Retail merchandising refers to the total of all in-store promotional activities and marketing endeavors by the retail store team. This includes planning for and implementing all these aspects:-
- Merchandise quantity to be ordered
- How and where to display each category
- Bundling of products for cross-selling
- Strategic products placement for up-selling
- Use of retail analytics solutions to tactically plan product pricing, discounts, and coupons disbursement for maximizing sales
- Ensuring an alluring product aisle display as well as an enticing display window
- Ensuring smooth in-store traffic flow and de-cluttering the checkout aisle to enhance the customer experience
- Ensuring optimal in-store lighting, signage, and clear visual/oral communication about the latest offerings
- Ensuring the best possible utilization of in-store space for heightening conversions
The aesthetical aspects of retail merchandising are categorized under visual merchandising. But on the whole, retail merchandising goes long beyond merely creating visual appeal. Here are 4 important tips to put together a winning retail merchandising plan to maximize footfalls, conversions, and repeat visits:-
Rely on Planogram Automation
A planogram is the store blueprint from the retail merchandising point of view. It is the core job of a retail merchandiser to plan the entire store layout and merchandise arrangement scrupulously. Planogram designing helps in determining whether the desired number of products will fit the chosen racks. It helps in ensuring free-flowing spaces for easy customer movement and a lot more. Using the right planogram software is the best way to streamline your visual merchandising efforts for the best results.
Invest in cutting-edge Retail Analytics Solutions
Most retail companies are constantly amassing customer data. From feedback forms to purchase patterns and interaction with in-store brand reps, everything is documented. But merely sitting on a pile of vast data is not going to yield results. You need to apply data science to organize and streamline your database. A good retail analytics solution will make use of cutting-edge data analytics to derive actionable insights from your database. With concrete, data-driven insights and a retail analyst team guiding you, creating a winning retail merchandising strategy become easier.
Read also: Conquering 7 B2B Demand Generation Challenges
Use the Right Retail Audit Software
While we have discussed the importance of retail analytics solutions, automating retail audits is the next big step. Foolproof implementation of your corporate merchandising plan at the store level can only be assessed via regular audits. Conducting frequent manual checks can be quite tedious and expensive. By using retail audit software, you can ensure that the visual merchandising postulates are being followed to the hilt. Furthermore, you can align your in-store teams across multiple locations toward a common retail merchandising game plan.
Conclusion
Technology, innovation, AI, and big data collectively earmark the future of the retail industry. It is time for retailers to bid adios to outdated, legacy-based systems in retail. The modern-day consumer has multiple shopping venues, both online and offline, to choose from. For them to prefer you over your competitors, you have to provide an exceptional in-store experience. With the right planogram software, data-led insights, and retail audit software, you can create a brilliant merchandising plan for success.