Issue link: https://www.ascpskindeepdigital.com/i/393439
ascp and you: finer points 40 ASCP Skin Deep November/December 2014 Skin Care Merchandising Let your products do the talking for better sales by Susanne Schmaling First, what's the difference between merchandising and sales? Merchandising is the environment you create to enhance sales. It includes product packaging and signage, but also how you display the products you want to sell, right down to things like the lighting in your display area and the product information you make available for clients to read. Sales are the human interactions that complete the picture—everything from greeting clients as they browse your retail display, to demonstrating or recommending a product, to the actual sales transaction. The goal of product merchandising is to create a place where clients feel they can comfortably browse, relax, and play with what you offer. We know home care is necessary, but all too often we don't put a lot of effort into displaying our skin care retail products in strategic ways. Learning a little about merchandising can go a long way in improving your retail sales. 5 Rules for Skin Care Product Displays There are tried-and-true principles of skin care merchandising that will help your retail sales no matter how much space you have available to display products. Here are fi ve important things you can do: 1. In your skin care retail area, most of the shelf should be occupied by skin care products. Boutique items like crafts and gifts can be a great addition to your retail inventory (see the article on page 14), but resist mixing them in too much with your professional products. For example, you could use shelves for skin care products, and place interesting boutique items in a window display, since they are more eye-catching to passersby. 2. Always have testers or samples available. Every client wants to smell and touch the products before purchasing, and when people handle something, they are more inclined to buy it. Keep testers clean and toss them before half the product in each tester is used up. A full or mostly-full product tester feels better to the shopper than something that is down to its last drops or has obviously been used by others. Items that weigh heavier in the hand also feel more luxurious and/or reputable to shoppers. Manufacturers often package luxury products in slightly heavier containers for this reason. 3. Make sure your product display is well lit. If you can, use spot lighting to draw the eye to your featured products. 4. Group your skin care products in some other way than by brand. This has been proven to work. Here are just a few examples of groupings: by skin type, by the benefi t they provide, "for men," "under $20," "most popular," etc. 5. Always use shelf talkers (signs on your display shelves) to identify product groupings and prices, and provide additional educational information clients can read while browsing. Do Your Research When planning an inviting retail environment, do some online reading about the principles of design for merchandising. Balance, color, emphasis, space, unity, and variety are all important factors to take into account, and there is a wealth of information out there about how they affect customers' buying habits.