Have Eyes on the Ground: How Retail Merchandising Companies Keep You in The Know

When your product is listed with retailers it is important to know what is happening at the point of purchase. Retail merchandising companies perform a myriad of services for brands at the retail level. Retail merchandising companies generally have national, experienced teams of retail professionals who routinely visit most retailers on behalf of their clients.  

One very important function performed by retail merchandising companies is retail intelligence. Retail intelligence notifies brands regarding what is occurring with their products and competition at the retail level. 

Retail intelligence is vital to different sized companies for different reasons. Newly listed brands need to ensure a flawless customer experience working towards driving good sales so that their product can stay listed. Retail intelligence may include a schedule to ensure planogram compliance and to make sure that product is in stock, properly tagged and out on the floor.

Where large brands are concerned the stakes are even higher, as is competition. You will need to be aware of what your competitors are doing; are they running a sale or promotion? Bigger brands must be agile and react to changes in pricing by competitors to maintain their positions in their markets.

Private label brands big and small are faced with the struggle of competing with store brands. This is another big reason why retail intelligence is so important. Retail employees have their priorities and one of them includes ensuring that the retailer’s products are always stocked and on the shelves, even sometimes before re-stocking your product. Retail intelligence can identify challenges within specific retailers to enable you to devise a plan to improve productivity.

Retail merchandising companies keep you in the know because they can essentially act as your boots on the ground. You can provide them with data points that you want collected from the retailers where your product is sold. They can report back retail intelligence to you and even take action on your behalf if something has gone awry.

The intelligence you can gather through a retail intelligence company provides you with the opportunity to improve customer experience by doing everything possible to make purchasing your product easy. Knowing what happens at the retail level will result in a consistent experience for your customer, and the reliability of always finding your product in stock and on the shelves will result in your customers making your product a staple on their grocery list.

At the end of the day you just can’t count on retailers to provide good retail merchandising all of the time. Retail employees are busy, especially during peak times (your best chance to sell). This is when things can get even more hectic often meaning product will appear out of stock when in fact it is in the back and just hasn’t been replenished. The reality is, to be in the know, you have to make yourself aware of what’s happening on the ground.

For more information about retail intelligence or if you would like information about our retail merchandising services please visit www.storesupport.ca or call 905-847-6513.

Retailers Give Preference to In-store Brands Through Retail Merchandising

Private labels have been immersed in a battle to compete with store brands in the consumer packaged goods space for many different reasons. This represents a huge challenge to B and C level brands. 

Store brands are more competitive than ever, offering lower prices on the backs of the brands that they compete with. In addition to lower pricing, better packaging, marketing campaigns and preferential retail merchandising has made is more difficult and more expensive than ever before to compete.

National brands with deep pockets are definitely better positioned to compete. Smaller B and C brands are in a vulnerable position and in a virtual war zone because they not only find themselves having to compete with the store brands but also with the national brands.

This is a real catch 22 because in order to sell product, private brands must maintain strong relationships with the very stores that have brands that they are competing with, and in some cases, even white label their products to. Without the retailers, brands don’t have a place to sell their products. Without strong sales, brands face having their products de-prioritized and even de-listed.

If you represent a brand, you know that you pay big bucks to have your products listed with retailers. Retailers who sell their own brands give preference to the retail merchandising of their brands which means that private brands must make a more assertive effort to control their retail merchandising at the retail level.

When a retailer gives preferential retail merchandising to their brands, what does this mean for you?

It means that they see better product placement and more effort is made to see that that product is properly priced, in stock and on the shelves.

The only way B and C brands can compete in this environment is to make more of an investment in the customer’s experience through increasing their investment in retailmerchandising at the point of purchase to ensure customer retention and customer loyalty.

So how can you do this? By knowing where you stand at the retail level at all times and having eyes on the ground at the retailers. When customers are in-store the three most common reasons that they shift brand loyalty are when products are moved, when products are not properly priced and when products are not on the shelves.

If you represent a smaller private brand you can work with retail merchandising companies to come up with a plan to ensure that your product is where you expect it to be, is not in stock but not on the shelf, is not out of stock or is not improperly priced. This could include scheduled visits by the retail merchandising company to ensure that your in-store presence is in order. Retail merchandising companies can be provided with your product so if it is out of stock, they can place more product in-store. If product is sold out on the shelf, they can go into the stockroom and place more product on the shelf. If your product has been moved, you will be made aware of it and they can even correct incorrect pricing.

These small changes can make an incredible difference in your sales. When customers visit the retailer, your product will consistently be available to them. When other brands see their products sell out now you are in a position to shift the customers’ loyalty to you because you not only offer great product but your brand is reliable.

For more information about how you can compete with store brands or for more information about our retail merchandising solutions please contact Storesupport at 1(877) 421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.