Merchandizing is Super Marketing
Author : Viknesh Ravichandran
Merchandising is the promotion of goods and/or services that are available for retail sale. Merchandising includes the determination of quantities, setting price for goods and services, creating display designs, developing marketing strategies, and establishing discounts or coupons.
Visual merchandising is the practice of optimizing the presentation of products and services to better highlight their features and benefits. Planogramming is a skill used in merchandising and retail space planning. A planogram is a diagram that shows how and where specific retail products should be placed on retail shelves or displays in order to increase customer purchases.
What happens in Showrooms and Supermarkets?
Usually, an infinite number of people visit a retail space, and this number cannot be predetermined accurately. So, there is a need for the retail space to be organized because this aids the customer to pick the right product and may also lead to unplanned product purchases as the product catches the eye of the customer.
Right Merchandizing helps in increasing the footfall, brings in a unique store appearance, a better margin and increased sales. The key idea of using visual merchandizing and planogram is to convert the people walk-by into potential customer walk-in.
When a planogram is used in visual merchandising planning process, data about how products and displays work can be collected. Mapping it out to the exact location on the shelf is like taking a magnifying glass to the data, and that’s how actionable insights can be used to optimize product placement for in-store sales.
It is not mandatory for every supermarket or hyper market store, showrooms, and supermarkets to have the following techniques applied. But it can be an effective push strategy for the store to increase the sales or movement of the product.
Gimmick Number 1: Entry and Exist will be different
Have you noticed, in many of the big retail stores, that you can exist in the same gate where you have entered? The Entrance and Exit will be different.
Reason: The main idea of following this trick is to allow the customer to buy not only what they want but also lead them to unplanned purchases. This different entry-exist construct will allow the customer to have a complete tour of the shop and might lead to purchase of additional products which were not initially planned.
Gimmick Number 2: No Clock No Window
No Clock or No Window. There will be no element which will be reminding you about how much time you were inside the store.
Reason: If you made aware of the time spent, you will be limiting your time. So, it was encouraged to not let you know the time spend. So, never wonder why you spend much time in shopping. This is the reason.
Gimmick Number 3: Basket
Nowadays, even in apparel showrooms and supermarkets, you were given with a basket or pouch. This might seem like a helping or facilitating gesture but its more than that.
Reason: If you were given with a basket, bags or trolley, it is to help you in carrying the things you take from shelf. But what if you have planned to get only one product and you were given a big basket. You eventually feel guilty and try to purchase one or two more products than your actual purchase.
Conclusion
While Merchandizing is Super Marketing; Using Planogram is Super Merchandizing.