MERCHANDISING COMPANIES, DO YOU NEED THEM?

Before looking for merchandising companies to help you with you with your merchandising, let’s start by taking a look at merchandising itself.

Simply put, merchandising is the act of taking any of your goods or services and presenting them in such a way that they become more attractive to your buyer. Show your goods or services in their best light and you will make the most sales possible.

We are all influenced by the way in which goods and services are presented to us, be it in the supermarket, store or on the internet. The presentation or store merchandising always has an effect on us and so can influence our decision to buy or not to buy.

Merchandise your goods or services well and you will increase sales, period.

Merchandising companies specialize in the merchandising of their client’s wares and as such their use can be very worthwhile and profitable. The merchandiser field is very crowded however and from a business point of view you will have a wide choice, so don’t be in a hurry to select any company.

From here on, we will be looking at merchandising in general, so enabling you to make better choices for that stage in your business when you might need the services of a merchandising business.

When to Merchandise

If you sell anything, you need to merchandise.

If you have good product/s, are selling a branded product or a service that can be improved through good presentation then you need to start merchandising. In a highly competitive market, where you need to try and separate your product from all the others, merchandising can help you do this to your advantage.

Merchandising companies only have one job to do and that is to create excitement about your product.

You on the other hand can also do the same, with a little knowledge of merchandising, at low or no cost. Don’t get me wrong here, I am not saying that merchandising companies are not worth using, but at start up many small businesses cannot yet afford the costs of commercial merchandising. Better than doing nothing, think of doing it yourself.

How to Merchandise

The aim of all merchandising is to sell more goods and to sell goods you need customers. So everything you do must result in more customers wanting to buy more of your goods.Good merchandising not only attracts but also persuades.

Remember that merchandising is for the benefit of the customer and you won’t go far wrong.

• Decide on the type of merchandising you need, based on your customer. Is it the family, men, women, children, for adults only or for special market niches? You must know and decide who you want to sell to before deciding on how to merchandise to this customer segment of the whole market. Good merchandising is always specific.
• Are you trying to promote only certain of your products? Promotional merchandising will use pricing, display, packaging design and product selection to get customers to buy more, or spend more on these products.
• In many cases the retail supplier of your goods will stock your shelves at their own cost using their own merchandising companies and merchandisers. In this way you can cut your labor costs. As many will not volunteer this service, don’t be frightened to ask.
• Remember the customer. If your customers feel good about your product, they will buy. In many situations women have the final say regarding large purchases so remember to get them motivated to buy. Emotions and feelings must be taken into account when merchandising as, when these are good, they lead to purchases.
• Don’t try and display all your goods or services at once. Choice is great, but too many choices and you only confuse your customer.

  There is nothing stopping you however from showing some choice and then informing your customer that if they can’t find what they want, you can show them further choices.

• Presentation is King. Presented in the right way, with good packaging, price and display, you can sell almost anything. Make your display so attractive that people enjoy buying.

  Good products, displayed well, will sell. Excellent products poorly displayed won’t sell.

• Good merchandising does not end with the customer deciding to buy. Continue to treat your customer royally long after the purchase and you also not only advertise your good merchandising but build up customer loyalty as well.
• Merchandising companies and merchandisers know about showrooms, visual displays, packaging, etc., but you and your staff alone can clinch the sale. You have to train yourself and your staff to be pleasant to customers, to greet them and to help them decide. A good merchandising display can be a decider for a customer but a bad staff experience can still turn into a walk out and no sale!
• Customers often need answers to questions, but many are too shy to ask. Anticipate these questions and display the answers visually. You will be thanked, even if it is silently!

Merchandising is often a lot of good sense combined with making it look good. Show your customer what you would like to see yourself and treat them as if you care. Small efforts here can often yield big dividends.

Practical Merchandising

While running our own manufacturing company I learnt the dramatic effects of merchandising. We manufactured tubular steel furniture for the retail furniture market but also sold direct to the walk-in public. Selling to these customers was accomplished by showing them our furniture catalogue, we made sales but not many.

After giving it some thought and without benefit of any merchandising companies we decided to do some merchandising.

Now, above our administration offices, we had our upholstery workshop which in fact only needed a small fraction of the space available. So, the surplus space was converted into a really good showroom and displayed some twenty five or so of our over five hundred product range.

From then on, whenever a walk-in customer arrived, we could show them samples of our products as well as our catalogue. Guess what? We made sales to virtually all these customers.

People like to touch and feel as well as see. Let them. Oh, and throw away those “Please do not touch signs.”

Merchandising Companies

Although any good business person should be aware of the need for merchandising their products or services, it needs to be remembered that merchandising should be considered a profession and is not a hobby.

There are many companies providing specialized merchandising services that are available to help manufacturing and retail companies with their merchandising needs. If you are in the position of needing such help, then try contacting the National Association for Retail Marketing Services.

Using good merchandising companies to help you grow your sales can pay good dividends.

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