What to Look for in Merchandising Companies

Making your way in the retail world can be tough – but doing it properly can mean the difference between whether you sink or swim. Making sure that your customers are getting the best retail experience possible is crucial. The role of merchandising companies is to combat this and increase your brand recognition and brand loyalty. But what should you be looking for in merchandising companies to ensure that you are working with the right one? 

There are several criteria that you should look for when seeking out merchandising companies and enlisting their services. Make sure that they provide: 

National coverage - Working with merchandising companies who offer national coverage is very important and for different reasons. Typically merchandising companies who offer national coverage have experience working with national brands which bodes to a merchandising company’s credibility. Also, if you sell a brand nation-wide it is important to look for merchandising companies that can accommodate you nationally because this will greatly reduce cost and confusion, providing you with a single point of contact. Another reason seeking out merchandising companies that offer national coverage is important is because they are there to support your growth.

A skilled team – Merchandising companies that offer a highly skilled team is important. Whether the service you need is merchandising, distribution support or an experiential marketing campaign, a major benefit to working with good merchandising companies is that their staff have a high level of expertise in the retail industry so there needn't be a substantial learning curve. Working with an experienced and skilled team means that your projects will run smoothly and more efficiently.

A wide range of services – This is huge because working with merchandising companies who offer a wide range of services will mean that you don’t have to look far for help when a project comes up. This often keeps costs down and makes it easier to implement your projects. Merchandising companies who offer a wide range of services should offer services that include: merchandising services, experiential marketing, retail intelligence, staff support and emergency response services.

So how can you evaluate merchandising companies to choose the right one?

1.       First, look at the company’s case studies. What types of brands do they work with? What types of projects have they worked on that have had successful outcomes?

2.       Check references. Ask for references and call them. When contacting references, inquire about bumps that may have occurred on a project and how the merchandising company overcame challenges.

3.       Check their social presences. Look them up on LinkedIn and see how active they are in social media. This will give you insight into the culture at the merchandising company and reviewing the content they release will attest to the depth of their expertise.

There are many different merchandising companies available out there that may promise you quick results. However, the right one needs to employ an effective strategy that involves a multi-pronged approach to retail merchandising. The criteria listed here are crucial if you want your brand to be successful at retail.

For more information about merchandising companies, what they can offer, and how to choose the best, please contact Storesupport at 877-421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.

Forbes Online Reports on How the Customer Experience In-Store Now Matters More with the Uptake in Consumers Shopping Online

Online e-commerce sites like Amazon have given retailers who sell their product in retail stores a real run for their money. From clothing retail to the sale of consumer packaged goods at retail, the online shopping boom has forever changed the way many people shop. For brands that only have in-store retail coverage, sites like grocery gateway and netgrocer are posing a major threat, leaving brands needing to be more aggressive at the point of purchase to capture and retain customers.

What commonly causes consumers to switch their allegiance to online retailers?

1.       The online shopping experience in many ways increases convenience. Consumers don’t have to leave their homes, shop in congested stores or wait in line ups.

2.       Online shopping usually results in increased product availability. Online there are no shelves to go out of stock. If a product is listed, you can get it. 

Forbes Online recently reported in an article “Clicks and Mortar: Why In-Store Experience Matters” that it is more important than ever for brands to ensure that customers have a positive in-store brand experience.

There are limitations to online shopping that leave brands that sell in bricks and mortar retail stores a massive opportunity to compete. These limitations include:

1.       Removal of social interaction – both with those you shop with and the interactions you have with others when out and about.

2.       The inability so see, touch and smell products that you are thinking about purchasing.

3.       Takes longer to receive products – you have to wait for your products to be delivered.

4.       Where grocery shopping is concerned it is often more expensive. 

 

The Forbes Online article highlights the importance of brands and bricks and mortar retailers not to shy away from mobile and social media and to look at mobile and social media as ways to drive customers through the door. Creating online communities of brand loyal customers who can share their positive customer experiences can influence the buying habits of others in their social network. Embracing mobile apps to make the customer’s in-store experience smoother is a great way to boost loyalty. In the Forbes Online article Target was mentioned as an innovator who has created apps with list-making tools, product finders, daily deals and more.

The retail store is the ultimate advertising opportunity for brands. Leveraging experiential marketing campaigns is an excellent way to engage new customers through providing them with the opportunity to sample product which in almost all cases results in a boost in product sales. Let’s face it, employees in retail stores work for the retailer. They are busy and do not have the depth of product knowledge that your staff does. Experiential marketing helps you to improve the experience that customers have with your brand by allowing the opportunity to interact with your representatives, ask questions and be more informed about your offerings.

With regard to the employees of the retailer, another huge way to take more control over your customer’s experience with your brand is to take more control over your merchandising and distribution. Having your own feet on the ground will enable you to ensure that product is always in stock, on the shelf, planogram compliant and properly priced. This will mean that your customers will always have the smoothest possible experience when being faced with the choice to purchase your product or someone else’s.

Once a customer is in-store – what occurs at the point of sale is critical. By working to ensure the best customer experiences will increase brand loyalty and the probability that a customer will venture off to the store to buy your product, as opposed to buying a competitor’s product online.

For more information about how you can improve your customers experience through our merchandising services please contact Storesupport at 1(877) 421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.

JD Power and Associates Substantiates the Importance of Mystery Shopping Through the 2012 Market Research Bulletin – Information is Power

Retail intelligence is one of the only ways that brands can find out what their customers are experiencing when they visit retail outlets. Most national brands have mechanisms in place to gather consumer information. We have long advocated mystery shopping as the best way to gather this information and a recent research bulletin from JD Power and Associates backs up this position. 

The 2012 JD Power and Associates Market Research Bulletin “Information is Power” looked at some common methods that organizations are using to gather and analyze consumer information and feedback.

In the JD Power and Associates summary, one critical point that is made is that getting the “right” information means “asking,” “listening,” and “watching,” and that gathering the “right” information is key to achieving market differentiation and sustainable growth in a competitive environment.

In the paper, mystery shopping was identified as the central means to watch what customers are doing and experiencing when having an interaction or dealing with a brand. Mystery shopping is by far the most effective way to watch what occurs at the retail level because it gives brands a window into the direct experiences that their customer is having and how they feel about their experience.

Mystery shopping is by far the most effective when administered by a third party. Brands that hire a third party to facilitate mystery shopping are able to receive impartial data that reflects the true happenings at the retail level based on the criteria provided to them.

Mystery shopping can not only be deployed to learn more about your customers but also to learn more about how retailers are managing your brand’s presence at the retail level. This is almost more important than gathering direct customer feedback because in many cases the way that a retailer manages your brand’s presence directly impacts how a customer feels about their experience when purchasing or trying to purchase your products.

Here are some examples:

1.       You sell diapers and your diapers are on sale. A customer attends a retailer and is looking for the best deal on diapers. The retailer was delayed tagging your product as being on sale, resulting in the customer choosing to purchase a different diaper brand because it appears to be the best deal.

a.       Impact to customer – very little because they didn’t even have an opportunity to learn that your product was on sale.

b.      Cost to you – loss of business and an opportunity to have leveraged your sale price to shift brand loyalty to your product

2.       You sell pasta sauce. A loyal customer attends the grocery store to pick up some groceries. They plan to prepare a pasta dinner, a staple in their recipe being your sauce. When they attend the retailer it appears as though your sauce is sold out. Really, more of your sauce is available in the back but the retailer’s employee hasn’t gotten around to restocking the shelf. The customer is in a hurry and decides to purchase a different brand of sauce.

a.       Impact to your customer – a frustrating experience.

b.      Cost to you – loss of business and an opportunity to have leveraged your sale price to shift brand loyalty to your product

3.       You sell beans. A loyal customer attends the grocery store to find that they have moved some products. Some beans, including yours, have been moved to the international isle while others remain with the other beans and corn. Your customer is unable to find your product, and ends up searching for help. They encounter an employee at the retailer who is unaware of where your product is and assumed it was where it always is placed. After spending 20 minutes looking around your customer manages to find your product.

a.       Impact to your customer – a frustrating experience.

b.      Cost to you – in this case you would have been lucky because most customers will not search for your product and will simply shift loyalty.

These types of issues cannot be identified unless you have boots on the ground and the best way to become aware of these types of very common occurrences that can be devastating to a brand is to invest in mystery shopping.

Leveraging the techniques (that includes mystery shopping) addressed in the JD Power and Associates 2012 Market Research Bulletin “Information is Power” will enable you to identify areas within your business that you can strengthen to increase retention, profitability and business growth.

For more information about mystery shopping or for more information about our mystery shopping services please contact Storesupport at 1(877) 421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.

Customer Loyalty and Customer Retention Study - Grocery Store Industry Lags Behind Other Retail Sectors

Customer loyalty and customer retention continue to be two of the cornerstones of a brand being successful in the consumer packaged goods industry and becoming a household name. A recent study conducted by the IBM Institute for Business Value titled “Why Advocacy Matters to Grocers” has revealed some startling statistics about how customer retention and customer loyalty is lagging behind other retail sectors.  

In the study, consumers reported that they felt widespread dissatisfaction with their primary grocer. In fact, 73% said that they have no loyalty to their supermarket whatsoever which is not a good thing for brands that don’t have wide retail coverage. Only 27% of the customers indicated that they were advocates of their grocery store.

The whole premise around establishing customer loyalty leading to customer retention is to transition a prospect from being a loyal customer to being an advocate. Advocates recommend retailers and brands to others and influence others’ purchasing habits. Because they are advocates, they are also more loyal and more likely not to easily shift their loyalty away from their retailer or brand.

46% of the people polled identified that they have a poor attitude toward their grocer and may be actively causing damage to their grocer’s reputation through sharing their negative thoughts and opinions with others. This is dangerous in a digital age because social media and mobile increase the speed at which words spread and can be detrimental to a business.

Customers surveyed placed a high value on the quality of products sold by retailers, selection of products, availability of products, employee customer service and social responsibility. Specialty stores performed better in the survey because of their focus on customer service, product selection and quality, and a whopping 46% of customers polled were advocates of these specialty stores.

The study revealed that 31% of customers tell multiple other people about their bad experiences and 48% of customers avoid stores based on bad experiences that other people have had.

What does this mean to you? Well, if you represent a brand that offers consumer packaged goods products that are sold in grocery stores or you represent a retailer it is clear that customers who are having a negative experience on the front lines will not only stop doing business with you but will likely impact others’ decisions to shop at your store.

Brands that do not have widespread retail coverage are at great risk because, if their products are being sold at retailers who are not providing a positive customer experience, their brands are likely to lose exposure to many consumers as they decide not to shop at those retailers.

So if you offer a product that is sold in grocery stores how can you impact the customer’s experience at the retail level? There are many things that are out of your control, such as wait times, the store offering a wide range of products in different categories and the customer service that they provide to their customers. What you can control is your brand’s presence at the retail level.

Product availability was a big cause of dissatisfaction for those polled in this survey. You can improve product availability by making the necessary investment in your product merchandising at retailers. You can work with merchandising companies to ensure that your product is always in stock, on the shelf, where your customer expects to find it and properly tagged. You can also run experiential marketing campaigns to give customers more intimate and direct engagement with your brand through product samplings, tastings, demonstrations, and even by having a representative there to share information about your brand and offer coupons.

The stakes are too high for brands that sell in grocery retailers to leave themselves in a position where they are counting on the retailer to deliver a positive customer experience each time.  Empower yourself to improve your own customer retention and brand loyalty by investing in your customers’ experiences with your brand.

For more information about customer loyalty and customer retention or for more information about our experiential marketing solutions please contact Storesupport at 1(877) 421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.