How to arrange your shop

[Former_Member]

Hi all, I would like to hear some ideas on how to arrange the items in your shop.
I now have 43 items in my shop - the bulk is made up of my screen printed designs on art cards, ACEOs and stretched prints, and I have a few other items (art quilts, chalk cloth and oil cloth items). I will be adding more prints gradually and hope to reach the magical number of 100 in a month or so ;-).

I have been playing with the order of the items, first had all designs grouped together (so all Dutch Houses first, then all the zebra prints, all the robots etc, with the other items at the end); now I try to show at least one of each design on the front page and the rest on the second page.

My feeling is that this looks not as 'ordered' as the first set-up did, but of course it does show the visitor more in one glance...

How do other people with lots of different items do this? Would love to hear your ideas. Thanks!

Linda @ Blue Jacaranda

[Former_Member]

Arg, I need to rearrange mine again as well. I do it once in a while. Depending on the time of year, I've been dragging timely items to the front page. Mine's a huge mess right now so don't even go there... hehe... but one thing I can say about yours that I noticed at a quick glance is that you should take your feature items off the front page so they're not on there twice and it makes room for a few more to be on the front. :)

[Former_Member]

I tend to rearrange my shop a lot. I usually try to feature my best photos on the first page (which is why page three has the worst photos in the shop). I also try to either group the photos by color, or make sure they are separated. It really just depends on my mood. Perhaps I should try to think more about it.

[ZehOriginalArt]

I guess there are lots of ways to do it, but I arrange by my sections. I put all the first section on the first page, then the following sections in order after that. Whenever I renew or list new items, I just move them right away to where they belong. Don't know if it makes any difference, but I like it better that way!

[Former_Member]

I have items all made from same material but all different accessories so I arrange by color. It seems to help with cohesion. I dont organize by like item because I'm afraid if I did people might think all I make is what they see on the first page.

[Former_Member]

I arrange by color themes. right now is mostly orange and fall colors, I will go more blues and white for end of nov and dec, Jan. Color is a big draw to people. Crate and barrel use it big time, as do some other of my favorite stores. I have lots of items in different media so colors is how I choose to rearrange. But only do it on first page.

[Former_Member]

Thanks everyone for your comments!
Stephanie, you're right about the featured items - I hadn't gotten around to changing them after rearringing the shop but will go and do it now! ;-)

[Former_Member]

Hi all, I had a brainwave and arranged my shop by colour - please take a look and let me know what you think! Thanks!

[Former_Member]

I love it! I really need to do mine, but it's a hassle on the iPad.

[Former_Member]

I like to have my items jumbled so customers can see the variety when they first enter the shop. My philosophy is that they can sort by section if they're looking for a particular type if item.

However, if there is anything that is visually very out of place I'll move it to the back of the shop so it doesn't interfere with the vibe.

[Former_Member]

I *was* sorting by section but i have to agree, jumbling them up seems way better. My thinking when i was arranging by section was if someone was looking at say, my sushi rings, they're a lot different to my poirot bracelets so it would be nice to have the next item showing be a sushi ring also. Now I have 3 pages of stuff and I worry about nice stuff getting lost, and also darnit, I love the feeling of snuffling around a store full of all different treasures, and I figure people might see something suprising and nice in the "more from this store" window. So today I am purposefully and artfully messing them all up together :D

I did a little test run a couple of days ago and without renwing, moved some older items to the front page - got favourites on them almost instantly where before they'd been quiet for weeks :) So yeah, I think ignoring section and newest order and going with whatever looks good is best - treat it like your shop window :)

[JoArtyJo]

Linda- it looks brilliant like that! It looks visually beautiful and also showcase your different styles, sizes, and price points!

I am having daily battles in my head about my shop and how it looks, I Thi k I need to stick to my black and white with an occasional flash of colour look. So I have gone with this on the front page. However I have a lot of other random styles and colours lurking behind! Think I may phase these out totally over time, really can't decide though- opinions more than welcome :-)

[BonniesSewCrazy]

I have my items jumbled, as Babs does. That way visitors see the variety of items I make.

Also, I place my newest items on the first page, jumbled as well.

[Former_Member]

I have my items all mixed up too so people see a variety of things throughout the different pages. I do try to keep my top viewed items spread out well so people might happen upon other things that have not has quite as much exposure. Not sure if it helps but we'll see.

[thatfamilyshop]

I've done it many different ways in the past... but haven't really been happy with anything though. Its tough with such a variety in your shop.

Guess you just have to think like your target customer would! :)

[Former_Member]

I try to group my listings together. Lately I have been rearranging my shop every week. Maybe I should go back in and put my best pictures first, that's a great idea.

As a buyer I like to see similar things together, especially for comparison.

[Former_Member]

Very interesting top read everyone's views on this subject - thanks!

Jo, I think your black and white with a dash of colour look is great and that you should go with it!

[Former_Member]

Hello all,

Would someone mind taking a look at my shop pretty please? It feels a bit of a mess at the moment and I've just been searching through here to find some tips!

I'm not sure if I should be arranging by colour, section, or maybe grouping similar items together?? I'm lost!

[Former_Member]

Hi all,

I'm sorry to be a bit dumb but how are you able to rearrange them? Do I have to relist them or is there some great gadget you can just move them into place?

Thanks//Diolch

p.s plus Linda I really like the colour section, it visually stunning for your shop, I think for myself my items would look better mixed because they're all sorts of colours.

[Former_Member]

Morgan, if you look at the bottom of your store front page you will see a button the says Rearrange Your Shop. If you click that you can drag items to diffrent pages of your shop. Don't forget to hit save after you're done!

[Former_Member]

I don't really rearrange in any order. Sometimes I remember to rearrange my shop. I like to put things that from my other pages (not on my first page) in my featured items. That way they get some visibility. But maybe I'll try arranging my whole shop by color or something. Good idea!

[JannisBitsAndBobs]

Morgan, first you have to enable custom sorting. Go to the top of the page and click on your shop name. On the left, look under "Shop Settings" and click on "Options". Under "Rearrange Your Shop," click on "Enabled." Go down to the bottom of the page and click the blue "Save" button.

Now, go back to your shop's page by going back up to the top of the page and clicking on your shop name again. Next to "Currently for Sale," click the blue link that says, "Rearrange your shop." You can sort and move things from there. :)

I group roughly by style and have been putting seasonal stuff on the first page. Right now, my front page is full of hearts. I'm not sure what I'll do next, maybe put some of my simpler items on the first page, perhaps all the pieces suitable for layering. Seeing your first page as your store window is a good idea, and we all know that stores change their window displays on a regular basis.

[Former_Member]

Thank you very much guys :-)

[Former_Member]

I was lost too when it came to organizing my shop. So now, I do it by the shop sections as they are listed in the side bar. Its a pain to have to go back and re-arrange after uploading new items though. Wish there was a built in way to do that when you actually list the item.

[Former_Member]

First attempt at tidying the shop, choose to arrange in products (greeting cards, badge sets/pin buttons, stickers, jewellery, commission, giftwrap).

Any opinions?

thanks//diolch
rebecca