{“main”:"## Boosting Sales with Effective Merchandising
Merchandising is the art of presenting and promoting goods available for both wholesale and retail sales. This practice encompasses marketing strategies, display design, and competitive pricing, including discounting. For retailers, good merchandising is essential to developing a strong brand, improving customer experiences, and ultimately, driving sales.
Key Takeaways
- Merchandising refers to marketing and sales techniques for products.
- While often associated with retail sales, merchandising also involves promotion and advertising for products.
- Advancements in technology, like targeted mobile ads, are significantly transforming merchandising.
- Types of merchandising include product, visual, retail, digital, and omnichannel strategies.
Understanding Merchandising
Merchandising involves selecting quantities, pricing goods, designing displays, creating marketing strategies, and setting discounts or coupons. Broadly, this can refer to retail sales\u2014the actual provision of goods to end consumers. Cycles of merchandising often vary based on cultural and climatic factors, and these cycles may integrate academic calendars, regional holidays, and weather predictions.
Special Considerations
Since retailers aren’t always the producers of the goods they sell, measuring the gross value of all sales can offer crucial insights into a company’s performance. In certain markets, retailers act as intermediaries, connecting buyers and sellers without owning the merchandise. This same principle applies in consignment sectors, where retailers sell items owned by another entity for a fee, without officially purchasing the inventory.
Gross Merchandise Value (GMV), which measures the total value of sales over a particular period, can indicate business growth, particularly in customer-to-customer exchanges.
Around the globe, especially in the U.S., merchandising roles are evolving. What’s more, chief merchants today handle broader responsibilities, from customer experience to talent development in display and marketing design. The surge in consumer knowledge and technological integration underscores the importance of innovation in merchandising strategies.
Retail Cycles in the U.S.
In the U.S., the retail cycle starts strong in January with Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day promotions, moving into Presidents’ Day sales. As spring approaches, Easter-related items and springtime essentials such as outdoor tools, garden supplies, and warm-weather clothing become prominent. Subsequently, the cycle encompasses Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas promotions.
Retail is a significant employer in America, representing one in four jobs. Merchandising tactics vary widely across different regions and even within chains.
Merchandising Company vs. Service Company
Merchandising companies focus on selling tangible goods and bear related costs such as labor and materials. In contrast, service companies provide expertise as a service without relying on tangible product sales. Examples include consultants, accountants, and financial planners.
Merchandising Strategies
To boost sales, merchandisers use various tactics such as eye-catching window displays, organized product groupings, well-stocked and clearly signposted shelves, promotional highlights, free samples, in-store demonstrations, and advertisements. Clean, neat environments befit the professionalism customers expect. Both physical and online stores should implement these strategies to attract and retain buyers.
The Power of Good Merchandising
Effective merchandising directly impacts sales and customer loyalty. Whether a store operates physically or online, its presentation strategy can convert casual browsers into repeat buyers. Cleanliness, organization, ease of access, and the strategic deployment of discounts are key.
Types of Merchandising Companies
Merchandising encompasses entities involved in product sales. This field divides into retail and wholesale companies, where retailers sell directly to consumers and wholesalers distribute products from manufacturers to retailers.
Understanding the Merchandising Process
Merchandising goes beyond the sale itself; it’s a set of activities leading up to a sale. This includes planning quantities, setting prices, designing displays, creating marketing strategies, and offering discounts.
Merchandising vs. Service Companies
While merchandising companies (both retail and wholesale) deal in tangible goods, service companies offer expertise, function not based on selling physical products. Service enterprises include consulting firms, accountants, and financial planners.
The Four Main Categories of Retail Merchandise
Retail merchandise generally falls into four categories:
- Shopping Products: Items consumers actively research before buying.
- Convenience Products: Essential items like food and hygiene products.
- Impulse Purchases: Quick, least-considered buys like candy or magazines.
- Specialty Products: Unique, personalized, or niche items tailored to specific consumers.
Related Terms: Marketing, Retail Sales, Visual Merchandising, Digital Merchandising, Omnichannel.
References
- National Retail Federation. “Retail’s Impact”.
