Retail Management And Merchandising

Planogram management in FMCG Planogram, Planogram and Planogram- this you might have heard many times in our sales meeting from your Bosses or explaining to your juniors. Efficient shelf space and planogram management in the FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods) industry is crucial for maximizing sales, optimizing customer experience, and maintaining profitability. Here's an overview of strategies and best practices: 1. Understand Customer Preferences Analyze sales data to identify high-demand products. Understand customer purchasing behavior, such as complementary products or popular categories. Cater to local preferences and seasonal trends. 2. Leverage Planograms Use planograms to create visual representations of shelf layouts. Planograms ensure products are placed in a way that maximizes visibility and accessibility, especially for high-margin or high-demand items. Keep high-velocity products at eye level for easy access. 3. Category Management Organize products into logical categories for customers to find items easily. Group related or complementary products (e.g., pasta and sauces) to encourage cross-selling. Use the 80/20 rule: allocate more space to the 20% of products that drive 80% of sales. 4. Optimize Space Allocation Allocate shelf space based on product performance (sales volume and profitability). Avoid overstocking slow-moving products to free up space for high-demand items. Regularly monitor stock levels and adjust planograms as needed. 5. Technology Integration Use AI and machine learning to predict demand and optimize layouts. Implement shelf management software to automate planogram creation and track compliance. Deploy RFID or smart shelf technologies to monitor stock in real-time. 6. Compliance and Execution Ensure planogram compliance by training staff on proper implementation. Conduct regular audits to verify that shelves match the planogram design. 7. Dynamic Adjustments Continuously analyze sales data and shopper behavior to update shelf layouts. Experiment with shelf configurations (A/B testing) to identify what drives sales growth. Quickly adapt to changes in demand, such as new product launches or promotional campaigns. 8. Promotions and Visual Merchandising Highlight promotional items with special displays, signage, or end caps. Use attractive packaging and clear pricing to draw customer attention. Incorporate data-driven strategies to decide which products to feature in high-visibility areas. 9. Collaboration with Suppliers Collaborate with FMCG suppliers to ensure an optimized product mix and promotional support. 10. Monitor and Evaluate Performance Track key performance indicators (KPIs), such as shelf turnover, sales per square foot, and out-of-stock rates. Efficient shelf space management and well-designed planograms can significantly improve store operations and enhance customer satisfaction, ultimately boosting sales and profitability. #fmcg #planogram #sales #supermarkets #placement

💡 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐥 — 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬. Visual merchandising is not just about creating a beautiful store image — i𝐭’𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲. When done correctly, it’s one of the most profitable tools you can implement to drive sales. Yet, I still see many visual merchandisers setting up stores without looking at the data: -What’s selling and what’s not -Which products have the highest margins -Which items are overstocked -What competitors are offering -How trends are shifting Too often, the focus is only on mannequins and displays. Don’t get me wrong — mannequins can help. But you could remove every mannequin from your store and still grow sales… if you place the right product, in the right spot, at the right time. That’s where data comes in. 📊 By analyzing numbers and making strategic decisions, visual merchandising becomes far more than decoration — it becomes a 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫. This is why our freelance visual merchandisers start with data before every store visit. We focus our time on strategy and efficiency, ensuring that after a VM visit, you see not only a stronger store image but also a measurable impact on sales. 🔖 #VisualMerchandising #RetailStrategy #WholesaleBusiness #RetailTrends #DataDriven #StoreDesign

How does a 400-store menswear retailer experience a 25% drop in sales almost overnight? This is what we had to work out when we got a call from a stressed-out CEO a few years ago. And the most puzzling thing? The decline was consistent across all product categories. From our experience at the time, the problem would come down to seasonal styles that didn’t land with customers, or core products within trend-driven ranges that had either been under-bought or under-delivered. But, ultimately, none of it added up. The core lines had been appropriately planned, purchased, and delivered to stores. We headed to one of the flagship locations with the CEO to investigate. The store presentation was excellent — visually compelling, well coordinated, and inspirational. It was understandable why senior leadership was confused; the store looked strong, yet sales were sharply down. What had changed? The answer was staring us in the face, in rows of neatly colour-coordinated garments. A newly appointed visual merchandising team had gotten creative and reorganised the store to present all products by colour story. Ah! Despite creating a cohesive, exciting, and inspirational environment, this approach fundamentally disrupted the customer journey. A shopper searching for a core product — for example, a basic T-shirt in white, blue, red, or grey — now had to navigate multiple colour stories across the store to locate each option. Core commodities, which were underpinned by strong value messaging and significant volume planning, had effectively been fragmented. In prioritising aesthetic storytelling, they had compromised commercial navigation. After reviewing the data and debating the issue at length, we concluded that this change in visual merchandising strategy was the primary driver of the sudden sales decline. Within 48 hours, sections of the store were re-merchandised back into clear core commodity groupings. Sales rebounded almost immediately. The experience served as a powerful reminder: while customers appreciate inspiration, they also need to navigate core commercial product easily. Accessibility and clarity drive conversion. And here’s the thing. When I visited one of the UK’s largest retailers last week, they too had adopted a full colour-story merchandising approach. It meant that after spotting a jacket on display, I had to visit four separate parts of the store just to locate the different colour options. It’s interesting to see retailers making the same mistakes. As in-store retail becomes more challenging than ever, merchandisers need to remember that seasonal trend planning is underpinned by clearly presented core volume items and executed through a commercially grounded visual merchandising strategy. This will consistently deliver both seasonal impact and sustainable performance. Commercial clarity does not diminish creativity – it enables profitability.

7 proven ways to increase FMCG sales without discounts Discounts might seem like the easiest way to increase sales, but they’re also the fastest way to lose profits and damage your brand. There’s a better way. In 2013 when I started as a sales team lead in FMCG, I struggled. I relied on price discounts as the only way to increase my sales in stores, but this was unsustainable. Over time I learnt these 7 strategies and I’ve used them to double sales of established brands in retail outlets in 6 - 12 months. It is more sustainable for the company and your Bosses will love you. 1. Product visibility and placement. Shoppers buy what they see. Make sure your products are in the right place, such as eye-level shelves, hotspots, and checkout zones. 2. Strong retailer relationships. Retailers will champion your products if they feel valued and are incentivized. Offer quarterly rewards, better margins, or recognition programs to win their loyalty. 3. In-store communication. Your communication material in the store is your silent salesperson. Use clear, benefit-focused messages on materials like wobblers, banners, posters and shelf talkers to educate shoppers. 4. Right pricing. Help retailers stick to recommended prices. Educate them on their margins and how fair pricing improves volume and profits. 5. Product distribution. If it’s not on the shelf, it can’t sell. Fix stock outs, prioritize key outlets, and close distribution gaps to keep shelves full. 6. Shopper engagement through sampling. Sampling builds trust. Let shoppers experience your product firsthand through demos or activations in high-traffic stores. 7. Effective sales team execution. Your sales team is the engine. Train them, set clear KPIs, and give them juicy incentives to ensure great execution. Which strategy will you focus on first?

𝗩𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘆𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗩𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗚𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 Retail in Real Time ● April 6 The experience starts before you ever step inside. Crisp white paneling. Copper lighting. A presence that feels more streetside than mall based. It orients the customer immediately. You understand the brand before the door opens, before a product is ever touched. Inside, the execution is disciplined and remarkably consistent. Every table, every shelf, every rack feels considered. There is no drop-off. No moment where the standards loosen. Top shirts on folded stacks are turned to reveal collar detail. A subtle move that elevates perceived quality and invites interaction. Hanging product is cuffed and styled. It feels worn in. Fixtures and environmental details reinforce the narrative in a way that feels natural. Seagulls, surfboards, boat oars, and driftwood all show up, but nothing competes for attention. It reads as one cohesive point of view. This is visual merchandising doing its job. Not decoration. Translation. Then the human layer shows up. I walked in with a return. A swimsuit that didn’t work. The store manager was warm, engaged, and genuinely appreciative. He acknowledged the purchase that did work, asked about the use case, and leaned into the moment when I shared, we were heading to Key West. A real conversation. Not a scripted one. He even shared context on the nearby location closing and how that team would transition here. Transparent. Human. No pressure to convert. No indifference because it was a return. Just a strong interaction. 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 Consistency is the strategy. Not just across stores. Across touchpoints. Visual merchandising, store environment, and human interaction all reinforce each other. When those elements align, the experience compounds and the customer feels it. Small details carry disproportionate weight. Collar presentation. Cuffed sleeves. Material choices. Environmental cues. Individually subtle. Collectively powerful. And that same consistency shows up in service. Even in a non-revenue moment, the experience holds. That’s where most retailers break. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗢𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 Details are not extra. They are the experience. Visual merchandising should reduce cognitive load. Every presentation choice should help the customer better understand the product. Fit. Quality. Use. Lifestyle. Environmental storytelling should feel cohesive. And service should never fluctuate based on transaction type. Returns are moments of truth, not operational tasks. Consistency across these elements is what separates good stores from memorable ones. 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 Most retailers focus on what’s visible. The best operators focus on what the customer feels. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗜 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗽 If you’re looking to elevate in-store experience through merchandising clarity, environmental storytelling, and service consistency, send me a note. vineyard vines

Top-line growth through expansion areas is often the go-to but prioritising assortment optimisation can yield far greater benefits for long-term success. Attaining new top-line growth may seem simple—launching new categories or stores can quickly boost year-over-year revenue. However, without focusing on your business's current inventory health, such actions can lead to long-term complications and a less sustainable business. True merchandisers 🤓 find great satisfaction in revitalising and optimising struggling categories, locking in reliable and sustainable growth in a dynamic retail landscape. To safeguard profits, drive revenue, and enhance sell-through rates, all while maximising your product's potential, consider the following strategies: 💡 Leverage Inventory Health Check Metrics Gain a deep understanding and competitive edge when you have clarity on both driving factors and hindrances to business performance. Favourites include: Newness %, Sizing Availability, Core Line Out-of-Stock Rate, Markdown: Velocity & Depth of Discount, GMROI at all levels. 💡 Ensure Comprehensive Product Attribution Enrich product data with great attribution to accurately gauge customer demand by any product facet. This is invaluable insights for decision-making. 💡 Optimise Price Points Identify and capitalise on the pricing sweet spot, not only the sweet spot that’s acquiring you customers but also the sweet spot which is upselling and retaining customers for you. Invest and build on these and adapt as the market or customer base changes. 💡 Identify Core and NOOS Lines Prioritise Core and Never Out of Stock items to maintain consistency and meet ongoing demand. These items usually have higher margins and should have great stock turn due to predictable demand. 💡 Focus on Top-Performing Products Apply the 80/20 rule, concentrating efforts on the top 20% of products contributing to 80% of sales, while streamlining the long tail. The goal is to continually adapt and meet the customer where they’re at in terms of their demand for product. Focusing on key metrics that matter empowers teams to drive sustainable growth and adapt to the evolving market dynamics effectively.

Michael Bender steps into the Kohl's CEO role at a moment where the mechanics matter. Inventory has been reduced. Receipts are lower. Clearance is being moderated. Margin has improved. Comparable sales remain under pressure across much of the business. That shifts the burden to merchandising and store execution. When a promotional department store tightens receipts, the work is not simply reducing SKUs. It's deciding which SKUs come out without weakening traffic-driving density. In categories like women’s, home, gifting, and impulse, perceived abundance still shapes value perception. Editing requires precision at the department and subcategory level, not broad cuts. The merchant function therefore has to manage: • SKU rationalization that preserves visual density in high-traffic zones • Private brand elevation without disrupting promotional cadence • Allocation models built around revised depth assumptions rather than legacy volume assumptions • Receipt planning that protects key size curves and replenishment speed If allocation continues to push product based on outdated floor assumptions, customers feel inconsistency immediately. Store operations carry the parallel execution test. Lower receipts should result in cleaner adjacencies and faster floor turns. That requires: • Presentation standards tied directly to revised assortment depth • Back room to rack flow that reduces linger time • Field leadership capable of enforcing layout discipline consistently across more than 1,100 locations • Shrink controls that protect inventory without interrupting customer flow If edited inventory still looks congested, or edited departments look underpowered, the issue is coordination between buying, planning, allocation, and field execution. In this phase, the success profile narrows. Merchandising leadership must operate inside competing pressures at the same time. Protect margin while protecting momentum. Reduce receipts while sustaining perceived value. Simplify the floor without flattening energy. Store leadership must translate that thesis into repeatable standards that show up physically, not just in dashboards. The layer beneath them matters just as much. Planning assumptions, allocation rules, and district-level enforcement either reinforce the operating logic or quietly undermine it. In constrained retail environments, progress depends on coherence between what is bought, how it is allocated, and how it is presented to the customer. Defining that coherence clearly, and ensuring the bench is built to execute it, determines whether discipline translates into clarity and renewed demand.

In consumer products, a “premium look” used to be the shortcut to trust. Glossy packaging. Higher price. Symbol of status. But shoppers have shifted. They’re choosing value that feels personal over branding that feels expensive. The proof? Stanley tumbler dupes keep trending—journalists and testers are naming Ozark Trail’s ~$15 40-oz as a viable alternative that delivers key attributes (vacuum insulation, straw, cup-holder fit) at a fraction of the price. That’s not about luxury; that’s about value alignment for the buyer’s real life. The result? “Premium” signals still help, but personal relevance wins the cart—especially in a trade-down economy. A practical framework I recommend: 1) Rethink “value” beyond price Define the job to be done by segment (commuter hydration, desk hydration, gym hydration). Map features to use-cases (fit, handle, straw, leak-proof). Offer good/better/best tiers without diluting your core margin story. 2) Personalize the experience Pack sizes that match real consumption. Variant names/copy that speak to lifestyle or culture. First-party feedback loops so customers see their input reflected in updates. 3) Merchandise for their moment, not your catalog Bundle by mission (“work bag kit,” “starter set”), not by SKU family. Build your trade calendar around seasonal missions and retailer resets, not internal launch anniversaries. 4) Message like a guide, not a gatekeeper Translate industry terms (e.g., velocity = sales per store per week). Show proof over polish (UGC demos > still images when the choice is either/or). The benefits? Higher repeat rate because the product “fits me.” Less promo dependence because you’re solving a specific problem. Stronger buyer conversations because you tie features to missions, not just margin. Question for you: When your ideal shopper chooses a lower-priced alternative, is it truly about cost—or did the other option feel more for them? If you’re unsure where your value story breaks down in retail, my Brand Audit pinpoints gaps across packaging, pricing, and promotions before they cost you the shelf: https://lnkd.in/g4AMyRxS -- Hi! I'm Jenica Oliver, fCMO. I help growth-stage consumer brands get retail-ready and scale with confidence by leading marketing strategy, guiding teams, and positioning brands to win online and in retail stores—so founders can stay focused on vision and growth.

During my years in retail I noticed two distinct decision-making camps - the gut-feelers vs. the analytical. It was always a matter of pride as to which camp you belonged to. Gut-feelers thought they were superior because their insights were driven directly from being in touch with the average consumer. The analytical camp thought that they were more reliable because they were uncovering stated and unstated patterns through their analysis of shopper data. For me though, we've got to marry up the two. And this is how I delivered a category turnaround of 40% top-line growth on the declining ready-to-heat pizza category. 1️⃣ Start with data. Because, data never lies. Data showed me that even though everyone wanted to sell $5 pizzas, we simply could not afford to do it. And no, selling more pizzas at a unit loss would not grow the category sufficiently to rub away the losses. 2️⃣ Apply intuition. Visit stores, check out what your competition is doing. Put yourself in the customers' shoes, or better yet, chat with them. This is how I figured out that the $5 price point was a must-have. We just had to find a more profitable way to deliver it. 3️⃣ Challenge assumptions. When folks claimed that the strong sales was linked to $5 promotions, my data showed that it was not the promo price that was doing the trick, but it was the ad and display support that was driving consumption. 4️⃣ Build scenarios. Use the data on hand to test out different scenarios. Using historical data, I built different 4P scenarios to see which would give us the best results with minimal change. How many SKUs would we carry, where would we carry them, would they be EDLP or promoted? 5️⃣ Set up feedback loops. Afraid to see how your initiatives pan out? Forget about being right.. Care more about finding and fixing gaps. I established Units/Store/Week/SKU goals and monitored them obsessively. Some may say I went a tad crazy for a while there. But, it delivered results. Because, I could use this to course correct immediately. The result was market share growth, top-line growth, and gross margin growth - the trifecta. So, next time someone tells you you've got to pick sides of gut-feel vs. analytics, stick to the middle.

Don't fight over breadcrumbs - bake a pie. Today I spend a lot of time with retail and collapsing performance marketing. Retail was never easy, but now a lot of actors find themselves way up shit creek without a paddle. How do you get back to black? Most retail strategy mistakes start in myopia, overlooking the importance of steering people toward the underlying needs. We chase “share” and cheaper offers, assuming growth is a zero-sum fight. The evidence says otherwise. Ehrenberg-Bass work across hundreds of categories is blunt. Growth comes from more buyers entering the category, not from squeezing a few loyalists a bit harder. If the category is flat, your “share wins” are pyrrhic. True retail successes show the same pattern as we see elsewhere - if the retailer somehow combines the demand points they serve in such a way that people perceive a unique constellation, they succeed beyond any stale category market share shuffle. How do you build that story? Well, it is a combination of the retail brand and the brands that you choose to sell, for starters. Meza & Sudhir (2010) showed that high-equity national brands pull traffic. People search for brands, not the store. That is the starting point. Ailawadi & Keller (2004) documented that the brands you stock shape how your store itself is perceived. Arnett et al. (2010) found that when the retailer and the brand actually fit, stated visit and purchase intent rise significantly. Roßmann et al. (2023) reminded us that if you sell many brands, your store needs its own clear identity. You cannot hide behind suppliers. Assortment is a signal, not filler. But the story must be yours. Private labels are not a shortcut to this uniqueness, but can be part of it. Alan, Kurtuluş & Wang (2019) demonstrated that store brands can lift margins and bargaining power, but only when managed as part of a portfolio that acknowledges spillovers from national brands. So the job is not to out-discount the shop across town. It is to make more people want what you sell, and to make them choose you when they do. Practical start points: Identify which brands actually pull first-time or infrequent buyers into your category. Use search data, first-click paths and new-customer attribution. Curate a portfolio. Let a few must-have brands earn space to drive traffic, then surround them with margin builders and image enhancers that fit your positioning. Own the experience. If the brand gets them in, your service, advice, bundling and storytelling must make staying (and returning) about you. Build the category. Run events, education and joint campaigns that expand the pool of buyers instead of fighting over the same ones. Measure what matters. Track how your assortment shifts perceptions of your store, not only SKU margins. You must build a Demand Point Constellation. In the end, you must be building a market worth having a share of, not just fighting over deck chairs on the Titanic.