How to Excel in Store Management: 3 Ideas to Keep Your Stores Running Smoothly
Your retail store must attract new shoppers — and entice regular shoppers to keep coming back. After all, consumers are the ones who increase profit margins, so your retail operations must run as smoothly as possible. Recent reports show that 80% of sales occurring in stores are based on how well retailers excel in their store management, which includes proper shelf planning, the right layout design and effective category management.
Although having the right store management can increase the chances of drawing customer’s attention, but a few are making the most of it. As a retailer, smart shelf planning is one of the biggest opportunities for improving store management. If you want to take advantage of this, you must consider employing data-driven planograms. Planograms help ensure efficiency in the final flow of stock from shelves to customers. It is expensive and inefficient for store managers to fill shelves with products on a continuous and random basis when each item runs out on a shelf. It would not be inconvenient for customers when they tried to buy products on shelves, but it would also be very time-consuming and costly for the store owner to make shelf planning decisions. Therefore, planogram manufacturers have come up with a solution called planogram services to help retailers with the shelf planning process. This helps to cleverly fill products on shelves by using the product data and saves retailer’s time in creating planograms. This ensures effective store management by optimizing product placement with custom fixtures, enticing product displays, and ensuring proper inventory management, which enhances the customer experience and improves sales. Here are some ideas to ensure store management with the help of planograms:
- Define the objectives: Determine the objectives you want to achieve with your planograms. These objectives could include increasing sales of certain products, promoting new arrivals, cross-selling complementary items, or enhancing the overall aesthetic appeal of the store. Gaining a deep understanding of your target audience, their preferences, and buying behaviors using past sales data can help you determine the most effective way to present products and create appealing displays that cater to their needs.
- Plan the product placement: Use planogram software to map out the placement of products within your store. Consider factors such as product visibility, accessibility, and the flow of customer traffic to strategically position high-demand or high-margin items at eye level to attract attention. You can group products into logical categories based on factors such as product type, brand, usage, or seasonality. This allows shoppers to easily find the products in your store. You can analyze sales data to identify the most popular or profitable items. Ensure that these products are given adequate shelf space and are placed in prime locations to maximize their visibility and sales potential. Regularly review and update your planograms to adapt to changing trends, seasonal demands, or promotional campaigns. For example, changing your window displays once or twice in a month can attract customer attention and improve the store’s overall performance.
- Optimize store layouts: Design your store layout in a way that maximizes customer flow and enhances the shopping experience. Begin by assessing the layout of your store, including the available store space, shelving units, and display areas. Consider the traffic flow, focal points, and any specific areas that require attention or improvement. Ensure that aisles are wide enough for easy navigation, products are properly displayed and labeled, and checkout areas are efficient to minimize waiting times. Identify products that can be cross-sold or are commonly used together. Place these items close to encourage additional purchases. For example, if you sell cameras, place related accessories like memory cards and camera bags nearby.
Planogram Store Management: Final Thoughts
In conclusion, planogram store management plays a crucial role in retail operations by ensuring that products are presented in an organized, visually appealing, and customer-friendly manner. It helps retailers improve product visibility, enhance the shopping experience, and drive sales. This enhances the customer shopping experience, boosts sales, and improves overall store performance.
