I remember when I was seven (7) years old, there
was this small retail store in our city. This small retail store had a
really small shelf space, that you would have to inform the sales
clerks of your orders and wait for it since they will need to get the
stocks from their backyard.
The only thing that I noticed was that, they had
this attractive posters that announce brand names and certain promos
like "buy 3 soap of brand x and get one for free" or "2% off on all
sandwich spreads of brand z".
And on the exterior of that small retail store, they had big tarpaulins
that said "first 150 customers get 2 lotto tickets for free". Almost
every week they had catchy tarpaulins outside that describe a short
summary of their ongoing promo for the week.
After 20 years, that little store has become a giant grocery store,
alongside it are three more buildings. A mall, a commercial building,
and a call center and they own all of these properties. That
small-humid retail store suddenly became a giant business in our city
in just a span of 20 years.
One weekend I went to that giant grocery store to buy snack items for
my wife (she likes to eat dark chocolate and chips a lot) and had a
chance to see the owner (currently president of their corporation) of
the "now" giant company.
He was actually doing his usual rounds to check the store's promotional
merchandising.
I actually knew the owner since my grandmother was one of her biggest
customers on their business start up.
My grandmother used to bake cakes and other pastries that she sells to
many small canteens in our city. Also, when I was still working as an
account executive for one the biggest companies in the Philippines, his
store was one on my clients list. Although during that time, I was
already talking to his purchaser, we had conversations from time to
time.
He told me he just got back from his trip to London, so I got a bit
curious and I asked him "what is a 67-year-old man bothering to check
little details like promotional merchandising, shouldn't you be
resting?". I was floored and sort of humiliated by his answer "Well
son, that little detail has been the x-factor of our successful
business". He added saying "no business enterprise can survive without
having tactical and promotional merchandising".
Having been in the world of marketing and business, I thought to myself
he certainly has a point. We, as a new emerging entrepreneurs, have
really taken for granted the importance of Merchandising.
Well I want you all to be guided since we are talking of business start
up ideas here, so I urge you to follow that old man's strategy. But
first, let's define what Merchandising is so we are at the same page.
In a nutshell, merchandising is just maximizing the sales of your
products through good display, good product design, packaging, visual
pricing, and product description.
So here are the business ideas that I have learned from our
conversation:
Idea # 1 - Merchandising does not involve much additional cost.
In most cases, the product description, packaging, pricing are already
included in your initial business start up research, so cost is
actually involve. The important thing that all point-of-sales
merchandising are emphasize on your product itself.
Idea # 2 - Visual Merchandising does not take much time from the
customer.
I think you all agree with me that we are all living in an ever fast
environment. Hence, having good display merchandising attracts
customers who are pressed for time and therefore picks up a product
without second thoughts and go directly to the check out counter. A
visual merchandising strategy is often considered the "availability of
all consumer needs" in which in one scan he can already find what his
looking for.
Idea # - Highlighted Promotional Merchandising works.
Based on experience, promotions really work in boosting sales for your
business start up. I remember when I started in my distribution
business, we sold canned condensed milk to retail stores in our city
and had a very good price advantage over competition.
But even with this advantage, sales never really came in that well. So
I did a back check on my top 20 customers and found out that almost all
of my product shelving were not at an eye-level, and worse, it did not
have highlighted pricing.
I talked to all the owners of my top 20 customers and were able to get
a "free" compromise to adjust display sharing and give me eye-level
display between my competitors. Also I instructed all their respective
display personnel to provide emphasis on pricing through well-designed
price strips and price talkers.
And the results were amazing, during that week alone we are able to
grow our sales for canned milk to 227% just by using a few promotional
merchandising techniques.
Now I hope you already get the business start up idea on how simple but
effective merchandising works. It does not only apply to consumer
products but also even to any business start up. As long as you want to
get a message across, use good merchandising materials that are
straight forward and attractive.
Now go and apply this to your thriving business start up.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/entrepreneurship-
articles/improving-your-merchandising-to-increase-sales-on-your-
business-start-up-2220786.html
About the Author
I am Jake Bere, a young entrepreneur from the
Philippines. I have businesses in Sales and Distribution of consumer
goods, Internet Marketing and Multi Level Marketing.
I am professionally trained in face to face selling, marketing, and
different investment vehicles in the Philippine setting.
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