Merchandising Companies Ease In-Store Barriers at Retail

There are so many barriers that brands can encounter at retail. Keeping your brand on top at retail requires constant and consistent focus, and many brands are turning to merchandising companies to ease barriers that they encounter at retail. Many brands, especially smaller brands, don’t have the infrastructure and support to address barriers that present themselves at retail that can have major long-term implications. 

The top three barriers that brands encounter at retail that impact their sales and profitability are in-store merchandising, sales and promotional support, emergency services when things go wrong, and. Brands simply cannot count on retailers and their employees to ensure the best representation of their brand in-store. Brands that want to achieve top sales must ensure that their customers have a consistent experience with their brand from one retailer to the next, which is why measures must be but in place to ensure that consistency.

In-store product demonstrations influence your customers’ buying habits and are your time to shine, as are brand events, promotions and new product launches. Sufficient sales support provided to retailers by your brand ensures that your brand is properly promoted at key retailers. This can pose a logistical challenge to some brands, especially smaller brands, which is why working with experiential marketing companies can be particularly helpful for these brands.

Distribution and merchandising can make or break a brand’s success at retail. Effective distribution planning ensures that products are in the places that will make the most positive impact to a brand’s sales. Merchandising can be a huge barrier because brands rely on retailers to ensure optimal product placement and that products are always in stock and on the shelves. However, often products will:

·         Be displaced

·         Be moved to a different location in-store where a customer is not conditioned to look for them, or

·         There may be times when the product that is on the shelf sells and more product is in the back but retail staff are pre-occupied with other things, so hours or even days may go by before the shelf is re-stocked.

This is one barrier that brands must overcome because if the above occurs it can result in the customer shifting their loyalty to another brand altogether. Brands turn to merchandising companies to overcome this barrier because merchandising companies offer the support and infrastructure to ensure that this doesn’t happen because they take control of the brand’s merchandising at retail.

There are so many things that can go wrong with a brand’s products at retail. Merchandising companies are also able to deal with product pick-up and returns, emergency product recalls, the relabeling of products, product movement and repair, display builds, planogram implementation and compliance, and more… Brands face so many moving variables at retail that merchandising companies are able to help overcome these challenges affordably.

The effort that brands make to get into retailers is significant and staying there becomes a constant undertaking. Investment in sales support, product response and in-store merchandising is a brand’s best chance at building brand loyalty and profitability.

For more information about how merchandising companies are easing barriers that brands are encountering at retail or for more information about our solutions for brands at retail please contact Storesupport at 1 (877) 421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca