What is merchandising?

Merchandising corresponds to the organisation of shelves in a precise manner in order to optimise sales. The objective of merchandising is to attract the customer’s eye to stimulate and trigger the purchase. Merchandising techniques apply to both physical stores and e-commerce sites.

Kepner’s 5B

Merchandising is based on Kepner’s 5R rule:

Right product

We must offer customers an attractive product that meets their expectations.

Right time

The temporality of the offer is an important criteria when it comes to products linked to seasonality.

Right place

To facilitate purchases, it is important to offer an optimise customer journey that will allow consumers to easily find the product they want. The layout of the offer inside the store is an important element which can lead to discouragement of customers if they do not quickly find the desired product.

Right quantity

To satisfy customers it is also important to have the necessary stock. It is essential to respond to a sudden increase in demand or bulk purchasing. A customer who cannot buy the product they want due to out of stock will have a poor customer experience and will more easily turn to the competition.

Right price

Price is a very important requirement, it is appropriate to set a price based on purchasing/manufacturing costs, the prices set by the competition, the price that consumers are willing to pay, and the positioning of the company.

Different types of merchandising

Organisational merchandising

Organisational merchandising consists of organising the storage of products in such a way as to simplify the customer journey. You have to find the ideal location that will generate the most profit, to do this you have to analyse the customer flow and the organisation of the point of sale.

Seduction merchandising

Seduction merchandising is the most used, it consists of making the shelves attractive in order to encourage consumers to purchase. This marketing results in the use of POS, ILV, colors and lighting which are elements that will adorn the shelves.

Management merchandising

Management merchandising consists of optimising the management of products using their characteristics (size, shape, product family, etc.). This merchandising is essentially based on the financial performance that will result from the management of space in the store.

The establishment of a linear

Product presentation plays a very important role and influences the number of sales made. It is imperative to attract the attention of consumers to encourage purchases.

The horizontal presentation

Horizontal presentation consists of presenting products from the same family over the entire length of a shelf.

The vertical presentation

The vertical presentation organises products from the same family over the entire height of a shelf. This type of layout is more effective in terms of sales because it forces consumers to stop and then look up and down the shelf.

The layout levels of a linear

Eye level

There we find the flagship products which are bought a lot.

Hand level

These are generally private label brands which sell very well.

Ground level

Particularly discount products which are rarely purchased.

Who is responsible for merchandising?

The merchandiser is the person who oversees the brand image at the point of sale through merchandising. The e-merchandiser takes care of the merchandising of the website. It is an element that will help boost sales, its objectives are set on the commercial performance of its point of sale.