Have you ever gone into a store
to buy a single item and left with a cartload of things you hadn’t intended to
buy? Congratulations! You have fallen victim to some other
retailers merchandising strategy. When a
store is merchandised well this becomes a common occurrence.
Take Target, for example. The
average Target store isn’t fancy, it’s just a big box lined with basic
gondolas. But what they do with the merchandise on those gondolas is
magic. At Target it’s not about the
fixtures or the décor, the product is the star.
And how do you make your product
the star? It’s easy when your
merchandising involves each of your customer’s five senses.
1. Hearing:
Audio Architecture
If your store is quiet then you
may be missing out on sales. The music you play in your store
does more than entertain shoppers – it provides a background that entices them
to stay longer and buy more. We like
music that gives shoppers a psychological lift, maybe that’s why we’re obsessed
with disco. When played in a store,
disco is the sound of money. Young or
old, it makes shoppers smile. Another
plus: the right music can make your associates more efficient, so if they’re
dragging at the end of the day, crank up the tunes.
Muzak Corporation has made
background music a science. Visit their
website to learn more.
2. Taste: The Flavor of Success
You know our motto: Food is Good! And not just because we like to eat, which we
do. A lot. Food is good because it’s another tactic to entice shoppers to
buy. Grocery stores serve veritable
feasts in their aisles each weekend for two reasons: to get shoppers to try new
products and to keep them in the store longer.
If you sell food this is a no
brainer. But even if you don’t, it’s not
a problem if you make food part of your store experience. Place a pitcher of cold lemonade near the
front door to welcome shoppers on hot days.
Do the same thing in the winter, replacing the lemonade with hot coffee
or coco. Offer free bottles of water
customized with your store’s own label.
Place a plate of cookies in the area where female shoppers park their
guys. Implement our Kids Cookie Credit Card. Host a wine tasting. Partner with a local
restaurant for an in-store event. The
ideas are endless. Just remember that when customers try, they usually buy, so
while their mouths are full, stick a cool product in their hands. (Drop us an
e-mail for our free, easy to customize, Kids
Cookie Credit Card template.)
q S3. Smell:
Aromatherapy and Aromacology
Remember
that old retail adage: “If it smells, it sells”? Turns out its true: researchers
have found that a pleasant-smelling environment has a positive effect on
shopping behavior. We all respond to
good scents, maybe because they have the power to evoke memory. Who hasn’t gotten a whiff of something
familiar and been instantly transported to another place in time? That’s what
made aromatherapy so popular.
Now we have Aromacology:
the science of scents and their effect on our minds and moods. Grapefruit, for example, will give shoppers more energy, vanilla
will calm them when the store is hectic, pine
inspires positive feelings, and cinnamon is said to attract money. So put out the potpourri, or better
yet, purchase scent diffusers and place them throughout the store. Visit
ScentAir’s website to learn more about the science of smell.
4. Touch: Please Play with the Merchandise
Some stores set such intricate
displays that shoppers are afraid to touch them. Even worse are the sales people who follow
shoppers around the store refolding sweaters and fluffing the displays
customers have the audacity to touch.
Give us a break – shoppers supposed to mess up the store!
Make sure our displays invite
customers to play. Instead of an
intricate display of craft totes, expertly packed with accessories, set
them on a table the way department stores display expensive designer handbags.
Add a mirror so a customer can see how cool she’s going to look when she buys
that tote she’s had her eye on. Add
small table displays throughout the store with open product so shoppers can try
before they buy. Choose an Item of the Day that store associates
carry around with them as they work.
Encourage them to show the item to customers, inviting them to take a
look or try it out. Make a visit to your
store a fun and interactive experience – not just a place to buy stuff!
5. Sight: Visual Merchandising
Much of what happens on your
sales floor is visual – all of that wonderful merchandise is eye candy to a
shopper. You can place product on your
shelves and hope it sells, or you can use Visual Merchandising techniques to
make sure that it does.
Make a Vertical Move
You’ve just opened a box new product and are about to set
up an end feature display. There are two ways you can merchandise this product
on the shelves: horizontally or vertically. If you choose a horizontal
presentation, placing just one product per shelf, then you limit the amount of
items a shopper is likely to see as she scans a shelf. If she only glances at
the second shelf, she will only see that particular product. That’s why a
vertical presentation is the better bet.
Any time you display product in a vertical slice, you
expose shoppers to a greater variety of the assortment at any eye level. We’re naturally
inclined to read from left to right, so Vertical Merchandising encourages
shoppers to see your entire selection of merchandise, regardless of which shelf
they choose to gaze upon.
Small Left, Large
Right
Say you sell Product X in two sizes. A popular trick of
the trade involves displaying the small size of a product on the left, and the
larger size on the right. This technique works because most customers are right
handed, and will unconsciously reach for the item closest to their right hands,
rather than reaching across their body or shopping cart. Walk your aisles –
you’ll find endless opportunities for this trick in your store.
Find the Hot Spot
Every single of section of every single fixture has a “Hot
Spot” – the part of the fixture that sells the best. Most shoppers tend to stop
and look at the center of a product category or display, so the Hot Spot
silently points out – sells – important
merchandise.
You can locate the Hot Spot on any fixture by simply drawing
an imaginary cross through its center. In the case of a 12’ gondola, that’s 3’
on center, you will find a Hot Spot in the center of the fixture, and a Hot
Spot in each of the four individual sections.
Another merchandising tip: Since most customers will reach
for product with their right hand, the position just to the right of the center
of the cross is an equally hot display area. This technique is called “Hot Spot
and One to the Right.” It’s the perfect place to display items you don’t want
shopper to miss.
Throw ‘em a Curve
Any time you display product on a slanted shelf, you
increase what’s known as the shopper’s “Strike Zone”. It’s called Visual Curve Merchandising and it
increases the amount of product a shopper sees in just one glance because they
look up and down at a display, as well as forward.
You may have great product gathering dust on flat shelves.
Try a new slant! Call your favorite
fixture company and invest in inexpensive plastic “fencing” that will hold the
product in place when you slant your shelves. Once you try this technique you
will be amazed at the difference it makes in presentation and sales.
Pile it high and watch it fly? Not in your store! Instead choose to engage shoppers and all
their senses. Create an in-store experience that’s uniquely your own. And if
you need help, we’re just a telephone call away!
© KIZER & BENDER . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
