Top Modern Merchandising Trends

Top Modern Merchandising Trends

A look outside the optical industry reveals cutting-edge tactics that can be brought into the dispensary. An untold amount of money is invested in researching the best ways to reach shoppers and secure sales. Optical retailers can benefit from the latest strategies in merchandising and marketing by employing them in the dispensary.

The first step to success, however, is to truly understand your customer (who they are and how they shop) and your product mix. “Retailers need to have an understanding of how deep they are into their own brands,” says Doreen Burdalski, chair of the fashion department and assistant professor of merchandising at Albright College in Reading, PA. “It helps to pinpoint what brands are key and what items are key within those brands.”

The next step is to utilize the following strategies, if they are applicable to your dispensary and product assortment.

Breaking Down Creativity within Brands

While many ECPs merchandise their products by brand, retaining experts recommend breaking down product categories creatively within collections. “Consumers shop by brand, so if someone likes a certain brand they will gravitate towards that brand’s eyewear,” says Burdalski. You can keep this costumer’s attention by breaking these frames down even further by gender, material, or even face shape.” That kind of point-of-sale information is something customers love,” she adds, saying that products could even feature a color-coded tag for delineation. “For example, in the jeans department today, petite jeans may have a red tag and average-length jeans have a yellow tag.”

Enabling Discovery

Research shows that customers love a shopping adventure. Accenting your products with a hint of marketing and P.O.P materials will entice them to discover your frame assortment. Using too much signage or P.O.P can reduce the adventure quotient significantly. Designate a staff member to filter through all the P.O.P offered to you and decide what to use. Since there is some standard sizing for items like brand posters and signage, you can also set up your own sign holders and poster frames so you can use P.O.P., but maintain your own image as a retailer.

Creating an Editorial Space

Catch your customer’s attention and create shopping excitement by puling together a revolving showcase for frame trends. “These little editorial spaces can show what the newness is by season,” says Burdalski. “It could be a color statement, a fabrication statement, or even shape or size. The customer may not end up purchasing that trend, but you are giving them direction on newness in the store and setting yourself up as an expert and a source for fashion.” This type of display could be done on a countertop, display unit or shelf.

Pairing Up for Sales

The power of two can be realized in the dispensary when you choose to merchandise frame styles in two colors instead of just one hue.

This display tactic has impact for several reasons. Your entire retail environment will look more designed, more confortable to shop, and easier to navigate. It will also have a better conceptual story for each of your brands because products will look like they are merchandised in collections rather than as individual pieces. And finally, you capitalize on the attraction of colors.

If your dispensary has, for example, 500 frame spots that include 500 unique frame styles, this unfocused selection could make your patience’s decision-making process much more difficult. Conversely, if you feature 250 unique models (each shown in two colors per style), your 500 frames suddenly take on a more appealing, well-merchandised look. This type of inventory can also be much easier and less time consuming to manage.

By ClearVision Optical Company