Display Mnemonics: A Quick Guide to Effective Merchandising

After reading the display mnemonics, here is an illustrated manual to guide you through effective merchandising.

1. The Difference Between Daring and Not Daring

Due to fears of shrinkage and inventory buildup, store managers often hesitate to display products boldly, resulting in minimal product display and a lack of visual impact on floor displays and end caps. The consequences: displays lack visual appeal, inventory turnover slows, sales suffer, and ultimately, supplier support diminishes and foot traffic declines. Therefore, merchandising requires managers to have the courage to act decisively when faced with challenges.

Someone might ask, what's the difference between keeping products in the warehouse and putting them on the sales floor? Customers won't browse your warehouse; if you pile everything on the sales floor, there's a chance it will sell (even if only one item sells, it's better than selling none from the warehouse).

2. Classification Signage

Classification signage is an integral part of merchandising, aiming to achieve visibility. Key points:

First, completeness: All types of signage should be present—price tags, category signs, service signs, store layout maps, restroom signs, UnionPay signs, etc.

Second, accuracy: Place appropriate signs in logical locations. For instance, you wouldn't hang a restroom sign in the middle of the store, nor would you put a checkout sign in the restroom. The right sign in the right place means a restroom sign belongs at the restroom entrance.

Third, standardization: As the saying goes, "Without standards, there can be no order." Without standardized execution, your displays will be a mess. How should each sign be used? Where should it be placed? How should it be positioned to be attractive, tidy, and standardized? Ultimately, everything should be uniform.

3. Display Atmosphere: How to Move Customers

Move your customers so that, due to your displays, they inadvertently buy many things they didn't intend to buy—that is the ultimate goal of merchandising.

Display atmosphere mainly covers two aspects: displays for regular products and displays for promotional products.

Regular display atmosphere: Aim for simplicity without being simplistic.

Displays should be "simple" so that customers don't feel tired while shopping—tired from choosing, reaching, asking, or walking.

For example, if a customer wants to buy light soy sauce and arrives at your condiment section, but finds that the condiments are arranged by brand—with one brand's light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, and more all on one shelf—the customer will feel overwhelmed. They must first decide which brand of light soy sauce to buy, then locate that brand's display, and finally search through various sizes of light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, soy sauce, and vinegar to find the specific one they want. How tiring! Why not arrange condiments by function? Put all light soy sauces in one section, regardless of brand; all dark soy sauces in another, and so on. Then customers only need to find the light soy sauce section, and the rest becomes much simpler.

Displays should be "not simplistic." When we say displays should be "simple," we mean displays should follow a logical arrangement. "Not simplistic" is a higher level of refinement: at the same display location, encourage customers to stay longer, look more, and buy more. For example, we talk about cross-merchandising—placing cheese and jam near the bread section; themed displays—like a baby corner, personal care center, or grain section; and attractive special displays.

"Not simplistic" can be understood as display vitality.

Vitality is achieved through the development and execution of specific strategies and channel strategies for point-of-purchase (POP) displays, focusing on purchase and consumption occasions.

Excellent vitality is not: random items everywhere; only POP materials; or just a single display. Excellent vitality should be: innovative/creative; stimulate customers' shopping impulses; connect with consumer occasions; eye-catching without being intrusive; and have clear, accurate price tags.

Use this model as the main framework for your goals.

Now, let's look at some specific operational points for vitality:

1. In-store golden triangle—positioning principles. These are along the path of three key points: the entrance, the checkout, and the area around the most frequently purchased items in the store.

For example, in a small supermarket (see diagram below):

2. Customers prefer a clear "shopping path."

Customers who are bumped into several times while browsing will stop staying there; after being bumped a few times, they will stop buying the products displayed there.

What does that mean?

If a customer is new to this area (or it's their first time after you've rearranged the display), they don't know where the aisle leads. When they walk in, they find it's a dead end or they have to go to great lengths to get out (this happens). We've set up many such isolated areas in our stores. The first time, they might not say anything, but the second and third times, they'll feel too "tired" and won't want to stay, let alone appreciate the products in that area.

Insight: Aisles should be straight and clear. What keeps customers isn't the traffic flow we arbitrarily set, but factors we consider from the customer's perspective.

3. Long-term observation leads to the following conclusions:

Therefore, the best position on a shelf is neither the front nor the back (since front and back are relative—front can become back, and vice versa), but the middle.

4. Larger displays generate larger sales (as shown in the data below):

Conclusion: The larger the floor display, the better the sales; large displays are important.

5. Some points to note:

Through long-term experience, we've learned that too many signs are worse than no signs at all; they confuse customers, ruin the pleasant atmosphere of the shopping place, waste our investment in new promotions, and removing signs is as important as placing them. How does a dirty, worn-out sign affect the store's image? Better to remove it. The goal of product selection is to make customers want to return to your store again and again; the goal of product display is to make customers buy more every time they visit.

Although the above display explanations use supermarkets and hypermarkets as examples, whether it's a hypermarket display, a specialty store, or a convenience store, attention to detail is crucial to bring customers pleasure and comfort, making them willing to spend and enjoy shopping!

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