograms were rigid, optimised using historical data, and unable to adapt to real-time fluctuations in demand.

Unlike in physical retail, where the objective is to occupy as much shelf space as possible to maximise visibility for potential customers, the digital shelf operates on a different paradigm. Rather than competing for physical space, products online must rank highly for product-specific or category-based search terms. A single brand may have dozens of products, each with a plethora of variants and SKUs; however, due to the form factor of digital devices and how consumers interact with them, only a limited number of products can be displayed at once. As a result, retail algorithms now serve as modern-day planograms, enforcing far stricter rules regarding Out of Stock (OOS) status, description and title optimisation, image compliance, GTIN/MPN matching and more.

Why is E-commerce different?

1. Retailers need more product information – High-quality images, detailed descriptions and specifications are essential for conversions
2. Pricing is highly transparent – Consumers can compare prices instantly, making competitive pricing crucial
3. Product visibility is limited – Unlike physical shelves, only a few products appear per search page
4. Discovery is algorithm-driven – Search rankings depend on optimised titles, descriptions and keywords
5. Stockouts disrupt sales and ranking – OSS instantly lowers visibility and impacts long-term performance

Digital Shelf Analytics to the rescue

1. Ensure pricing and attribute compliance – Share accurate marketplace data in an Article 81/82-compliant way
2. React quickly to stockouts – Minimise ranking impact and recover lost sales faster
3. Optimise PDP execution – Maintain brand consistency and maximise product visibility

For example, if a retailer assigns an incorrect SKU as the hero SKU for your product, this will discourage potential buyers resulting in a loss in visibility and a drop in sales.

White Goods’ such as fridges, tumble dryers and washing machines often have long-winded and complicated names. Rather than remembering these, consumers rely on the Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs) or Manufacturer Part Numbers (MPNs). If a product listing lacks an accurate GTIN or MPN, pre-converted customers won’t be able to find it via search, resulting in lost sales.

Click here to view details about our Eebz Digital Shelf app