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The rules and techniques of merchandising can be very detailed and complex, but stripping away the details and returning to the essence, from a sales-oriented perspective, merchandising boils down to four aspects: 'highlighting priorities', 'display location', 'display quantity', and 'display appearance'. Simplicity ensures execution!

I. Standard Merchandising Manuals of International Companies Foreign companies place great emphasis on merchandising skills training for their employees. Every well-known FMCG company has its own merchandising manual. Example: Excerpt from Coca-Cola's merchandising manual:

1. The Role of Merchandising

  • Consumer impulse buying: 90% of impulse purchase interest fades after 10 seconds; consumers generally stay in front of the shelf for no more than 2 minutes.
  • Product merchandising displays can stimulate impulse buying and increase sales; maintain your trademark image in public, serving as advertising; convey product quality and brand image.

2. The Significance of Merchandising

  • If you can squeeze competitors off the shelf, you can squeeze them out of the market.
  • In self-service shopping venues, sales are directly proportional to shelf space.
  • Consumers won't choose products they don't see; products not on the shelf won't sell. Consumers will go to other outlets or buy other products, resulting in lost profits and sales for both the company and the store owner. Lost sales opportunities never come back.
  • Merchandising is the duty of sales personnel, the last and most important means to boost sales and build brand image. If both merchandising and distribution are done well, it shows sales personnel have fulfilled their responsibilities; low sales are not their fault. Conversely, even if sales are high, poor merchandising and distribution indicate market potential has not been fully tapped.

3. Merchandising Rules – Shelf Display

  • Centralize placement, strive for vertical and zoned displays.
  • Optimize placement for optimal sales, occupy the largest shelf space.
  • Packaging horizontal (same shelf level for same size products), brand vertical (same brand strives for vertical centralized display). Light on top, heavy on bottom (top shelf for smaller products, lower shelves for larger products to increase shelf stability. For example, first shelf for 355ml cans, second shelf for 500ml plastic bottles, and so on). Small in front, large in back (for floor displays, place smaller products in front, larger ones behind). Clearly mark prices.
  • Unified packaging order (e.g., shelf display from left to right: Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Smart, Tian Yu Di), unified theme promotion and main recommended items.
  • All facings highlight the Chinese trademark.
  • Place next to bestsellers to leverage their customer base and purchase frequency.
  • When using supermarket freezer display cases, the door should have a text prompt 'Welcome to take'.

4. Merchandising Rules – Floor Displays

  • A floor display is best with the same packaging and same item to highlight single-item display recommendation effect.
  • Island floor displays recommended height 1.2 meters, trapezoid floor displays 1.4 meters. Too low fails to attract attention, too high may affect the store's overall display style and be stopped, also unsafe.
  • Based on supermarket traffic flow, place floor displays in front of competitors.
  • All displays must have clear price tags and related advertising materials; must have obvious price labels, and remove a few cans to show the product is being sold.
  • Every package must face forward.
  • Don't make it hard for the store to restock; don't place with unrelated items (e.g., food should not be near daily chemicals), pay attention to related displays (e.g., pickled vegetables floor display can be near the vegetable section or grain and oil section).

5. Merchandising Rules – Display Location Selection

  • Small stores should strive for a position facing the door, visible from the window or outside the store.
  • Display next to the number one brand.
  • In front of traffic flow, at traffic intersections, and in areas where people pass, such as exits, entrances, and checkout counters.
  • On the right side of escalators inside supermarkets, on the right side of shelf traffic (right-hand rule: most people look to the right), supermarket promotion zones, or set up a secondary display area in other product promotion zones.
  • For restaurants and small stores: don't make it hard for the owner or staff to access; the best position is closest to the owner and staff.
  • Convenient for customers to grab: at eye level, at checkout, in the middle of the same category shelf.
  • When consumers open a freezer, their eyes focus on the two layers near the handle; that's the best display position.

6. Merchandising Rules – Display Maintenance

  • Check batch numbers on every visit, first in first out, first chilled first sold. Clean, avoid poor storage, remove damaged goods, warn about soon-to-expire items (store separately).
  • Keep the front line (shelf) fully stocked, increase facings; back line (warehouse) empty to promote ordering.
  • Keep the replenishment area (top shelf of supermarket shelves, storing full cases for restocking) full, pay attention to items and inventory in the transfer area.
  • Clean the display area on every visit, remove products discarded by consumers.
  • Restock from back to front, top to bottom.
  • Price tags must correspond one-to-one.
  • ...

II. Sales-Oriented Merchandising Manual Look at the manual above. How about it? Too complex? That's just a small excerpt; the full standard merchandising manuals of international companies are thick books, richly illustrated. Very detailed! As someone who has been there, my feeling about these complex rules is 'very good', 'very cool', 'too troublesome to remember'. The essence of merchandising is 'not for looks, but for sales'. Let's simplify the merchandising rules: how to do merchandising to 'sell well'.

1. Highlight Priorities to Boost Sales:

  1. Use a sales-maximizing approach to display: prioritize key products, key stores, and key projects. Key Products: Merchandising is for selling well; we should view merchandising with a 'sales maximization' mindset. First, highlight 'advantageous products' (because the same display position with advantageous products generates more sales). For example, Uni-President instant noodles' advantageous flavor is 'Old Tan Sauerkraut'. So Uni-President sales staff should prioritize displaying this product in the store, placing it in the best position. Conversely, if in the supermarket, the best positions on Uni-President shelves and displays are 'Tomato Egg Noodles', 'Jade Shrimp Noodles', etc., while the star product 'Old Tan Sauerkraut Noodles' is hidden in an inconspicuous spot, that's a tragedy! The salesperson is unprofessional, wasting display resources. (Except when promoting new products.)

Key Stores: An FMCG terminal salesperson visits 30-50 retail stores daily. Should they spread their work time evenly across these stores? That would be foolish! Before going out, look at today's target stores (see the previous article on small and medium terminal visits: pre-visit preparation), and spend more time in stores that can 'produce volume'! For example, large supermarkets have high fees, and manufacturers are willing to invest. But for small and medium supermarkets of 100-300 square meters, most manufacturers have no budget. In reality, if you invest 200 yuan/month in display fees in such stores, the owner will be moved to tears, and then you can arrange displays however you like. Calculate it: these stores have better cost-effectiveness. These stores might be our key display stores!

Key Projects: For example, if your product is doing a buy-give promotion, what is the most important display project after entering the store? Definitely the display of gifts, gift bundling, and hanging promotional posters. Another example: as mentioned in the previous section, beer salespeople in summer should first focus on which display project in restaurants? Of course, not POP, not door stickers, not lanterns, not bar displays... but table displays (pre-placing a few bottles of beer on restaurant tables so consumers see them as soon as they sit down and may casually consume) and summer freezer display cabinets! A salesperson who knows merchandising will start from a 'sales maximization' mindset and first do the display items that have the greatest impact on sales.

  1. Highlight selling points to boost sales Midea's soymilk maker advertises 'No mesh! Dry beans! Stainless steel!' – This is Midea's selling point against Joyoung. So their promoters in stores make up stories to 'badmouth' Joyoung: 'Upgraded, replaced, with mesh, obsolete! Buy the one-step one, never buy the half-way one!' Joyoung people are smart too; they place a display at the entrance of their counter, run a special price, and hang a promotional poster: 'No-mesh soymilk maker, basic model! Special price 199 yuan'. What does this mean? Right, you Midea boast 'no mesh'? We don't have it? We think these machines are low-end, basic models, over 100 yuan! Look at what war these two companies are fighting! A selling point war! That's the style of masters. What is Joyoung's selling point? 'The pioneer and leader of soymilk makers', 'Smart Nutrition King'. So all Joyoung counter images, display images, and display materials should highlight this selling point. But under heavy sales pressure, some Joyoung salespeople may deform their actions; their displays and counters convey not 'The pioneer and leader of soymilk makers' or 'Smart Nutrition King', but everywhere hanging special price posters 'Original price 799 yuan, now 499 yuan'. That's forgetting their roots! A leading brand competing on price is too stupid! Students often ask me: 'Facing homogeneous industry competition, everyone competes with gifts, promotion intensity, and special prices. What should we do?' My answer is: first, compete on execution: see who restocks promptly, maintains facings promptly, has standard promotional poster notifications, has dedicated and professional promoters, standard gift supply and display, and standard price maintenance... Second, jump out of the price war and highlight your unique selling point. When you can be different, price competition is far away. For example, when I trained Hengshun Vinegar, I learned they were celebrating their 170th anniversary. I was shocked! 170 years! That's truly 'old vinegar'! Think about it: with the selling point of a 170-year-old time-honored brand, what associations will consumers have? Good quality? Precious? Reassuring? Once this selling point is truly highlighted and communicated, will Hengshun Vinegar have more value? Can it sell at a higher price than others? Conversely, if you see Hengshun Vinegar's terminal displays not highlighting this selling point but instead desperately offering special prices, that's holding a golden rice bowl and begging.

Selling points, as long as they have a basis, vivid appeal, single description, and are highlighted, once accepted by consumers, can help sell your goods. Gree Air Conditioner shouts every day: 'Master core technology, master core technology, master core technology...' Honestly, most consumers are not professional; few really understand what core technology Gree masters! But the selling point communication succeeds; everyone believes Gree 'masters core technology', and as a result, they sell well and at a higher price! For sales-oriented merchandising, remember: highlight key products, key stores, key projects, and also highlight selling points!

  1. Clear price tags to boost sales: I specifically highlight 'clear price tags' because this is often overlooked. Many companies score employees on merchandising, but the scoring criteria do not include clear price tags. Many salespeople focus on big projects (display areas, posters) but ignore small details (price tags). Terminal stores arbitrarily raise or lower prices, abnormal prices, products on shelves not corresponding to price tag positions, new products without clear price tags... These 'details' are often ignored by salespeople. In reality, consumers are 40% less likely to buy products with unknown prices. Arbitrary price changes directly affect sales. For sales-oriented merchandising, pay attention to clear price tags; this is about sales, not a detail.

2. Display Appearance to Attract Attention and Stimulate Sales.

  1. Centralized display to attract attention: Products scattered in different spots on supermarket shelves fail to create display momentum and 'attract attention'. Try to centralize displays as much as possible in the store.

1) Jump out of the shelf to attract attention: With so many displays in a supermarket, how do you make yours stand out? This is something the planning department must take seriously. Why do supermarkets have expensive special-shaped displays? To 'attract attention'. But jumping out of the shelf doesn't necessarily require spending money. Let me show you a few pictures; I believe you'll understand what it means to jump out of the shelf and attract attention.

1) Good appearance increases purchase opportunities: Cleanliness, damaged goods management, first in first out, face forward. No need to explain these terms; let's use pictures to understand. Where are products prone to problems? The bottom of displays – restocking is from the top, so the bottom is forgotten, leading to soon-to-expire products; the top shelf that's hard to reach; stores with poor sales and infrequent visits... In these places, you'll see dirty, scuffed, crushed products, bad production dates, and messy displays. Will consumers buy? Everyone understands the principle, but most ignore how much this affects sales!

1. Use Display Quantity to Stimulate Sales

  1. The more displays, the better: No need to say much; the larger the display area, the larger the facing, the greater the sales opportunity.
  2. Front and back line conversion: In small and medium terminals, the shelf is the 'front line'; the place under the boss's stool, behind the door, under the bed, at the stair corner where full cases are stored is the 'back line'. The 'front line' should have as many displays as possible. The 'back line' should be empty – move all goods from the 'back line' to the 'front line' by opening cases and putting them on the shelf. On one hand, the benefits of a larger front line are obvious; on the other hand, bosses order based on 'back line' inventory. This time you empty their back line; next time, 'Oh! Out of stock, time to order.'
  3. Attack competitors: A terminal can sell a certain amount; your products and competitors' products are a trade-off. So if competitors sell less, we sell more. Shrink competitors' facings; take out competitors' chilled drinks; pull competitors' products off the shelf into boxes, seal with tape, put them in the stair corner, and pile two cases of milk on top – no, milk sells quickly and competitors will reappear. Pile two cases of salt on top; they won't come out this year! This is using merchandising to attack competitors. The business world is dangerous; salespeople in supermarkets play tricks on each other: stealing competitors' price tags, hiding competitors' products, crushing competitors' instant noodles, poking holes in paper-packaged drinks, stealing competitors' gifts, tearing down competitors' promotional posters... These behaviors use this principle. 'The more my goods are displayed, the better; the fewer competitors, the better.' Simple, crude, and effective! But use these tricks sparingly; often you do it to me, I do it to you, and fights between salespeople are often caused by this!

2. Use Display Location to Boost Sales:

  1. Multi-point display for easy access: Wanglaoji does multi-point display well; there are small hanging baskets everywhere in supermarkets, and bottles are bought anytime. This is multi-point display. A similar principle is 'easy access'. For example, there is a foreign financial product that gives you a mortgage loan, deposits money into your card, and the borrower doesn't pay interest. If you resist spending the money, the bank charges no interest. If you spend it, you pay loan interest on the amount spent. Think about how dangerous that is. If the card has no money, it's fine; but with a million yuan on the card every day, usable anytime, and at year-end they calculate interest on the principal you spent, how many people can resist spending it? This financial product uses the marketing principle 'easy access', 'the closer you are to consumers, the farther you are from competition'. Increasing distribution coverage is also 'easy access'; placing products in prime shelf positions is 'easy access'; in the beverage industry, table displays in restaurants are for 'easy access'; vending machines are also 'easy access'... In short, the more multi-point displays, the easier to see, the easier to access, the easier to sell.
  2. Visible from outside the store: This is not mysterious, but easily overlooked. Some terminals have large glass doors or windows facing the road. This position must be captured. Display products on the windowsill, behind the glass door, hang posters and banners – the more, the better, the more spectacular, the better. Visible from outside, it's like an advertising wall. Stimulates sales!

Review of This Section: In this section, we learned the method of 'sales-oriented in-store merchandising', showed you the merchandising manuals of international companies, and emphasized the idea that 'merchandising is not for looks, not for being more standard, but for selling well'. How to do sales-oriented merchandising? Start from four aspects: 'highlight priorities', 'display location', 'display quantity', and 'display appearance'. First, highlight priorities: highlight the key products that generate the most volume, the key stores that generate the most volume, and the key projects that most affect sales. Highlight selling points to promote sales and jump out of price wars; highlight price tags to promote purchases. Second, in terms of display appearance, centralize displays as much as possible to jump out of the shelf and attract attention; maintain product cleanliness and good appearance. Third, in terms of display quantity, the front line (shelves and displays) should be as full as possible, the back line (warehouse) as empty as possible, and competitors, the fewer the better! Fourth, display location: multi-point display, easy access, visible from outside the store, directly promoting sales. The rules and techniques of merchandising can be very detailed and complex. But stripping away details and returning to the essence, from a sales-oriented perspective, merchandising boils down to these few sentences! Simplicity is better; simplicity ensures execution!

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