This is the sixth Academy in Practice support staff module from Johnson & Johnson Vision Care. This useful programme is available to all Acuvue Centre of Excellence practices in binder format with accompanying CD-Roms. These CDs can be used to train new staff on how to teach contact lens handling skills, and patients can take them home to reinforce the techniques they have learned.
|
|
THIS ARTICLE IS BEST READ ON A PDF.
Merchandising is the branch of marketing theory and practice concerned with maximising product sales – in this instance, contact lenses and spectacles – through product design, packaging, pricing and display. The role of the merchandiser is to present products in a way that captures the consumers’ attention, and then persuades them to make a purchase. Merchandising can involve a wide range of materials, from simply posters, to eye-catching free-standing displays.
This module will cover a number of important areas related to the business of merchandising, including:
-
Understanding the role of merchandising
-
Its importance to your business
-
Creating an overall impact
-
Giving your practice an attractive shop window
-
Getting the sales message across inside the store.
Creating Impact
The purpose of the ‘Creating impact’ module is to ensure that each member of the eye care team understands the importance and the methods of attracting potential patients into the practice and encouraging them to make a purchase or, at least, find out more about a particular product.
What is merchandising?
Merchandising aims to enhance the product or range of products presented for sale.
Merchandising:
-
Makes a practice stand out
-
Informs patients about a product
-
Encourages patients to buy
-
Reassures them that their purchasing decision is a good one.
Merchandising material, or point of sale (POS), is the range of posters, free-standing displays, leaflets and stickers used to create attractive shop windows and in-store displays within your practice.
The areas most used for merchandising in an optical store are windows and counters. However, there are many areas, such as the entrance, the floor, internal walls, shelves, fitting rooms and customer space, which can be potentially used to create in-store displays and boost sales.
Merchandising is used:
-
To attract patients into the practice
-
To create an overall image for the practice
-
To show a selection of merchandise offered for sale
-
To tell people about a product’s benefits
-
To help customers’ decisions to buy
-
To make customers loyal to the brands the practice is selling
-
To optimise the use of space in-practice.
Merchandising material can also deliver a vital link between advertising campaigns using other media such as TV, radio, posters, newspapers and magazines.
Merchandising CLs
Merchandising should always be backed up by helpful and friendly service. It is this combination which makes your business stand out as one that achieves real customer loyalty.
Contact lenses cannot be displayed or tried on like spectacle frames and sunglasses. Therefore, advertising, merchandising and a friendly service form an essential part of the branding and sales process.
Overall, more than 70 per cent of decisions about which brand of product to buy are made in-store. At the same time, POS display material has a significant influence on purchasing decisions.1
Certainly, shoppers pay attention to displays and signs. It is a proven fact that they are more likely to purchase a product that has POS support than a product that does not.1
It has been shown that an advertised product that has an enhanced in-store presence is five times more likely to be purchased than one which does not.2
Together with your recommendation, merchandising means customers receive a comprehensive, consistent message, which can lead to extra sales and profits for the practice.
Window displays
First impressions are vital. An effective window display captures attention and draws patients into the practice.
The shop window creates a unique image for the practice and reflects its professional tone. It tells patients what is available inside and can support current advertising campaigns to increase interest.
Effective window displays attract the attention of potential patients, are clear, immediate and easy to understand and help you sell the benefits of the products on display.
To create the best display possible, always bear the Over to You guidelines (left) in mind.
Planning the display
Here are a few tips that will make the best use of the merchandising you receive:
-
Don’t clutter up the window with too much material
-
Windows should enable patients to see through into the store
-
Keep window fittings and display units clean
-
Colours and good lighting are important and help to create harmonious or dramatic impact. Avoid over-bright lighting as this can wash out the impact of the display.
How customers look at displays
A well-ordered, logical window display will be seen and read more easily and will attract many more patients. In communicating visually, merchandising creates an impact by delivering a message simply and memorably. This is because 85 per cent of information retained by the brain is taken in visually.
Lighting
Some windows can be difficult to light effectively. And the problems vary depending on the store’s position – for example, whether it is outside in a high street or inside a shopping centre. The single most important point to remember is that the window light should be stronger than the ambient light.
In winter particularly, windows can be enhanced by using an overhead spotlight, angled down onto the displayed products.
Change your display regularly
-
To keep up-to-date with the latest promotions and offers
-
To maintain patient interest
-
To tie in with seasonal/themed offers and promotions
-
To avoid merchandising material becoming faded and discoloured.
The benefits of getting the window right
-
Patient interest is maintained because the display is regularly refreshed
-
People will always be made aware of the depth of stock carried
-
The practice’s name is more likely to be recalled by passers-by
-
The practice is seen as lively and progressive
-
More sales and increased profits.
In-store displays
Remember, once a balanced window display has been achieved, don’t disappoint patients once they enter the store.
The objectives of in-store displays:
-
To present merchandise with the maximum impact
-
To focus patients’ interest on particular products
-
To make it easy for patients to learn more about a product
-
To make it easy for the eye care professional and staff to discuss the products.
Apart from the actual purchase – or for eye tests – 75 per cent of customers spend less than 10 minutes inside stores, so it is important to get the sales message across as soon as possible.
Think about the impression the practice needs to create
Everything from the colour of the walls to the style of the store creates an immediate visual impression.
Some merchandising displays can encourage self-selection; others encourage patients to ask about the product.
To a great extent – apart from the perceived value given by a brand/designer name – frames sell themselves, as patients can pick them up and try them on. Contact lenses, however, generally require the eye care professional’s recommendation plus the support of quality merchandising to demonstrate and enhance the product’s qualities and benefits.
Creating a layout that sells
The layout is the arrangement and location of fixtures, fittings, equipment, merchandise, aisles and non-selling areas such as consulting rooms.
There are a number of key areas:
-
Entrance and circulation area – where customers can walk around and view the products
-
Display area – where stock such as frames and sunglasses are shown, either in wall fittings or free-standing units
-
Selling area – the counter and till
-
Ancillary area – consulting room, fitting area and stock room.
The decompression zone
Upon entering a store, it takes patients a certain amount of time to make the transition from pedestrian to shopper. The area in which these first few steps are taken is known as the decompression zone. Only beyond the zone does a patient begin to appreciate the goods on display.
Therefore, putting a display beyond your practice’s decompression zone is both appropriate and effective.
Blocking displays
Because patients tend to come straight from the entrance to seek a member of staff, a blocking display – in other words, one that is placed directly in their path – is an effective method of getting it noticed by the greatest number of people.
Use the right hand side
Where possible, place POS material on the right hand side of the practice, as patients naturally tend to drift that way on entering the store.
Themed areas win sales
Creating a themed heart to the practice, for example, a special section dedicated solely to contact lenses, provides a focal point for patients with all the visibility you need to generate patient enquiries and reinforce purchase decisions.4
Place best sellers at eye level
This is why some POS material is designed to sit on the counter, a valuable area for leaflet dispensers and impulse purchases.
Keep it simple
To avoid the bargain basement atmosphere, do not cram your store with display units. Customers must be able to walk around comfortably.
Balance your use of space, giving as much space as feasible to goods on display. Also beware of putting up too much POS material. The more cluttered your display, the more confusing it is and the less patients are likely to buy.
Lighting
Let lighting create the right atmosphere in the store. The simplest and most popular lighting effect, seen in retailers everywhere, is created by perimeter wall lighting. This is generally backed up by ceiling-mounted lights to highlight particular areas, creating extra drama for displays.
Back lighting is very effective in showing off products to the best effect.
Cleanliness
On a final note, don’t forget to keep your display areas clean. A beautiful, clear and striking display can be completely ruined by a dirty window bay or finger marks on the glass. Check daily for any rubbish or dust that may have gathered near your displays and reposition any materials which have been displaced.
References
1 1995 POPAI Consumer Buying Habits Study, in conjunction with Meyers Research Centre.
2 Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, data on file.
3 Research into effectiveness of point of purchase displays in Interoptik Opticians, Oslo, RMS, February 1998.
4 Research into effectiveness of point of sale displays in Interoptick Opticians, Oslo, RMS, April 1998.