Has the recent rise of eCommerce thrown your merchandising strategy for a loop? Over the past 10 years there has been a major shift in shopper expectations and psyche due to technology. During this time, several marketing theories have come and gone in efforts to tailor strategies that differentiate between on and offline customers. This can become extremely confusing when all channels are considered.
We often hear statements such as, “omnichannel shoppers require a seamless experience over multiple devices at several touch points across the quantum depths of the digital realm and ultimately back into the physical embrace of your tender, loving, local, brick and mortar location.” But what does that mean we should do?
As brands and stores try adapting to the new digital era, it will be important to incorporate tried and true techniques into their marketing foundations. Here are 5 merchandising tricks and tips that will help increase sales and improve the customer experience both on and offline.
- Balance product interest with design simplicity
Whether you’re developing a new product, designing a new package or setting up a new display it will always help to keep it simple. The trick to keeping it “simple, but memorable” lies in creating the perfect balance between interesting elements and clean space. It helps to put heuristics first. Remember that the human mind takes as many shortcuts as possible to organize and catalog the world around it.
Our eyes work like tiny cameras taking thousands of pictures every minute. To compensate for the strobe-like effect of our visual apparatus, we naturally fill in the gaps. This results in a tendency to fill in blank areas with information that is not always there. For example, a circle will still register as a circle even with a small portion of its circumference removed. So how do we use this in our product merchandising efforts? We put heuristics first, keep designs simple and never overwhelm with information or options.
A less is more philosophy will help take your merchandiser design skills to the next level.
- Make sure your merchandising efforts are attractive
Once you have an idea for a simple yet intriguing product, packaging, retail or eCommerce display it will be time to call upon your visual marketing principles. Remember that products need to be designed well, branded properly and displayed within attractive packaging. Make sure retail managers or website developers display your products effectively. This means ensuring lighting levels and the surrounding areas are complementing the products. Online stores should use high-quality images and design product pages that cooperate with the product’s design. Be sure to use attractive shelving units or a simple website design that will present products in clean, uncluttered spaces.
- Display product accessories and upsells within sight
Let’s maximize sales with a few intelligent product placements. It’s easy to capitalize on a shopper’s psychology when they’re in purchase mode. Go ahead and display a few accessories and related items nearby. You can merchandise a range of product accessories, upsells and cross promotions simply by showing the item in use. Brands can use their packaging to promote their own items and upsells. Brick and mortar stores can use POP retail displays to suggest items and accessories from their inventory. And online shops have related items, suggested products and ‘people who purchased this item also bought X’ type of modules on product pages.
- Pictures are worth a thousand words, so show your product in use
High-quality product images are important. So is their context. Pictures of happy people using your product help on multiple levels. They demonstrate how to use the merchandise while the people in the display provide social proof. Besides that, smiles are contagious – let’s make the people feel good!
- Use a merchandising logo to connect brand equity with all your products
Have you invested time, money or emotions into the development of your logo? Then make sure you maximize its effectiveness by incorporating design elements into all of your product merchandising efforts. Be sure to leverage the same fonts and colors wherever possible.
Remember – if you don’t use it, you lose it!
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