In the age of online shopping and red ocean competition, presenting customers with the best shopping experience is paramount. Every retail store and brand products should strive to display their products in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more items while giving the best shopping experience.
Retail shopping continue to have an edge over online shopping though this trend is on downward trajectory in favour of online shopping. The reason many people still opt for retail shopping can be summarized on the experience they are able to draw from the product and the retail store.
The need to see, feel, touch, and try out products continue to vital for many consumers who prefer retail shopping. As such, presenting the products and store in a manner that brings out the best experience is vital in retaining customers and attracting new ones.
Retail shopping also comes with convenience of being able to take the product home immediately. Thus, the need for a good packaging and after sale services like delivery become vital.
The way products are presented also enhances in-store experiences for the customer. It is also contributes greatly on purchases of a particular product over others. Well stocked and branded shelves will see higher purchases than those which don’t. This truth has contributed to trend where brand products are hiring their own merchandisers.
Any retailer or company seeking to increase sales through merchandising efforts should seek to offer good if not better experiences for the above needs that make consumers visit retail shops.
Where there is cut-throat competition, companies can hire merchandisers to push the narrative of their products forward. This can be done through;
- Giving samples for new products.
- Ensuring there is no holes in shelves. Holes in the shelves happens when shelves are not full to the front.
- Branding the merchandiser and shelves.
- Ensuring proper levels of stock is maintained.
- Choosing favourable shelf-placement.
- Displaying prices and SKUs well.
Brands are increasingly preferring to have foot-merchandisers in all or most of the retail stores where their products are stocked because;
- They can easily monitor competitor’s actions.
- They are can avoid out-of-stock scenarios that offers poor customer experience for both retailer and a product.
- They are can easily collect views of customers on what to do better.
- Easy to collect market intelligence.
- They can easily replace damaged or spoilt products.
Presenting customer with the best experience should be the goal for any retailer or brand. Merchandising is at the heart of ensuring that a customer derive the best experience from a product or a store.
The writer is a Digital Marketing Executive at Frontier Marketing Ltd.
