What Is Product Taxonomy?

Q&A ProCategory: Catalog ManagementWhat Is Product Taxonomy?
Verline Nuzzo asked 2 years ago
1 Answers
Dani Avitz Staff answered 2 years ago
Imagine a library where none of the shelves are organized, and every book is in a random location. How difficult and frustrating would it be to find what you’re looking for?   It’s the same for online stores. Poor site navigation is a significant hurdle between your customers and the checkout button. Building a product taxonomy that takes item attributes into account is an effective way to categorize your offerings and improve the user experience.

Why Is Product Taxonomy Necessary?

Product taxonomies are not a minor consideration for a company. Businesses need a thorough understanding of what they’re selling to generate an easy-to-understand categorization.   If you visit any clothing store, you’ll notice products inside categories which further divide into sub-categories and so on. This method of management benefits potential clients who are just browsing around your store for interesting products. Because they don’t know exactly what they want yet, the categories help guide them to the parts of the store they find most interesting. Even buyers who already know what they want will receive helpful recommendations for related products when they look at other products in the subcategory. Overall, product taxonomy contributes to higher sales and better profit margins.

Product Taxonomy Best Practices

Taxonomy is more than just categorizing your products into helpful groupings. It involves website design so that finding what you want is easy. Some tips for improving the user experience this way include:
    • Enhancing the interface. Find a menu system that’s easy to use. Should you try dropdown menus, pop-ups, or just static menus? Should you focus on clarity or speed of navigation? Is the interface too cluttered?
    • Creating filters. While a customer might not care about the color of his next thermos, it’s always helpful to include a filter option for those that do.
    • Distinguishing between attributes and categories. Categorizations should be in a hierarchy, with specific subcategories stemming from general ones. Attributes usually do not require their own categories.
    • Using short and self-explanatory terms. Groups should be helpful, after all. If a customer can imagine what products are inside a group at a glance, it’s probably a suitable title.
    • Allow the same item in multiple categories if necessary, but be careful not to mix up stock or mess up shopping carts while doing so.
    • Including a search bar, but not relying on it. Don’t assume that a search function will be a suitable replacement for a proper taxonomy.
    • Focusing on the user. Knowing who your customers are goes a long way to building the ideal product taxonomy. What are their search patterns? What usually goes through their heads while they’re searching your store? Feel free to speak with clients directly.
Product taxonomy offers a variety of benefits to both the seller and the customer. Market researchers have objectively linked proper categorization and site layouts with higher profit margins, so ensure yours is up to speed if you’re selling online.