Click 'Read the original text' for details. " "The better a product sells, the larger its display area; the higher the profit, the better the display position." You may have heard similar display rules and easily understand them—sales and profit are always the most important indicators for brands and channels, and any party will pursue maximum benefit. " If you look at display guideline charts issued by FMCG companies like Mengniu, Mars, or P&G, you will find many common rules: for example, products of the same category should be displayed together, all flavors or packaging of the same brand should be grouped, and vertical arrangement from small to large packaging, with light items on top and heavy items on bottom... These are considered common industry practices, and ensuring that the same color block is displayed together has been proven to attract consumers' attention for a longer time. Behind these display decisions, of course, is data support. For example, Mars found that if different varieties are displayed overlapping, such as mixing brown M&M's chocolate beans with yellow ones, sales could lose 16%. Zhang Ying, Director of Retail Value Innovation at P&G (China) Marketing Co., Ltd., also told CBNweekly, "Consumers' eyes are not easily attracted by horizontal color blocks, but they are sensitive to vertical color blocks. This is why products used to be placed vertically." Mars found that if different varieties are displayed overlapping and cross-mixed, sales could lose 16%. Consumers are clearly used to this. For example, when shopping in a supermarket, when we want a large package product, we will consciously bend down to find it on the bottom shelf, even if that layer is actually the least conspicuous. But P&G recently changed its display rules for hair care products, overturning the principle of "from small to large, vertical" and instead emphasizing the importance of horizontal color blocks. In this reform called Shopper Based Design (SBD) 4.0, P&G emphasizes placing small, large, and related products of the same type and function side by side, because "horizontal display of the same color block with a width exceeding 30 centimeters is more likely to attract consumers' attention"—for a 750ml conditioner, this means at least three bottles should be placed side by side. P&G overturned the "from small to large, vertical" principle for hair care products and instead emphasized the importance of horizontal color blocks. More specifically, in the past, the 750ml Pantene "Pro-V Repair" conditioner and "Silky Smooth" shampoo were placed together on the bottom shelf. Now it has been moved to the second or third shelf from the top, placed side by side with various sizes of "Pro-V Repair" shampoo, with matching hair masks and essences nearby. The intention of this strategy is clear: P&G wants to drive sales of large packages and related products, thereby increasing the average transaction value. This has always been the display goal for P&G, which has a complex product line, and it is also the process of SBD evolving from 1.0 to 4.0. For example, in SBD 2.0, P&G placed the high-end brand VS Sassoon alone at the front of the shelf, because P&G had already discovered that under the general trend of consumption upgrading, the market demand for high-end categories had grown significantly. Of course, powerful channels like large supermarkets also have their own interests. P&G's launch of SBD 4.0 is largely due to the fact that "there are more and more hair care products on the market, with many new imported and domestic brands. If the old display method is still used on the shelf, color blocks will be confused." Therefore, P&G's new manual also has the motivation to help channel partners optimize product selection. "This is an optimization covering all brands. If P&G's own category yield performance is poor, it will also be removed from the shelf," Zhang Ying said. "Unlike domestic brands that directly spend money to buy shelf space, P&G tends to provide display solutions to channel partners to bring them efficiency improvements," a former P&G employee told CBNweekly. More bluntly, P&G's products have low gross margins and are not attractive enough to channel partners. Maintaining cooperation with channels and display advantages through category optimization is the logic behind this. The ultimate motivation for FMCG companies is to make consumers buy more products, so consumer psychology is the most important theoretical basis for them, and decision trees are almost a common display strategy reference for all brands. This term sounds a bit awkward, but it is not difficult to understand. For example, for a certain category, brands will try to understand the decision-making process of consumer purchases—do they first consider price, specification, brand, color, or function? Through consumer interviews and actual observation in stores, researchers will rank these elements according to importance, and then design the display based on the ranking. For example, if the ranking is price, efficacy, and specification in order, the display of this category should first be classified by price, then subdivided by function and specification. For different channels, the display logic of brands will also differ. Target in the United States is positioned as a high-end discount store, but you can imagine that too many discount banners will make the entire store look less fashionable, which is definitely not good for daily chemical categories. In the past, P&G's hair care products at Target also followed the general principle of placing shampoo, conditioner, and essence separately, but in order to turn it into a "modern store that customers think of first when they want to buy beauty and daily chemical products," P&G introduced a display method classified by function, grouping products by selling points such as smoothness, shine, curly hair, time reversal, and salon quality. Returning to P&G's recent display adjustment for shampoo and conditioner, the main reason is that P&G found that the importance of product function and series classification to consumers has increased. For example, a person who has permed their hair many times will first react in the store to find products suitable for damaged hair. From the brand's perspective, P&G naturally needs to cooperate with this consumption trend and push suitable products to consumers at once, creating opportunities for them to buy more products. But for products like laundry detergent, the consumer decision tree is another model. This is also why SBD 4.0 is only for hair care products. Mo Zhuangjie has served as the general manager of multiple Ole' stores. He believes that making the shelf neat and beautiful is one thing, but prompting customers to buy is another. Taking cheese as an example, in order to let consumers quickly find the specific variety they need, he gave up the method of displaying by brand one by one—the latter looks neater, but consumers cannot find the product, thus losing sales opportunities. Applying the principle of decision trees, when consumers choose cheese, they pay more attention to variety than brand. Ole' stores display cheese by variety rather than brand because consumers pay more attention to the former than the latter. After studying the direction of display strategy based on consumer behavior, how to reflect this display logic in specific consumption scenarios is another complex issue. The shift from vertical to horizontal display sounds simple, but P&G's consumer research and market strategy team still needs to solve execution issues, such as: What should the new shelf look like? After the change, what impact will it have on sales of different package sizes? After changing the previous cross-selling display logic, how high is the probability that consumers will choose to buy one more item? To verify these issues, P&G has a complex testing process, including: first testing in the virtual supermarket in P&G's innovation center, then conducting random tests at real channel partners, and during the process, consumers may wear special glasses to track their eye movements—all to figure out how consumers actually "identify" and "choose" products. These two points are regarded by P&G as the "First and Second Moments of Truth" that determine sales. About 13 kilometers from P&G's US headquarters, there is a "consumer village" with a similar virtual store. Respondents are invited to experience the store and simulate real shopping scenarios. The shelves contain both P&G products and competing products, just like an ordinary convenience store. In actual stores, many manufacturers are already following this horizontal eye-catching display method. But an insider who operates a domestic shampoo brand told CBNweekly that compared to horizontal or vertical, he pays more attention to whether the main brand's display maximizes the shelf space, whether it uses some extra "dressing up" decorations to vividly highlight the product, and whether the product is obvious and easy for consumers to pick up. The ultimate motivation for FMCG companies to study shelf displays is to make consumers buy more products. If you study further, you will find that these starting points are actually related to the brand he operates—except for gift boxes that contain small packages, the brand mainly promotes large packages. Moreover, to differentiate from online products, offline only sells shampoo and conditioner, with few related products. This shows that different types and development stages of brands have different display demands. But in any case, P&G's case shows that some common theories referenced in the past can be overturned, because consumers and the market are constantly changing, and in recent years, the speed of change has been accelerating. Now, Zhang Ying's another topic is to introduce the concept of "situational consumption," which is to observe how consumers make purchase decisions under omni-channel conditions with the popularity of e-commerce and mobile shopping. "Why do consumers decide to buy this item at a convenience store, a store, or e-commerce? What is the decision logic behind it?" P&G will feed the results back to channel partners to discover opportunities to promote business growth in this situation. Source: CBNweekly In late August, the "2018 China Digital Innovation Conference (2018FDIC)" with the theme "Finding New Growth Engines" will be held in Shanghai, hosted by the China FMCG Industry Association and organized by New Distribution. The conference will last 3 days, focusing on two themes: marketing and supply chain, with six parallel forums: brand, channel, communication, B2B, same-city logistics, and innovative retail. We will invite industry experts, CEOs, and brand executives to deeply interpret the trends and drivers of digital transformation in the FMCG industry. We will invite more than 500 executives from FMCG companies, 200+ CEOs from B2B industries, and 1000+ major FMCG distributors to gather together to discuss how the FMCG industry can use digital tools to achieve rapid growth again in the digital era. This conference will build a bridge for brand owners, distributors, retail enterprises, and marketing agencies, helping FMCG manufacturers obtain the latest information, understand best practices, and master more transformation practical skills. The following is the list of invited companies Conference Time August 22-24, 2018 Conference Venue Shanghai Baohua Marriott Hotel Conference Content August 22: Full-day check-in Afternoon 14:00-17:30 Parallel forum for distributor same-city logistics Evening 18:30-21:00 New Distribution Night Gala Dinner August 23: Theme: Marketing Digital Innovation Morning 9:00-12:00 Main forum on marketing digital innovation Afternoon 14:00-17:30 Parallel forums on brand, channel, and communication August 24: Theme: FMCG Supply Chain Digital Upgrade Full day: FMCG Supply Chain Conference Registration Method Registration is now open. Long press the QR code below or click 'Read the original text' to register. Early bird tickets are limited to 200, with a 50% discount, while supplies last! Registration Consultation Ticket inquiries: Media cooperation inquiries: Highlights of New Distribution's previous conferences Click the links below to review the highlights of the first, second, and third FMCG + Internet conferences: -END-