5 SaaS Tools to Streamline Merchandising Departments and Boost Profits in 2023
Whether it’s visual merchandising and product page upsells or advanced product sorting — your merchandising strategy matters.
It’s how potential shoppers and existing customers find your new products, and how you increase not just sales but AOVs.
Here’s the thing; the competition is heating up (online stores doubled in 2021 alone) and your merchandising strategies not only have to be stellar; they have to adapt in real-time to market, industry, and audience changes.
The only way to navigate this is with the right AI, machine learning and/or automation in place. This is where merchandising SaaS tools come in.
With the right tool, you can automate and optimize every element of your merchandising strategy, including product sorting, alerts, landing pages, personalization, analytics, and inventory management.
So, what are the best SaaS tools for merchandising that are worth investing in in 2023 to help your team streamline and optimize?
Let’s take a quick look at each!
1. Kimonix Advanced Product Sorting and Merchandising
Kimonix is an advanced merchandising and product sorting tool that factors in vital marketing and retail KPIs. Designed specifically for online retailers, this tool enables stores to build smart collection pages, A/B test them for peak performance, and then continuously optimize with built-in AI merchandising and inventory management technologies.
Main Features
- Offers retailers the ability to group certain products together in categories and collection displays
- Allows retailers to sort products by a multitude of parameters to create multi-segmented, automated categories and collections
- Includes built-in product sorting and collection testing to automatically optimize before implementation
- Ability to create personalized smart product collection landing pages for email marketing campaigns
Pricing
Kimonix includes a 14-day free trial and starts at just $19 per month.
2. SealApps Back in Stock Alerts
Back in Stock is a simple yet powerful merchandising tool that will help you bring shoppers back to your store. As the name suggests, this app will automatically email or SMS potential shoppers when certain products are back in stock. This boosts sales and frees up a lot of admin time for your merchandising managers to focus on other tasks.
Main Features
- Enables an “Email Me” or “SMS Me” button or pop-up on product pages
- Sends automated SMS or email notifications to interested shoppers
- Allows for easy email template edits and offers multiple languages
- Integrates fully with leading email marketing platforms
Pricing
Back in Stock includes a free plan for smaller or newer stores, with paid plans starting at $5 per month.
3. Yieldify Customer Journey Personalization and Segmentation
If you’re looking to personalize your entire online store journey, including merchandising touchpoints, then this could be a solution. Yieldify is a SaaS tool that enables retailers to better identify and address their current customers and new shopping segments. It is a robust service best suited for large, growing online retail brands.
Main Features
- Includes AI-backed audience segmentation
- Offers capabilities for full-funnel personalization
- Includes the ability to auto-identify personalization opportunities
- Offers robust AB testing
Pricing
The cost is tailored to each specific store’s needs and traffic volumes, and online retailers will need to request a quote.
4. Hotjar Advanced Analytics
You can’t build a high-performing merchandising strategy without a good snapshot of your store and customer analytics. A good SaaS option that helps stores see their customer journey, and product bottlenecks, is Hotjar. It is designed to help brands like you understand why customers aren’t making through merchandising to the checkout — which you can use to optimize or feed into your product sorting strategies.
Main Features
- Enables brands to create custom conversion metrics and KPIs
- Includes the ability to view all insights from one easy-to-use dashboard
- Integrates well with leading eCommerce platforms and thousands of popular apps
- Allows brands to extract and save key insights
Pricing
Hotjar offers a basic plan ideal for testing or for smaller stores, and their paid plans start at $32 per month.
5. Cogsy Automated Inventory Management
Another important part of merchandising is inventory optimization and management. Cogsy is a SaaS tool designed to help you streamline precisely this. This SaaS tool offers online stores an all-in-one place for reviewing stock levels, restock needs, incoming purchase orders, and upcoming marketing events. Ultimately, Cogsy acts as your head of operations for more predictable inventory management.
Main Features
- Enables sellers to create yearly, accurate demand planning
- Includes backorder and pre-order options
- Ability to view real-time inventory reports for all warehousing locations
- Includes built-in replenishment and purchase order alerts
Pricing
Cogsy offers a 14-day free trial, with paid plans starting at $49 per month.
Final Thoughts: Merchandising Strategies Have Never Been More Important
A recent Shopify Plus survey found six out of ten retailers reported lost sales due to out-of-stock products last year. And with supply issues only getting worse, merchandising and inventory management are vital. Not only to boost sales but drive long-term profits and growth during market declines and current economic shifts.
And having the right SaaS merchandising tool or service will be vital for you and your merchandising teams to streamline and adapt no matter what trends and changes come your way.
This list of SaaS tools for merchandising, highlighted above, is a great place to start.
Got merchandising questions? Reach out to our experts here.