Biggest Event of the Year for Specialty Retailers 6.4.15 in Seal Beach, CA

3 Quick Merchandising Tips That Are (Almost) Cost Free

April 6, 2015 by Nicole Reyhle

 

Let’s face it… retailers don’t always have time on their side… or extra money to spare. Between long work days and managing (or at least trying to) your personal lives in the midst of working retail hours, it isn’t always easy to keep up with everything on your retail to-do-list. But don’t let this shy you away from keeping up with the always important merchandising in your store.

There are easy changes and updates you can make to help create a store environment that is designed to move products from your store to customers’ homes. To top it off, there is little to no cost involved in implementing these changes… other than your time, of course!

From obvious tips to not so obvious ideas, consider the below points to help you give your store a merchandising face lift… while only taking a little bit of time.

1. Use signage. Signage is a classic – and obvious – way to help capture customer attention. But the catch is how you create and use your signs. When preparing signage for your store, use consistency so that all your signage blends together. A great way to do this is to pick a signature color, such as Tiffany stores have with their baby blue boxes, and repeat that color through all your signs. Imagine the difference a lime green sign with bold, black lettering makes versus a white sign with Times New Roman letters. Using sign holders is a must, as well. Fun frames from a local home store are a great way to add character to your shop signage and overall environment. Simple plastic frames do the trick, as well. Tape holding your sign to a shelf? No. Please, no… no… no. This screams cheap and lazy to a customer, and unless your store can be defined as cheap and appealing to lazy folks, pass on the taped signage to your shelves, doors or walls. To sum it up, think clean, crisp and professional in appearance. The signs will individually stand out in their designated spots while cohesively blending in from an overall perspective.
2. Use light. Overhead lighting can be so “blah”. Rarely does it do much for merchandise, not to mention your own appearance. Instead, consider other lighting options that can enhance your product and add a whole new ambiance to your store. Accent lighting can highlight high-ticket items or be used to showcase products on sale. Case and shelve lighting helps customers see often challenging spots in the store more clearly – therefore not missing any merchandise during their store visit. Adding a dimmer to bright lights is sometimes all you need. There is no single formula for lighting that you should follow, but instead incorporate what details you believe can help your unique store stand out. Just keep in mind that like products, even lights can clutter a store. Too bright is no good and too dim never works. Find a happy medium that will let your merchandise shine.
3. Use space. No one wants to feel jammed between one display and another. Give your customers some breathing room by creating an easy-to-walk, easy-to-shop environment. Optimal spaces that customers will naturally be drawn to include the space immediately to the right of your front door, anything within 4 1/2 and 6 feet high from the floor and island style fixtures. Research tells us that these retail points are among the most shopped, making them the most favorable opportunities for merchandising inventory. Evaluate your existing floor plan and rearrange necessary fixtures to accommodate this strategy. Remember to allow breathing room for your customers to comfortably enjoy your store. Comfort translates to sales, so there’s no time to spare here – get started in your store re-vamp in an effort to increase your register dollars.

Merchandising is a never ending cycle that should be viewed as just that – never ending. Accept this reality and embrace the constant change merchandising can offer your store. A few simple changes to a strong merchandising plan can make a big impact… and while you still may be short on time, these quick tips can at least help you save some merchandising dollars while helping to bring more consumer dollars to your store.

To view the original article please visit: http://retailminded.com/3-quick-merchandising-tips-that-are-almost-cost-free/

Retailers, Use These 39 Spring Cleaning Tips For Your Business

03 | 22 | 15            

One of my favorite stories as a kid was the Sorcerer’s Apprentice.  Whether you saw it in Disney’s Fantasia or read the old German poem, the plot is the same.
 

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Delivering Customer Delight on Valentine’s Day

By: Fiona Swerdlow

The new consumer online shopping outlook for Valentine’s Day is in — and it spells good news for retailers. According to the latest consumer survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics for NRF, one-quarter of Valentine’s Day shoppers this year plan to make some portion of their purchases online. Another positive sign: Prosper’s Consumer Snapshot found that consumer confidence has risen for the third consecutive month. With these results in mind, shoppers planning to buy Valentine’s Day gifts online anticipate:

• Spending an average of $199, up 13 percent from last year, and a good 40 percent more than the average across all Valentine’s Day shoppers.
• Treating family and friends — the lion’s share of spending will go to significant others and spouses, but other family members, friends, co-workers and even pets will feel the love. 
• Shopping for tried and true Valentine’s Day categories — retailers selling candy, greeting cards, flowers and jewelry will be among the most popular with Valentine’s Day shoppers, who plan to shop both online and in stores.
• Tapping mobile devices to find, research and buy gifts — smartphone owners shopping for the occasion expect to use their devices to buy products, redeem coupons and more. Additionally, almost one in 10 expect to use it to pay for their purchases at checkout.

Retailers need to make sure they are on top of their game to delight and inspire customers in the coming weeks:

Coordinate fulfillment strategies and tactics to meet last-minute customer demand. Two years ago, Adobe found that Valentine’s Day spending on jewelry and gifts leapt the week before Valentine’s Day, but really spiked the week of and the days leading up to the holiday. With Valentine’s Day fortuitously falling on a Saturday this year, retailers may see shopping right through the big day. Promoting last-minute fulfillment capabilities via in-store pick up or same-day delivery services will resonate with time-starved customers. Just as with the big holiday season, retailers should coordinate well in advance with shipping partners to review volume forecasts and back-up plans to avoid delays — especially since winter weather can be unpredictable in many areas.

Tie together touchpoints. With consumers fluidly shopping across a retailer’s many touchpoints, Victoria’s Secret’s “digitally enabled” catalog allows smartphone users to download its app, get fit advice via a quiz and access product information to encourage purchases. Gap and Talbots both provide a “Reserve in Store” service that allows customers to shop online, then visit the store to try on items that have been set aside for them to try on before deciding to buy.

Make gift guides and gift suggestions pop — online and in-store. Marketed and merchandised well, gift guides can inspire ideas for every customer. A far cry from the static image collage of yesteryear, Luxury Daily exhorts brands to “tell stories [and] spark emotion.” Tiffany & Co.’s Valentine’s Day gift guide features the witty “Concierge of Love” in a video series to help the gift giver with five different situations — like “unlock her heart” and “the most brilliant proposal” — each with a “shop the video” link to explore products, save for later review and buy on the spot.

Tune marketing strategies to assist customers — but don’t give away the surprise. As for all seasonal shopping occasions, retailers are honing their digital marketing strategies to make sure they’re front and center when the customer is ready to find, research and buy. As Mobile Marketer points out, however, retargeting ads can be trickier in situations where people share devices and could potentially spoil the surprise, so paying attention to context in retargeting may help alleviate this situation.

Get a head start on your Valentine’s Day marketing and merchandising plans by checking out the full consumer survey details on NRF.com.

To view the original article visit: https://nrf.com/news/delivering-customer-delight-valentines-day