Slotted Merchandising

You now have the flexibility to curate merchandising campaigns by placing products in specific positions without the overhead of managing pins. Slotted merchandising lets merchandisers position desired products in a slot array of consecutive positions; these can be managed with their own rules. You can use these slot rules to populate slots with products. For example, you could create a slot to display all available metals (silver, gold, white gold, rose gold) for a single product, grouped together in a four-position slot.

The primary goal is to reduce manual effort and the manual workarounds used to create a campaign with a specific aesthetic (such as placing complementary products together) using pins. Slotted merchandising helps to boost revenue by promoting the likelihood of cross-selling products.

Slot characteristics

Slots can occupy one position or multiple positions within a campaign, and multiple positions contained in a slot must be consecutive.

A slot can have a minimum of one product and a maximum of 20 products. Campaigns have a total of five slots that can be configured, effectively allowing you to manage 100 positions within a campaign.

Slots inherit the parent campaign's boost rules, but these can be discarded, updated, or added to. You can also customize banners and pins specifically for a lot.

To set up slotted merchandising, open the Slots Configuration toolbox.

Creating slots

To create a slot, click the "Add New Slot" button within the toolbox.

The system will display an expanded toolbox with any existing rules from the campaign. It will also display a blue bar across the top of the displayed products, directing you to use your mouse to click and drag across any cards to define your slot.

In this example, we will select positions 2-5 by clicking position 2 to select it, then drag the mouse across positions 3-5. All four products are now highlighted in purple, and this number is reflected within the blue bar spanning the top of the products display.

Click the "Create" button at the far right to create the slot. The slot will show a purple dotted line around the included positions.

Now you have the ability to add rules to the slot or to modify it as needed.

Note: Position selection for a slot can be made as long as it is continuous in any direction, i.e., left, right, up, down, etc.

You may create multiple slots; in the following example, we will create a slot that includes positions 8-10. Click one of the positions, then drag your mouse across the other positions to include.

Then click the "Create" button at the top right of the blue bar across the top of the screen.

Note: Each slot must have at least one rule.

In this example, we have added a performance-based boost rule related to average purchases over the past 30 days.

Adding rules

Slots inherit the rules of the parent campaign, but these rules can be discarded for the specified slot, and new rules can be added: boost rules, performance-based rules, and tie-breaking rules.

When you click "Add New Slot", the toolbox will expand and display any existing rules tied to the campaign.

In the example shown above, there are rules for warm weather and short sleeves, which don't apply to hoodies, so we will click the red minus sign (-) at the right of each rule to discard it for the specified slot.

Then we will click the "Add Rule" button in the toolbox and choose "Add Boost Rule".

Adding banners

Click the three-dot icon at the top right of the slot definition, then click "Add banner" to add a banner to the selected slot.

A new window will appear, where you will configure your banner.

Inline Banner Position

You will need to determine which position within the slot should be dedicated to the banner. In this example, positions 2, 3, 4, and 5 are available, since they fall within the slot. If you type a number outside that range, the system will display a warning in red, indicating that the position is not allowed or does not exist within the current slots configuration.

Instead, for this example, we will enter position 2.

Choose a Banner Type

You have three options; click to select one.

• HTML
• Image
• Video

Banner Type Configurations

The field(s) will differ depending on which banner type you have selected.

• For an HTML banner, you will see a single field where you can enter custom HTML code.
• For an image, you will need to enter the image URL, the target URL, and the title of the image banner.
• For a video, you will need to enter the video URL, the title of the video banner, and the width and height of the video.

Banner Preview

Once you have entered the text, image, or video information, the system will display a preview of the banner on the right side of the pop-up window.

Once you have customized your banner, click the "Add Slotted Banner" button at the bottom right of the window. You will return to the Slots Configuration toolbox.

Adding pins

You have the ability to pin items within a slot. In this example, we have four positions in the slot, and we are going to pin the red Stride hoodie to the first position within the slot. We will hover over the top left of position 4 and choose "Pin to Cursor", since the cursor is located right before position 2.

You may also pin items from the Product toolbox; position the cursor where you want additional items to be pinned, then navigate to the Products toolbox from the Slots Configuration toolbox.

From here, search for any products you wish to add; then click the plus sign (+) at the top left of any product to add it to the selected location within the slot. In the example below, we have pinned the Pivot Shell to position 2, and this is reflected in the list of items under the Products tab on the left.

Click the pin at the top left of any pinned product to unpin it, or manually drag and drop items into the desired positions to pin them there.

Note: If the parent campaign has a pinned item, you will not be able to create a slot over that position.

Search preview

When you click the "Preview Page" button in the Preview Modes section at the top right of the campaign editor, the system will open a new window and show you how the campaign will look to a customer.

In this preview, you will have visibility of any slots you have configured. In the example shown below, you will see a slot outlined in purple that includes four product positions, and you will see a slot outlined in green that includes two product positions. Use this preview to ensure the final result is appearing as expected.