Merchandising is the promotion and sale in a store of the items inside. This can be challenging, especially when retailers are not experienced in putting merchandising into play. If you’re not focused on it, sometimes you may not have the best chance at turning the profit that you are going for.
Merchandising in retail is all about making money, kind of like the feng shui practice of selling things. It’s considered a foundation to many physical store locations. It is actually something that goes on behind the scenes, as many stores hire merchandisers to come in and help their store generate the profits they desire.
Correct merchandising can draw younger customers to touch and even feel products, shop in-store if merchandising is appealing, and value it more than other generations, so it can translate into sales. Check out the below tips and rules when it comes to retail merchandising and see how this could help you!
1. Present the merchandise the way that customers would like to buy it.
Good merchandising will have what a customer wants to purchase, is there when they want to buy it at the price they’d like to pay, and lets them naturally want to buy it. Purchasing products has changed over the years, but this presentation is all about selling products and being there to be seen at the right time. Targeted merchandising strategies can even make certain products appear more appealing.
2. Find about ideal merchandise pricing by experimenting.
Pricing is a huge part of correct merchandising. The simple rule is that the more the price is, the more slowly it will typically sell. This may or may not be true when it comes to your store, so you may want to experiment and get an idea of what the pricing rules are. This could mean starting higher and dropping a little to find out how the ultimate ‘rate of sale’ changes from that.
3. Offer 3 merchandise categories.
Perhaps you have expensive merchandise that consists of maybe 10% of the products in your store. Then the others fill in the other range. The expensive products impress the customers and are available for purchase, and will sell– just not as fast as your less expensive products. The middle products will be the merchandise that is your bread and butter, that generates the maximum store profit.
4. Retailer merchandise should go for 3 months.
The average cycle of inventory is 90 days. Seasons that go for 3 months follow the trends of the season especially with ‘specialty’ items. High volume stores may differ on this. But specialty retailers should decide to carry about 3 months’ worth of merchandise at a time. Research open-to-thrive to find out how much you’ll need for a profit.
5. Have merchandise fit lifestyle of customers.
From product to marketing to displays and advertising, merchandising should be oriented with the type of customer that is ultimately going to be purchasing the products that you have. This could be lifestyle, philosophy, aesthetic, images, and more.
Try merchandising out if you’re not already and see whether it makes a difference! And it’s not just the demographics that are important, it’s the psychographics, or what some call lifestyle marketing. Think about the store Tommy Bahama.