Turn store aisles into an intuitive online catalog. Learn proven navigation, filters, and cross-sell strategies backed by research. Launch fast with StoreStudio.
Your customers already know how to shop your store. They walk to the right aisle, scan the shelf, check a few labels, then toss matching items in the basket. Your online catalog should feel just as easy. The good news is that the same merchandising logic that works in person also works on a screen, and the research on what helps shoppers find products is crystal clear. During Baymard Institute’s Product Listings and Filtering study, sites with mediocre product list usability saw abandonment rates of 67 to 90 percent, while slightly optimized toolsets saw only 17 to 33 percent abandonments for the same tasks, a potential 4x increase in leads according to the Baymard research overview.
StoreStudio specializes in turning brick-and-mortar catalogs into shopper-friendly online stores quickly and affordably. If you prefer a ready-to-launch partner approach, explore StoreStudio and how our managed setup, inventory sync, and local delivery integrations can help you go from shelves to sales fast.
Start with your floor plan and your customer’s mental model
The structure of your site navigation should mirror how people already think about your assortment. Clear category names beat clever ones because they carry stronger information scent. As the Nielsen Norman Group explains, users pick the link that promises the best payoff, and the label, surrounding context, and prior experience all inform that decision according to NN/g’s guidance on information scent. If a boutique uses “New Arrivals,” “Dresses,” and “Accessories” in-store, the top-level menu should use the same everyday words online, not brand-internal jargon.
On the homepage, avoid burying search. Baymard’s UX statistics note that 22 percent of sites do not present the search field prominently, which frustrates search-driven shoppers per Baymard’s UX stats. Place a clear search box near the top and ensure it is easy to find on mobile.
Turn aisles into collections and subcollections
Think of collections as digital aisles and subcollections as shelf segments. Group products so a shopper can browse by the decision they would make in your store. A grocer might use “Pantry” then “Baking,” “Pasta and Grains,” and “Spices.” A hardware store might break “Fasteners” into “Screws,” “Nails,” and “Anchors.” Keep the number of top-level items manageable and name them in customer language to boost click confidence, which tracks with the information scent principles from NN/g’s article.
On product listing pages, the visuals matter. Baymard recommends providing three or more product thumbnails on list items so users can evaluate faster, and notes that two images are often not enough for visual inspection in its best practices analysis. For food or household goods, display unit price alongside total price so shoppers can compare fairly, as their testing advises in the same report.
Filters that feel like shelf tags
Filters should collapse a wall of products into the few that match a shopper’s need. Baymard’s 2025 benchmark highlights five essential filter types most shoppers rely on: price, user rating, color, size, and brand, and it found that 51 percent of sites still fail to offer all five according to the Product List UX best practices article. Start with those five, then add category-specific filters like material, fit, dietary tags, or voltage.
Let shoppers combine multiple values within a filter. People often want black or navy, or under 25 dollars and 25 to 50 dollars. Baymard’s testing shows that making values mutually exclusive forces tedious back-and-forth and leads to abandonment, so allow multi-select, as detailed in Baymard’s findings on combining filter values. Also show an applied filters overview at the top of the results so users can see and remove filters without hunting through the sidebar, which aligns with Baymard’s applied filter overview guidance.
Finally, resist cramming all filters into a single horizontal toolbar if your category needs many filter types. Baymard observed discoverability and scope issues with horizontal filter bars at scale, recommending caution when there are many options as discussed in its horizontal filters analysis.
Sort and present like a friendly associate would
Shoppers often ask staff for cheapest, highest rated, best sellers, or newest. Provide those four sort options. Baymard reports that 68 to 69 percent of sites still miss at least one, which unnecessarily slows decision-making based on its essential sort types recommendation. Pair clear sorting with strong list-item content: readable prices, availability, and badges where they add value.
Baymard’s research also shows that mediocre product list UX is common, with 58 percent of desktop sites and 78 percent of mobile sites rated mediocre or worse for Product List performance according to its benchmark summary. Investing in filters, sort, and thumbnails is not cosmetic. It is conversion-critical navigation.
Cross-sell online like you do with end caps and counter displays
End caps and counter displays nudge discovery in-store. Online, recommendation blocks do the same job. A 2023 study cited by Shopify found product recommendations account for an average of 31 percent of ecommerce revenues, and McKinsey reports that personalization most often drives 10 to 15 percent revenue lift according to Shopify’s product recommendations guide and McKinsey’s personalization report. Place small, relevant modules at key moments:
On category pages, show Best Sellers or Highest Rated to create social proof and reduce choice overload, which aligns with shopper expectations mentioned in Shopify’s recommendations article.
On product pages, add Customers Also Bought and Frequently Bought Together. Keep sets tight and complementary, like flour plus baking soda, or drill plus bit set.
In cart, present low-friction add-ons that do not disrupt checkout. Tie them to the basket’s contents and keep quantities small.
Test placement and content. Even simple A to B tests can reveal whether a module works better above the fold, within the details, or just before checkout per Shopify’s AOV guidance. If you plan to self-manage your stack, the recommendation and bundling ecosystem on Shopify is deep and beginner friendly.
Do not forget the operational glue
Great navigation cannot overcome bad data. Sync inventory from your POS so the site reflects what is actually available. Ensure variants are combined into single products with clear swatches to avoid clutter and confusion, a pattern Baymard recommends in its guidance to combine variations in one list item within the Product List UX best practices. For local retailers, highlight local delivery and pickup options early, then show accurate delivery windows in the cart to cut uncertainty. On mobile, place search and filters high and avoid tiny tap targets, as Baymard’s mobile studies flag touch-size and proximity issues in the mobile UX stats.
If the to-do list feels long, that is exactly why StoreStudio exists. We design and implement catalog navigation, filters, sort, and recommendation placements so they match how your customers already shop. We also connect inventory and local delivery out of the box, then support your team after launch. See our story on the About page, skim practical guides on the blog, or reach out to scope your catalog and timeline on the Contact page.
