Retail Therapy: How to Create Merchandising Speed Bumps

In this five-week series, retail strategists and instructors at RCI’s Merchandising Boot Camp, Rich Kizer and Georganne Bender, of KIZER & BENDER, share important areas of your retail space that can either set your business up for sales success or failure. As the last part of this series, we’re sharing how slowing shoppers down can increase sales.

In a previous post, we learned about the “decompression zone,” which is the space within a five-foot radius of the entrance. Just beyond this space, front and center on your sales floor, is where you should position your “speed bump” displays. Speed bumps are used to slow customers down and refocus them on shopping. These displays can also be used to set the stage for what shoppers can expect to see while browsing the rest of the store.

Use a single, small table or cluster a few together for a bigger impact. Add product from different departments to create fun-to-shop, “I have to have that!” displays. Change your speed bumps once a week, whether they need it or not. Remember, this display is a BIG part of your store’s ambiance.

Overall, it is important to keep your sales floor fresh. Get a blank calendar and preplan your merchandising moves. Check your 10-second impression daily, again, change your speed bumps at least once a week, tweak your lake-front property frequently and change your window displays on a monthly basis. Refresh your entire sales floor at least once every quarter, making changes to customer flow as necessary. And have fun!

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Retail Therapy: Leverage This Store Layout to Capture More Sales

In this five-week series, retail strategists and instructors at RCI’s Merchandising Boot Camp, Rich Kizer and Georganne Bender, of KIZER & BENDER, share important areas of your retail space that can either set your business up for sales success or failure. This week we’re covering another variation to the store layout which Kizer and Bender like to refer to as “Lake Front Property.” Learn if this approach applies to your store layout and what to display in this space to capture more sales.

Ninety percent of people enter a store and look or turn to the right. This space is prime real estate, otherwise known to as “Lake Front Property.” Too many retailers use this area as just another space to house merchandise, or worse, it’s where you find the checkout counter (ideally, the checkout belongs in the center or on the left side of the store, at the natural end of the shopping experience). If the front right does not work for your sales floor just reverse the flow, making the left side your lake front property.

Use your lake front property to feature new items; tell product stories and display high-demand, high-profit items. Kizer and Bender recommend changing this display frequently to keep your sales floor fresh.

Stay tuned for more retail therapy next week to learn about a sales tactic known as a “speed bump” and how it can set the tone of your whole store.

Crave more? Click here to subscribe and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices. Follow us on Facebook for even more sweet inspiration.

Not a member? Click here to learn how RCI can help you build your sweet business.

Retail Therapy: Maximize your Free-Flow Layout

In this five-week series, retail strategists and instructors at RCI’s Merchandising Boot Camp, Rich Kizer and Georganne Bender, of KIZER & BENDER, share important areas of your retail space that can either set your business up for sales success or failure. This week we’re covering an important consideration for maximizing the free-flow store layout.

Once shoppers are on your sales floor, where they go is up to you. If you are like most independent retailers, you probably utilize a free-flow layout, because it offers you unlimited opportunities to highlight merchandise and create display vignettes.

A free-flow layout has no set aisles so shoppers roam the sales floor freely, guided by how you plan the fixtures. When arranging fixtures, avoid straight lines when you can. Instead angle your fixtures so shoppers are unconsciously directed through the store. The more they see, the more opportunity they have to buy.

Stay tuned for more retail therapy next week, when we’ll share KIZER & BENDER’s tips for maximizing a “lake front property” store layout.

Crave more? Click here to subscribe and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices. Follow us on Facebook for even more sweet inspiration.

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Retail Therapy: Clear the Decompression Zone

 

In this five-week series, retail strategists and instructors at RCI’s Merchandising Boot Camp, Rich Kizer and Georganne Bender, of KIZER & BENDER, share important areas of your retail space that can either set your business up for sales success or failure.

Just inside your front door is a space called the decompression zone; an area customers breeze right through without stopping. You can expect they will miss everything you place in this zone of the store.

You may wonder why no one is reading that big sign just inside the door—it’s because people are not focused on shopping yet. In fact, they are unlikely to notice anything until they are at least five-feet inside the door. Anything in the decompression zone is essentially invisible, including shopping baskets.

The placement of your shopping baskets alone, may be costing you sales. There is a direct correlation between the percentage of shoppers using a basket/cart and the size of the average transaction. Want customers to spend more money? Make sure your shopping basket is at least five-feet away from the entrance.

Stay tuned for more retail therapy next week, when we’ll share KIZER & BENDER’s tips for maximizing a free-flow store layout.

Crave more? Click here to subscribe and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices. Follow us on Facebook for even more sweet inspiration.

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Retail Therapy: 10 Seconds to Sell

Shopping today is all about experience. People can buy what you sell in any number of places, so a visit to your retail store has to entice them to make a purchase once they arrive. This requires constant reinvention, so shoppers are thrilled each time they visit. In the next five weeks, retail strategists and instructors at RCI’s Merchandising Boot Camp, Rich Kizer and Georganne Bender, of KIZER & BENDER, share five important areas of your retail space that can either set your business up for sales success or failure.

Upon entering, shoppers make a value judgement about your store in 10 seconds or less. In those 10 seconds they are unconsciously determining whether it’s a good place to be. What does your store say to shoppers in the first 10 seconds? Is the sales floor interesting? Do your displays invite shoppers to touch the product? Stand inside your front door and take an objective look. Like the saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

By taking a few seconds to observe your store from the lens of a new shopper, you just might identify quick fixes to make your space more inviting to shoppers. Although this week’s tip is intended for a physical store, it could also be applied to your website. In today’s retail environment, it’s important you put just as much effort into your website.

Stay tuned for more retail therapy next week, when we’ll address the decompression zone. For more information about KIZER & BENDER, contact them at info@kizerandbender.com or 630-513-8020.

Crave more? Click here to subscribe and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices. Follow us on Facebook for even more sweet inspiration.

Not a member? Click here to learn how RCI can help you build your sweet business.