Today, the art of sales is one of the key theoretical foundations used in trade. Each store owner, each head of the sales department makes every effort to increase the number of goods sold and, at the same time, to attract maximum customers. A significant role in this is played by visual merchandising.
In more detail about what constitutes a discipline, as well as about the key points that it studies, we will describe in this article.
Merchandising is ...
You may know that merchandisers are people working in the trading floor of your supermarket. These are specialists whose responsibilities include the placement of goods on shelves. Since any store (and especially a supermarket) has a rather large assortment of products, its placement can take a lot of time. Therefore, this function is entrusted to specialists who have sufficient qualifications for this.
Working in teams, merchandisers can lay out thousands of units of goods stored in boxes in shelves in the most accurate way in a few hours. As a result, the client who came to the store has no idea what kind of effort it costs and how much labor has been put into ensuring that the product is placed that way.
Accordingly, we can more specifically say what merchandising is. If we proceed from the definition of the duties of a specialist of this profile, then this is the science of how to arrange the product and what principles should be followed by the person performing such work. It also includes, perhaps, theoretical elements of how a similar task can be completed faster and more efficiently.
Visual merchandising
We talked about what the merchandiser is doing and what are its tasks. Now let's find out another key point. Our article is about such a thing as visual merchandising. What it is, and how it can be associated with the definition given above, read on.
So, this is another branch of science that, again, is studying how commodity units should be placed. True, in this context we are talking directly about the form of trading shelves, and not about the arrangement mechanism itself. That is, visual merchandising determines what trading shelves should look like, how best to arrange the goods (visually), so that, as a result, this will increase sales and interest more customers. As practice shows, such a science is quite relevant.
Practical application
It turns out that stores are not involved in the placement of goods on shelves on the principle of randomness or “as wanted”. In fact, the place where a product lies is strictly determined by a combination of different factors. And the primary tool to help determine the position for each of the categories of goods is visual merchandising. It is with his help that stores make sales.
All the heads of the trade departments of various companies are studying the main rules governing how to arrange goods, where certain products should be placed, and how to be guided in this matter. And admittedly, these principles work! And the sales volume is really constantly growing if you implement what visual merchandising offers. Books, perfumes, food - each of the categories of products has its own characteristics, which should also be taken into account.
Merchandising Purpose
So, we have examined in sufficient detail the general information about how to place the product in such a way as to attract more buyers and push them to purchase in large volumes. However, sales growth and, as a result, store profits is not the main goal. In addition, there are also such moments as the ease of finding the desired unit of goods by the buyer, as well as the emotional sensations of the store visitor that have developed as a result of the purchase.
Properly placed products can help the buyer spend less. Managers who take care of a competent strategy for the location of product units can really reduce the visitor’s time if they apply the logic clear to the latter. To do this, it is enough that groups of similar products are close to each other; for example: tea and coffee, dairy and meat products, vegetables and fruits.
The second point is simply the emotional component. Having visited a supermarket, a client can get positive or, on the contrary, negative emotions - depending on what he sees there and what he will meet. If, for example, the thing he needed was placed in a group of products “irrelevant” to her, it would more likely upset the buyer, since he was more likely to look for it in the wrong place.
Let's move on from general concepts to instructions on the main points in the art of placing goods on shelves.
1. Isolation
One of the most important principles that apply to visual merchandising is the art of highlighting objects. This is achieved using various techniques, such as: color contrast in the design of the goods, the original packaging of the product, the number of units of the product based on the area occupied by it. The first two points are obvious: if you place a brighter product against the background of the others, you automatically focus the attention of the visitor on it.
The same goes for packaging design. As for the quantity of products, all visual merchandising is based on this indicator. The basics of the theory of product placement suggest that placing items on shelves should be as concise as possible, without dumping everything in one pile. Of course, following this advice is quite difficult, given the limited space.
2. Placement height
The second important factor that must be taken into account when placing products is the ratio of the height of the shelf on which it is located with the eye level of the client. So, directly at eye level should be the most sought-after products that will be seen by the visitor in the first place. If you sell goods for children, it is better to put it lower so that the guys can notice and ask their parents to purchase it.
3. Diversity
People who organize the arrangement of goods on the shelves always remember the need to provide their customers with a choice. The product range is the main factor that can increase sales in your store. Try to expand it as much as possible, while adhering to the principle of concise placement, which we wrote about above. A successful visual merchandising showcase is the ability to show the best samples of goods in a minimum space.
4. Groups are our everything
All products must be strictly grouped into categories and placed according to purpose. In the department of household chemicals, no one will look for dairy products, so these sections are best placed away. Unlike food products, visual merchandising of clothes in this regard is somewhat simpler: many stores share products, depending on what type of product is. For example, winter shoes are placed close to winter outerwear so that the buyer can look for additional units of goods.
5. Create space
Do not forget that any buyer likes the presence of a small amount of free space between the racks. It should be enough to ensure comfortable shopping and convenient movement around the store. Agree, visitors will not want to crowd in a small room full of the same customers as they are. This is an unshakable law of visual merchandising: you can’t gather a huge number of people around a small rack, because there will be a crush and visitors will be uncomfortable.
6. Price tags
Another very important element in trade is the so-called “price tags”. The designation of the cost of goods is the first thing every second buyer pays attention to. Therefore, you should not even say that they should have a clear and pleasant appearance, be sufficiently informative and relevant (otherwise the visitor can simply refuse to buy this product at the checkout), and also correspond to the unit of production near which it is located.
Thus, if you stick a huge number of price tags, the visitor may not understand which of them belongs to a particular product category. As a result, again, confusion will arise, and this will cause a lot of trouble to the client. Do not allow this: place price tags directly under the product so that the visitor in a matter of seconds understands what the cost of a product is.
conclusions
Of course, just by reading one article, it is hardly possible to learn how to professionally place goods on trading shelves. As the experience of successful retailers shows, it’s best to focus on the “trial and error” method, with the help of which, after a few months, the head of the outlet, changing goods, begins to understand how a particular product is sold, being in different places of the trading floor. True, you must admit that this approach is very time-consuming. In addition, it can adversely affect your sales while you “experiment”. After all, regular customers, accustomed to how the product is located, will experience inconvenience if they suddenly move it. Rather, it is the practical side of such a science as visual merchandising.
Teaching her is, on the contrary, a theoretical side. During the training, you must first read a lot of material about what products need to be arranged in what order, after which you will have a certain overall picture of how the products will be placed in your store. Well, of course, we can recommend books that describe visual merchandising in detail. Tony Morgan is the author of the bestseller of the same name, which teaches the art of beautifully and efficiently placing products on shelves. We recommend that you read this book and draw your own conclusions from this.