Retail Merchandising Over the Summer Holidays

The Labour Day holiday weekend marks the official end of summer, and the stores are filled with a variety of shoppers stocking up for the various items this weekend represents. And it isn’t just consumers taking advantage. Summer long weekends area major boon for retailers for many reasons – so making the most of it is just a smart business practice. Here are some ways to reap the benefits of this retail merchandising win.

Retail Merchandising: Camping. Consumers heading out to brave the traffic over the long weekend will need to stock up before they head out, so marketing to this crowd can equal big profits. Whether tent camping or cottage camping, families will want those quintessential ‘camping’ necessities: marshmallows, sunscreen and bug spray, even gear. Make the most of these ‘needs’ with a retail merchandising plan that  caters to the campers by ensuring shelves are well stocked and any sales are well marked. Consider an in-store promotion or experiential marketing campaign to attract shoppers and get them spending.

Retail Merchandising: BBQs. Most long weekends of the summer mean a BBQ, and the Labour Day holiday weekend is no exception. Again, this is an area where an experiential marketing campaign can be a big win. Set up an in-store BBQ, providing live product samplings.   Live product samplings are one of the best ways to shift brand loyalty. A consumer who stops to sample your product, if they like it will be likely to buy.

Retail Merchandising: Back-to-School. The shopping bonanza that comes with the end of summer can be a retail goldmine – but with it can come extra-long line ups or empty shelves. Retail floors quickly become disheveled as back-to-school shoppers pick things up, put things down and dig through products looking for deals. It is important to have a strong plan with respect to retail merchandising and back to school shoppers. If customers can’t find what they are looking for at your store, they will likely turn to a competitor – and this can have not only short term but long term impacts as well, especially with regards to customer loyalty. Make sure that you are prepared to avoid lost sales by having the necessary people support required to make the weekend a sales success.

Retail merchandising doesn’t have to be a challenge. Retail merchandising companies that offer wide coverage often have people scheduled to attend the stores where your products are sold for other brands anyways. A retail merchandising company that can plan and execute promotional or experiential marketing campaigns, provide extra staff support and more… 

For more information about how to turn the summer holidays into a potential retail merchandising pot of gold please contact Storesupport today by calling 1-877-421-5081.

Retail Merchandising “Down” Your Business

Target Corp. has been in the news a great deal recently and retailers across Canada are modifying their retail plans as a result of the influx of new stores that are being opened. Although Target, as a big box store, does present some stiff competition, many previous big box retailers are moving in a different direction – down.

A recent article in the Globe and Mail, “Goodbye, big box?”, speaks to the issue of how this competition has led to a realignment of big box thinking, sending current retailers on a new course to keep up. One of Canada’s largest providers of automotive parts and home products, formerly focused exclusively on doing things ‘big’, is making plans to ‘downsize’ in an effort to see sales increase. Focusing more on the retail merchandising factor plays a big role here.

How is this retail merchandising downsizing going to help? Well, in an effort to ramp up customer service, it actually makes a lot of sense. More mature consumers don’t want to spend as much time walking up and down isles – and so a smaller store will allow them to get their shopping done faster. It also allows for higher customer service levels – something that is crucial with this generation. Brand loyalty suffers when a customer feels unsatisfied with a retailer’s service, and so giving more to the consumer means higher levels of brand loyalty.

Retail merchandising in this situation is also key in order to retain those customers that tend to turn to online shopping. The younger generations, millennials for example, are often tempted by the lure of online shopping – so a strong retail merchandising plan will help you retain their business with things like experiential marketing.

If you are thinking about traveling the same route as those big box stores, you have to make sure that you have a strong retail merchandising plan in place to ensure that customer service does not suffer as a result.

People support: Many stores are keeping their big box locations as temporary inventory spaces, and a retail merchandising company can provide the personnel required to staff each location. Well-trained, professional employees, available on short notice and a temporary basis, can mean the difference between customers leaving happy and planning to return and leaving unsatisfied and shifting their loyalties.

Planogram set-up: A retail merchandising company can also set-up, tag and price, and install any signage in the new location. This ensures planogram compliance.

Store closures: If you are closing a store and sections of the store are being closed as inventory is sold, let a retail merchandising company assist in rearranging the store so that it is still shopper friendly. This way your employees can remain focused on providing excellent customer service at a time when it is crucial, and a retail merchandising company can make sure that customers can still find what they need.  

If you are planning to downsize in the future, don't ignore the importance of retail merchandising in these scenarios.  For more information about how retail merchandising can ensure your customers don't feel pressure to switch please contact Storesupport by calling 1-87-421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca

Experiential Marketing to the Summer BBQ Lover

Barbeque season is in full swing and what better way to get people excited about your product than with an experiential marketing event which targets the summer bbq lover.  Whether you sell hamburgers or buns, paper plates or all the fixings, showing off your products and letting people test products that perhaps they have yet to try represents a great opportunity to boost profits.

Sure television commercials or social media can get consumers thinking about a brand, but that one-on-one is still very important. Building a relationship with your consumer is never a bad thing, and if you bring emotions into the mix, the decision to purchase is influenced even more.

New to the experiential marketing field? That’s ok – now is a better time than ever to get yourself acquainted. Experiential marketing is really just the act of connecting people with products in a live interaction. Whether it is through a product demonstration or a taste test, giving consumers an experience is one of the best ways to build brand awareness and increase customer retention.

The stats speak for themselves. A study done by the Event Marketing Institute found that almost 60% of customers reported that an experiential marketing campaign has led them to purchase the product demonstrated and over 80% said that these events have led to them becoming a regular customer! If you are looking to both retain current customers and attract new ones, experiential marketing is a great way to do it.

Whether you conduct experiential marketing campaigns on a regular basis or have never taken advantage of the opportunities these types of events represent, there are a few key things to keep in mind.

When it comes to an effective experiential marketing campaign, expertise is key. When planning an event, it is critical to make sure that those working the event have a solid knowledge base in order to be able to answer questions correctly and provide the information that customers need. An experienced CPG merchandising company will be able to provide the training and ensure that employees are experts.

Personality is key too. When you hold an event, you need to make sure that those working it are approachable and confident. Having individuals with previous experience working these types of events makes all the difference. Again, those staff members provided by a CPG merchandising company will be qualified and experienced.

So how do you take advantage of bbq season and conduct an effective marketing campaign that gets attention and boost profits? Harness the power of experience and let a CPG merchandising company plan and execute an experiential event!

To get started on your experientialmarketing campaign, please contact Storesupport by calling 1-877-421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.

 

 

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. 

What to Do in the Event of an Allergy Alert Product Recall

Product recalls, or more specifically allergy alert product recalls, are an issue that brands and retailers deal with on a regular basis. If a product is found to contain something that is not listed on the label, or if the label does not contain an allergy alert, steps must be taken to remedy the problem. Most product recall decisions are made by CFIA and Health Canada, and brands are expected to comply immediately. Whatever the level (Class I, II, or III recalls), the way that you handle a product recall is vital.

There are several different types of product recalls:

-        Voluntary recall: Most product recalls in Canada are voluntary, meaning that they are initiated and carried out by the company whose product is being recalled. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency monitors the recall to ensure that the correct process is followed.

-        Mandatory recall: Although most product recalls are voluntary, if a company refuses to comply with a recall request, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food will step in and order a mandatory recall, especially for those foods that pose a health risk.

-        Allergy alert: This recall is issued when an undeclared item is contained in a product, and is withdrawn once that item is listed on the label.

-        Health hazard: These are issued when something that could potentially cause harm (ex. Salmonella) is found in a product.

Often these will be listed together (ex. allergy alert: voluntary recall).

In the event of an allergy alert product recall the brand has to:

·         Remove the product from the shelf

·         Ship it all back to the warehouse

·         Re-label the packaging

·         Re-ship the product back to the store

This process represents a huge cost to the brand, not only because of the money to correct the mistake and the shipping costs, but also with regard to the sales lost while the product is not on the shelf. This is why time is of the essence when you are dealing with an allergy alert product recall – or any type of product recall!

These costs are severely reduced when a merchandising company takes over – since they will just correct the labels in store, thereby saving you time and money. This rapid response approach also helps to mitigate the public relations effects, since your product is not actually being taken from the shelves.

Sometimes product recalls are unavoidable, and in these cases they need to be handled correctly. A merchandising company that offers emergency response services to deal with product recalls can help take the pressure off and get things running as they should be.

If you don’t have a system in place to deal with product recalls, please contact Storesupport to find out more 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