Online vs. Bricks and Mortar – Visual Merchandising Plan to Battle Competition

It is common knowledge in the retail industry that online shopping is a major competitor for bricks and mortar stores. The ability to price compare and buy online has steadily risen in popularity over the last few years, to the point that many retailers have felt the need to compete through the development and establishment of their own online stores. However, it seems as though the competition is not as stiff as originally predicted – and the expectation that online shopping would lead to the inevitable death of the retail location have not panned out. Canadian customers are still shopping at bricks and mortar locations.

According to research done by global information company The NPD Group, only 4% of all Canadian transactions were made online in 2012 – and this is an increase of 0.5% from 2011. Broken down, NPD reported that approximately 7 online purchases were made by the average Canadian household in 2012, compared to over 150 trips to traditional bricks and mortar stores (3-4 visits per week).

There are many reasons for this staunch refusal by consumers to let online shopping dictate the market – the most important reason being the experience that cannot be had by shopping online. Recognizing this, retailers have started to realize the importance that lies in visual merchandising and how it has to change in order to continue to compete.

As a bricks and mortar store, having a visual merchandising plan in place is crucial to maintain the leverage over online retailers. Consumers like to be able to enter a retail location and visually take in what they cannot over the internet. This includes things like planograms, signage and displays – all of which need to be executed properly (one of the main functions of a merchandising company) to attract customers.

Other factors contribute as well, including a high level of customer experience and interaction – so make sure that when customers leave your store they feel satisfied. This will help safeguard customer loyalty and retention.

Although online shopping has not killed the bricks and mortar store it has resulted in the need to evolve and adapt.  A strong visual merchandising plan is essential in this adaptation, and so make sure that you employ a merchandising company to help ensure that the online competition that does exist does not take over.

For more information about how to ramp up your visual merchandising plan to further battle the competition of online retailers, please contact Storesupport today by calling 1-877-421-5081.

Bridging the Marketing Gap: Retail Merchandising in an Ever-Changing Marketplace

Last week we talked about how important it is with the rise of mobile e-commerce to ramp up your retail merchandising campaigns to deal with the competition this creates. The rise of mobile e-commerce is just one example of how vital it is to leverage different types of merchandising to attract different customers.  

Here are just a few examples of this cross-sectional marketing and how a retail merchandising company can help you maintain it.

How you merchandise:

Print: displays, planograms, etc. These are one of the most important parts of any merchandising plan. When a consumer enters a store, the displays and planograms often play the largest role in attracting their attention. Whether you rely on stand-up display shelves, floor decals or shelving signs as a segment of your retail merchandising plan, these need to be carried out and maintained appropriately. A retail merchandising company can not only set them up according to your designs, they will also return to make sure that they are being used properly.

Coupons and promotions: Many consumers are attracted to coupons and promotions – so making use of them is key. This is especially crucial when releasing a new product. You need to leverage this type of retail merchandising in order to attract this crowd. Again, a retail merchandising company can help by providing people support to distribute coupons or ensure that coupon dispensers are installed correctly.

Interactive: experiential marketing. Another effective retail marketing strategy is through taste tests or product trials. Research shows that those consumers who are given the chance to sample a product are more inclined to purchase. By leveraging and implementing an experiential marketing campaign you can harness the power inherent in this consumer group.

Who you merchandise to:

Generational gaps and catering too much to one generational group while largely ignoring the other can wreak havoc in the retail industry. For example, if you rely solely on mobile marketing you are ignoring the entire generation that this does not tailor to. Conversely, if you are just using print marketing, those consumers who see mobile or computerized displays as the way of the future may be lost.

When you set out to design your retail merchandising plan, make sure that all bases are covered. Don’t discount one group for another. Employ a retail merchandising company to guarantee that all targets are marketed to.

For more information about how to ensure that your retail merchandising strategy encompasses a variety of different marketing schemes please contact Storesupport by calling 1-877-421-5081.

Ernst and Young Back-to-School Shopping Study – Retailers Get Ready

According to an Ernst and Young study of last year’s back-to-school shopping season, Canadians were heading out far earlier to start their shopping, following the lead of our neighbours to the south. If this year is anything like last year, most shoppers will not be waiting until the week before to get those school supplies. The annual back-to-school shopping season can mean big ROI for retailers, and Canadian merchandising companies can make all the difference.

Here are our top 3 reasons why retailers need to make sure their back-to-school retail plan is ironclad, and how merchandising companies can help.

1.      Back-to-school shopping is highly lucrative. The back-to-school shopping season offer retailers the biggest sales aside from holiday shopping in December. Need some numbers? Statistics Canada reported $123.6 million was spent on school supplies in 2012, and the overall average education expenditure for all households in Canada was $1151. No matter what is being sold, recognizing that the opportunity is there is crucial. Knowing this, a smart plan is to rely on a merchandising company to ensure that your retail merchandising plan is effective.

 

2.      Kids are shopping too and you need to market to them. Parents often shop with their kids for those items to take back to the classroom, so you need to be sure to cater to their wants – they heavily influence the purchases made by their parents. A great way to do this is through an experiential marketing campaign. Kids love to try new things – and what better way to get them interested in a product than by trying it. For example, with parents out there filling their cart with back-to-school lunch items, kids can work for you. Get a merchandising company to develop an experiential marketing campaign with this in mind (lunch snacks for example) and the marketing is easy.

 

3.      Discount stores are getting a big share of the profits. Keeping in mind the amount of money most families spend on back-to-school shopping, many parents are opting for the sales that discount stores offer, so you have to be able to compete. Sales and promotions play a big role (and merchandising companies can help with this), but so too does customer service. Many consumers will remain loyal if a company offers excellent service. Merchandising companies can provide the necessary people support at this busy time to ensure that your customer service levels remain high.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to take advantage of back-to-school shopping. Let Canadian merchandising companies assist in your retail merchandising planning. And don’t wait until the last minute – if this year is anything like last year, those sales will start rolling in very soon.

For more information about how merchandising companies can help you implement a smart merchandising plan for back-to-school shopping please contact Storesupport at 1-877-421-5081.

Focus on Customer Retention - Canadian Brands Can Learn Something From Our US Counterparts

When the economy was hit hard in 2008, many retailers in the United States adopted strategies for cutting costs. For many companies, there seemed to be very few options as far keeping costs down and the first place that they looked for savings was in their labour costs. This had a definite impact that is still being felt by consumers.

One of the most popular cost saving methods in the United States was (and often still is) downsizing, or, as many prefer to call it, rightsizing. But this trend has led to major impacts as far as customer retention. Saving profits by cutting the cost of employee overhead can mean gains short term, but what about long term?

A recent Ernst and Young report, Cutting Costs Not Customers, relayed some important things that need to be considered with regard to staff reductions and their impact on customer retention:

1. A retailer’s cost-saving initiatives are likely to reduce the support offered to core customers, thereby reducing customer loyalty.

2. Customers are likely to see staff cost cutting changes, such as staff reductions, as making their lives more difficult.

These two major conclusions say a great deal about the difference in trends between how U.S. and Canadian retailers handle customer retention.  If layoffs mean fewer employees in-store, customers are likely to notice these reductions, thereby feeling a decrease in customer loyalty and customer retention. 

How do staff reductions impact customer retention? Think about it this way, if line ups at one retailer seem to be long every time a customer shops, the decision to shop there may be compromised. What about if product is not stocked, or can’t be found, and there are no employees around to ask for assistance. Profits will inevitably begin to decrease if a customer finds very little satisfaction in their shopping experience.

In Canada however, the trend seems to be very different. One of the main differences, especially more recently, is the fact that Canadian CPG companies are recognizing that layoffs are not the way to go, especially when focusing on customer retention. Instead, Canadian companies tend to focus more on long term goals and how to achieve them. Since sales, realistically, depend solely on consumers, it is common sense to remain focused on them.

So how, then, do Canadian companies focus on customer retention? A strong merchandising plan that accomplishes things like promotional experiential marketing or relies on in-store people support at peak times makes sure that customer experience does not suffer. Although some staff reductions may be called for, they are not the only solution – and are used in a balanced approach.

When you focus on customer retention, layoffs should be the farthest things from your mind. After all, cutting costs now can lead to major losses because of a dwindling customer service experience.

For more information about how a Canadian merchandising company can help you keep costs down while ramping up customer retention, please contact Storesupport by calling 1-877-421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca. 

The Changing Face of Retail Merchandising in Canada

No matter what you sell, if you operate in the CPG industry you know how important it is to keep up with changing market trends. Generational gaps as far as spending behaviours have likely not escaped your notice over the last few years – but are you taking advantage of all of the opportunities that these generational differences offer? If you don’t have a retail merchandising plan that considers them, probably not.

Baby boomers have long been the largest group being catered to – largely because they represent the largest group of loyal customers. But the old adage ‘if it’s not broken, don’t fix it’ will no longer mean profits in the long run. Ignoring those other generational groups which represent the buyers of the future is not going to do you any favours. Casting aside the fact that in the next 10-15 years they will represent the largest group of consumers, millennials need to be catered to in a very different way than baby boomers.

Now, now, now. Patience is often touted as a key virtue which millennials fail to exhibit. If a product is not where it should be, or if it is not in stock, most millennials are just going to turn to the next best thing – and if they like that product, what is to stop them from purchasing it next time?

Price vs. quality. Millennials tend to be more price sensitive than baby boomers, and so making sure that products are labelled correctly is also important. If a product is priced incorrectly, the cheaper product might be what makes its way into the shopping cart.

So how can you overcome these all too common challenges? Consider working with a retail merchandising company that can provide a suite of services which will help to ensure that your product is where it should be, in stock, and being marketed the way that you want.

Planogram compliance: You have spent the time and resources researching which planogram will be the most effective, so enlisting the services of a retail merchandising company allows you to ensure your expectations are being met.

Quality assurance audits: Are products priced correctly? As mentioned, price sometimes exceeds quality on the wanted list, so making sure that your product is not being overshadowed is crucial.
Mystery shopping: Are employees stocking shelves in a timely manner? Are they able to provide the correct information about your products? A mystery shopper can answer these questions and give you the ability to fix any issues.

Retail merchandising in Canada represents a vital tool by which to attract both those millennials and baby boomers with different marketing tastes. Don’t cast one aside in favour of the other.

For more information about the benefits of retail merchandising in Canada, please contact Storesupport by calling 1-877-421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca. 

Target Baby Boomers 2.0 – How to Increase Customer Retention and Brand Loyalty in This Market Space

There has been a lot of buzz in the news lately with regard to the habits of millennials when compared to baby boomers. It is undeniable that generational trends dictate market trends, and so keeping up with change is critical. That being said, it is important not to alienate one generational group in exchange for another, and it is crucial to cater to all groups while recognizing that baby boomers continue to represent a large segment of shoppers who regularly visit bricks and mortar stores and continue to exhibit a higher level of brand loyalty when compared to younger generations. 

By marketing to the baby boom generation properly, customer retention and brand loyalty can lead to increased profitability. But how?

Baby boomers are apt to exhibit brand loyalty – you just have to hold onto it. Baby boomers remain the most loyal generation, especially when it comes to CPG brands. A recent marketing study done by Jefferies and Alix Partners found that 61% of baby boomers said that brands were important in their purchasing decisions for groceries (compared to only 47% for millennials). Those products that baby boomers have continued to favour over the years are not disregarded easily, making customer retention and brand loyalty much easier with this generation.

At the same time, it is important to acknowledge that baby boomers are more likely to have higher expectations, so things like making sure that product is on the shelf, in the correct place, or that employees can provide assistance when necessary are all key factors in customer retention. A merchandising company can help with this by providing the support necessary to ensure that retailers conform to your expectations.

Furthermore, the study found that millennials are far more price sensitive than boomers, and less likely to buy the more expensive brands. 62% of millennial participants responded that they focused more on lower prices than brands, compared to 46% of baby boomers. Clearly those with the buying power are spending the money.

That doesn’t mean though that product demonstrations or promotions are not well received – they are. Baby boomers are willing to try a new product if the quality is there, and although it takes far more to get them to switch, these tactics can increase shifts in brand loyalty.  They also represent a great customer retention opportunity when providing that added incentive to get them to continue purchasing your products.

The study’s results indicate just how important it is to continue marketing to baby boomers in order to retain their brand loyalty. Make sure that your merchandising plan attempts to reach all viable customers. A merchandising company might be just what you need to ensure that this plan considers all markets. Rely on a company that has the expertise necessary to meet your needs no matter what your target demographic is.

For more information about customer retention and brand loyalty among the baby boom generation, or to find out how our merchandising services can contribute to increasing these, please contact Storesupport by calling 1-877-421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca