In which order to display merchandise?

by newness, popularity, random, etc

[ffctas]

Hi,
Our web store carries thousands of used for the same purpose. We have, I think a very good search function and try to classify each subgroup appropriatley.

Still, some subgroups may contain hundreds of items.

Currently we display 30 per page based on their date of entry. This has the effect of pushing to the bottom (maybe up to the 10th page) the oldest items. In turn, these items sales are less.

What are some ways to display these items for customers? We have thought of random order. Any ideas?

Thanks
tom

[jo1ene]

Unless "time" has something do do with th usefulness of you product(s), I wouldn't use newness or dates of any kind.

If you're concerned that some products are not being seen by visitors and therefore not being sold, featuring popular products will only continue this trend.

So that leaves random by procss of elimination.

Of course there's always price sorting. I find this sort helpful when buying gifts. I'll assume the shopper has the option to change the sorting method.

You may want to put specials on your under-performing products and feature the specials first. See if that gets people to bite. If not, ditch the products.

[sun818]

When customers phone asking for a recommendation, I listen to their needs/requirements, and provide the best two choices based on their requirements. In the same way, if you can design your site to help buyers filter down the product listings based on their requirements, it will help reduce the confusion in shopping.

I often think of product sizes, colors, price, warranty, condition, etc as factors to consider.