The Situation
Modern commerce platforms ship with extensive merchandising capability, but most organizations use only a fraction of it. Merchandisers file IT tickets to update banners, promotions, and product rankings the platform can already do natively. Category page changes that should take minutes take weeks because the workflow runs through engineering. Seasonal campaigns require sprint work for changes competitors execute same-day, and new hires take months to reach full productivity because tooling documentation doesn't exist. The cost isn't just delay — the organization's merchandising capability ends up capped by engineering capacity rather than by business need.
The Value
By inventorying the merchandising tool landscape, measuring out-of-the-box utilization against what's licensed, and walking real workflows with the business users who run them, this engagement separates what's fixable through configuration and training from what genuinely requires investment — so quick wins ship immediately and the roadmap for everything else is grounded in evidence.
How It Works
- Tool Inventory — every tool in the merchandising stack (commerce platform, PIM, CMS, promotion engine, A/B testing) catalogued with ownership and dependencies.
- OOB Utilization & Workflow Mapping — platform capability assessed against actual usage, and 5–8 common merchandising workflows walked with business users to find where they hit IT dependency.
- Gap Analysis & Roadmap — each gap root-caused as configuration, training, integration, or genuine product limitation, then sequenced into a prioritized roadmap by effort and impact.
What You Get
| Deliverable | Description | Value to You |
|---|---|---|
| Tool Register | Complete inventory of merchandising tools with ownership, integration dependencies, and utilization status | Establishes a shared map of the merchandising stack across business and IT |
| OOB Utilization Report | Assessment of platform capability licensed versus configured versus actually used | Surfaces paid-for capability that isn't being realized |
| Workflow Friction Inventory | Common merchandising workflows mapped with friction points and IT dependency flagged | Pinpoints exactly where business users lose velocity to engineering handoffs |
| Gap Analysis | Root-cause classification of each gap — configuration, training, integration, or product | Separates quick fixes from items that require real investment |
| Merchandising Independence Roadmap | Prioritized recommendations for reducing IT dependency, with quick wins separated from investment items | A sequenced action plan the team can execute without further analysis |
Typical Duration
2–4 weeks. A single-platform environment with accessible configuration and documentation completes in 2 weeks. Multiple tools, integrations, or business units typically require up to 4 weeks.
Why Now
This assessment is especially valuable 6–18 months after a platform replatform, when training has stopped at go-live and workarounds have started to accumulate — the new platform begins to feel like the old one even though the capability to prevent that was already paid for. Closing the gap restores merchandising velocity and lets seasonal campaigns, promotions, and category updates happen at business speed instead of sprint speed.
Ready to Talk?
Schedule a call to discuss whether Merchandising & Business User Tools Assessment is the right starting point for your organization.
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