Retail Management Concepts

Key Elements of Retail Displays

A retailer must carefully consider and plan each element of retail displays.  Display elements include the merchandise, shelf display areas or window displays, props, colors, background materials, lighting and signs. The retailer is to compare contrast, repetition, motion, harmony, balance, rhythm and proportion of each display to draw the consumer’s attention to it.

Display elements must be evaluated to determine how well and if they attract and hold the attention of the passersby. “Contrast” is one way to attract attention. Contrast is achieved by using different  colors, lighting, form i.e., size and shape, lettering or textures. “Repetition” attracts consumer attention by duplicating an object to reinforce and strengthen the impression.… Read the rest

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Concept of Retail Store Displays

Displays are  the terminal part of the retail store’s interior. Advertising does attract the consumers to the store. However, visual displays have much more to play once the customer gets into the store. Retail store displays are non-personal, in-store presentations and exhibitions of merchandise together with related information. In actual practice, retail store displays are used to:

  1. Maximize  product exposure.
  2. To enhance product appearance.
  3. To stimulate product interest.
  4. To exhibit product information.
  5. To facilitate sales transactions.
  6. To ensure product security.
  7. To provide product storage.
  8. To remind customers of planned purchases.
  9. To generate additional sales of impulse items and
  10. To improve the image and prestige of a retailer.
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Golden Rules for Building Retail Displays

It goes without saying that the displays play very significant role in retailing and retail outlet. An attractive and informative displays can help in large volume of sales in terms of goods and services.

In building a retail display, some fundamental rules should be followed to get best out of these where good deal of treasure, talent and time is involved on the part of retailer. This  golden rules are:

1. Achieve Balance

It is important to make sure that the display appears balanced to the viewer, in building display. This is achieved by arranging products and props in a particular way.… Read the rest

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Unit Planning and Merchandise Lists

Unit planning is an operational management tool to plan the merchandise assortment and support. It is directed at determining the amount of inventory the retailer should carry by items and by units and answers the inventory questions of how many product items or assortment and how many units of each items or support to stock. The process of unit planning involves the use of several merchandise lists which constitute a set of operational plans for   managing the total selection of merchandise. Based on the type of merchandise, the retailer carries, one or more of the following three merchandise lists namely, Basic Stock list, Model stock list and Never-out list.  … Read the rest

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Planning Reductions in Merchandise Budgeting

This is a very significant stage in developing the merchandise budget namely planning of reductions. “Retail reductions” are the difference between the merchandise item’s original retail value and its actual final sales value. This difference is the result of three major factors namely, mark-downs, discounts and shortages. “Mark downs” are the reductions in the original retail price for the purpose of stimulating the sale of merchandise. The amount of markdown can vary considerably depending on the type of merchandise and the condition under which it is sold. “Discounts” are reduction in the original retail price that are granted to store employees as special fringe benefits and to special customers in recognition of their special status say senior citizens, disadvantaged customers and religious personalities like clergy, priests, and so on.… Read the rest

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Sales Planning in Retail Merchandising

Majority of retailers use a form that summarizes the basic budgetary information for a given merchandise grouping during a specified  period  normally for a period of six months.  The retailer must select the control unit for which projections will be made, before making sales estimates. The “control unit” is the merchandising grouping that serves as the basic reporting unit for various types of information namely, past, present and future. The retailer has the choice to estimate future sales for an entire store, for a merchandise division or department, or for an individual product-line or item. The most three acceptable control units can be merchandise groups, merchandise classes and merchandise categories of all these three, experts recommend merchandise categories as the basic control unit as it is generally much easier to aggregate the information than it is to disaggregate information, i.e.,… Read the rest

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