Store merchandising checklist for luxury brands partnered with retailers

Luxury

13 Feb

You’ve just partnered with a huge retailer, and you're excited to see the sales that your luxury brand is going to get through this new distributor. Then you visit your point of purchase display, and it's not up to your standards, impacting your customer's experience and, ultimately, your sales.

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Sound familiar?

The truth is that partnering with a retailer to stock your luxury brand is just the first part of the puzzle.

To ensure your products get the positive attention they deserve, you’ve got to make sure that the merchandising display meets your branding standards.

If things are damaged, your back walls or signage are wrong, your products aren’t stocked on the shelves, or displays from the competition are blocking your stand, then your luxury brand could be getting attention for all the wrong reasons.

Don’t leave your branding up to chance

Too many luxury brands sign the deal with their stockists and then leave everything in the hands of the retailer. This means they have no control over what happens with their luxury brand once it’s in the retail store, which can hugely damage your brand’s reputation.

The quote ‘Any publicity is good publicity’ is most certainly not true in this context.

Merchandising displays play a pivotal role in customers’ purchasing decisions; in fact, 62 per cent of shoppers say they made at least one impulse purchase during their shopping trip, which means if you have an exceptional merchandising display, you could be the impulse purchase they decide to buy.

However, if your merchandising display isn’t up to scratch, not only would you not be considered in their purchasing journey, but you’d be tarnished with negative brand associations which were completely out of your control.

Why do luxury brands need a store merchandising checklist?

If you have multiple people in your business who will be responsible for checking your store merchandising displays, you need to make sure that each of their visits are structured and consistent. Similarly, if you have merchandising displays in multiple different retailers, you need to make sure you’re checking the same things.

It means that all elements of branding which are included in your brand guidelines get thoroughly checked, leaving nothing up to chance.

Your store merchandising checklist

1. Are your signs visible?

A common issue luxury brands have is when they visit their merchandising display and see that their signs are hidden or obscured.

2. Is all of your signage on display?

Another problem is that not all of the signs are even put on display. This is particularly problematic if your signs are associated with timely offers. This is why regular store visits are essential to make sure your stockist is keeping up with your signage schedules.

3. Are all of the colours correct?

Sometimes luxury brands find that the tones of colours are off and they’re not in line with their brand guidelines. Visit your merchandising display to check that all colours on signs, props and stands are correct.

4. Is the display clean?

Having a dirty stand is incredibly damaging to brand reputation and a huge repellant to shoppers who are browsing. Has your stand been neglected, and as a result, you can see a build-up of dust, fingerprints on your screens, or dirty marks on your products?

5. Is the display tidy?

Your display may be clean but is it tidy? Are your products stocked neatly away, or are they all over the display where customers have left them? Does it look well-kept and organised, or does it look more like a chaotic mess?

6. Are the shelves fully stocked?

A frequent issue we hear is that the merchandising shelves aren’t restocked as quickly as they are emptied. This can be disastrous on a busy Saturday afternoon when your products are flying off the shelves, but no one is there to refill them quickly enough. Not only does it mean that your potential customers leave empty-handed, but it can also mean that your display looks very bare and uninviting.

7. Is the lighting at the correct level?

Lighting can have a big impact on purchasing behaviour, especially in the luxury sector. Did you know, according to the research of Xun (Irene) Huang, Ping Dong, Aparna Labroo and Dorothy K Sit at Kellogg School “we feel less connected to others in the dark. So we assign less weight to what others think and more weight to what we authentically desire.” This means we are more likely to select decadent, indulgent, or “hedonic” options when light levels are low.

This just goes to prove how much lighting affects our buying decisions, so all the more reason to ensure that your store merchandising display is adequately lit.

8. Are all of the lightbulbs working?

Nothing looks more unprofessional than lightbulbs which aren’t working. It gives off the impression of laziness, and your customers will make assumptions about your brand based on small errors like this. Always make sure your lightbulbs are working.

9. Are all electric props working, e.g. video, tablets etc?

The same point from above stands for this issue, it can make you look shabby and lazy. If you’ve got electric props such as videos or interactive displays, you’ve got to make sure they’re working. People pay a premium for your luxury products, and they expect a flawless experience from you, anything less just isn’t acceptable.

10. Are your offers on display?

Do you have timely offers for certain products that you need to be displayed?

Perhaps you’ve launched a perfume for Valentine's day, and you need it to be the pride of place on your merchandising display. Does your signage need to be swapped to support the launch?

Visit your retailer to make sure that this is happening. During busy periods such as Valentine's Day, retailers can get overwhelmed with the number of displays they need to manage, which can mean rules you’ve set for your display can get overlooked.

11. Are your key products displayed adequately?

Perhaps you have a best-selling item that you want to be placed at the centre of the display or where it will get the most traction.

Have a look at your display and make sure it’s positioned how you want it, as sometimes retailers can misinterpret your guidance and place it in the wrong position.

12. Are any competitor's signs or stands blocking the view of yours?

This is one that luxury brands don’t usually think about, but it can be quite a common issue. Of course, you can’t control who your stand is next to, but if your competition has anything on their stand which is obstructing the view or access to your stand, then you need to be reporting it to your stockist.

13. Is any part of the display damaged or broken?

Having damaged or broken displays looks unprofessional and detracts from everything the luxury market stands for; professionalism and perfection. You need to check your stand to see that everything is in good condition.

Are there any peeling edges, rips, bubble marks, scratched surfaces or scuffs? All of these imperfections can play a huge role in whether someone decides to purchase from you or not.

Is there a better way to carry out your store merchandising store visit?

If you’re like most luxury brands, the thought of going to each store with a notepad and pen seems unprofessional and inefficient.

You’re faced with a few issues:

The checklists take too long to complete. Having to manually write up answers can take a lot of time and is unnecessary. If you use a digital store visit tool such as Ocasta Review, your inspectors can collect their answers in minutes by tapping, swiping or typing their answers.
Having to transfer your answers to a spreadsheet or an email once you’ve completed your report can add hours of wasted time to your process. With a digital store visit app, all reports are automatically shared with people who have permission to see, so you don’t need to upload your answers twice.
You have to set tasks or take pictures separately, making your process very disjointed, and things can slip through the net. With Ocasta Review, your inspectors can take photos and set tasks in the app. This means they can collect important information and never forget crucial details which need to be immediately addressed.
Your process can become inconsistent with pen and paper because people may interpret your checklist differently when they write it out themselves or they might forget the pointers which you gave them. With a digital store visit app, you’ll have a template everyone uses, so there’s no room for misinterpretation or confusion.

What are the other benefits of using a digital store visit app?

Consistency in-store merchandising visits improves analysis

Without structure, every visit is left to each person's own style, process and opinion.

This leads to frustrating, inconsistent store visits, which miss the needs of your luxury brand.

With the Review store visit app, you are in control of what gets checked, making it easy to spot trends and patterns. For example, you might notice that all of your stockists fail to update your signage, this could be because you haven’t made it clear enough about what your signage schedule is.

Visits focused on the things that matter most

Without cohesive and consistent instructions, it can be easy for your inspectors to go off track. They might spend ages writing about your light bulbs when you really want to know whether your shelves are stocked. With a digital store visit app, it allows you to guide your inspectors on the weight of their answers.

For example, if you don’t want them to spend too long analysing the lighting, just select a yes or no answer option, but if you want to know about the number of products on shelves, you can select the photo answer with a description. It means you are in complete control of how they answer.

Action plans and coaching for continuous improvement

Each store visit or audit isn’t about scoring 100%, but having the frameworks in place to make sure corrective actions are taken.

With paper or spreadsheets, you can end up uncovering the same issue every visit or having to follow up manually.

The Review store visit app lets you set yourself and your team tasks “in the moment”, with deadlines, reporting, and clear visibility to ensure they are completed.

Find issues that are consistently occurring with your stockist

Every store visit is important, but the true value comes when you can find issues that are consistently occurring in your partner retail stores. Our bird’s-eye view gives you a real-time snapshot of what’s happening, making it easy to see common issues.

With each store visit, everything is scored. You see the good, the bad, and the opportunities to improve your displays.

Drill down to the specific stores or partners that need corrective action, all from your store visit app.

A professional report to show your retail partner

You’re busy and you haven’t got time to rewrite the answers to make them look professional. When you use a digital store visit app, all the hard work is done for you. You have a professional colour-coded report to share with your stockist making it easy to highlight the issues which you need correcting.

Sound like something right for your luxury brand?

If you think a digital store visit app is the answer to protecting your luxury brand and improving partner sales, why not try it for free? We have an exclusive offer to our readers; a free 60-day pilot where you can trial the app in-store and see how it works for your luxury brand.

Here’s how the pilot works:

1. A personalised, quick demo to check we're both a good fit for each other

2. If that goes well, a 60-day pilot in the field with your pilot sales team

3. If you’re happy with the pilot, you can launch it across your entire sales team

Get started now and see how Review can work for you too.

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