Making best use of Categories

There are three things that Categories can accomplish. They can:

1.       Help the shoppers, who know exactly what they want, to find the product that they are looking for.

2.       Help the shoppers, who almost know what they want, to find a product that matches their desires.

3.       EnNce the shoppers, who have almost no idea of what they want, to explore your store.

We would like to organize our store so that our Categories accomplish all these goals.

However, these goals are oGen mutually exclusive.

For example, suppose you create an electronics store. In addiNon to many other products, your store sells MP3 players, including Apple iPods. A Category called iPods would help the shoppers who know that they want an iPod, as they can quickly find one. However, the iPods Category doesn't do much to help shoppers who know that they want an MP3 player, but don't know what kind.

On the Web, you usually search something when you know what you want. But when you're not sure about what you want, you usually browse. In an online store, you usually begin browsing by selecNng a Category. When you are creaNng Categories for your online store,

try to make them helpful for shoppers who almost know what they want.

However, what if a high percentage of your shoppers are looking for a narrow category of products? Consider creaNng a top-level Category to make those products easily accessible. Again, suppose you have an electronics store that sells a wide variety of items. If a high percentage of your customers want iPods, it might be worthwhile to create a Category just for those few products. The logs from the Search funcNon on your site are one way you can determine whether your shoppers are interested in a narrow Category of a Product. Are 30 percent of the searches on your site for leGhanded fishing reels? If so, you might want to create a top-level Category just for those Products.

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