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December 18, 2024

Improving Product Discovery and Conversions with Product Taxonomies: Categories, Collections, and Brands

The new Spree 5 admin dashboard puts product organization tools at your fingertips, making it easier than ever to create an intuitive shopping experience that guides customers to their perfect purchase. Through sophisticated taxonomy management, you can turn your product catalog into a well-organized showcase where every item is exactly where customers expect to find it.

Whether you’re running a fashion boutique where seasonal collections drive sales, an auto parts store requiring precise technical categorization, or a children’s clothing shop needing age-specific organization, Spree 5 provides the flexibility and power to create exactly the structure your business needs.

All about Categories, Collections, and Brands

  1. Industry-Specific Taxonomy Needs
  2. Multiple Category Trees
  3. Collection Merchandising
  4. Taxonomy Visibility & Product Discovery
  5. Taxonomy Tools

Understanding Industry-Specific Taxonomy Needs

Different industries require unique approaches to product organization, reflecting how their customers think and shop. Let’s explore some revealing examples:

Fashion Industry: The Multi-Dimensional Shopping Experience

In fashion retail, customers navigate through multiple decision layers. A woman shopping for running shoes doesn’t just need “shoes”—she needs women’s athletic footwear, in her size, suitable for her specific activity. The taxonomy structure must reflect this journey:

Primary Categories:

Collections become crucial for seasonal shopping:

Children’s Apparel: Age-Appropriate Organization

Parents shopping for kids’ clothing need clear, age-based organization to quickly find appropriate items:

Category Structure:

Collections that matter:

Auto Parts: Technical Precision

Auto parts require extremely precise categorization to ensure compatibility:

Hierarchical Navigation:

The Power of Multiple Category Trees: Different Perspectives for Different Needs

One of Spree 5’s most powerful features is the ability to maintain multiple category trees for the same product catalog. Think of this like having multiple floor plans for the same store, each designed to help different customers find what they’re looking for in the way that makes most sense to them.

Solution-Based vs. Technical Organization

Consider a home improvement store. A professional contractor and a first-time DIY enthusiast might look for the same power drill in completely different ways:

The DIY Category Tree might organize by project type:

While the Professional Category Tree organizes by technical specifications:

Lifestyle vs. Traditional Organization

A health food store might maintain multiple views of their product catalog:

The Lifestyle Category Tree:

Alongside a Traditional Category Tree:

Customer Segment-Specific Views

A fashion retailer might organize their catalog differently for different customer segments:

The Trend-Focused Tree:

The Wardrobe Basics Tree:

Business vs. Consumer Organization

For stores serving both B2B and B2C customers:

The Business Buyer Tree:

The Consumer Tree:

Implementing Multiple Trees in Spree 5

The platform makes managing multiple category trees straightforward:

This flexibility allows you to:

Remember, the goal isn’t to create complexity, but to provide clarity through different perspectives. Each additional category tree should serve a specific purpose in helping certain customers find products more easily. Spree 5’s powerful taxonomy management makes it simple to maintain these multiple views while ensuring consistent product information across all structures.

The Art of Collection Merchandising

Creating categories and collections is just the first step—how you present them determines their effectiveness in converting browsers to buyers.

Strategic Product Presentation

The most successful stores employ a mix of merchandising strategies:

Manual Curation for Impact

The top spots in any collection should feature your most compelling products. In Spree 5, manual taxons allow you to:

Industry-Appropriate Sort Orders

Different audiences have different browsing preferences:

For Luxury Fashion:

For Family Essentials:

For B2B/Wholesale:

Smart Product Tagging

Tags serve as powerful filtering tools that help customers find exactly what they need:

Lifestyle Tags:

Technical Tags:

Health Tags:

Maximizing Taxonomy Visibility

Creating perfect taxonomies only matters if customers can find them. Spree 5 enables strategic placement of your categories and collections across your entire store:

Homepage Integration

Navigation Enhancement

Product Detail Page (PDP) Cross-Selling

Content Integration

Leveraging Spree 5’s Taxonomy Tools

Spree 5’s advanced taxonomy management system makes implementing these strategies straightforward and efficient. The platform provides:

Taking the Next Step

Ready to transform your store’s product discovery experience? Spree 5’s powerful taxonomy management tools can help you implement all the strategies discussed above. Visit our detailed documentation at spreecommerce.org/docs to learn more about setting up and optimizing your product taxonomies, or schedule a demo to see these features in action.

Remember, effective product organization isn’t just about maintaining order—it’s about creating intuitive pathways that lead customers directly to their perfect purchase. With Spree 5’s taxonomy tools, you have everything you need to make that journey smooth and successful.

Check out this User Doc on how to manage product taxonomies.

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Written by: Michal Faber Spree Evangelist. Co-founder and CEO of Vendo.

Mike is a Spree Evangelist, promoting the platform's features and keeping the community updated on its roadmap. Mike is also a co-founder and CEO of Vendo, a major Spree contributor and provider of its Enterprise Edition, getting you more features, more security, more integrations so you can go live faster and get all the latest improvements first.

Let's use Spree to build exactly what your business needs

Get started See demo
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