Merchandising Doctor: Organizing to maximize end-of-season selling
This column marks the launch of a new, regular feature in SNEWS® – The Merchandising Doctor – penned by merchandiser Robin Enright. Check out the quick and easy make-over we did at Outdoor Source. We're ready to send the doctor to your store too -- just ask.
Get access to everything we publish when you sign up for Outside+.
Merchandising at the end of the season when everything in your store is priced to move — and you have few solid runs of anything to work with — can be challenging at best. However, there are a few basic merchandising methods any retail can successfully use to generate increased sales and help make room for the new season product.
This column marks the launch of a new, regular feature in SNEWS® – The Merchandising Doctor – penned by merchandiser Robin Enright.
Email the SNEWS merchandising help team at MerchDoctor@snewsnet.com to have your merchandising challenge solved and featured in a future Merchandising Doctor column. Details are at the end of this column.
The patient:Outdoor Source, an independent outdoor retailer in downtown Boulder, Colo., was challenged with trying to move an end-of-season product selection that had dwindled to mostly one-of-a-kind’s. Product was organized loosely around gender and end use (i.e. outerwear was separated from clothing), but this actually presented a chaotic shopping experience that deterred shoppers.
The diagnosis: Order needed to be created to ease the shopping experience and encourage sales.
The treatment: Color and silhouette was utilized to create order out of the singles left on the racks and to create two brand fixtures for The North Face and Powderhorn. The first step was to separate product by silhouette and color, and then make decisions about placement. Lighter colors were placed on the top rack with darker product below. On the wall, long sleeve ‘one-of-a-kind’s’ were given prominence because of their wear-now value, with lighter layers following, again organized by silhouette. The entire task of reorganizing this wall and three fixtures took approximately two hours.
The women’s apparel wall at the Outdoor Source before our Merchandising Doctor administered treatment.
The wall post-treatment. Focusing on color and silhouette makes things easier on the eye.
The North Face fixture before treatment.
Brand and color now organize The North Face fixture.
Outerwear fixture before Powderhorn product is categorized.
Powderhorn fixture after treatment.
Robin Enright is the founder of Merchandising Matters www.merchandisingmattersnow.com which provides visual merchandising and marketing support to the outdoor retail industry.
Email the SNEWS merchandising help team at MerchDoctor@snewsnet.com to have your merchandising challenge considered for publication in a Merchandising Doctor column. There is no cost for an initial consult by Robin, and if you are tapped to be featured in our Merchandising Doctor column, the advice and guidance leading to a fix (up to four hours of merchandising time – either in person or a virtual consult) is free. Actual hard costs such as new fixtures, lighting, travel expenses and more are the responsibility of the retailer.
