Grid order is a buying decision, not a design flourish
The sequence of tiles on a category page tells shoppers what you believe is worth buying first. That sequence should follow sell-through, not the photographer’s favourite look.
Journal
Field notes from files we were allowed to discuss.
These articles stay with merchandising choices: tile order, size curves, checkout contradictions, markdowns after a quiet weekend. They are not productivity essays.
Reading checkout drop-off without turning it into a panic memo
A spike in abandoned baskets is rarely a single broken button. Merchandisers need to know whether the listing promised a size, a delivery date, or a fabric that the checkout then contradicted.
Size curves that quietly kill conversion on otherwise popular lines
A dress that converts in 12 and 14 will still look like a failure if the buy is stacked in 8 and 18. Reports should show missing sizes beside conversion, not as a footnote.
Markdown timing after the second quiet weekend
Waiting for a calendar sale can waste two weeks of full-price conversion. A merchandising note should flag lines that have already told you they will not recover.
What a useful conversion chart actually shows a merchandiser
A chart that only plots a site-wide percentage is decoration. The useful version names the category, the listing, the device, and the week the photography changed.