Ecommerce merchandising organizes, presents, and highlights products to maximize revenue.
The world’s leading ecommerce marketplaces offer powerful merchandising lessons for merchants great and small. From Amazon’s dense deal grids to Etsy’s lifestyle collections, these sites show how merchandising can guide shoppers and drive sales.
To this end, I took screenshots this month of the home pages of 10 marketplaces and used artificial intelligence to spot common merchandising traits.
Anchor with Clear Value
Top marketplaces make discounts, bundles, and price points instantly visible to drive conversions. I observed many such signals, such as:
- “From $10,” “Up to 20% off,” and similar value language.
- Feature deal grids, daily savings, and limited-time promos.
- Highlight bundles or multi-buy offers.
| Marketplace | Clear Price Points | Implied Social Proof | Product Slots | Banner-to-Product Ratio | CTA Density |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | Yes | Yes | 74 | Balanced | High |
| eBay | Yes | Some | 66 | Product-heavy | Medium |
| Walmart | Yes | Yes | 80 | Balanced | High |
| Etsy | Some | Yes | 55 | Banner-heavy | Low-Medium |
| Target | Yes | Some | 70 | Balanced | High |
| Wayfair | Yes | Yes | 80 | Product-heavy | High |
| Overstock | Yes | Some | 40 | Banner-heavy | High |
| Mercari | Yes | No | 70 | Product-heavy | Low |
| StockX | Yes | Yes | 90 | Product-heavy | Medium |
| Newegg | Yes | Yes | 90 | Product-heavy | High |
On Walmart’s home page, a large and colorful block promoted “Sandals for the fam, from $10.” The banner cites Reebok, a prominent brand, presumably because $10 may be lower than shoppers expect.
Walmart’s home page banner cites Reebok, a prominent brand.
Setting a lower-than-expected starting point helps Walmart draw attention to this banner and the products it links to. StockX used a simple label, “Below Retail Price,” to anchor attention and communicate value.
StockX’s label, “Below Retail Price,” anchors attention and communicates value.
To signal value, Newegg used a combination of sales banners and deals, each labeled “Shell Shocker.”
Newegg’s home page displays several value anchors near the top.
Several marketplaces employed implied social proof with phrases such as “best,” “most popular,” and “trending” to suggest the value to other shoppers.
Many shoppers likely scan ecommerce home pages looking for just these sorts of signals, which match intent and product selection. Even smaller merchants can apply the tactic by adding price callouts on category pages, using badges such as “Best Seller,” and promoting limited-time offers.
Themes and Collections
Leading marketplaces organize products by season, lifestyle, or occasion due to their large SKU counts. StockX and Newegg, for example, each had 90 product slots on their home pages. Even Overstock, the marketplace with the fewest home page products, had 40.
| Marketplace | Thematic Grouping | Seasonal Relevance | Product Slots |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | Yes | Yes | 74 |
| eBay | Yes | Mild | 66 |
| Walmart | Yes | Yes | 80 |
| Etsy | Yes | Light | 55 |
| Target | Yes | Yes | 70 |
| Wayfair | Yes | Yes | 80 |
| Overstock | Yes | Yes | 40 |
| Mercari | Yes | Minimal | 70 |
| StockX | Yes | Light | 90 |
| Newegg | Yes | Yes | 90 |
Mercari, for example, had relatively few product category groups, which serve as secondary navigation and can be easily personalized for returning shoppers.
Mercari’s category groups are a second form of navigation, easily personalized.
Target had several seasonal home page sections, including one dedicated to the Fourth of July, while Wayfair included a banner promoting products for college students.
Target featured seasonal collections.
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Back-to-school (or college) is another theme to encourage shoppers, such as this example from Wayfair.
Themes and collections have several merchandising benefits.
- Align with shopping behavior. Consumers often shop for occasions (e.g., back-to-school) or needs (setting up a home office). Themes sync with real-world motivations.
- Encourage shoppers to buy more. Collections help shoppers who might need a rug to match the sofa, shoes to complement the outfit, and a set of red, white, and blue grilling tongs to pair with a Fourth of July apron.
- Reduce decision fatigue. Some merchandisers believe that thematic groupings minimize cognitive load. Instead of dozens of isolated SKUs, shoppers see cohesive options.
Merchandising with themes and collections makes a site feel curated and helpful, guiding shoppers from browsing to buying.
Match Buyer Intent
A third insight from these marketplace home pages is to consider the target shopper.
For example, Newegg organizes its 90 home-page product slots in rows of six items each. High-density, price-first merchandising works well for shoppers who are ready to purchase now.
Newegg displays a wide range of products to match shoppers’ interests.
Compared to Newegg, Etsy’s home page focuses on thematic groupings and lifestyle inspiration. The design is feminine. The merchandising targets discovery-minded shoppers who browse for ideas.
Etsy’s home page is relatively more inspirational and encourages browsing.
Amazon’s home page contained both collections and (dense) product grids. And more than other marketplaces, Amazon personalized the page to match buyer intent. Personalization is one of the most effective ways to convert shoppers. Even smaller shops can use personalization tools to mimic Amazon’s approach.
Amazon offers dense grids of personalized items.
More Inspiration
My study revealed three actionable merchandising ideas: demonstrate value, organize by themes, and match intent. Yet merchants can glean much more from walking the virtual aisles of the internet’s most successful stores.
