This document discusses the shopper journey through the stages of awareness, consideration, evaluation, purchase, re-engagement, and referral. It argues that applying the "science" of digital information architecture can help retailers improve their "art" of digital merchandising. Specifically, it recommends that retailers (1) establish robust taxonomies and metadata to organize products and dynamically display the right assets across channels, (2) implement product information management and digital asset management systems, and (3) use analytics to create accurate customer profiles and identify opportunities for personalized engagement and conversions at each stage of the shopper journey.

1. Copyright © 2015 Earley Information Science, Inc.
Applying Science
to the Art
of Digital Merchandising

2. Table of Contents
1 Digital Experience (DX) Defines the New Shopper Journey …..…. 03
2 The New Retailer Business Model .…………………………………... 05
3 AWAR E N E S S …………………………...................…….……….…. 08
4 C O N S I D E R AT I O N ……………………………………………..….… 12
5 E VAL U AT I O N ……………………………………………………....…. 16
6 P U R C H AS E …………...………………………………………………. 19
7 R E - E N G AG E M E N T …………………………………………..…..…. 21
8 R E F E R R AL ………………………………………………………….…. 24
9 Improving the Art of Digital Merchandising with the Science of
Digital Information Architecture ……………………………………..….. 26

3. Copyright © 2015 Earley Information Science3 Copyright © 2015 Earley Information Science
Product Taxonomy:
The Foundation for B2B Digital Commerce

4. Digital Experience (DX)
Defines the New Shopper Journey
1
4

5. 5
1 | DX Defines the New Shopper Journey
Technology and easy access to information has
transformed the way that consumer’s make
purchase decisions and buy products and
services. Information is at the consumer’s
fingertips and therefore, control is in the hands of
the consumer.
The shopper journey can take many forms as the
consumer moves through the stages of
AWARENESS – CONSIDERATION –
EVALUATION – PURCHASE – RE-
ENGAGEMENT – REFERRAL. Information-
hungry, price-savvy, empowered consumers rely
on in-store associates and displays, but also turn
to retailer and brand websites, online review
sites, online marketplaces and social media.
Mobile device usage is now the norm rather than
the exception, enabling seamless and ‘always on’
purchase and engagement options from
anywhere in the world at any time.
Not only has the shopper journey been
transformed, so too, have customer expectations
for authentic, entertaining and relevant content.
Consumers have expectations for being enticed
by a captivating product experience, at the right
channel touch point, at precisely their inspired
shopping moment.
There is a need to satisfy the immediacy of
that moment with alluring, relevant brand
storytelling that engages.
THE NEW SHOPPER
JOURNEY OFFERS
RETAILERS BOTH
OPPORTUNITY AND
CHALLENGE

6. The New Retailer Business Model
2
6

7. 7
2 | The New Retailer Business Model
Retail organizations must be guided by the
strategic and measurable goals of greater
customer loyalty and less churn, as well as
tangible measures of conversion rates, average
order value, reduction in online returns and a
wide range of supply chain measures. The new
shopper journey offers retailers both opportunity
and challenge.
It enables retailers to lure consumers at any point
along the shopping journey to create customer
experiences that truly differentiate, and to
continually re-inspire customer loyalty in
innovative new ways. But it also means that for
most retailers – they can’t do things the way they
used to!
Retailers can no longer just rely on branding or
long campaign gestation cycles. This new
purchasing / real-time personalization paradigm
requires a stepped-up go-to-market execution
that applies a type of ‘science’ ― a more
disciplined approach to the art of creating a
captivating shopper experience. Let’s examine
how retailers can apply science to the art of
digital merchandising.
We’ll follow Sarah as she moves through her
own personal shopping journey.
MOST RETAILERS STRUGGLE
TO KEEP UP WITH THEIR
OWN PRODUCT CHANGES
ACROSS TOUCH POINTS,
LET ALONE SHOPPER
CONTEXT

8. 8

9. AWARENESS
3
9

10. 10
3 | AWARENESS Gotta have it!
At this stage of the shopper journey the consumer may not know they are looking for
anything in particular. A consumer can be made aware of a brand or product offering
with or without the desire to purchase. Awareness can be based on a
communications message, word of mouth or independent discovery, so at this stage
social media in particular is a very important place to engage.
Retailers should begin ‘storytelling’ in social media contexts, like Pinterest. With the
introduction of Rich Pins for Products, Pinterest has become the platform driving the
lion’s share of social commerce revenue (not just higher traffic) for e-Retailers and
should count as a big factor in any mobile channel strategy.
Sarah sees the room of her dreams on Pinterest. Since she’s noticed her sofa is
worn out, she has been thinking about a re-fresh and now she is inspired to
make it happen. She notices the products available in the room are shoppable
right from the Pinterest Collection, and clicks directly through to the website
landing page for details about all the pieces in the room.

11. 11
3 | AWARENESS Gotta have it!
Keeping up with the fast clock speed of sCommerce, and keeping product assets
social-media ready and ‘shoppable’ is a significant challenge for most retail
organizations. Information like price, color, availability, size and digital assets can
become out-of-date. The ‘shelf life’ of product assets and information varies a great
deal depending on the social media context. In Twitter, the shelf life may be
seconds, minutes or hours, where in Pinterest, Facebook, the shelf life can be
weeks, months or seasons.
Here is where the science begins….
Aside from just a Pin It button sitting passively next to featured products, what Rich
Pins do is tie a lot of product information directly to the Pinned content. Retailer
name, brand, price, SKU, product description, availability, color, up to 6 images,
even promotional sales dates and related product pages can now go with the Pin
across the social network – and since Pinterest grabs all that info from the retailer’s
website, it’s never out of date when a Pinner shares or clicks through it.
When coupled with the cue that Sarah arrived on your site from a social media
platform, the shopper context signals AWARENESS while the product assortment
interest signals a LIFESTYLE FURNISHINGS collection.

12. To use Rich Pins to drive revenue, retailers requires a Digital Information
Architecture (IA) for ‘social commerce-ready’ product attributes. Mapping product
category colors to the Pinterest-standard color attribute is just one example of the
Digital IA agility needed during product item on-boarding.
Establishing a robust Digital IA requires better management of product information
and product level assets. The deployment of Product Information Management (PIM)
and / or Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems may be required. If already
deployed, maturing the Attribute Framework to accommodate both product collection
interest and shopper journey context is critical to intelligent DX.
12
3 | AWARENESS Gotta have it!
RETAILERS REQUIRE A DIGITAL
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
FOR SOCIAL COMMERCE-
READY PRODUCT AND
SHOPPER ATTRIBUTES

13. 4
13
CONSIDERATION

14. 14
4 | CONSIDERATION What are the options?
Consideration is one the most important parts of a shopper's journey toward a
purchase. In this phase shoppers are considering their options, such as similar items
that are available, cost of shipping, quality of the product, background information. If
done effectively, storytelling in social media will lure the consumer to the retailers’
websites where retailers can continue to engage the shopper to convince them of
the specific brand of products they should consider buying. This is the time to offer
shoppers objective information, such as reviews, ratings, comparison charts, and
educational information.
Once on the website two primary things become important―how well retailers have
been able to feature product collections in the ways that the consumer wants to
shop and how effectively shoppers can navigate and search the site to see the
collections they are most interested in.
Sarah has zeroed in on a 3-cushion, rolled arm style. She would like a linen
look, but wants it to wear well. She doesn’t shop for furniture often, and wants
to see more of what is new in the marketplace. She decides to browse, search
and compare online to see similar styles and options, with some pieces saved in
her cart and others in her wish list.

15. 15
4 | CONSIDERATION What are the options?
To ensure products are discovered by high potential prospects who are exploring the
site for consideration, retailers need to develop taxonomies that can reflect product
categories in the language of the key customer segments and provide adaptable
variations for product assortments by season, by lifestyle, by channel or device, and
by regional markets. With properly designed taxonomies, the online customer
experience enables shoppers to easily navigate to see full collections, including
related rich content assets.
In today’s digital commerce environment, each channel and customer touch point
requires a variation of a digital asset for the same product. Asset variations may
also be useful for situational shopping factors, such as seasonality, geography, local
weather condition, limited time marketing campaigns or even shopper journey
events (like weddings, household relocation, scheduled servicing, reordering or
replacement). The proliferation of channels and touch points is responsible for an
even bigger explosion in the number and type of assets under management by
retailers. It is no longer practical to rely solely on manual efforts to select the most
appropriate asset for a given context. Techniques in taxonomy and metadata design
are evolving to orchestrate dynamic presentation based on channel format, device,
customer segment, geo-location and other shopper journey events and
classifications. Touch point rules need to be defined as Marketing Attributes in the
taxonomy and assigned at asset tagging time by site merchandising teams.

16. Emerging trends include storing customer channel touch point rules directly in the
assets and organizing cross-channel asset collections with shopper event metadata.
Storing touch point rules with the assets enables the appropriate dynamic selection
and presentation of assets based on the channel being engaged.
Aligning asset collections, marketing content and product data with shopper
event metadata enables the appropriate assets and content to be shared in
real time when CONSIDERATION events occur, increasing shopper
engagement and differentiating the retailer.
16
4 | CONSIDERATION What are the options?
TAXONOMY AND METADATA DESIGN IS
EVOLVING TO ORCHESTRATE DYNAMIC
PRESENTATION BASED ON CHANNEL,
DEVICE, SEGMENT, LOCATION, EVENT
AND SHOPPER PERSONAS

17. 5
17
EVALUATION

18. 18
5 | EVALUATION What’s the best value?
At this phase of the shopper journey, the potential customer has decided they want
or need a product similar to the one the retailer provides, and they are narrowing
their choices. They are likely to start reading reviews, comparing product features,
evaluating quality and service differences, weighing influential opinions, and using
online and print (yes! long live the glossy magazine and catalog!) to research value
in detail. They may visit a store, pop-up shop or showroom where they can have a
more direct, tactile experience with their ‘short-list’ products.
Once again, a robust Digital Information Architecture will ensure that retailers are
able to provide value even before the purchase. Product comparisons, curated
relationships to higher value products for up-sell and ensembles or complete
collections for cross-sell can influence evaluation and perceived retailer value. They
After reviewing variations online, Sarah decides to visit the store (which posted
her favorite room on Pinterest) to see the collection first hand. She sits on the
sofa and likes the dimensions. She also talks with a Sales Associate who
recommends fabric choices, tells her about leather upgrade options, and shows
her other pieces in the collection at the store kiosk. She compares dimensions,
fabric grade, fill, service and price against her 2 other options on mobile.

19. 19
5 | EVALUATION What’s the best value?
can also potentially convince the shopper to expand the immediate purchase
selection. And when the personal touch of a sales associate is equally
knowledgeable about product information, as well as empowered with ‘eService’
incentives, the experience is powerful and convincing.
The progression from item-focused “product-informing” to themed collection and rich
content ‘story-telling,’ and eventually to event-focused, moment of truth ‘story-selling’
is best executed with a light, personalized touch at important consumer decision-
making moments. Consistently designed and deployed Digital IA enables retailers to
flexibly offer promotions and limited time offer incentives at every touch point and
channel during the shopper EVALUATION stage (e.g. white glove delivery service,
BOGOs, etc.). Better curated product data, content and assets not only differentiate,
but lead to higher conversion rates, larger average order values and minimized
product returns.
More engaging content with aspirational lifestyle and ‘how-to’ assets reassure
shoppers during EVALUATION. Product information is still important, but the
emphasis shifts to Storytelling and value-add cross-sell techniques. Collection
shoots and interactive videos driven by Marketing attributes are critical for pointing
to the collection of related products, services, promotions and content.
PROGRESS
FROM
‘PRODUCT
INFORMING’ TO
‘STORYTELLING’
AND FINALLY
‘STORYSELLING’

20. 6
20
PURCHASE

21. 21
6 | PURCHASE OK, I’ll take it!
Once the shopper has made the purchase decision, the conversion process must be
easy and seamless, with information that correlates across channels whether they
make the purchase online, at a kiosk or in the store with the help of a sales
associate. Customers who have made a purchase expect that information to be
known and acknowledged.
Retailers must align and engage cross-department stakeholders to establish the
governance, content lifecycle and publishing policies needed to ensure that valuable
content is created, managed and published efficiently and consistently within a
distributed but unified omnichannel workflow.
Frictionless purchasing requires frictionless operations, from supply chain to
every selling channel and associate.
Sarah is now happy with all her research and her choice. She tells the Sales
Associate she’s ready to buy. She is offered a new loyalty member incentive on
“white glove delivery” service with the purchase of a coordinating item, so she
decides to also order the area rug and arranges delivery for the following
week. She receives an email receipt, a delivery appointment that is easily
added to her calendar, and gets a personalized thank you for her purchase.

22. 7
22
RE-ENGAGEMENT

23. 23
7 | RE-ENGAGEMENT Now I want that, too!
Once the consumer has bought, they will very quickly form an opinion on the
product. If the opinion is especially positive they may spread the news of the
retailer’s brand via word of mouth promotion and positive reviews. Retailers will
want to develop ways to follow-up with the customer to ensure that whatever the
review, it can be improved or strengthened.
It's an established marketing fact that existing customers are significantly more
valuable as return buyers than a completely new prospect. The retail strategy for
interactions post-sale must encourage personalized follow-up that feels
authentic and delivers the next right product, service or encouragement at the
right contextual moment.
After her sofa and rug have been delivered, Sarah gets another email from her
Sales Associate telling her about new arm chairs that will be perfect with her
sofa, with 2 personally selected fabric choices that will coordinate with the
colors in the rug. Sarah has so much confidence in the Sales Associate and the
quality of the products and service that she immediately orders 2 chairs online.
She will get white glove service and the confidence that her pieces will match,
and never has to leave home.

24. 24
7 | RE-ENGAGEMENT Now I want that, too!
Here again, a robust contextualized information architecture can help. Extracting
deeper meaning from data and analytics can provide insights and intelligence to
create an accurate profile of customers including their behaviors and interests in
order to continue to create highly personalized interactions.
Establishing and managing a shopper event attribute model that extends to post-
sale scenarios, can help to identify ‘next right product or ‘next right service’
opportunities that continues to harvest conversions and can lead to long term
customer loyalty.
A SHOPPER EVENT
ATTRIBUTE MODEL
EXTENDS TO POST-SALE
SCENARIOS TO
HARVEST LONG TERM
CUSTOMER LOYALTY

25. 8
25
REFERRAL

26. 26
8 | REFERRAL You will love this place!
It is at this stage that the fruit of the retailer’s merchandising efforts are potentially
harvested with a satisfied customer that shares their shopping journey experience or
possible feedback of the products and services purchased. Feedback, positive or
negative is often shared, not only by word of mouth but also through social media
channels.
Retailers should be on the alert with a social monitoring approach to harvest
insights, capitalize on emerging trends, reward influential customers and
address potential moments of churn.
Sarah is thrilled with her purchases, and the quality of products and service she
has gotten. She posts pictures of her new room on Pinterest and Facebook and
recommends this store and Sales Associate to her entire network.

27. Improving the Art of
Digital Merchandising
with the Science of
Digital Information Architecture
9
27

28. The bar has been set high and retail organizations must step-up their digital
merchandising execution with considerations for how people, systems, process,
content and context intersect. An intelligent approach, design and deployment of
Digital Information Architecture will bridge traditionally fragmented product
operations, marketing, online channels, in-store and merchandising organizations to
enable greater collaboration, and help choreograph a delightful and consistent
customer experience.
To realize a digital commerce vision, aggregating, cleansing, enriching and
syndicating information from a wide range of enterprise systems, including Product
Information Management (PIM), Digital Asset Management (DAM), Web Content
Management (WCM), eCommerce platforms, Site Search, Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) and more is essential. Harmonizing, modeling and analyzing
cross-enterprise data from these systems is critical for taking retail execution to the
next level, and requires a DX information architecture framework that unifies data
and content for frictionless operations
28
9 | DX Art & Science through Digital IA

29. 29
9 | DX Art & Science through Digital IA
Winning in today’s competitive marketplace is defined by a retailer’s ability to truly
differentiate the digital experience in order to drive greater loyalty. Differentiation
can only be achieved by creating a personalized and contextualized shopping
experience that showcases product lines in innovative and informative ways, while
providing seamless navigation through a relevant and meaningful shopper journey.
A winning DX takes the art of digital merchandising to a new level, reached
and sustained through the science of Digital IA ― producing effectively
choreographed product information, digital assets and content marketing from
the supply chain through to every channel.
SATISFY THE IMMEDIACY OF THE
MOMENT WITH ALLURING,
RELEVANT BRAND STORYTELLING
THAT ENGAGES, AND DELIVER ON
AUTHENTIC, SEAMLESS SERVICE
THAT SUSTAINS LOYALTY

30. EIS – Retail
We help market-leading
brands succeed at
the speed of digital agility
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