Merchandising Overview

Merchandising Overview

Merchandising gives you control over which products appear in Nobi's search results and where they're positioned. Use merchandising rules to promote seasonal items, manage inventory visibility, and align search results with your business priorities.

What is Merchandising?

Merchandising lets you influence search results without changing your product data or waiting for algorithm updates. You create rules that tell Nobi how to handle specific products or queries:
  • Hide products - Remove items from search results entirely
  • Boost products - Increase prominence of specific items in results
  • Bury products - Decrease prominence without completely hiding items
  • Slot products - Place specific items in exact positions for certain queries
These rules work alongside Nobi's semantic search to ensure customers see relevant products while respecting your merchandising strategy.
A preview of Nobi’s merchandising screen in the dashboard
A preview of Nobi’s merchandising screen in the dashboard

Why Use Merchandising?

  • Manage seasonal inventory - Hide winter coats in summer, boost swimwear in spring
  • Promote campaigns - Boost sale items or new arrivals for specific queries
  • Control visibility - Bury low-stock items without removing them completely
  • Test positioning - Pin products to specific slots to test customer response
  • Align with strategy - Ensure search reflects your current business priorities
Merchandising ensures Nobi's AI-powered search serves both customer needs and your business goals.

How Merchandising Works

Create Rules

Set up rules in the Nobi dashboard by defining:
  • Action - What to do (hide, boost, bury, or pin)
  • Conditions - When to apply the rule (product attributes, customer location, date ranges, queries that trigger the rule)
The rule builder interface for slotting products
The rule builder interface for slotting products

Rules Apply at Search Time

When customers search, Nobi:
  1. Retrieves relevant products using semantic search
  1. Checks active merchandising rules
  1. Applies matching rules to modify results
  1. Returns final ranked list to customer
This happens in milliseconds without customers noticing any delay.

Merchandising Actions

Hide Products

Completely remove products from search results. Hidden products won't appear no matter what customers search for (unless you specify query conditions).
Use cases:
  • Out of season items
  • Discontinued products
  • Items not ready for sale
  • Region-restricted products
Learn more about hiding products →

Boost Products

Increase product prominence in search results. Boosted items appear higher in rankings without being pinned to specific positions.
Boost strength:
  • Weak boost
  • Medium boost
  • Strong boost
Use cases:
  • Promote new arrivals
  • Feature sale items
  • Highlight high-margin products
  • Push excess inventory
Learn more about boosting products →

Bury Products

Decrease product prominence without completely hiding them. Buried items appear lower in rankings but remain findable.
Bury strength:
  • Weak bury
  • Medium bury
  • Strong bury
Use cases:
  • De-emphasize low-stock items
  • Reduce visibility of low-margin products
  • Deprioritize older inventory
  • Manage discontinued items during transition
Learn more about burying products →

Slotting (Pinning) Products

Place specific products in exact positions for certain queries. Pinned items appear in their designated slots regardless of relevance score.
Use cases:
  • Feature hero products for brand queries
  • Promote specific items for seasonal searches
  • Control first impression for key queries
  • Test product positioning
Learn more about slotting products →

Rule Conditions

Control when rules apply using conditions:

Product Attributes

Match based on product data:
  • Product type - "Shoes," "Dresses," "Accessories"
  • Vendor - Brand or supplier name
  • Tags - Product tags like "sale," "new," "seasonal"
  • Collections - Products in specific collections
  • Price range - Products within price brackets
  • Stock status - In stock vs out of stock

Visitor Location

Apply rules based on where customers are located:
  • Country - Show/hide products by region
  • Exclude locations - Hide for specific countries

Search Queries

Trigger rules only for specific searches:
  • Match exact queries like "running shoes"
  • Apply to query patterns
  • Multiple queries per rule

Date Ranges

Schedule rules for specific timeframes:
  • Holiday promotions
  • Seasonal inventory shifts
  • Limited-time campaigns

Rule Priority and Conflicts

When multiple rules affect the same product:
  • Hide always wins - If any rule hides a product, it's hidden regardless of other rules
  • Boosts and buries stack - Multiple boost/bury rules add together (e.g., +15% + +15% = +30%)
  • Slotting override ranking - Pinned products appear in their slot regardless of boosts/buries
  • Query-specific beats general - Rules with query conditions take precedence over general rules

Best Practices

Don’t outsmart the machine

Merchandising is best used for inventory management and campaigns. Any time you change the order of results that show up, there’s a chance that conversion rates will drop.

Start Simple

Begin with one or two clear rules (hide out-of-season items, boost sale products). Add complexity as you understand impact.

Use Query Conditions

Apply boosts/buries to specific queries rather than globally. This targets merchandising where it matters most.

Monitor Performance

Track conversion rates on merchandised items. If boosted products don't convert, reconsider the boost.

Don't Over-Merchandise

Too many rules create unpredictable results. Keep your rule set manageable and review regularly.

Test Changes

Create rules, monitor for a week, then adjust. Merchandising is iterative, not set-and-forget.

Warning: Ranking Modifications

Boosting and burying modify Nobi's AI-powered ranking algorithm. While this gives you control, it can reduce overall search relevance if overused.
Tips to avoid issues:
  • Use low/medium boost/bury strengths (weak to medium)
  • Apply to specific queries rather than all searches
  • Monitor conversion rates to ensure changes help rather than hurt
  • Remove rules that don't improve performance
Nobi's default ranking is optimized for relevance and conversions. Merchandising should enhance, not replace, that foundation.

Getting Started

Step 1: Access merchandising in your dashboard under Products → Merchandising
Step 2: Create your first rule (we recommend starting with "hide out-of-stock items")
Step 3: Preview affected products before saving
Step 4: Monitor performance in Analytics & Reporting
Step 5: Refine rules based on results

Learn More

Hiding Products - Completely remove items from search
Boosting Products - Increase product prominence
Burying Products - Decrease product prominence
Slotting Products - Place products in exact positions