Merchandising Know-How: In or out, it's all about consumer-driven trends
Is there anything worse than being out of touch, behind the eight ball, out in left field or just plain old fashioned? Your teenager can tell you exactly how in the know you are, and it's usually not good news. The trendy magazines publish those in and out lists to remind us how backward and uninformed we are. Don't feel bad. Did you know that hula hoops are back? Drop that in casual conversation at the dinner table! Not to be outdone, SNEWS® has its own merchandising-inspired ins and outs for 2007 and they're all about retail:
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Is there anything worse than being out of touch, behind the eight ball, out in left field or just plain old fashioned? Your teenager can tell you exactly how in the know you are, and it’s usually not good news. The trendy magazines publish those in and out lists to remind us how backward and uninformed we are. Don’t feel bad. Did you know that hula hoops are back? Drop that in casual conversation at the dinner table!
Not to be outdone, SNEWS® has its own merchandising-inspired ins and outs for 2007 and they’re all about retail:
| OUT | IN |
| Seniors | College grads |
| Print advertising | Word of mouth |
| Yellow Pages | Search engines |
| Newspapers | Newspaper websites |
| Professional Reviews | Customer reviews |
| Mega stores | Pop-up stores |
| Sales assistants | Personal shopping assistants |
| Time-consuming shopping | Easy, quick shopping |
| Vendor brand | Store brand |
| Round racks | Modified sample racks |
| Store interiors | Sidewalks |
| Uninspired old categories | Inspired new categories |
| Conspicuous consumption | Eco lifestyles |
| Single buyer | Group buyers |
| Blond wood | Cherry wood |
Sharon Leicham is the creator of The MerchandisingHUB, the author of “Merchandising Your Way to Success” and “How to Sell to Women” and is a regular columnist for SNEWS® writing on merchandising and marketing topics. You can access all of her columns by going to www.outsidebusinessjournal.com/merchandising, where you will find tons of information targeted at the needs of the independent specialty retailer. You can email us with questions and comments at merchandising@snewsnet.com.
For more retail training support and know-how, be sure to check out the SNEWS® Business 101 tools and stories, including our 10-part Retail Merchandising Training series produced by SNEWS®, including a useful online calculator for performing the most common retail merchandising calculations — free to All Access Subscribers.
