If you struggle with creative visions for your merchandising displays I just found something perfect for you.
Check out the new blog I’m following – Retail Details.
It is chock full of pictures of creative retail merchandising displays from around the world.
As you know, better merchandising leads to increased sales. Check it out and get inspired!
-Phil
Three straight posts on merchandising? Are you kidding?
Nope. But this one is a good one.
All of that and more is in my new eBook, Merchandising Made Easy. The download is FREE, the information is priceless.
-Phil
PS Check out all the other great Freebies, too!
Yesterday I worked with my staff on signage. Rick Segal has repeatedly said that signs on a display help sell that merchandise 43% better than a display without signs.
I talked about the first reason why in an earlier post.
Here’s another reason to consider… Value
Perceived Worth
When a customer enters your store, the first thing she is doing is putting a mental price on every item she sees. I call this the Perceived Worth (PW) – what it is worth to her.
If she doesn’t need the item, the PW is zero. If she does need it, she assigns it a PW and then checks the price. If the price is much higher than her PW, then she won’t buy it. Likewise, if the price is much lower, she still won’t buy it. At least not until she figures out why it is so cheap.
Value Equation*
The Value Equation here is when the Actual Price equals the Perceived Worth. When they match, the sale is made.
That’s where signs come in. They raise the PW of the products they are on.
Most customers are generally ignorant of all the features and benefits of the vast majority of your products. If they only knew how cool or beneficial the item was, the more they would think it is worth. And there are only a handful of ways for them to find out.
Signs Bring Action
Signs take less of a commitment on the part of the customer, so they are more willing to read them than the package itself. A well-written sign gets them to commit a little more and compels them to pick up the item with a higher PW already in their mind.
Well-placed and well-written signs can make a huge difference in your sales. Just remember these three tips for crafting your sign.
You can quickly and easily increase your sales, move out slower merchandise, and make higher margins with the simple and proper use of signs.
-Phil
*PS For a complete explanation of how the Value Equation works, check out the FREE eBook Pricing for Profit.
You should ask that question about every product you sell.
If it isn’t at least one of those, preferably two or three, then why do you have it? I’m pretty sure that unless someone thinks a product is interesting, cool and useful, you aren’t going to sell a whole lot of them.
Interesting gets their attention.
Cool makes them pleased they looked.
Useful compels them to buy.
I’m asking you the same questions about this blog. At the bottom of each post you’ll see a place where you can check Interesting, Cool, and Useful. Please tell me what you think (check all that apply). Feedback is always appreciated.
Thanks,
-Phil
Rick Segal has said that proper signage will help an item sell up to 50% more than without a sign. Here’s why…
First, there is this group of people known as Introverts.
About half of your customers identify as Introverts. They tend to think to talk instead of talk to think as Extraverts would do. If they don’t know an answer, they’ll look first for a sign that might give them an answer before asking an associate because asking an associate puts them in an uncomfortable position.
Therefore, to make your Introverted customers feel more comfortable in your store, thus more likely to buy, give them signs that answer their basic questions and help them feel more knowledgeable. (Note: although I cannot prove it, I would be willing to bet that introverts make up a larger portion of online shoppers than extraverts.)
The second group that relies on signs is Men.
Yep, the guys shopping your store are far more likely to read signs than your women customers. Paco Underhill points this out from his own research in the book, Why We Buy (if you haven’t read it, it is a MUST for retailers!).
According to Deborah Tannen, men speak vertically and women speak horizontally. When men talk they are thinking in their minds, “Did what I say make you think higher of me or lower of me?” Vertical. That is why we are so afraid of asking for directions. The three hardest words for men to say are not, “I love you.” They are, “I don’t know,” because it makes you think lower of me.
No sign? No Sale.
When a man enters a store, the first thing he looks for is some sign telling him where to go. If he has a question, he’s going to look for another sign to answer that question. No sign? No sale. Some guys will actually walk away before asking for help. My wife knows this all too well. If I come home from a store empty-handed the first thing she says is, “Did you ask someone?” (No, I probably didn’t, although I’m getting better at it.)
Women, on the other hand, are thinking, “Did what I say draw me in closer or push me away?” Horizontal. They are quick to ask for directions because it brings them into the inner circle. You can put up all the signs you want but only the more introverted women will spend time reading them. They’d rather interact with someone.
50% of all the women and 100% of all the men (give or take a point or two) are looking for a sign. Are you going to give them what they want or let your competitors give it to them?
Rick is right on this one. Signs do sell!
-Phil
I recently published three Free eBooks on my website – Inventory Management, How Ads Work Part 1, and How Ads Work Part 2.
I have two more eBooks I’m working on, but not sure if I have the time to get both done. Which would you prefer first?
One title is Marketing a Retail Store on a Shoestring Budget. It is similar to the non-profit eBook of a similar name, but with a couple distinctly retail-oriented changes. But I’ve done a lot of writing on advertising lately and not sure the motivation is there (unless you tell me that is what you want).
The second title is Merchandising Made Memorable. The goal of this eBook is to give you some tried and true rules on merchandising including plenty of examples of do’s and don’ts. Plus, there will be a couple ways to break all the rules all the way to the bank. Just like Pricing for Profit, I look at merchandising from a customer’s standpoint. And you should, too.
So those are the options… Let me know in the comments which one you want to see first.
-Phil
My son gave me the coolest gift for my birthday – a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.
The headline in the Jackson Citizen Patriot was about another manufacturer closing doors here in Jackson. I haven’t been doing the math, but add those 206 jobs to the layoffs and closures already announced and it paints a bleak picture.
Our county administrator spoke on the Bart Hawley Show that despite the “goverment estimates” that say our county population is growing or at least staying constant, there are signs that Jackson County is shrinking. The home foreclosures, the homes for sale versus the homes being bought, and the vast availability of rental units says people are moving out, looking for work wherever they can find it, just not here.
So my wife turned to me and asked, “What are you going to do now?”
It’s a valid question. How do you keep your business afloat when your population base is shrinking?
A shrinking population may be more challenging than new competition. With a new store entering the market you know their strengths and weaknesses and can exploit them to your advantage. But when the people are going, going, gone, what next?
The first answer is “expand your territory”. If you’re a neighborhood store, become a city-wide destination. If you’re a county-wide store, become a regional destination. Of course, that means you have to make some radical changes to your business model. You have to give people a reason to drive that much farther to see you.
That reason could be product. Is there something you sell on which you could corner the market? In today’s Internet world, that is hard to do – possible, but hard.
That reason could be service. Is there a service you offer that no one else offers? Is there a way to offer such over-the-top service that people call their friends to talk about it? Sure. It takes time and effort to get to that level. But it can be done.
That reason could be store design. Is there something remarkable about your store that makes people want to drive just to see it? I have never been to an Ikea store, but I hear so much about them that I’m compelled to eventually make the trip. In the toy industry, you can’t go to NYC without stops at FAO Schwarz and Times Square Toys R Us. Of course, store design on that level requires thousands, nay millions of dollars. And who has that to spend?
The second answer is to become more important to the community you currently serve. Are you involved in community groups? Serving on committees or boards? Not only do you gain in visibility for your store, you gain relationships with people and businesses that can help you through tough times. You also get your ear closer to the ground so that you hear and can respond faster to changing times.
A third answer to meeting the challenge of serving a shrinking population is to expand your offerings. Are there categories of products you haven’t offered that you could? Are there items customers request because they think you would carry it but you don’t? Grocery stores used to sell food. Now they sell everything from stamps to socks.
I’m not saying you should run out and invest in a whole bunch of inventory just because, but ask yourself if there is an area in which you could expand that would draw some traffic. Years ago, when Hughes & Hatcher went out of business, we applied for the right to carry Boy Scout and Girl Scout merchandise. The target audience was a perfect fit. And although profit margins are fixed quite low, the draw of the line more than makes up for the low profits.
To recap, here are three things to do in a shrinking market:
Yeah, we’re trying to do all three.
-Phil
This is a fun time of year. Lots of customers, lots of smiling faces, lots of full shopping carts, lots of empty shelves that need to be filled with more product.
I used to laugh at my dad every Christmas saying he was the highest paid stock boy in town. Now it’s my turn.
Now I get to make multiple trips to the warehouse in search of more products to fill the spaces emptied by customers finding just the right toy or game. It’s both a challenge and a sense of accomplishment when I can take an aisle decimated by shoppers and turn it into a fully-stocked, well-merchandised display.
More importantly, I understand the necessity of making sure the job is done quickly and done well. Our product is our lifeblood. And the way we merchandise it goes a long way towards the success we have as a business. Since most of our toys don’t have a movie or TV license, or a heavy ad campaign, customers aren’t coming through the door asking for them. It isn’t until they see the toys on the shelf that many people even know they exist.
Without merchandising, they might never see the product. And if they don’t see it, they don’t buy it. Merchandising is one of the most important elements of any successful retailer.
Yet, the stock boy is always perceived as the low man on the totem pole, the dish dog of retail, the private in the sales force army. Tell someone you’re a stock boy and hear them apologize for your plight in life as they fill you with encouragement for bigger and grander things to come.
But with the importance that merchandising plays in our success, the shelves should not be left to the lowliest, least-trained, least experienced of the staff.
I finally see what my dad knew all those years. The shelves are our silent salesmen. The shelves are where many decisions are made on which toy, game or puzzle to buy. The shelves make or break our season.
Merchandising is not just a job, it’s an art form. My dad was one of the best. He didn’t need a planogram. He could look at the product, look at the shelf and instantly see in his mind exactly how it should go.
Me? I’m getting better at it. I’m not to the grand master merchandising level of my dad yet, but getting close. More importantly, I’m trying to put all I’ve learned into our staff training so that we all become master merchandisers. It’s not just enough to make the shelves look full. They have to be enticing and inviting.
I believe it was George Whalin who said, “advertising brings products to the customer, but merchandising brings customers to the product.” Yes, merchandising is one of the most important aspects of retailing. It’s not an afterthought or a minimum-wage job.
And for the holiday season, the shelves are my domain. I love the challenge. Not only do I get to know the products better, (hey, it’s hard to keep track of 32,000 different items) I get to be out on the floor meeting and greeting all the happy customers.
So if you see me pushing around a cart full of toys, it may look like I’m busy, but really I’m just having fun. And I’m always available to answer a question or too.
Merry Christmas!
-Phil
