Category merchandising review
A four-week reading of one category: assortment, grid order, listing copy, and how those choices sit against actual conversion.
Merrion studio · United Kingdom
Category pages, read as a merchandiser would read them.
System Craftbase sits with the assortment file, the live grid, and thirteen months of listing conversion. We return a briefing you can take into a range meeting — charts included, arguments attached to named SKUs.
A practice for people who already run a catalogue
We do not sell a login. Helen, James, and Priya write merchandising reviews and conversion packs for UK shops that already export trading numbers. The work is visualisation in the old sense: charts on a page, captions that name the listing, and a recommendation a buyer can accept or refuse.
Most clients come when a category looks busy on the grid but orders have thinned, or when a seasonal buy is about to freeze and last year’s conversion has not been laid beside the proposed colourways.
Engagements we take on
Each engagement is a piece of writing with supporting charts. Fees follow the hours in the files, not a monthly product seat.
Conversion reporting pack
A fortnightly written pack that traces listing visits through to order, with notes on drop-off that merchandisers can act on.
Listing presentation audit
A walkthrough of product pages and category grids: photography order, size and colour presentation, and the claims that sit beside the add-to-basket control.
Seasonal assortment briefing
A written briefing before range freeze: colourways, size curves, and promotional windows against last season’s sell-through.
Trading meeting pack
A one-page agenda plus charts for the Monday trading meeting: movers, markdowns, and listings that lost conversion last week.
What clients actually said after the readout
The category review named three listings whose photography contradicted the size chart. We changed the first image and the add-to-basket rate on those lines recovered within a fortnight. I still wish the first draft had used fewer pages.
Marta Ellison, Head of merchandising, womenswear independent — Category merchandising review
I expected a pile of charts I would never read. Instead Helen walked the listing audit on a printed grid, marking where we showed the back of a jacket before the fabric. We still run a two-person team; this fitted that reality.
David Okonkwo, Founder, small menswear shop with a modest online range — Listing presentation audit
Sample briefings before you enquire
Anonymised pages from outdoor furniture, merino knitwear, and children’s trainers show how conversion charts sit next to assortment notes. They are not a product tour.