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Following is a section taken from Packaging and Shipping Stores Guerilla Sales and Marketing Manual. See Store Signs that you can print. We want to give some tips on how to do merchandising, in addition to using these signs. Note that you can buy acrylic display units for the signs or laminate these for long-term usage.
In this article, we will be referring to grocery stores and how they know (have to know) effective merchandising. Let's apply grocery store merchandising techniques to our industry.
Shelf Space
Grocery stores look at their sales by the shelf inch. This means that
if there is any bare shelf space showing, they are losing money.
Grocery stores also have planned their shelving so that product can be stacked, leaving just enough space for your hand to easily get the top item. Not only are they maximizing their shelf space, but this looks better aesthetically, too. The idea is that you want to sell product, not show your empty shelf or wall space. Is your front lobby stocked full with retail products and displays, or do you have a few feet of bare wall and shelf space?
If you have bare wall and shelf space, how much are you paying per square foot for your store? Have I made my point?
Whether you use pegboard, wooden shelves, metal shelving, or slot wall, make people want to look at your product. Personally, we have found slot wall to be the most effective means of displaying product and work examples, since the acrylic and metal fixtures can be moved easily to suit your plan. Also, these make it easy to change your displays.
Wall Plan
Have a store plan of how to display your retail products so that your
employees will know what goes where. To start a store plan, you can start
with bare walls, put up your product, and then draw the plan. Better yet,
you can draw the plan first so that you will know your hooks and shelving
needs.
As you are designing your plan, keep in mind that retailers have done studies on where customers' eyes focus. This height is basically slightly higher than the average eye level, somewhere around 5 feet, 7 inches. This is why grocery stores put the items for which you will search, such as bleach, at a lower level. Items that they want to introduce to you are put at eye level. All of the children's cereal is put on the lower shelves, at the child's eye level, so that they can drive their parents crazy asking for all of those sugary treats.
You may want to put items for which people search, such as bubble packaging, on the lower shelves. Try putting items that they may not know that you carry, such as Scotch® tape, at eye level.
On a wall plan:
- There is not much bare space. Therefore, you are maximizing your opportunity to show our products and services.
- Similar products are put together. Packaging supplies are grouped together, as are office supplies and gift supplies.
- Displays are filling void space and are put at eye level whenever possible.
- Displays are used, too, to fill the upper shelves where people can't reach retail product, making sure not to cover any wall graphics.
- Avoid putting the products that don't move quickly or that get damaged easily from the sun close to the front window.
Keep in mind when you are displaying similar products that have a lot of color and designs, keep similar colors and designs together. For instance, if you carry a selection of gift bags, place different sizes of the same designs together, place the pastels together, put the bright colors together, and so forth.
Since a clean store is such a priority, let's mention again that your shelves should be cleaned weekly. You will want your customers to notice "sparkle" as opposed to noting "dull."
We have more info and graphics for merchandising in Packaging & Shipping Guerilla Sales & Marketing Manual.
Check out the new service that we offer to you for Store Signs, too!
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