What do you do for your customers to keep coming back for more? This is the key question for every businessman and entrepreneur. Offering an exceptional set of products will make you stand out and set you on your way to becoming a magnet for those looking for superior quality, but often the choice to stay with a particular brand is far more inscrutable, even to customers themselves.
Purchasing decisions are usually made without the use of logical abilities. Whether they know it or not, people are looking to connect emotionally with their chosen brand. Subconsciously, this alignment with a particular brand generates some sort of identity. People really want to be associated with a specific lifestyle or philosophy. One way for companies to create this connection is to offer custom merchandise and printed materials, crafted for personality.
This type of merchandise is nowadays more accessible than ever. Print-on-demand has revolutionised the way in which companies can foster loyalty through their product range. By removing upfront costs for the merchant, print-on-demand gives exclusivity in a world of mass production. This can go all the way from printing on office items or gifts to cheap A1 printing when you are in need of posters or printed ads.
In case your products are sold off the shelf at retail, you already know retail execution starts with merchandising itself. Merchandising has the potential to be a powerful tool that benefits your business far more than simply ensuring shelves are neat. A brilliant merchandising strategy will help not only generate sales, but also enhance your brand recognition and even your relationship with retailers.
Continue reading the below to learn more about the main merchandising strategies that will give your company a competitive edge on the shelf.
- Generating profit
This type of strategic merchandising is associated with high-end items that usually have a higher selling price, and therefore a higher gross profit margin. Such items usually have a high stock turnover and are usually bought as impulse purchases. They do have a perceived value that justifies this more expensive price point.
- Defending your turf
Turf defending is a form of merchandising that aims to protect market share from a specific competitor in the same sector, and also to maintain customer loyalty. It is ideal for frequently bought items that have a large customer base. There is more risk involved with this tactic than others due to the high margin investment that it demands.
- Enhancing your image
This method is about promoting a brand’s image when it comes to quality, variety, usability, presentation or even price. It offers a long-term solution to brand building.
Merchandise makes our world nowadays go around in today’s commercial society and is required for our economy to be a success. Without merchandise, we can’t survive. Everything, it doesn’t matter if it is a need or a wish, can be classed as merchandise. The main goal of most companies is to sell more and make a profit by selling merchandise to the end customers. This is why merchandise is that important. All our needs and wishes are met through buying or selling merchandise.
There was a time when a brilliant merchandising was an invaluable tool in a retailer’s arsenal against their competition. Now it’s actually a cost-saving aspect.
Yet it is undoubtedly one of the most efficient ways you have to influence a shopper and make them pause and consider. Customers are leaving their homes less and less nowadays to venture into the real world of traffic, weather and parking. Yet we can see some of the most exciting store designs in history.
Many end consumers believe they are buying products when they shop. However, in fact they are usually purchasing the experience of shopping itself. The way products are displayed, presented and promoted can and will have a major impact on consumer reactions and behaviour and on how much merchandise is eventually sold. By presenting products in ways that are appealing, attractive and accessible, retailers will improve their profit margins and increase overall sales.
Ultimately, your retail store has to be your most productive and efficient salesperson. Store environment is a vital element in retailing and that 75 per cent of sales are an impulse buy or unplanned purchase.
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