DEV Community: Love In Store Technologies

The Science of Planograms: Why Merchandisers Are Key to Store Optimization

Love In Store Technologies — Thu, 29 May 2025 09:27:21 +0000

A planogram is the blueprint of success in retail product placement. Visual diagrams of product placement on shelves help to maximize sales, enhance shopper experience, and improve store efficiency. Merchandisers are the masters who bring these plans to life.

A planogram is a graph of where and how items should be laid out in the store. It takes into consideration the following:

Product types and their relationship.
Use of shelf space to maximize visibility
Consumer behavior pattern to facilitate impulse buying.

Importance of Planograms Matter in Retail

Increasing Sales Potential
A planogram, executed correctly, can ensure that products are placed at the strategic locations, therefore increasing sales.

Consistency Across Stores
The same planograms in every store make for a consistent experience across all locations for customers.

Better Inventory Optimization
Planograms help optimize stocks by letting merchandisers identify slow movers and obsoletes.

Improved Shopper Experience
Planograms enable products to be presented in a logical manner, thus making it easy for shoppers to find what they want.

The Role of the Merchandiser in Planogram Implementation

Implementation with Precision
Merchandisers implement the planograms with precision, including shelf space and product placement.

Customization across stores
Not all stores are the same. Merchandisers customize the planograms according to the store layout and personal tastes of consumers in a particular region.

Monitoring and Feedback
Merchandisers monitor on a regular basis on the adherence to the planogram, collect data on performance, and pass actionable feedback to make the design of the layout better.

Aligning Brand and Retailer Objectives
Merchandisers match brand requirements with retailer objectives so that both parties can benefit from the optimized shelf layout.

The Science Behind Successful Planograms

Data-Driven Insights: The merchandiser uses customer data, sales reports, and shopping behavior to create and adapt planograms.

Eye-Level Placement: Items at the eye-level have the greatest appeal; a merchandising principle used to increase sales of the high-margin product.

Category Management: Organizing products together that have an affinity improves cross-selling opportunities.

Actual Impact of the Merchandisers on In-Store Optimization

Creating Impulse Purchases
The merchandisers place a few small high-margin products near the check-out counters where impulse buying happens.

Ensuring Product Availability
By tracking planogram compliance, they ensure that shelves remain full and appealing to shoppers.

Enhancing Brand Value
Merchandisers secure the best shelf positions for their brand, giving them a competitive advantage.

Discover how Love In Store’s merchandising expertise can transform your retail spaces with data-driven planogram strategies. Let’s create a shopping experience that keeps customers coming back!

Five Essentials for Merchandising Planning Process

Love In Store Technologies — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 09:30:01 +0000

Several times as a retailer, there might have been scenarios where you are left wondering which one of your marketing or advertising worked. You've either got the right audience where the target customer is in your store or e-commerce channel with the correct item at the right price, and they're ready to buy. Sounds good, right? You're about to make a sale when the customer clicks to add the item to their cart or physically selects the item from the store. But the story unfolds when the dreaded "sold out" message appears,z or an empty shelf in the store greets the customer.

Another example that can create a negative impact on your store: is a feared "overabundance" of goods left over at the end of the season, with a consequent loss of margins due to excessive devaluations or, worse, devaluations to empty the warehouse.

While the causes of these issues can be elusive and complex, one thing is sure: a comprehensive cross-channel merchandise planning process is a must when managing your assortment from initial idea to order. Below is a checklist of the merchandise planning process that should be on the retailer’s top priority list:

1. Set up a multi-channel merchandise planning process

This may sound like the first step, but some retailers need a formalized process to begin with the process. Goal setting, followed by a "pre-season" merchandise finalization with high-level financial goals from the finance organization. These goals are usually at the highest level of the organization, multi-group or category level, and usually consist of top-level sales and margin goals. A dealer must take these goals and develop a high-level plan, usually with metrics such as sales, markdowns, cash flow, inventory levels, margins and percentages, gross margin/return on investment, or GMROI.

These plans should be developed through analytics, including the past performance of the item, macro market trends, and targeted customer data. Once an initial plan has been developed, a working session should be held with the wholesaler, the demand planner, the financial/commodity planner, and other required data.

Furthermore, the plan and each metric should be reviewed in detail and, if necessary, adjusted to arrive at the desired margin and ROI. This step should be iterative as it may take multiple iterations of the plan with each category to resolve any queries and resort to a final plan for that particular season. The result: a plan signed and agreed upon by all levels of the planning and mercantile organizations.

However, the process shouldn't stop there. An in-season checkpoint should be established between retailers and the planning organization to ensure that business trends are exploited, or problems are avoided. Depending on the frequency and the demand of each product of the store, this reviewing and checking process should take place at least once a month and include a review of crucial store vitals: sales, discounts, document flow, and stock levels.

Only through this "in-season" detail plan can opportunities be taken advantage of or potential inventory issues minimized. The point is to increase your chances of meeting and exceeding sales and profit plans by establishing a consistent pre- and mid-season planning process, such as the merchandise planning process.

2. Create a multi-channel merchandising planning organization

The importance of a merchandise planning process with people and analytics working to make decisions cannot be underestimated. This provides the necessary checks and balances between the art of merchandise selection and the science of merchandising analysis. Regardless of the structure of this organization, members of this team should be assigned and physically positioned with their sales representative counterparts to encourage daily dialogue and healthy interaction.

From a reporting perspective, this group should ideally sit outside the commercial ranks and report through the financial organization, emphasizing the ability to provide an independent and objective point of view for planning before and during the season. The point: create an objective organization that can guide the planning process and ensure consistency in the development and execution of the merchandising planning process.

3. Define exit strategies for all commodities

Every item comes with life, and one of the first lessons for any retailer is to treat their inventory like food - you need to eliminate products that have gone bad or have been outdated! Therefore, each article must have a shelf life and an exit strategy. The exit strategy is simply based on the sales targets.

The release strategy process should ensure that each item is subject to a category-specific discount cadence once the merchandise has reached a certain point in its lifecycle, defined by a specific sales target or date. planogram expiration. The point: every article has a life cycle; Make sure your merchandising planning process has a pricing cadence to tap remaining stock most profitably while making room for new products.

4. Place Products Strategically

Developing fully diversified store racks is extremely difficult and expensive due to the supply chain tools required; it makes sense for retailers to identify logical groupings of stores by category or item classification. These groups must first be assigned based on store volume, customer characteristics, and geography. As tools and capabilities become more analytically engaged, deeper demographics of buyers and competitive groups need to be engineered. The bottom line is: inventory is a valuable and expensive commodity. Shipping the right merchandise to specific clusters increases your chances of maintaining margin and ROI.

5. Get the right tools

A retailer's most important asset is data, preferably from a trusted source. Retailers should consider at least one set of essential tools to improve their ability to plan and manage their merchandise. These include:

● Business Planning: The tool that enables the development of top-down and bottom-up category plans
● Enterprise Data Warehouse: The fundamental data source from which the enterprise can be planned and managed
● Assortment Allocation/Planning: More advanced tools that enable the development of store-specific and customer-specific assortments.

You'll undoubtedly reduce the frequency of wasted products by creating a cohesive pre-season and seasonal merchandise planning process supported by a dedicated team with the right tools - and it'll keep your customers coming back.

What Is Below-the-Line Marketing?

Love In Store Technologies — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 11:58:16 +0000

An advertising strategy known as below-the-line advertising involves promoting products in media other than the usual radio, television, billboards, print, and film formats. The main categories of below-the-line advertising systems include targeted search engine marketing, trade shows, catalogs, social media marketing, and direct mail campaigns, and is done by various agencies in btl marketing activities in India. Comparatively speaking, below-the-line advertising techniques are frequently more focused and less expensive.

Acquiring knowledge of below-the-line advertising.

Instead of casting a wide net to reach large audiences, below-the-line advertising aims to address consumers directly. A below-the-line campaign might instead highlight an in-store demonstration of a product that customers may want to check out in person rather than airing a national commercial during a popular network television show. This makes it possible for a higher level of interaction, where a salesperson can address specific queries and provide more precise explanations of the goods. Below-the-line advertisements include:

Online marketing with specificity.

Companies can target particular demographics in their advertising campaigns, such as a consumer's age or business type. LinkedIn, for instance, enables advertisers to target specific people with sidebar advertisements based on their profession or the groups they are a part of on the website.

Direct mail.

Companies continue to use direct mail advertising, particularly for the older demographics, who are less likely than the younger generations to use the Internet. Postcard mailings and catalogs are still popular and valuable marketing strategies.

Expos and presentations.

Businesses frequently use the local Chambers of Commerce to advertise their goods and services. Banks hold seminars on mortgages, interest rates, and home affordability to attract new loan customers.

There are always better marketing strategies that always succeed. Instead, businesses frequently adopt multiple strategies. An organization might, for instance, send out a direct mailing of flyers promoting an upcoming event that it is hosting at the nearby convention center.

Above-the-Line vs. Below-the-Line Marketing.

Mass audiences are the target market for above-the-line advertising. The pinnacle of above-the-line marketing is a Super Bowl television commercial, which costs millions of dollars for just a few seconds of airtime but instantly reaches tens of millions of consumers worldwide. However, statistically speaking, a sizeable portion of those viewers might not accurately represent a company's target market.

In contrast, below-the-line advertising targets a more niche audience while reaching fewer people. Most of the time, below-the-line advertisers conduct in-depth market research to pinpoint a target market of consumers more likely to buy the products. Following the identification of the target market, below-the-line advertising reaches consumers in a more individualized and direct way.

In contrast to below-the-line marketing, which employs a metaphorical fishing pole through direct mail, in-person interactions at trade shows, or paid search engine results that appear when users enter particular queries, above-the-line marketing casts a wide net.

Since below-the-line advertising is less expensive and easier to track, its return on investment (ROI) may be higher than that of an above-the-line campaign.

The benefits of below-the-line advertising.

The main benefit of below-the-line advertising is undoubtedly lower costs.

Direct mailing and search engine marketing are significantly less expensive than TV and radio ads, which are frequently costly. Furthermore, scaling up or down below-the-line techniques is less expensive and more straightforward.

Tracking conversions with intended customers is another benefit of below-the-line techniques. As an illustration, despite numerous methods for determining how effective TV and radio advertisements are, deciding on their significance can take time and effort. People occasionally need to remember their experiences, so asking customers how they learned about a business, for instance, can produce unreliable answers. In contrast, email and search engine marketing carefully monitor the links that customers click to give enterprises more precise information.

In today's contemporary business landscape, superior customer engagement is crucial; below-the-line marketing fosters this.

How Does Choosing the Right Medium of Trade Help Boost Sales?

Love In Store Technologies — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 08:04:49 +0000

Nearly everyone in business wants to make a lot of money. How we manage distribution channels directly impacts our ability to sell consumer goods. Therefore, every company must be able to choose the appropriate quantity and timing of orders to satisfy customer needs without incurring significant costs.

Thanks to distribution channels, producers can market their products much more efficiently and with greater assurance that consumers will receive them safely. The company will be significantly aided in distributing its products through a well-managed distribution channel.

A distribution channel is route producers take to move goods while transferring ownership from producers to consumers, directly or indirectly. Producers can conduct marketing research through distribution channels to learn different facts about customers, rivals, and other forces in the potential marketing environment.

Markets and shops are locations where buyers and sellers can interact face-to-face. They are also a part of the final distribution channel and frequently come into contact with customers.

Contrary to the current situation, with many modern markets like supermarkets, minimarkets, and hypermarkets, every producer must meet specific requirements to enter the product. In the past, before the existence of the modern market, circulating products would be easy to enter the market, and the conditions for entering these products also tended to be easy. Therefore, general trade and modern trade are the two terms that are currently used in the distribution.

Most trade deals with traditional markets (such as little stalls). Distributors or (intermediaries) conduct sales in this manner. For instance, locally oriented businesses are typically owned by individuals. In Indonesia, the typical consumer frequently visits general trade to buy food and other urgent household necessities.

On the other hand, modern trade focuses on managing contemporary markets, including supermarkets, minimarkets, and hypermarkets, whose operations are more organized than general trade. Modern business is typically visited for more planned monthly shopping because the location is more prominent and tends to be farther from the housing.

General Trade

Most goods offered by general trade are easily transportable and come in food, clothing, and other goods. Compared to general trade vs modern trade, general trade expands with life and socio-cultural interaction rather than just being a place to buy and sell things. Because they are constructed close to residential areas, general trade or traditional markets benefit from being strategically located. Another indication that general trade is one of the best for boosting the economy of the populace is the variety of goods sold. At the same time, the flaws in general commerce are similar to filthy, shabby, and less frequent in their location. Even though there are still a lot of counterfeit goods in use, the packaging could be better, and the quality of the product is frequently not guaranteed.

Modern Trade.

According to the management, which is done in a contemporary manner and prioritizes customer service for the convenience of shoppers, leadership, on the one hand, has significant capital and is furnished with a precise price tag. Modern trade, in comparison to general trade vs modern trade, has several benefits from the customer's perspective, aside from the non-negotiable price point.

These benefits include a tidy, inviting setting and extended and scheduled operating hours. Various payment methods, including cash, debit, credit, and gift cards, are also available to provide the best level of service. There is no process for bargaining, which is a disadvantage of contemporary trade. There is no social interaction while shopping because it is done alone.

Which distribution channel is better, modern trade or general trade?

Determining the distribution channel and selecting the appropriate type between general and modern trade is crucial for today's producers.

When choosing a distribution channel, there are many factors to consider, including the budget, competitors, product conditions, target market, and available resources. Currently, small and micro traders in traditional markets (general trade) are beginning to express concern due to modern business growth in several cities.

General trade managers are believed to be turned off by modern market penetration, which involves expanding distribution networks to the sub-district level as the primary channel for the small and micro economy's distribution. Additionally, modern trade's service, appearance, completeness, and affordability are benefits.

To master the nitty-gritty of business and take it to the next level, connect with Love in Store at @1800-257-7750 or info@loveinstore.com. We promise you a smooth journey toward success.

Leveraging Merchandising the Right Way!

Love In Store Technologies — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 11:55:22 +0000

Simply put, merchandise branding is branding your goods by printing your logo on t-shirts, making stuffed animals of your mascot to give away at business events, ordering stickers with your logo, or designing specialized drinkware to enjoy your branded craft beer.

Before delving further into product merchandising branding, let's first discuss branding as a concept.

The act of branding involves letting the world know who you are. You must make deliberate design decisions to demonstrate your brand identity to potential customers, partners, investors, and competitors.

Cake mix packaged in a container with a green label and a picture of a slice of carrot cake serves as product merchandising branding.
Which audiences you are targeting—and which you are not—are apparent with clear branding.

All of the intentional design decisions you make up your brand identity. It's the color scheme of your website, the tone of your text, and the Design of your logo.

The way others perceive you is another crucial factor. To effectively brand yourself, you must clearly articulate your industry position and produce content that appeals to your target market.

The color scheme, the messaging, the fonts, the illustration style of the walking donut, and the sunbeam-like lines expanding behind the mascot all work together to create a distinctive impression.

The ultimate goal of product merchandising branding, no matter how you go about it, is to make your brand tangible so that consumers can own a little bit of you.

With a magnet resembling a faucet with water coming out, merchandise can be branded with it.
The Design of your merchandise may incorporate your responses.

Understanding your brand's identity is the first step in successfully branding yourself and your inventory. Ask your company the following questions while imagining it as a person.

Are the prices of your goods and services higher, lower, or roughly the same as those of your rivals?
What do you provide for your clients?
How do you distinguish yourself from your opponents?
How do you and the brands you want to compete with compare to your rivals and competitors?
What values do you hold?
Are you up-to-date or traditional?
Your business size is how big?
What are you most adept at?

Who exactly are your clients?

Decide who your customers are after deciding who you are. Answer a few inquiries about your target market, such as: as you did before.

What are their values?
What do consumers anticipate from businesses?
How do they want businesses to communicate with them?
What sort of goods would they like?
Would some product features be more functional or practical?

Merchandise branding using pet pads of various colors.

An excellent way to win them over is to brand the kinds of products that your audience already purchases. Agnes Design created the product design.

You can better develop your brand's visual identity by being aware of your target market's values and needs. To establish a genuine connection with them, you can precisely pinpoint the products you should brand.

The development of a visual brand persona.

You are prepared to brand yourself once you understand who you are, who your customers are, and how these factors interact. Choose from the following to create a unified brand identity:

Typography. How people view your brand is significantly influenced by the fonts you use in your logo, website design, advertisements, and other places. Consider this: block letter fonts feel simple and practical, whereas script fonts frequently have a fancy feel. While sans-serif fonts feel more approachable and affordable, serif fonts add a touch of elegance.

Color. People are influenced subconsciously by color. For instance, red can arouse enthusiasm, rage, or general intensity. White frequently represents innocence, sterility, or a new beginning. Consider who you are, what you stand for, and the audience you aim for as you create your brand identity, and then choose your colors accordingly.

Graphics and shapes. The shapes you use in your logo and other branding materials, such as a custom pattern on branded apparel, are also essential to your brand identity. Squares represent boundaries and stability, whereas triangles stand for action and motion. Circles, a popular choice for logo frames, stand for friendliness and openness.

Voice. The copy for your brand uses this tone of voice. While your copy isn't necessarily a visual component of your brand identity, it still needs as much consideration as every other part. Are you the brand that uses the most current slang, or are you a total grammar nerd? Does your brand paint flowery, highly-detailed word portraits on its blog, or do you say just enough to give your photos context?

Developing products with a consistent brand.

Once you've established your color scheme and overall visual identity, you can experiment to produce one-of-a-kind products.
Once your brand identity is complete, publicize your logo, website, business cards, product packaging, and branding merchandise wherever you can.

Keep in mind that consistency is critical to successful product merchandising branding. It won't be as easy to identify your products as yours if they don't feel the same as your other branded properties. Look at Agnes design's bib designs to see on-target, unified branding. The warm color schemes and hand-drawn style contribute significantly to the four bibs' uniform appearance and feel, even though each is distinctive. It is obvious that they are all a part of the same set, and it is simple to picture purchasing a four-pack of them.

Determining what products to brand.

Selecting the goods to brand is the next step in the branding process. Brand merchandising aims to provide something your target audience finds valuable. To make this choice, consider your response to "Who are your customers" and determine what people in that audience like.
To get you started, here are a few everyday items for merchandise branding:

T-shirts.
Baseball hats.
Pens.
Notepads.
Mugs.
Containers for water.
The tote bag.

These can be excellent options, particularly if you're new to brand merchandising. However, consider them more of a starting point than a comprehensive list. If you can brand a product that has yet to be seen, it will work as long as your target market is into it. The only restrictions on branding merchandise are what makes sense for your brand and fits your budget.

Advantages of Building an Omnichannel Strategy

Love In Store Technologies — Mon, 29 May 2023 07:14:52 +0000

Today's consumers are looking for modern conveniences that allow them to discover brands and make purchasing decisions in a whole new way. This article covers integrating online and offline channels and all activities to deliver a seamless and inclusive experience across all touch points.

Get expert insights through our bi-weekly audio series that discusses everything e-commerce, from industry news and trends to growth strategies and success stories. listen today
What is omnichannel retailing?

Omnichannel retail platforms, social channels, physical stores, and more include multichannel transactions. Omnichannel has become a buzzword, but it's more than just a way of saying cross-channel sales. It can be dealt with and understood by Best Omnichannel Services Player.

Let's examine the subtle differences between omnichannel, multichannel, and single-channel commerce.

Omnichannel retail. An accurate omnichannel approach requires you to meet customers where they are and deliver a consistent brand experience wherever you sell to build relationships that transcend channels. It should optimize business models by diversifying channels and fully integrating data and systems. Customer expectations in retail are increasing and can only be met through omnichannel retail.

An omnichannel approach has advantages as it exposes your business to multiple channels and is what customers want and even demand—multichannel retail.

Multichannel commerce, as in omnichannel, refers to selling through multiple channels. However, Best Omnichannel Services Player experiences are often disparate without a defined message across various channels, and marketing efforts operate in silos. Our omnichannel philosophy focuses on optimizing each touchpoint, not the journey.

The shift from offline to online channels is not the only behavioral change.

Consumers entered the shopping process with new constraints, such as choosing different products and services than usual, trying new brands or retailers, and finding stores with pickup or delivery options. "Marketers have seen a new type of consumer behavior and learned to understand different things about consumers when doing their homework," said Andrew Kandel, head of sales at Waze North America. "There will be a return to normality, but there will be evolved consumers who see the world differently."

Why is omnichannel shopping important to retailers? In short, accelerating consumer behavior change in 2020 makes an omnichannel strategy more important than ever. With the Internet making great strides in meeting the first two consumer needs, the focus is now on convenience."

Ultimately, an omnichannel strategy by Best Omnichannel Services Player will help you generate more sales and profitability. An e-Marketer report found that optimized digital experiences, curbside pickup, and contactless checkout helped increase shopping frequency and sales. Here are some things that make omnichannel so valuable:

Meet your customers where they are. Consumers have been involved in commercial activities for thousands of years. COVID-19 has kept people from trading. It just goes out of its way and spreads much of its movement across multiple channels. E-commerce became a hot topic, social media attracted engaged audiences to take advantage of new business opportunities, and market traffic increased.

The customer journey used to be relatively linear, but today it is different. You can engage your brand on desktop, TV, or mobile. Marking the customer's location makes the shopping trip easier. In a world transformed by COVID-19, convenience is more important than ever, but it always has been.

A solid omnichannel strategy is sensitive to changing consumer behavior and uses technology and operations to serve customers where they are and where they want to be.

Stand out in a crowded playground. With many retailers vying for attention online, standing out is critical to success. It would help to have a brand that resonates with a great shopping experience and excellent service.

Companies that take an omnichannel approach to online shopping can immediately differentiate themselves from other brands, especially those unwilling to give up the traditional shopping experience. With so many competitors in the commercial space, why shouldn't companies look for advantages whenever possible? The move to omnichannel is an immediate deal breaker. Grow your existing customer base by giving you exposure to new markets.

To truly stand out, you need to adapt to new customer needs and behaviors and recalibrate your understanding of your audience. Some of what we know about our customers may have changed. We use the data to determine if any of the following need to be corrected:

range of products
sales channel
advertising channel
report

Doing this accurately and consistently will give you a better chance of dealing with unexpected changes.

Optimize your business with data and analytics. Sudden and dramatic changes in consumer behavior may require some retailers to adjust their mix of sales and marketing channels to optimize for the new reality. Understanding the data will help you decide where and how to focus your energy.

Managing your brand's data flow can increase the visibility of your marketing efforts on your website, social media feed, storefront, or customer engagement platform. Knowing why your customers make decisions is critical to your success. The move to omnichannel also presents challenges. Since consistent collaboration across all channels is required, data optimization simplifies the process and avoids errors and lack of information. A comprehensive, integrated omnichannel strategy centralizes data from all sources and media so you can determine the best way to balance inventory and meet customers where they are.

Personalization allows companies to collect data from multiple user touchpoints, from physical stores to online stores.