Merchandising options helps a merchandiser organize products in a way that they want them to appear in. You can promote/demote products (Boost/Bury), make a collection of products or fix a single product at a certain position on the search results page (sort/slot/pin), or simply remove products with certain attributes using Filters. By creating rules, you can:

Promote the best selling products from your catalog
Improve the conversion rates
Display the relevant products catering to the ongoing trends
Merchandise facets according to products displayed in the results

The Merchandise section has a two-panel interface where one shows the different merchandising options and the other shows a real-time preview of your results for a particular page. The changes are reflected on your site once you publish it.

You can:

Start merchandising
Create a landing page

To start merchandising, in the Merchandise section, click START MERCHANDISING.

Merchandising Options	Site-Rule	Field Rule	Page Rule
Boost	✔	–	✔
Filter	✔	–	✔
Sort	–	–	✔
Pin	–	–	✔
Slot	–	–	✔
Landing page	–	–	✔
Banner (with hyperlink to landing pages)	–	✔	✔
Redirect	–	–	✔
Facets	✔	✔	–

When you create a campaign, the products are displayed on the right side of preview on the screen. When you click the three dots of any product, you could see all the insights of the products.

Boost/Bury

Boosting within a page rule lets you promote (or demote) products for a particular page based on a specified condition. For example, a boost rule can be created for a category to boost products with field name “color” and value “red” to the top of the page results.

Boosting and burying can be done on 100 levels, allowing for soft boost and soft bury. Earlier, Unbxd used to support 3 levels of boosting (high, moderate, low) and just 1 level of demoting.

The mapping between old boost scoring to new scoring is mentioned below:

Boost of High in old scoring => Boost of level +40 in the new scoring
Boost of Moderate in old scoring => Boost of level +20 in the new scoring
Boost of Low in old scoring => Boost of level +10 in the new scoring
Demote in old scoring => Bury of level -100 in the new scoring

The boost levels above determine the position of the products (from top to bottom respectively) on a specific page integrated using Unbxd Browse, for example, Category, Brand, etc.

Common Application of Boost/Bury

Demoting ranking of products with low inventory
Promoting discounted products during clearance sale
Promoting private label brands in your e-commerce store

Existing use-case for boost is calling out slotting as a better alternative.

How to implement Boost?

To apply boost, select the attribute rule values. Attribute rule is created by selecting the field name which changes the comparator accordingly.

Field names can be either text fields or numeric ones. For example, fields like color, gender, fabric etc. are text value containing fields. Comparators are used for drawing comparisons with reference to a base value. The base value is the field name. When the field name is specified, accordingly an option from the drop-down menu of comparators is selected. If a text field is selected, the comparator can have following options:

If a numeric field is selected, the comparator can have the following options:

equal to: the exact match of the number. Like boost products with an average rating of 4
in between: display products of the fields with the specified range of numbers. Like boost products with a rating from 2 to 4
more than: the products displayed should be of the greater value of the specified number
Less than: the products displayed should be of lesser value of the specified number

The ‘value’ field contains the numeric or text value of the field

The Search Results page will list products depending on the level you choose. By default, the value is 1, which means the product will only be slightly boosted (soft boost). If you scroll the bar to make the boost value ‘100’ (hard boost), then the product will display at the top of the results page. To implement boosting select the attribute rule and adjust the level to define their position.

NOTE: While boosting on multiple attributes simultaneously, we recommend you create multiple boost groups with varying boost or bury levels.

For instance, you created a boost rule for ‘Bowling Shoes’ with field name ‘color’ and value ‘black’ to promote them to the top of the search results.

In this illustration, black bowling shoes are set to be boosted (or set to be shown at the top) within the Search Results page. Only setting Boost rules will however result in the search results page showing only black bowling shoes, ahead of showing bowling shoes in other colors. This results in a lack of variety for your shoppers. Slotting, in such case, can be used to promote a certain number of bowling shoes at specific rows.The boost levels should be selected carefully. Applying extremely high levels of boost can distort the relevance of search results and push the ranking of most selling products down which is not ideal. With these data points you can boost any number of products by adjusting the attribute rule.

In previous versions, Unbxd used to support 3 levels of boosting (high, moderate, low) with just 1 level of bury. In the current version, you can boost or bury at 100 levels, allowing for soft boost and soft bury.

Previous versions	Current version
High	+40
Moderate	+20
Low	+10
Demote	-100

To boost/bury an existing campaign in a Query Rule:

In the Merchandise section, click START MERCHANDISING.
On the Boost tab, select field name from the dropdown list.
Select comparator based on the field (equal to, not equal to, contains, does not contain).

Note: For the field “price”, comparator options are equal to, in between, more than, and less than.
Specify the value.
Move the slider to assign a boost level. The default value of the boost is Low.
To create multiple attribute rules for the boost group, click Add attribute rule.
To add multiple boost groups, click .

Tips: As a best practice, always assign different boost level across different boost group in order to get the desired arrangement of the results.

Sort

Sorting allows you to rearrange the search results based on certain fields in a particular order. Search results can be sorted in either numerical (ascending/descending) or alphabetical order (A-Z or Z-A) depending on the field value. By default, products are sorted by relevance to match your shopper’s intent. When a campaign has multiple sort rules, the first sort rule will have precedence over subsequent sort rules.

NOTE: You cannot create sort rules when boost/slot/sort rules exist.

Common Applications of Sorting

You can apply sorting price attribute to rank products based on their sale price while creating a rule for ‘Cheap shoes’
You can use the sorting rule to sort product based on user ratings to ensure highest rated products come first

How to implement sorting?

To apply sorting rules, select the field name based on which you would want to sort the products and display it on the search results page. The products for the selected field name can be sorted either in descending or in ascending order.

If you have created a sort group with the following attribute rules:

price (ascending)
color (A-Z), and
brand (A-Z)

The search result will be in this order:

Products sorted on price (ascending)
Products with same price sorted on color (A-Z)
Products with same price and color, sorted on brand (A-Z)

NOTE: You cannot create sort groups when a boost/slot/pin rules exist.

To create a sort group:

In the Merchandise section, click START MERCHANDISING.
Click the Sort tab.
Select the field name from the dropdown list.
Select sort order (ascending and descending or ascending A-Z and descending Z-A).
To add multiple attribute rules for the sort group, click Add attribute rule.

You have successfully created a sort group.

Slot

Slotting allows you to showcase products on the search results page within specific slots based on the applied rule. Slots are created by defining a range of the slots to display a particular category of products.

But how is the category defined?

Create the attribute rule for it. To define slots, create a filter of selecting the category of products. For instance, the attribute rule can be ‘Gender equals to Women’. The category of products is selected and then the display positions of the products in the form of slots is defined.

While boosting lets us promote ranking of all the products satisfying a rule, slotting lets us promote products by defining the exact position of the selected products on the results page.

NOTE: Slotting and Pinning rules can work alongside one another and with Boosting.

Common Applications of Slotting

In case you have partnerships with some brands. You can create slots to allot specific positions for products of the brand
New products/brands introduced in catalog can be given higher visibility in the initial phase by creating slots
Displaying featured products for queries

If you want to promote a specific brand of mobile phones when your shopper searches for phones, you can specify the attribute ‘brand’ and mention the slot you’d want the phones to be displayed in. Only the products that satisfy all the attribute rules will be shown in the slot. Each slot group allows you to define 10 positions.

Tips: To maximize the impact of slotting, we recommend you choose different slot ranges for different boost groups.

We create slots by choosing a range and selecting products for that range.

In this illustration, the first slot is reserved to display Lace Bras in stock. You can create slots according to their availability, brand, or color.

To slot products in an existing campaign:

In the Merchandise section, click START MERCHANDISING.
Click the Slot tab.
Specify the start and end positions of the slot range.
Select the field name from the dropdown list.
Select comparator based on the field (equal to, not equal to, contains, does not contain).

Note: For the price field, comparator options are equal to, in between, more than, and less than.
Specify the value.
To add multiple attribute rules for the slot group, click Add attribute rule.
To create multiple slot groups, click .
Only the products that satisfy all the attribute rules will be shown in the slot. Each slot group allows you to define 10 positions.

You have successfully applied slot options to your campaign.

NOTE: As a best practice, always choose different slot range for different boost group in order to get the desired arrangement of the results.

Pin

Pinning lets you position specific products within your Product Listing Page. Products can be positioned at any location by specifying the position number for products individually. On the pinning screen, we can see the product list with the placeholder to specify the position where you wish to display it.

Once the products are pinned, they are displayed at their new position for all the queries that match the attribute rule.

You can also upload/download a set of pins to re-use for another campaign.

Why apply pinning?

Pinning is extremely specific to fix the position of the products on the search results page. While with other merchandising options we can position a bunch of products, pinning allows positioning individual products.

NOTE: You can have certain products pinned at some positions & certain slots not overlapping with pinning positions. If it’s the second case the boosting pinning & slotting can be used simultaneously

Common Applications of Pinning

If you want to showcase iPhone XS when a shopper searches for phones, then you can pin iPhone XS to appear at a specific position within your PLP. The Console displays the list of products you can pin and the PLP as it would appear with the pinned products.

Manage (Pins > Manage) allows you to:

Upload Pins: Allows you upload multiple pins simultaneously as a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file.

Download Pins: Allows you to download information about pinned products as a CSV file

Download Template: Allows you to download the layout information as a CSV file.

Clear Pins: Allows you to clear multiple pins simultaneously.

In this illustration, three bowling shoes are pinned to the 1st, 2nd, and 4th position on the PLP.

To pin products in an existing campaign:

In the Merchandise section, click START MERCHANDISING.
Click the Pin tab.
Enter the position number, and then click .

To pin using CSV:

In the Merchandise section, click START MERCHANDISING.
Click the Pin tab.
Open the Manage dropdown next to the search bar.
To pin multiple products, you can:
1. Upload a CSV file of the product-position map
2. Download a CSV file with the existing positions, edit, and then upload.
3. Download a CSV template, edit, and upload
To remove all pins, click on Clear Pins.

You have successfully applied pinning rules to your campaign.

Filter

Filtering is the best way to create a manageable bunch of products for a search query to simplify shoppers’ experience. When shoppers type a query, they are bombarded with a thousand products on the results page. To make a choice out of them becomes difficult and therefore, applying filters saves the time spent scrolling on the site. Filters are created of the product attributes. The directed search visitors can apply a filter (select a product attribute) or multiple filters to move closer to their intended products. Similar to filtering in a site rule, filtering on query campaigns allows you to refine the search result for a particular query based on attribute values.

For instance, the query “Floral Shirts”, most of the people were searching for size LARGE. Then, create a filter rule already for floral shirts as “size contains large”. In this way, large-sized floral shirts show up whenever anyone searches for floral shirts. In this way, you cut the time taken by the shoppers to buy their intended product.

In this illustration, floral shirts are filtered by size.

To filter the products in an existing campaign:

In the Merchandise section, click START MERCHANDISING.
Click the Filter tab.
Select the field name from the dropdown list.
Select comparator based on the field (equal to, not equal to, contains, does not contain).
For the field “price”, comparator options are equal to, in between, more than, and less than.
Specify the value.
To create multiple attribute rules for the filter group, click Add attribute rule.
To create multiple filter groups, click .
Only the products that satisfy all the attribute rules and filter groups will be shown in the results.

You have successfully applied filter rules to your campaign.

Landing Pages

Landing page allows you to use a combination of filter, boost, pinning, slotting & sorting rules to create a customised results page. You start with all the products in the catalog. By using filter options, you can narrow down the set of products to the ones you want to include in the result set. This is followed by using sorting or a combination of boost / pin & slotting rules to define the positioning of products in the result set.For special occasions or SALE season, merchandisers generally create a special page of products related to the occasion. Those pages are called Landing Pages to make it easier for the shopper to make a season-specific purchase.

Common Applications for Landing Pages

Generating collections page for Christmas sale
Creating collections page to displays products of a specific brand
Creating collections page to display newly launched products
Creating a collections page to display relevant products when the results fetched from search query are not appropriate. For example, a search query for ‘Best Movies of all time’ may show irrelevant result if the information is not passed in catalog correctly. A merchandiser create a Landing page where they can pin the top 10 movies at specific positions. For example, Christmas season is coming and you want products catering to the festival from your catalog to be presented at one place. You can create a Landing Page with all the red and white themed clothes with special discounts.

To add a custom landing page:

Click Create Landing Page.
While this is similar to what you can do when you click Start Merchandising, when you click on Create Landing Page, you can boost/bury, sort, slot, pin, or filter products within your catalog to control their position on the search results page.

To add redirects,

Click Add URL. The Add URL button allows you to indicate the webpage you’d like your shoppers to be redirected to. This is useful when you want your shoppers to view related products relevant to your shoppers’ queries within the entire catalog. For instance, if you create a landing page for products related to Thanksgiving, your shoppers can be set to be redirected to this page anytime they search for a query related to products related to Thanksgiving.

You have successfully created a Landing Page for your campaign.

Set Banners

Banners are used to promote a product or brand, talk about special offers, or announce a sale. The Set Banners tab allows you to configure banners from your Unbxd Dashboard.

The Image URL field allows you to provide a URL for a specific image for the campaign.

The Landing Page URL allows you to specify the page your shopper will be

For instance, If you have an upcoming sale for the Christmas season, create a season SALE banner for the particular products.

In this illustration, we can see the Image URL part where you can put the URL of the banner image and URL of the page where the people will land after clicking the banner image.

To set a Banner experience:

After the merchandising step, click NEXT.
To set up banner using an image url, do the following:

a. Click Image url.

b. Enter the URL of an existing banner image.

c. Enter the corresponding landing page URL.
To set up a banner using HTML, click HTML, and then paste your banner HTML code.

You’ve successfully set up a banner for your campaign.

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Merchandising Options​