We take Care Of Business

Managing a retail store does not just mean that you’re supposed to throw products on your shelves and hope that they sell.

Proper management of your store’s shelves is one of the best ways to make your products appeal and speak directly to your customers. You can not only make it easy for them to find what they were looking for but also take them on a journey to see interesting products that they weren’t planning on buying but now want.

Improper management of your store’s shelves can dissuade customers from purchasing your items. This means that they may feel the need to just get in and get out or take their business elsewhere altogether.

You need to make sure that your store and its shelves make a good first impression, so here are some basic shelving system don’ts that you avoid.

Don’t Forget Your Best Sellers

While some stores can get away relatively unscathed by doing this, grocery stores come to mind, others might not be so lucky. Pharmacies are one such retail store that should avoid this mistake.

No customer wants to get a headache because they have to sift through candy, magazines, and get well cards, just to find a bottle of painkillers.

Put Some Order On Your Shelves

No this doesn’t mean that you should arrange your products neatly on your shelves, that pointer would be too obvious. What this means is that you arrange your shelves in such a way that your products flow nicely from one to the other.

Put your shampoo next to your conditioner and maybe across from your hair cream. Just because you want to make them see as much of your products as you can, that doesn’t mean that you have to send them on a wild goose chase to find similar products.

Grouping similar objects is also a good way to encourage impulse shopping, i.e. they came for shampoo but left with body wash and conditioner as well.

 

Keep Rotating Your Stock

While it may be good to make your customers familiar with your store, rotating you stock every once in a while can have some merit as well. Mr Painkiller-Buyer and Ms Shampoo-Buyer may never get to see the rest of your store if those are the only areas that they think they need to visit.

You don’t need to rotate your stock between shelves every weekend; however, you should do it every now and again. Just make sure that you have sufficient signs and displays so that Mr Painkiller-Buyer and Ms Shampoo-Buyer get to see new things while not getting thrown too far out of their comfort zone.

Appeal To Their Sense Of Urgency

This is really Marketing 101 but it still needs to be mentioned. Don’t be afraid to nudge your customers along towards buying your products. Signs that declare classic phrases like “BOGO” and “Sale” are bound to catch the eyes of some people and turn a few heads.

These are just a few of the most common shelving don’t that even the most successful retailers have been guilty of at least once or twice. Make sure that you think seriously about your shelving layout, it’s not just about throwing things on shelves, it’s also about getting into the heads of your customers.