The Art (and Science) of Product Placement

Posted on August 10, 2015 by Bud Morris
BLOG

The Art (and Science) of Product Placement

Posted on August 10, 2015 by Bud Morris
 

Nobody goes into a store with the singular intention of spending a lot of money. But in the most successful retail scenarios (at least as far as the shopkeeper is concerned), they do. And they do especially when the retailer has exercised the power of product placement.

Here’s how:

Put everyday and sale items in the middle or near the back of a store. This way, customers have to make their way through a forest of higher-profit and impulse merchandise to reach them.

Be strategic in your positioning of items on shelves. Remember that your objective is to draw a shopper away from what she thought she might want and direct her to what you want her to want. Proven best bets on this front include:

Product Placement Shelf

·         block placement (where like-minded merchandise is grouped together);

·         vertical placement (where merchandise is displayed on more than one shelf); and

·         commercial placement (where merchandise with a higher perceived value is given eye-level shelf space).

 

Some retailers capitalize on the notion that consumers scan shelves from left to right, and organize products accordingly.

Consider laying out your aisles in a horseshoe pattern that draws shoppers into its curve where the most profitable items are on display.

 

Your shop’s entrance attracts the highest footfall of its entire real estate. Make the most of this by stocking merchandise there that’s enticing, colourful and interesting.

The front third of your retail space, says the research, scores the most attention. Exploit this by stocking it with appealing offers and high-turnover products.

Give products the space they deserve. That means taking care not to crowd high-demand items in a shameless attempt to unload the stuff.

Draw customers into little-traversed areas of your store by populating them with high-demand items. That way, you’ll increase the flow of customers all around your shop.

Don’t forget the draw of the cash register for impulse sales. You can tempt the natural congregation of waiting-in-line shoppers here with irresistible low-value extras to bulk up their purchase.

 

Don’t bombast shoppers with all your sweet stuff at the start. There’s a school of thought that goods placed at the start of an aisle don’t sell as well as those featured a bit further in, after the shopper has had a chance to acclimatize to the experience.