How many times did you hear your mom tell you to never run with scissors or be careful, you’ll cut yourself? We all did. Instinctively we avoid sharp objects and that has unknowingly worked against retailers.
Michelle Adams, PepsiCo’s vice president of customer strategy and shopper insights, told the LEADS conference last month that they are finding that rounded fixtures and shelving are delivering more sales than those with Continue reading Merchandising: The Future Is Round »
Brian Wansink in Hemispheres magazine
I was waiting for the snow to clear, de-icing to commence and basically to get to Florida a couple weeks ago when I picked up United’s in-flight magazine Hemispheres.
Brian Wansink from Cornell University shown at right was profiled along with his work to get kids to eat better in the school cafeteria. I encourage you to read the article by Edward Lewine entitled, Meal Plan was a fascinating study of how humans behave. Continue reading Should You Be Tricking Customers To Buy? »
In preparation for a speech to toy retailers, I spent a lot of time studying toy stores; how they look, how they display, where they’re located. One thing that sticks out though is how so many load their stores with merchandise that they love ,then stack it altogether. This results in gobs of individual products face out, just like the big boxes do.
No signage. Nothing to draw our attention to certain features and benefits. Nothing that explains the educational component to the toy, just stacks of stuff.
Period…
The thing that makes specialty retail work is the discovery aspect. That’s why your store has to be laid out in such a fashion that relationships are obvious to those who don’t know your merch.
The higher priced or more profitable items need help in a crowded world and often have to go it alone as employees are rarely there at the moment of discovery and decision to convince the customer to pay full price.
And this goes the same for just about every specialty retailer whether your gift store, jewelry store, hardware store, you name it. You are able to take different items and group them together so shoppers purchase more than they may have initially expected to. That’s what makes great retail: profits.
It’s not stocking the shelves full of box after box after box with the exact same product all hermetically sealed. That’s the big-boxes.
When you make co-ordinated selling displays, you make shoppers stop and take notice. If the relationships still aren’t as obvious as they need to be, come up with compelling words that will help.
Just sticking a price in front of an item does nothing to enhance its value. So find ways to excite. For example “Our best-selling scooter, indestructible, balanced, and light weight now comes in electric red.”
The battle for the dollars has never been sharper, if you’ve got piles of merch to sell, or you’ve ordered lots of merch for the holiday, don’t make the mistake and just “put it out.” To compete with the mass merchants like Target, Wal-Mart and the like – you can’t look like them.
To learn more about merchandising your store get your hands on a copy of The Retail Doctor’ s Guide to Growing Your Business.
[Merchandising and display are covered more extensively in my new book, The Retail Doctor's Guide to Growing Your Business (Wiley & Sons.) You can download a free chapter at the end of this post.]
1. Change your displays monthly . Holidays and seasons only last so long, and promotional goods have a short shelf life. Display new arrivals first.
If you ordered merchandise meant to go together, keep it together. You don’t want its first appearance to be diluted. Later, the few items that may be left can be grouped with new arrivals to give them a new look.
If you ordered red Valentine candles from one vendor, mugs from another, and teas form another, wait for them all to arrive. Don’t put the candles out first as a sole item and lose the potential add-on-sale.
2. Display wants. Don’t choose to display prominently products the customer already needs ; those are what they are coming in for. A customer responds to things they want.
So don’t display the cheap hand mixer when the fancy KitchenAid is what every Emeril wannabe desires. Just because they need a mixer, doesn’t mean they won’t treat themselves to the expensive model if it is displayed well. Continue reading 10 Insights To Merchandising Your Retail Store »
Discounts. You’ve heard that’s all anyone will open their wallets, purses or smartphones for. So you jump on the bandwagon. When that doesn’t work, you offer more.
That fear is often what leads to articles like last week’s Wall Street Journal, Small Retailers Feel Pinch of Big Discounts.
In it one retailer is quoted that they, “will provide 20% to 50% discounts through December. Many of our clients live in Manhattan and if I don’t do something to entice the customers, they … will get a better deal in the city.” Continue reading Retail Selling Tip: Presentation Is Everything »
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