Analysis and Visualization of Metrics for Online Merchandising

While techniques and tools for Web marketing are being actively developed, there is much less available for Web merchandising. This paper contributes to the area of Web usage analysis for E-commerce merchandising. First, we categorize areas of analysis for Web merchandising such as product assortment, merchandising cues, shopping metaphors, and Web design features. Second, we define a new set of metrics for Web merchandising, which we call micro-conversion rates. The new metrics provide capabilities for examining data about merchandising in online stores, and detailed insight into the effectiveness of different Web merchandising efforts by answering related business questions. Third, we present a set of novel visualizations that explore patterns in micro-conversions in online stores reflecting in customer responses to various Web merchandising efforts. Through an empirical study using lookto-buy data from an online store, we demonstrate how the proposed starfield visualizations can be used to understand the shopping behavior in an online store and the effectiveness of various merchandising schemes it employs. Finally, we discuss the types of data required for this kind of visual analysis of online merchandising, and briefly describe how the data can be collected and integrated from an E-commerce site.