The same holds true if you place too many items in your displays. Proper merchandising may require the rearrangement of aisles, shelves, display fixtures and the general layout of the interior retail space. It includes all facets of sales forecasting, buying and displaying merchandise in store to appeal to customers. An effective retail space brings with it the advantage of flexibility and more usable space. Making changes in the store, adding new fixtures, buying new signage, and changing the overall appearance of your store can cost you a lot. Ideas for the Design & Layout of a Boutique for a Business. Your customers will begin to associate your attractive merchandising with your store and it may also impact where they go to shop on a regular basis. One of the major advantages of merchandising, when it's done right, is the boost in sales. Kokemuller has additional professional experience in marketing, retail and small business. What Are the Characteristics of Marketing Channels? Retail Insights: How Optimized are Your Markdowns and Merchandising Plans? Good merchandising can help you to get more out of the same retail space without expansion or renovations. Plus, strong merchandising helps move more of your best-selling products and proven winners, giving you a way to make even more money as the goods fly off the shelves. Effective merchandising, whether at the front of your store, in point-of-purchase displays near the cash register or on shelves or at displays scattered throughout the store, helps shoppers notice products they may not have noticed otherwise. He has been a college marketing professor since 2004. Any major miscalculation in forecasting, buying, pricing, marketing or sales can severely affect your company's bottom line. While buying is a distinct and inherent resale function, the planning, forecasting and display elements go above and beyond buying and take time, money and other resources. Merchandising Matters: Tips for Working With a Visual Merchandising Consultant, North Central Regional Center for Rural Development: Visual Merchandising, A Guide for Small Retailers. Done wrong, merchandising may turn off shoppers from making a purchase from the display. The greatest disadvantage of successful merchandising may be the need to keep at it to meet the expectations of your clientele and to keep a steady stream of new customers coming in. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University in 2002 and has worked in travel as a guide, corporate senior marketing and product manager and travel consultant/expert. All rights reserved. Merchandising the products in your store is a challenging necessity if you want to attract more shoppers and move more products off your shelves. With increased traffic may come increased sales and success. For example, if you sell holiday-themed products from a store located in an area with various religions but choose to only set up Christmas displays, you’ll lose sales from customers who do not celebrate that holiday. © 2019 www.azcentral.com. Then, you can focus on setting up displays to push the slower-moving products. from Eastern Illinois University. 3) Expense. By providing good value to customers and product assortments they want, you entice them to return. Keeping fresh assortments and attractive displays motivates buyers to return more often and to buy more stuff. With increased traffic may come increased sales and success. Products that don’t move off of the shelf over a period of weeks or months usually require a markdown to get people to buy them, resulting in lower profit margins. Although good merchandising can result in an increase in profitability over the long haul, it will likely cost you time, effort and money in the short run. Copyright 2020 Leaf Group Ltd. / Leaf Group Media, All Rights Reserved. Interior spaces should flow more easily while directing the consumer to important sale items and significant displays. As with any significant business function, merchandising has costs. What Does Vertical Merchandising Look Like for Clothing Apparel? This makes knowing your target market important for identifying the merchandise they are most likely to buy. Advantages & Disadvantages of Merchandising. Not only do the displays appear cramped, but the point of selling a specific item is lost on shoppers. Part of merchandising is awareness of when demand for one product ends and demand for another begins. The expense of installing new fixtures, creating new signage and improving the overall appearance of your retail space inside and out can add up quickly. First, retailers normally pay salaries to merchandise managers, planners and buyers. Nancy Wagner is a marketing strategist and speaker who started writing in 1998. Constant time and attention given to merchandise management is time away from other management activities. Merchandising requires an eye for combining colors and using lighting. Bright signage and manicured grounds, a clean parking lot and well-kept retail structure are all factors that help shoppers to determine if a trip inside is warranted or if the store does not look like somewhere they would prefer to be. Understanding the entire process of acquiring the right amount of products at the right price and right time, allocating the products to stores in the right quantities, and displaying them appropriately in stores are critical strengths of retail merchandising. Morello is a professional writer and adjunct professor of travel and tourism. He holds a Master of Business Administration from Iowa State University. Effective merchandising, whether at the front of your store, in point-of-purchase displays near the cash register or on shelves or at displays scattered throughout the store, helps shoppers notice products they may not have noticed otherwise. For instance, using your front window displays to feature a few items in a big space and leaving it that way for months on end makes your store look less successful than it may be. Retail Merchandising Services: What is Visual Merchandising? Interior Design Process for a Retail Chain, Costs & Effects of Absence in a Retail Workplace, The Definition of Merchandising Techniques, How to Run a Going Out of Business Art Sale, Zaptic: The Pros and Cons of Centralising Merchandising Execution and Compliance. The Differences Between Merchandising & Stocking. Merchandising is the arrangement and design of goods and retail space to make the buying experience more attractive and fun for the consumer. Loyal customer relationships are key to long-term success. Knowing how to arrange shelves and create attractive displays so best-selling items stand out is also critical. What is the Difference Between Sales and Merchandising. Worse yet, they may not return to your store in the future. You must be comfortable with the disadvantage of an initial investment to reap the rewards later in the process. Pricing, displays, product packaging and arrangement, sale signs and promotional marketing can all drive sales upward while improving the shopping experience for your customers. What Is a Good Layout for a Clothing Store? What Are the Kinds of Marketing Channel Functions? This means it requires constant oversight, review, goal-setting, planning, software upgrades and inventory management. Effective merchandising can have a clear and definite positive effect on retail sales and the bottom line, which is, after all, the goal of any business approach.
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