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What is Merchandising

Merchandising

Merchandising

Merchandising is any practice that aids in the sale of goods or services to consumers. With regards to retail sales, this would be the types of merchandise and the methods of displaying them that attracts the eye and encourages sales.

Visual merchandising refers to the use of sight to entice your audience. This is done by using attractive displays and arrangements, demonstrations, informative signage, and packaging. Knowing where to place items within each arrangement, proper placement within the retail environment and the overall impression of your space all contribute to visual merchandising.

Merchandise simply laid out on a table or placed on shelves does not imply any sort of worth or attract attention. It is key to have a plan for your products within your space. Effective merchandising increases sales and keeps you ahead of the competition, therefore you need to stand out in your field and work smartly to draw the attention to you and your merchandise. Decorative displays, products, arrangements and environments suggest worth, variety and individuality, and generate a desire to obtain the product or service, therefore increasing your bottom line.

“Advertising moves people toward goods; merchandising moves goods toward people.”

It is important to order adequate amounts of merchandise, enough to supply demands but not so much that it goes out of style while you have it in stock. Ordering the wrong amount of merchandise will tie up your space with undesired items, causing consumers to go elsewhere to find a wider variety of items that visually appeal to them.

Timing is also an integral part of effective merchandising to attract sales. Back to School, holidays, summer vacations, and other special events all offer opportunities to enhance your merchandising plan. Reminders to help children see the blackboard, extra contacts for vacation and new sunglasses for the beach are all effective means to draw attention to your merchandise and elevate sales. Variety and rotating your displays, stock and merchandise are imperative to proper merchandising.

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Here at the Eye Designs Group, we have the knowledge, experience and tools to guide you through your optical merchandising challenges. Our experienced team has decades of experience in what works with not only getting customers intrigued enough to walk in your door, but enticed to buy your products. We have proven success in implementing plans that work to upgrade sales and improve capture rate. We’ve worked with thousands of Eye Care Professionals in as many environments and our staff of experienced sales managers and interior designers are up to date on the latest techniques, trends and environments. They come from a variety of related backgrounds and know how to look at your practice not just as a service provider, but as a customer.

The Eye Designs Group offers the tools you need to display and brand your frames and accessories in a manner that makes them attractive to your patients, increasing sales. We will walk you through the methods of planning your layout, the usage of signage and branding, and the importance of using accents in your displays. We will show you how to improve product positioning to make an impact. Don’t believe us? Review our testimonials from other Eye Care Professionals who have found success with Eye Designs and contact us to find out how you too can increase your sales by 20-40%.

Where to place your highest margin merchandise.

There are six vertical height zones for displays, but only four of them work for eyewear. Zones 1 and 6 are not effective for eyewear. Zones 2 and 5 can work with the right kind of frame holders. Zones 3 and 4 are the sweet spot for display.

ZONE 1 – STRETCH LEVEL
Above 6 feet. This is the least valuable display zone. Products placed above this height get little attention from shoppers.
ZONE 2 – ABOVE EYE LEVEL
5 to 6 feet. Frames can be displayed successfully on shelves within this level if you use tiered displays that present the frames face out close to the front edge of the shelf.
AVERAGE AMERICAN WOMAN 5’4”
ZONE 3 – EYE LEVEL
4 to 5 feet. Products at eye level sell best. Place your highest-margin, best-selling styles here. One study found that eye-level merchandise received 35 percent more
attention than products on lower shelves.
ZONE 4 – BELOW EYE LEVEL
3 to 4 feet. This level is approximately at a shopper’s waist height, below eye level but within easy reach. This zone is second in terms of shopper attention, so it’s still a good place for high-margin merchandise.
ZONE 5 – TOUCH LEVEL
2 to 3 feet. Frames can be displayed as low as 2 feet above the floor if they are on a countertop or shelf facing up.
ZONE 6 – STOOP LEVEL
Less than 2 feet. Most shoppers don’t like to bend down, so this zone is the retail equivalent of the boondocks, relegated to low-margin products. Keep all your merchandise above the 2 foot level.

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Want to learn more about merchandising properly?

Did you know we offer Free workshops?