Definition and basic techniques of merchandising in a pharmacy. Effective merchandising in a pharmacy with a closed display

Most competent pharmacy workers from the first steps try to set the buyer in a positive way and avoid any manifestations of negativity. Incorrect placement of goods is a costly mistake, so preferences for a medical representative must be approached with caution. To understand how fair his arguments are about expanding the company's product range and whether it is worth responding to a request to rearrange the drug to the best place, a pharmacist and a pharmacist need to have basic merchandising skills.

What does merchandising do?

As you know, there are different categories of goods on the pharmaceutical market. All marketed products, and there are about 30 thousand of them, can be divided into three parts:

1. medical products;
2. cosmetics and dietary supplements;
3. medicines.

As for the latter, as you know, prescription (ethical) drugs should be dispensed only on prescription. OTC group (OTC), which is on free sale, without the obligatory presentation of a prescription. However, we all understand that de facto the pharmaceutical market in Ukraine is OTC.
In addition, dietary supplements, skin care products and other parapharmaceutical products are beginning to take up an increasing share of the domestic “pharmacy basket”. By increasing the promotional activity of manufacturing companies in the total pharmacy sales the share of medical cosmetics is gradually increasing. This is also facilitated by the growth in the number of pharmaceutical markets, where the probability of making spontaneous purchases is much higher than in classical pharmacies. That is why merchandising events are of particular importance in our market.

What is merchandising?

It seems that one of the most successful definitions of this term was given by the American Marketing Association (American Marketing Association - AMA): "Merchandising is a field of marketing activity aimed at focusing the attention of buyers on certain products." In essence, merchandising is the ability to maximize your turnover without changing the topography of the pharmacy.
Here is another definition, synthetic: "Merchandising is one of the components of marketing aimed at improving products and increasing sales of a retail enterprise." In other words, merchandising is a set of activities that includes the development and implementation of methods, as well as all kinds of technical solutions, the purpose of which is to promote goods and attract customers to a particular outlet to increase its profits.

Historical reference
For the first time, merchandising was discussed in the United States during the Great Depression (1930-1935). It was a difficult period for the country, one of the most severe crises hit the population. The struggle for the buyer has increased a hundredfold. Merchandising has become one of the ways to improve competitiveness. Thoughtful placement of goods contributed to increased sales. Soon, pharmacies also took advantage of new technologies.

What is the role of merchandising in a pharmacy?

Now in Ukraine in many pharmacy chains there is such a staff unit as a marketer. The task of a marketer is to make more people enter the pharmacy with the help of promotional, promotional, advertising and other events. And merchandising activities affect the potential buyer already inside the pharmacy, as soon as he crossed its threshold. Whether a person who comes to a pharmacy is “converted” into a client depends on the internal harmony of the pharmacy and on the professionalism of the pharmacists of the first table.
One often hears from the directors of pharmacy chains: “I took a marketer, but there’s no sense!”. I ask: "Why not?" “Yes, sales are not growing!” - they answer.

It is advisable to deal with this issue.
The foundation for the success of a pharmacy is based on three pillars: positioning, including price, service, work with personnel. Still, it is very useful to find out where the chain breaks in a well-established customer-oriented pharmacy work. At the stages of attracting people to the pharmacy? Perhaps leaves something to be desired better job personnel or insufficient level of services provided to customers? Or maybe the pharmacy itself does not pay due attention to merchandising activities. The importance of using these techniques is confirmed by a number of indicators (studies by the Point of Purchase Advertising Institute):

3 purchases out of 10 are made thanks to a well-designed storefront;
drugs displayed in a well-designed showcase sell 6 times better than those displayed in traditionally designed showcases.

It would be appropriate to quote the well-known motto of the merchandiser, which reveals the connection between merchandising and commercial success.

The absence of goods on the shelves is suicide for the institution; the usual arrangement of goods on the shelves is just a defense against competitors. And only the correct placement of goods is an attack and success.

Proper arrangement of goods of different types of demand

Pharmaceutical products divided into 3 groups have their place. The purchase of a number of goods is a rather intimate matter, such as the choice of feminine hygiene products, products for the care of problem skin, and dietary products. Some products, such as antifungals or lice medicines, seriously lower the status of the buyer, and if such products are in a crowded place, many will prefer to go to another pharmacy.
A shelf organizer is often used, for example, to separate prophylaxis from flu medicines. In pharmacies, the allocation of zones is possible in groups of over-the-counter drugs and related products. Many buyers do not know that homeopathic medicines on the trading floor are separated into a separate group, and do not understand the principle by which groups are broken, for example, cold, cough, flu remedies. The most persistent customers immediately ask in which department the desired product is located, while the polite and shy ones, having stood in one line, go to the tail of another. Or they leave without even making the planned purchases.
Pharmacies located in business districts can create a special “office” zone, where there are means to reduce psychological stress, fatigue during sedentary work in the office, work with a computer, to quickly eliminate the first signs of colds, restore voice for those who often speak at meetings. Such accents help the pharmacy to acquire the image of an assistant to business people.
Do not forget that merchandising also includes such activities as the timely introduction of drugs into the defect and the competent placement of POS-materials (POS - point of sale - point of sale). By the way, this is not the last tool that can increase sales of your product.
Here are some features of the display of drugs and the placement of POS materials in a pharmacy:

Increasing sales volume when moving goods from the dead zone and from hand level to eye level; decrease - from eye level to hand level.
The most effective is the placement of drugs at eye level. So, by simply rearranging a product from shelf to shelf, you can significantly vary the volume of its sales, up to 80%.
On the lower shelves, which are considered a "dead zone" for an adult, it is advisable to place goods for children, then they will be at the level of the child's eyes, and he will be able to pick them up. Creating a sense of multiplicity of goods also leads to an increase in turnover. And again, let's recall the locomotive rule we have already considered: in the vicinity of the leading brand in this group, you can place a drug that needs to attract attention.

Do not forget that a properly organized retail space allows the visitor to fully realize all the motives for making a purchase, both rational and emotional. Maximizing the turnover of a pharmacy by optimizing the use of its resources - material and human - is the main task of merchandising.
The principles of merchandising are based on the basic physiological characteristics of human behavior and perception of the environment. Speaking about the placement of the drug at eye level, it is important to emphasize the need to provide the buyer with ease of perception. The same purpose is served by the arrangement of drugs in groups. After all, a person begins the search for the right drug, having decided on the localization of the group to which it belongs. Creating a sense of the multiplicity of goods is achieved by placing several samples of goods side by side and reflecting them in mirrored showcases. The multiplicity effect of a product can be enhanced and its recognition increased if the display is carried out around the leading brand.
A good solution is "locomotive principle" when not the leading, but the most advertised brand is used. At the same time, they proceed from the following considerations: the buyer will certainly pay attention to the advertised drug, but there should always be a choice - because if it turns out that it does not meet all the requirements (for example, the price does not suit you), the client will automatically switch his attention to the neighboring drug. This layout is also appropriate for new drugs.
There is an opinion that the most expensive goods of the group should be placed on the “hottest” places. This is true, but we should not forget about the calculation by type Price Leader. It can become optimal for pharmacies whose target audience is the population with low solvency, when the price of the drug, rather than brand awareness, may be a more significant factor in making a purchase decision. This is very important point. Preparations according to this principle should ideally fit into the assortment, taking into account the needs of the target audience of this pharmacy.
It should also be remembered that seasonal drugs should occupy the best places in the windows at the peak of the season (for example, in spring - antihistamines, in winter - colds, etc.), and out of season they can be moved back. Often in pharmacy supermarkets you can see the layout “under the ruler” or, even worse, pyramids and other geometric shapes from packages. Visually, this seems to be beautiful, but psychologically, most people do not want to break the existing symmetry. In some cases, window display design is worth sacrificing expediency. When there is a gap in the row of standing drug packages, it creates the illusion of a brisk trade (someone has already bought this drug or product) and emotionally stimulates the acquisition.
The task of merchandising is not only the placement of goods, but also the effective use of advertising on the trading floor. Five years ago, pharmacies were happy to place on the sales floor all the promotional materials that medical representatives brought to them, and even asked to bring more. Today, too, you can sometimes find pharmacies that are abundantly and unsystematically filled with promotional products. However, the placement of POS materials will be most effective at eye level near the cash register or in places as close as possible to it. The buyer often studies promotional items, bored in line when there is simply nothing to do.
In addition, it should be borne in mind that most people are right-handed and have a fairly standard type of behavior in the room, that is, after a short rectilinear movement, they turn their attention to objects located on their right hand in a clockwise direction. Thus, it is possible to place promotional materials opposite and to the right of the entrance to the pharmacy.
Of course, there is no universal way to place products and visual support. It all depends on the characteristics of a particular pharmacy (the shape of the trading floor, the location of the entrance, etc.). You can accurately determine the direction of customer flows by observing the movement on the trading floor for 30-40 minutes. It's also worth putting yourself in the buyer's shoes and considering how your products and POS materials will be placed most appropriately in your particular case.

(To be continued)

Where does a pharmacy start? The pharmacy does not even start from the porch. Acquaintance with her begins when the pharmacy sign comes into view of a potential buyer. The first impression sometimes means a lot to the buyer, and if there is no desire to enter, the most beautiful interior will remain unclaimed. The external design of pharmacies in conditions of an almost identical range and similar pricing policy has become a significant success factor in the competitive struggle of companies selling pharmaceutical products. In sociological surveys, people note the presentable appearance of the pharmacy as one of the motives for visiting it regularly, along with the convenience of the location, the preferential policy and the competence of pharmacists.

The external design of the pharmacy also includes various additional designs. These can be brackets that are attached to the wall of the building next to the sign (a green “cross” or a sign of a medical institution “bowl with a snake”); pillars - portable information boards that can be installed on the sidewalk at some distance from the entrance to the pharmacy - they are designed to notify the potential buyer in advance that there is a pharmacy on his way.

All premises of the pharmacy organization are recommended to be located in a building united in a single block, isolated from other organizations. The pharmacy should provide for the possibility of entry for people with impaired functions of the musculoskeletal system, for example, the presence of a ramp. Pharmacy doors should open inward, as if inviting entry, and not outward, repelling the customer. It is desirable to have inscriptions: “Open”, “Closed”, “Push”, “Push”. It is equally important to ensure the convenience of climbing stairs and crossing the threshold. If a staircase leads to the door, you should take care of the handrails and rubber edging on the edges of the steps that prevent slipping. You should also regularly clean the entrance to the pharmacy from dirt, ice and snow.

Pharmacy organizations must have a sign indicating:

corporate name of the organization;

· location;

the mode of operation of the organization.

It is advisable to write the name of the type of pharmacy organization in font so that the inscription can be distinguished at any time of the day from a distance of at least 25 meters. When placing a pharmacy organization inside the building, the sign must be on the outer wall of the building.

A pharmacy organization providing drug assistance at night should provide an illuminated sign with information about work at night, indicating hours of operation, a bell to call a pharmacist.

pharmacy requirement pharmacist compliance

Requirements for the interior design of a pharmacy

The majority of the population consider prices to be the main criterion for choosing a pharmacy, but such a factor as the design and internal atmosphere of the outlet is no less important. These factors have a strong influence on the dynamics of consumer demand.

The minimum composition of the pharmacy premises includes: a trading floor, a material room, a staff office, an office of the head of the pharmacy and a bathroom. The pharmacy should be equipped with special production equipment, showcases, refrigerators, cash registers, disinfectants, household equipment, etc.

There are several rules in accordance with which showcases should be designed:

1. Only over-the-counter drugs and pharmacy products can be displayed on the sales floor, since it is prohibited to advertise prescription drugs in order to avoid giving the buyer the impression that it is safe and unnecessary to go to a doctor;

2. drugs for internal and external use are placed separately;

3. within the pharmacological groups, drugs are arranged according to their pharmacotherapeutic characteristics: cough medicines, cold medicines, etc.;

4. goods are arranged in groups: dressings, optics, etc.;

5. Medicinal products requiring special storage conditions are not put on showcases. In this case, only the secondary packaging is exhibited;

6. each product has a properly designed price tag;

7. when designing shop windows, you must use the rules of merchandising.

As mentioned above, each product must have a price tag. All price tags in the pharmacy should be issued in the same style. The following details must be on the price tag:

ь name of the goods;

ь price per unit of goods;

ь date of receipt;

ь signature of the financially responsible person (head of the pharmacy).

In the trading floor of the pharmacy organization, in a conspicuous place, there should be an information stand containing the following information:

number and validity of the license for pharmaceutical activities, as well as information about the authority that issued the license;

· about the state registration and the name of the registering body;

The pharmacy must have a book of reviews and suggestions, which is provided to the buyer at his request.

The interior decoration of the pharmacy premises is carried out in accordance with their functional purpose. At the same time, it should be taken into account that the interior of pharmacy premises has not only hygienic, but also psychological significance.

All premises must be dry, meet sanitary standards and ensure the safety of goods. Room decoration should take into account the features production process(finishing materials must be moisture-resistant, moisture-repellent, anti-corrosion, fire-resistant, with limited static electrization, non-toxic and must not emit odor), sanitary and hygienic (should not be a source of dirt and dust, must withstand wet processing and disinfection) and psycho-physiological requirements.

The pharmacy must have heating. Ventilation of most rooms should be natural through vents and transoms. The temperature in the premises of the pharmacy should not be lower than +18°С, and in the sales area not lower than +16°С. Lighting should be both natural and artificial. Illumination of public service workplaces - 300 lux; other rooms - 150 lux. Fluorescent lamps are used as a light source.

Before starting work, it is necessary to carry out wet cleaning of the premises using disinfectants; dry cleaning in the pharmacy is prohibited. Daily wipe the equipment of the trading floor and industrial premises. General cleaning of production premises should be carried out at least once a week. They wash walls, doors, equipment, floors, cabinets for storing medicines Sanitary day in pharmacies is carried out once a month (ceilings, window panes and frames between them are washed).

Production waste and garbage must be collected in special containers with a drive cover and removed from the premises at least once per shift. Hand wash basins, sanitary facilities and waste containers are washed, cleaned and disinfected daily.

Merchandising is a system that creates an environment in a pharmacy that maximizes profits.

The setting includes the following elements:

• atmosphere
• arrangement of commercial equipment
• display of goods
• intrapharmacy information.

Merchandising standards regulate the rules, control of compliance with the rules, technologies for making changes in the environment and evaluating the results of these changes.

Merchandising standards are aimed at maximizing pharmacy profits.

Merchandising rules

1. Atmosphere

General idea- to draw maximum attention to the pharmacy on the street, to cause a desire to enter, not to create obstacles on the way, cleanliness, order, comfort.

Rule 1.1

The sign is clearly visible from a distance of 100 m on both sides of the street. The sign is illuminated during the operation of the pharmacy, the light-dynamic elements are turned on. It is advisable to leave lightboxes, three-dimensional letters, a cross turned on at night. The sign is in good condition. The entrance to the pharmacy is clearly marked.

Rule 1.2

The entrance area is clean and tidy. The entrance is lit. Entrance doors are transparent, there are no announcements and advertising information on them.

Rule 1.3

Shop equipment is clean and in good working order. All lighting fixtures in the trading floor and on the equipment work. The hall is clean. There are no unpleasant odors. Advertising materials are placed neatly. There are no foreign objects on window sills, cabinets, in the checkout area.

On the counters in the checkout area, the goods are laid out only using special commercial equipment (trays, coasters, racks, baskets) or under glass. Goods are not placed directly on the cash registers.

Rule 1.4

The uniform of the staff is made in uniform style(fabric, color, style, finish), with embroidery in the form of a butterfly.

Rule 1.5

Sound accompaniment is included in the trading floor, it creates a comfortable feeling.

2. Placement of commercial equipment

Terms used:

Target demand goods- goods for which the buyer purposefully comes to the pharmacy. Their placement helps to set the movement of buyers on the trading floor. These are all prescription medicines, as well as over-the-counter medicines (for example: colds, painkillers, antipyretics, antiallergics).

Impulse goods- goods that are bought along the way, the decision to purchase is made on the trading floor. They are placed next to the goods of target demand, in the centers of attraction in the trading floor, on the way of the buyer along the trading floor. This includes almost all parapharmaceuticals, including hygiene products.

You can increase the size of the purchase at the expense of goods of impulse demand. The longer the path of the buyer through the hall, the more goods he will see and buy.

The buyer in motion looks to the right to a greater extent. Therefore, he will see more goods if he organizes the movement counterclockwise.

In addition, you can increase the size of the purchase by zoning the trading floor by customer segments.
In each pharmacy, it is possible to single out 2-4 main segments of buyers. Items characteristic of a group of buyers should be placed side by side, this increases the likelihood of a complex purchase.

3. Examples of customer segments and product categories

• baby food
• diapers
• children's hygiene
• children's cosmetics
• children's tableware
• toys
• products for nursing mothers
• goods for pregnant women

Vitamins, women's hygiene, inexpensive cosmetics, weight loss products are placed next to goods for Moms.

2. Pensioners.

• medicinal herbs
• external means
• inexpensive dietary supplements
• medical equipment
• medical products
• balms, syrups, elixirs (healthy lifestyle, folk remedies)
• healthy, dietary, diabetic food
• inexpensive cosmetics

Markers - External

Nearby - popular drugs.

Nearby - expensive dietary supplements for skin care, hair, nails, etc., expensive aromatherapy, oral care.

General idea- to lengthen the buyer's path along the trading floor, ensure free movement, clear orientation, organize the zoning of the trading floor according to customer segments.

Rule 2.1

Merchandising loop

The path of the buyer to the prescription department and the cash register is organized as long as possible, directed counterclockwise.

Rule 2.2

The width of the passages is not less than 0.9 m.

Rule 2.3

The trading floor is viewed from any of its points. The inscriptions on the island slides are installed no higher than eye level, the display of goods on them does not interfere with the view of the hall. The prescription department is visible from the entrance and stands out brightly in the sales area.

Rule 2.4

All racks are equipped with headings. The rubricator on the rack and the exhibited goods correspond exactly to each other. The names of the product groups for the inscriptions of racks, island slides, shelves are taken from the "List of groups" table. Depending on the area of ​​the trading floor, the appropriate level of detail is selected.

For a small area, the rack names are listed among the category groups. For a sales area with a large area, category names can be used.

This makes it easier to move the goods, does not limit the search for the optimal display. This is especially true for a small hall.

Rule 2.5

Goods for customer segments are placed in separate areas of the hall. Cosmetics of different price categories (elite and cheap) are not placed on adjacent racks and, moreover, adjacent shelves.

Display of goods

Terms used:

Best Places- these are racks in the trading floor or separate shelves, which buyers always pay attention to. For example, the checkout area, the area near the prescription department, the racks opposite the entrance, the area on the right along the way, the shelves at eye level and outstretched arm.

The best places on the trading floor are the hot zones.

In cold zones, the goods are noticed only if they are specially approached.

You can draw additional attention to the rack by placing a display of medicines nearby.
The best shelves are called gold. These are the shelves at eye level and outstretched arms, as well as the upper shelves on the island slides.

A hot item is an item with high weekly sales, by amount, not quantity.
Medicines are almost always a hot commodity, but these are targeted purchases, they will be made regardless of whether there is a display on the trading floor or not.

It is important to put in the best places a running impulse product.

General idea- the goods are placed according to the principle “improve the best”, the layout has an emphasis on medicines, all goods are clearly visible, convenient to take from the shelf, easy to find and choose.

Rule 3.1

In the best places, in hot zones, there is a running impulse product. In cold zones, strictly targeted goods are laid out, goods with low demand, sales are also organized there.

Rule 3.2

The most popular goods are placed on the golden shelves. On the upper shelves, above the gold ones, expensive mid-market goods are laid out. On the shelves below the gold ones are cheap hot goods. On the lowest shelves there is only large-sized goods that do not need to be looked at. There should be no empty spaces on the shelves.

Rule 3.3

The trading floor should be recognizable at a glance as the premises of a pharmacy, and not a beauty salon. Therefore, emphasis on drugs is needed. Medicines on the trading floor are laid out in prominent places, like business cards of a pharmacy, as well as in cold zones to draw attention to neighboring racks.

The rear wall of the prescription department is decorated with bright large packages of well-known brands of over-the-counter drugs, market leaders. Large bright packages are laid out in open access. The buyer simply will not understand the small ones.

Rule 3.4

The goods in the open display are aligned along the front line of the shelf, laid out in one row in height. Do not stack packages one on top of the other. Exception - it is allowed to place vitamins in 2 rows if these are products of the same
names, but different packages, for example, Vitrum N 30 and Vitrum N 60. The product is placed in one row in depth so as not to overlap the information on the packages. The product is easy to remove from the shelf, while neighboring packages do not fall.

Rule 3.5

Goods in closed showcases are placed so as not to overlap the information on the packages.

Rule 3.6

The sub-product in the free display area is put on the showcase exactly behind the exhibition sample. Mixing of sub-products is not allowed. The order of laying out sub-products is “first in, first out”.

Rule 3.7

Complementary product categories sit side by side, such as toothbrushes and toothpaste.

Rule 3.8

Branded expensive goods from the categories Vitamins, Cosmetics, less often Hygiene are laid out in corporate blocks. This allows you to increase the purchase amount, the buyer considers the entire product line. Additional attention to the corporate block is attracted by the layout in several faces - 2-5 identical items side by side. As a result, a large color spot stands out brightly on the rack. The rest of the products are laid out according to the spectrum of action.

Intra-pharmacy information

According to retail statistics, up to 50% of purchases are not made if the price is not indicated on the product.

The buyer on the trading floor is not able to remember several things at the same time, he thinks about the shopping list, holds a bag or wallet in his hand, a basket, perhaps a child. The buyer will forget the announcement of the competition when moving from one rack to another.

General idea- information is located near the place of its use, that is, next to the product or place of payment, the price tag on the product is required.

Rule 4.1

Items displayed on the shelves are provided with a price tag. The price tag (barcode) is pasted on the packaging in the upper right corner, so as not to cover the name of the product, manufacturer, expiration date. The price tags are designed and placed uniformly.

Rule 4.2

In the trading floor there is information about passing in this moment marketing promotions. Information about the product, if possible, is placed next to the product and duplicated in the checkout area. Advertising information does not cover the information on the packages.

Rule 4.3

The pharmacist informs the buyer about current and upcoming marketing promotions that may interest the buyer.

Display optimization technology

The market is not static, the structure of buyers is gradually changing, as well as consumer preferences. In addition, there are seasonality factors, new items regularly appear in the assortment of the pharmacy. Consequently, the optimal layout changes and cannot remain static.

As a tool for finding the optimal display, Accounting for Sales from Shelving is used. Appropriate software should be in every pharmacy.

In each pharmacy, the binding of goods to the racks is organized and kept up to date - that is, each product on the trading floor is correlated with the place on the shelf where it is located, the place is indicated in the pharmacy program.

The analysis of the report on the layout in the pharmacy is carried out at least once a month.
Based on the results of the analysis, the calculations are changed.

Merchandising in a pharmacy, on the example of the network of pharmacies "36.6"

As mentioned above - merchandising - a set of measures to increase sales at the point of sale.

Merchandising is based on a good knowledge of human psychology. It turned out that in the structure of purchases made by visitors to a trading establishment, three types of purchase motivations can be distinguished:

1) a closed planned (definite) decision, when the buyer has determined in advance what he is going to buy;

2) an open planned (uncertain) decision, when the buyer knows what product he needs, but has not determined which brand to choose;

3) an unplanned purchase, when the buyer decided to purchase a particular product directly at the outlet.

The percentage of unplanned purchases is quite high - over half of the total purchases made by the consumer. Interestingly, even in conditions of low consumption of medicines in our country, the percentage of unplanned purchases does not differ significantly from that in more “prosperous” countries. It is to encourage consumers to such purchases that the complex of merchandising measures is aimed.

Merchandising is an important competitive tool. Population surveys show that the following factors influence the choice of place of purchase:

1. Assortment - 42%.

2. Price - 38%.

3. Quality - 38%.

4. Convenience of location - 35%.

5. Personnel - 27% and services - 27%.

6. Reputation - 20%.

9. Service - 10%.

10. Stimulation of purchases - 5%.

Most of these factors relate to the field of merchandising.

Basic merchandising tools:

pharmacy location;

the appearance of the pharmacy, the interior, the planning of the retail space;

organizational design (identification of departments, jobs and their design);

equipment and equipment of trading places;

implementation of certain principles of trade;

sales skills training.

Pharmacy Requirements.

Choosing a location for a pharmacy The basis for the successful operation of a retail enterprise is its location on the path of human traffic. In large cities, given the saturation of all districts of the city with pharmacies, it is necessary to rely only on those customers who can be located within a radius of 400-800 meters from the store. To locate the enterprise, it is necessary to map all existing pharmacies of a similar profile, including pharmacies and kiosks, as well as traffic routes and real pedestrian routes, on a map of the area.

Finally, one should estimate the number of people living in the area, the number, type and size of nearby enterprises, the number of people coming to work from other parts of the city. Information is needed about potential competitors in the area, about the needs for goods that the new store plans to sell. Based on the results of the analysis, the potential number of buyers who will use the services of the newly opened pharmacy is determined.

Pharmacy environment: The retail environment, also referred to as the pharmacy environment, is of interest for two reasons. First, unlike situational influence, which is beyond the control of the retailer, companies can create the retail environment themselves. Secondly, this influence is created in the most suitable place - inside the pharmacy. From a marketing point of view, the atmosphere of a pharmacy can have a positive effect on consumers. First, it helps shape a person's train of thought and focus their attention in the right direction, thereby increasing the chances of buying a product that would otherwise simply go unnoticed. Secondly, the retail environment speaks about the level of the trading establishment - for whom it is intended and what goods are presented in it. Finally, the pharmacy environment can evoke a certain emotional reaction in the consumer, say, joy or an upsurge of feelings. These feelings can affect how much time a person spends in a pharmacy and how much money he spends here.

The retail environment is made up of many elements, including layout, aisle width, shape of shop windows and displays, colors, lighting, presence and volume of music, smells, temperature. Studies of the influence of these factors are carried out mainly to order, and therefore are closed, but gradually some data have accumulated in the literature.

Music: Music is one of the most interesting examples of situation influence. In one of the first studies on this topic, supermarkets changed the volume of music from loud to muffled. Consumers who heard loud music spent less time in the store but spent the same amount of money as those who heard soft music. At the same time, the influence of musical rhythm (slow or fast) was also studied. Slower music, compared to faster music, contributed to both in-store time and spending.

In American pharmacy supermarkets, the main supplier of melodies (discs) is the Migak company. This company just specializes in supplying trade organizations with the "correct" melodies. Retailers can choose from several music options: adult contemporary music, light classical, (hits), new youth.

What is "correct" music? This is music that helps sell. To demonstrate the impact of musical accompaniment, Migak conducted a test in a large supermarket. During the day there sounded (and sometimes absent altogether) music of various types. Customers leaving the department store were interviewed about the amount of time spent in the store and the volume of purchases made. The influence of music depends on whether it matches with the demographic characteristics of buyers. When this coincidence occurs, people spend an average of 18% more time in the store, and the longer a person walks around the store, the more purchases they will make. In this case, that is exactly what happened. The number of purchases increased by 17%.

Colour: The pharmacy's color scheme has the potential to influence both consumer perception and behavior. Warm colors, such as red; and yellow are more suitable for physically attracting people than cold ones - blue and green. In one study, people were asked to indicate how far away they sat from a painted wall. So, if the wall was painted in warm colors, it seemed to people that they were sitting much closer to it than they really were. And, nevertheless, the subjects responded to the interiors of pharmacies, designed in cold colors, as more positive, attractive and relaxing. The researchers concluded that warm colors more suitable for the appearance of a pharmacy or shop window glass as a means of attracting consumers. And one more aspect of the color effect on behavior: it turns out that the brown shade of the walls affected the speed of people moving around the pharmacy.

In more detail this issue is dealt with by a separate science - Videoecology.

Videoecology: An aggressive field is a field in which a large number of the same elements are dispersed. An example of aggressive fields in a pharmacy organization can be tiles, gratings, perforated slabs or bricks, etc. In such an environment, an excess of the same information enters the brain. Baltic scientists have established the optimal number of elements in the visible field - no more than 13.

When creating a modern interior, a pharmacy organization must take into account, on the one hand, the requirements of video ecology, and on the other hand, the requirement of competition - the creation of a unique style (positive memorability) - corporate identity.

If we turn to historical experience, it should be noted that the interior of pre-revolutionary private pharmacies not only amazed visitors with individuality, but also to a certain extent with luxury. The front part of the premises of many pharmacies was furnished with mirrors, decorated with tinsel and gilding. There is historical evidence that the entrance to the Ferrein pharmacy was adorned with a fountain, from which trickles of French perfume flowed instead of water, and everyone could come up and use them. Most modern pharmacy organizations are built taking into account the modernist direction in architecture, which is based on the repetition in each building of the same components, large planes, parallel lines. This has led to the dominance of appearance and the interior of pharmacies in an aggressive visual environment. It is no coincidence that the question: "What feeling do you experience when you are in the pharmacy?" - 30% of respondents answered: "Feeling of discomfort".

In turn, by creating a favorable climate and lighting indoors, you can achieve a feeling of comfort, coziness and tranquility, and thereby improve the management of consumer behavior.

For example, the negative impact of large planes can be reduced by including columns, decor, arches, etc. in the architecture of the building.

Homogeneous fields will help smooth out landscaping, coloring, paintings and other decorations.

It is possible to get rid of a significant number of straight lines and angles by using openwork lattices on wall panels and windows.

The static nature of the visible environment should be broken with the help of rotating showcases or an aquarium, etc.

An important role in the formation of corporate identity, the creation of interiors and clothing design is played by color, which helps not only to distinguish objects, but also has an impact and educates taste.

Coloring is the law of color combinations. All visible colors are divided into chromatic and achromatic. Achromatic colors (white, gray, black, as well as their shades) are determined only by brightness (lightness). Chromatic colors are characterized by:

Color tone (yellow, orange, red and purple - warm colors; purple, blue, cyan and green - cold colors);

Saturation (the degree of color density, for example, low-saturated colors are obtained by adding white - green + white = light green);

Brightness (yellow, orange, blue - light colors; red and

green - medium; blue and purple are dark). Color combinations obey color laws and give rise to favorable or unfavorable sensations, depending on how correctly the colors were combined (Table 1).

Table 1 The relationship of color combinations and sensations

Main color	Color combinations	Feeling
yellow cheerful	Yellow + yellow-green	Refreshing and cheerful
Yellow + bluish green	Cold and soothing
Yellow on black
Black on yellow	Attractive, catchy
Red exciting	Red + blue	Dynamic, life-affirming
Red + black	Oppressive
Red + white	Inorganic, hard
blue cold	Blue + orange	lively, exciting
Blue + green	Cold, motionless
Blue + black	unlife
Blue + white	Cool, clean
Green soothing	Green + purple	Surreal
Green + orange	Joyful
Green + black
Green + white	Cool, discreet, clean
Green + brown	Calm, natural

Thus, the manipulation of color combinations allows you to control the feelings and mood of both visitors and pharmacy staff.

The authors of the study conducted a survey of visitors to pharmacy organizations regarding the design of special clothing for employees. Most of the respondents (65%) do not like it. Perhaps it is worth thinking about it. Respondents believe that this clothing is not aesthetic (45%) and meets only sanitary and hygienic standards, but no more. In their opinion, business suits made of plain fabric of various shades can be used as uniforms. Moreover, suits can be trouser. From the point of view of videoecology, the negative perception of workwear is influenced by its homogeneity.

Probably, the modeling of special clothes is already a necessity in the near future. Clothing style will allow the organization to create a unified image.

When modeling special clothing, as well as when designing an interior, it is necessary to take into account the influence of colors and color combinations. Using one color as a base, the other - a contrasting one - can be included as a border or embroidery elements. Thus, it will be possible to get rid of homogeneity in clothes.

The opportunity to view the product located in the window significantly affects the purchasing power of visitors. The results of the experiment showed that if we exclude such factors as cost and quality from the list of reasons for refusal to purchase, then the largest number of refusals occurred due to the inattention and busyness of the pharmaceutical worker (37%), as well as the inability to consider or find out what product is available in availability (46%).

According to J. Chandeson and A. Lansestre (1993), the volume of sales can be adjusted depending on the level of location of goods in vertical display cases (Table 2).

table 2

The relationship between sales volume and the location of goods in a vertical showcase

Table data. 2 show that buyers most actively perceive goods located in shop windows at eye and hand level.

Window dressing in a pharmacy organization is perhaps the most difficult process, since a significant assortment is difficult to combine with the requirements of visual perception:

Do not overload the showcase with the number of visible elements (recall, no more than 13 elements are adequately perceived by the eye);

take into account the color combination of the product packaging. At the same time, it is necessary to remember about the already known principles of merchandising when placing goods.

Information materials: Information materials present inside the pharmacy can be very strong irritants. Showcases and signs increase the chances of attracting the attention of consumers, and thereby stimulate purchases. In this regard, it is believed that information (IM) contribute to the increase in sales. It is likely that sellers will want to use these tools, especially since, compared to other promotion methods, IM is relatively cheap. In addition, informative and easy-to-use IMs can partly compensate for the shortcomings associated with the lack of sales staff in the hall. One of these IMs is called DA, which means "additional agent". It is a paper tape that contains information about the desired product and is hung on a shelf with goods.

Conducted field observations to determine the prevailing direction of the consumer flow revealed that in the pharmacy most of the visitors turned to the right, confirming the literature data. On the other hand, the data that most of the visitors are in the front part (1/3) of the premises are simply not applicable to pharmacies with individual layouts, but are typical for pharmaceutical markets.

Analysis of the consumer flow revealed that large windows attract visitors and hold their attention from 30 seconds. up to 10 min.

However, with a large crowd of visitors (for example, in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe ticket office), the use of showcases is inappropriate, since the view is limited, and the most rational, from our point of view, is the use of counters in these places, which allow obtaining more complete information at a smaller viewing angle.

If you have information about the prevailing direction of the flow of visitors and the levels of concentration of visitors in different places of the premises, then you can place advertising materials, shop windows and LP on them as efficiently as possible.

An equally important element of merchandising is the placement of drugs on display cases and counters, taking into account the psychology of perception, which can also lead to an increase in sales.

As a result of a study to identify the impact of placing drugs on display windows on the level of sales, the following data were obtained.

When placing a group of mineral waters, taking into account the recommendations of merchandising, their sales increased by an average of 30%, while the sales of Borjomi increased by 68.7%, and Narzan by 42%, which is explained from our point of view by the fact that these are the most famous brands, and focus on them led to the most significant increase in sales compared to others.

Presentation: Unlike the previous elements of merchandising, which may well be implemented by pharmacy employees, the implementation of the next element - the presentation of the drug - is currently entirely within the competence of the supplier companies, since they require significant costs for staff training and promotional material.

Analysis of the data on the presentation of Xenical in a pharmacy led to the conclusion that the introduction of this element of merchandising can significantly increase sales of even such an expensive drug.

An analysis of literary sources shows that during the presentation, the growth in sales can reach 800%. Such a spread is determined by both price factors and the professional skills of the promoter.

However, when planning long-term sales volumes, it must be taken into account that after the end of the advertising campaign, the sale of the drug decreases, and often to the initial level.

The processing of the experimental results allowed us to draw the following conclusions:

The introduction of merchandising elements has an effective impact on the drug supply of the population and the financial and economic activities of pharmacies;

Due to the diverse layout of Moscow pharmacies, each pharmacy must independently identify the prevailing flows of visitors in order to maximize the effective planning of the retail space, taking into account the psychology of specific consumers;

When designing a trading floor, it is necessary to apply in a complex the layout of goods on showcases and counters, depending on the levels of concentration of visitors in different places of the trading floor;

The layout of goods, taking into account merchandising, allows not only to significantly expand the volume of sales, but also to more rationally manage trading stocks;

Extended information about the drug in the context of a significant assortment list of products sold can improve the quality of service and increase sales, especially of little-known drugs;

The presentation is a significant, but short-term method of stimulating drug sales, which largely depends on the professional skills and personal qualities of the promoter.

Crowds: Another aspect of the retail environment that influences consumer behavior is the (according to patrons) crowds in the pharmacy. A high density of customers can lead to reduced time spent inside the pharmacy, postponing non-urgent purchases, and less interaction with sales staff.

Physical Characteristics of a Pharmacy: Things like elevators, lighting, air conditioning, convenient toilets, interior layout, width of aisles and stairs, carpeting, and architectural design are all factors influencing the image and choice of a pharmacy. In a recent survey, 61% of shoppers said that convenient parking could influence their decision to choose a pharmacy, and 52.8% mentioned no line at the checkout. If there is a "crowd" in the pharmacy, this often reduces customer satisfaction, and the expansion of the aisles can positively affect the desire of consumers to visit it. If this is not physically possible, then giving shoppers some choice in dealing with cramped conditions creates a more positive view of the store for them.

Loyal Customers: The type of people who shop at a given pharmacy can influence other consumers' decisions in favor of that pharmacy - due to a subconscious desire to live up to the image of the store.

In an era of slow market growth, repeat customers are the best source of new business opportunities. This refers to the action of the "Pareto rule" - 80% of the income is brought by 20% of regular customers. At such a time, it is cheaper to conduct programs aimed at satisfying the needs of existing customers than to spend money on finding new ones. Growth in profits requires more and more attention to satisfying customer expectations about the proper level of service

Psychological aspects of communication between a pharmaceutical worker and a buyer.

The relevance of the problems of pharmacy trade is determined by the medical, social and economic role of pharmacies in the life of our society. The pharmacy is actively involved in the implementation of the highest goal of the country's economic strategy - preserving the health of the nation and raising its cultural level. In the period of market relations, with an ever-expanding range of OTC drugs and parapharmaceutical products, pharmacy trade contributes to the development of tastes, the formation of new needs, releases (or, on the contrary, absorbs) a significant share of the population's free time.

The development trend of the competitive environment (CS) increases the influence of non-price determinants, which include the level of culture of serving the population by the employees of the first table of pharmacies. After all, it is no secret that the success of your work, and ultimately the competitiveness (CSP) and the success of your pharmacy, depends on how confident you are in yourself and your abilities. "Believing in victory means already winning." A pharmaceutical worker is not only a subject, but also an object of communication. He must be willing and able to communicate with customers. And this is quite a complex science. Given the social significance of the work of pharmacies, constant contact with the population, the role of the human factor comes to the fore. In a pharmacy, it is of paramount importance and, along with professional training, requires specialists to know the issues social psychology. And this is no coincidence, because one of the main criteria for the organization's CSP is personnel.

Psychology has not yet taken its rightful place in the structure of the organization of the trading process in a pharmacy, the training and education of pharmaceutical personnel, but the need to introduce the provisions of social psychology into the management of trade in the multifunctional activities of pharmacies is increasingly felt.

In conditions of successful competition, it is among the retail structures of the pharmaceutical market for the effective operation of pharmacies that an increasing role is assigned to its socio-psychological direction. In the applied branch of social psychology, the psychology of trade, it is possible to introduce a new concept - "psychology of pharmacy trade". This is due to the peculiarities of the pharmacy trade itself, which includes a wide range of standard relationships such as:

The head is a higher organization;

Head - supplier;

Head of the enterprise - pharmacist - head of the enterprise;

Pharmacist - team;

Pharmacist - pharmacist;

Pharmacist - buyer: buyer-sick, buyer-client;

The buyer is the buyer.

The parameters of relationship perception are the spheres of supply and demand. The sphere of supply studies the psychological reaction of producers and consumers to a product, price, and advertising. The sphere of demand is determined by the factors influencing demand: financial situation, the type of character of the individual, the level of his education, the degree of culture, the characteristics of the current situation surrounding the person, and the types of purchases: planned - unplanned, based on reflection or emotions, long-sought or impulsive, frequent or rarely occurring.

The development of the socio-psychological direction is also facilitated by increased attention to the culture of service and concern for a favorable climate in the team.

Thus, the tasks that the psychology of pharmacy trade is designed to solve must combine three main components.

Firstly, to participate in the formation and development of the personality of a pharmaceutical worker, to help optimize the psychological climate at the enterprises of the industry, and also to have a certain impact on the personality of the consumer, which puts the psychology of pharmacy trade on a par with other means of ideological work. For example, with equal characteristics of the quality of goods, preference is given to goods of domestic production.

Secondly, the tasks of the psychology of pharmacy trade cannot be linked with the social and economic tasks facing public health in general and the pharmacy service in particular. On the one hand, to ensure a stable supply of the population and medical institutions with drugs and medical devices (MD) in the required assortment with a high culture of service, and on the other

To profit and improve working and living conditions of industry workers.

Thirdly, since the psychology of trade (the psychology of pharmacy trade) is part of the system of psychological sciences, its tasks are derived from those that confront psychological science as a whole.

Psychology of the buying and selling process:

A purchase in a pharmacy is made on the basis of a prescription issued by a doctor or the free choice of buyers. Given the ideally trouble-free customer service on prescription, we will focus on the second option.

Non-prescription sale of drugs and parapharmaceutical products.

How is this choice made? How can you influence it? These issues play a crucial role in the work of the first desk staff. Depending on whose eyes one looks at the trading process, one can single out different aspects in it. For the buyer, this is a purchase, for a pharmacist, it is a sale, and when viewed from the outside, it will be about buying and selling.

In order to successfully complete a sale and purchase, it is necessary to take a step towards understanding the patterns of perception and cognition of people, managing the communication process, and resolving conflict situations.

It is necessary to select and analyze:

Buyer position;

The position of a pharmaceutical worker (worker of the first table).

And also learn how to resolve pre-conflict and conflict situations in the trading activities of pharmacies.

The style of communication with consumers is one of the main components of the culture of service. Unskilled, inept service to the population with growing competition among pharmacies turns into a deterioration for the organization economic indicators, and for the staff - a decrease in moral satisfaction from their work and nervous strain.

What is typical for communication in the field of pharmacy trade today? On the one hand, the population is provided with an increasing range of goods, the number of pharmacies is increasing; on the other hand, the number of consumers and their requests are growing.

In a pharmacy, it is the first table worker (pharmacist or pharmacist) who personifies the entire complex chain to the buyer, including the technological process of production, quality control, delivery, pricing and organization of the sale of goods. In reality, the pharmaceutical worker is the only representative who has direct contact with the buyer. And therefore, it is to him that the personal, especially negative, reactions of the latter are most often addressed. The pharmaceutical workers themselves, for the most part, do not feel like full-fledged responsible representatives of the enterprise, firm or the whole industry where they work. They usually take ignorance and irritation of customers personally and react accordingly. As a result, there are tangible discrepancies between consumers' ideas about what pharmacy workers should be, on the one hand, and those roles, that is, their real behavior, on the other. These contradictions give rise to claims, and employees, in turn, consider the exactingness, captiousness and even capriciousness of customers to be unreasonable.

Regardless of how acutely the problems of communication "pharmaceutical worker-buyer" are expressed, whether they are realized by its participants or not, these problems exist and entail serious consequences.

First of all, the intensification of communication accelerates the fatigue of the participants. But even more important are the qualitative changes in the nature of communication, which give rise to mutual tension, dissatisfaction, lead to the formation of a number of subjective psychological problems and significantly affect the neuropsychological state and activities of both serving and served. The "load of communication" should be considered today as a factor in the professional intensity of the work of the workers of the first table of the pharmacy. Accounting for the "load of communication" must be made an obligatory part of the rationing of their work. However, neither the recognition of the "load of communication" as a factor of professional ill-being, nor its inclusion in the number of indicators measuring the intensity of work, in itself does not change things.

What is the solution to the problem? At the first table, not only competent specialists should work, but also disposed to communicate. Those who are unsuitable must be identified before they are appointed to the position. This can be done with the help of a psychological examination according to the appropriate tests. There are other difficulties that prevent rigorous professional selection. First of all, this is a shortage of pharmaceutical personnel.

Until now, many pharmaceutical workers, for example, see communication as something that complicates the implementation of their main task. They consider themselves specialists in the provision of certain services (selling drugs). Communication with buyers they consider as an additional duty. One of the reasons for this misconception is the insufficient, one-sided training of pharmaceutical personnel.

It is necessary to introduce the teaching of social psychology and professional ethics. These subjects should also be studied by practitioners in advanced training. The provisions of professional ethics are formulated in the General Concept of Pharmaceutical Bioethics and the Code of Ethics of the Pharmaceutical Worker in Russia, but, being cut off from the psychological foundation, ethical norms acquire for the staff the character of a retelling, job description ("do this, do not do that"). As a result, the perception of the principles of professional ethics is superficial. Principles are only memorized, not learned. Ethical norms that are not based on a deep understanding of the nature of communication, not soldered to the internal culture of a person, are felt by him as something alien.

The approach to learning from the standpoint of social psychology makes it possible to explain the nature and characteristics of communication in the service sector. This, in turn, can significantly alleviate the situation of pharmacy workers, remove or weaken a number of psychological problems, save them from many delusions. But all this does not form in them a different attitude towards their duties and towards consumers. How to create an incentive for the employees of the first table for internal creative activity? Maybe call them to take the place of those they serve? Such attempts are widespread in the practice of educational work, press appearances. In fact, everyone working with people should be able to look at their work through other people's eyes. And it is absolutely necessary to teach this.

But will all workers, even those trained in this wisdom, use their skills?

The output is presented in another. An incentive for mobilizing internal debt must be sought and created, first of all, through the internal motives of the individual. This in no way means a rejection of the creation of social significance, of an understanding of the social goals and objectives of activity. From the point of view of the final social tasks, the employee must formulate a specific personal "super task", which for the pharmacist means the fulfillment of his social role in accordance with own ideas about how this role should ideally be played. With this approach, a hierarchy of increasingly complex tasks that a pharmacy employee takes on naturally and consistently develops: starting with performing the simplest actions at the request of a visitor and ending with winning the high title of Specialist (with a capital letter) in his field, communication with which becomes a real inexhaustible source of good mood and joy of the people. As tasks become more complex, a person develops an increasing number of automated skills (also more and more complex) and at the same time, satisfaction with the results of his activity grows along with the awareness of the social significance of his work.

This is the essence of such professionalism, which not only becomes a reliable foundation for advanced ethical standards, but also represents an indissoluble unity with it.

Thus, communication training should take one of the leading places in the system of training and improvement of pharmaceutical personnel, so that all employees develop a professional attitude towards communication with consumers ("kings" of the market). In other words, the qualifications of personnel in the issue of pharmaceutical assistance to the population should not be inferior to highly specialized qualifications.

In the modern world, there are a huge number of manufacturers, sellers, distributors of goods and services. At the same time, any enterprise representing and selling products is interested in a developed and stably functioning sales system. The better and better the marketing strategy is thought out, the more products will be sold and the more profit the company will receive.

The hard rhythm of life does not allow sellers to relax due to the huge competition of goods and the limited financial capabilities of consumers. A proper understanding of the need to apply a certain system for promoting products to the market and, as a result, active work and development in this direction provide indisputable competitive advantages.

It is believed that merchandising is designed to maximize the convenience of consumers at the point of sale. However, for the leaders of large companies, merchandising means much more, and should not be underestimated. Using this control lever, you can show the product in the most advantageous and profitable way, significantly influence the choice of the buyer and encourage him to purchase more products than he himself planned, and most importantly, maintain his position in the market.

Merchandising is always focused on the buyer.

Its main task is to speed up the sale of goods at the point of sale and organize a general increase in sales. The primary goal of marketing is to increase the overall volume of purchases by making it easier for the customer to do so.

Everything is connected with sales: the flow of buyers, and turnover, and income. In order for a particular product to be properly presented in the store, it must be correctly displayed and given imagery. In other words, present the product with its face.

The correct design of the store will enable the buyer to choose the advertised product when making the first purchase, re-purchase the product of this brand, purchase advantageously presented products during an unplanned purchase, quickly find the product during a planned purchase, get acquainted with new brands of goods.

Additional merchandising goals:

Improving the quality of customer service;
- strengthening the image of the manufacturing company;
- Improving the image of the store.

The concept of merchandising includes the so-called "principle of five H": the right product, in the right place, at the right time, in the right quantity, at the right price.

Merchandising includes several positions, primarily:

Work on the display of goods to achieve the greatest clarity, readability of shop windows and attract consumers to a particular brand of goods;
- work on the visual design of shop windows, packaging of goods, retail premises;
- work on sound accompaniment of certain departments;
- work with personnel, etc.

All these stages and areas of work are designed to help create a holistic atmosphere inside the trading floors, maintain the image of a trading company, influence purchasing decisions, etc. Statistics show that buyers by 13% more money leave in those stores where the merchandising of products is flawlessly.

Rules and principles of merchandising

There are a number of general mandatory rules used in merchandising:

Closer to the buyer should be a product whose sale period is close to completion. Merchandisers rearrange products in such a way that products of a later expiration date are far away, in the back of the shelf, but is it convenient for the buyer to take the product, having difficulty getting it from the middle? Of course not, therefore, this principle helps to avoid the remnants of expired goods. Thus, the selection of products can and should be controlled. In addition to the reception with a display, do not forget that stale goods with an expiring shelf life can be sold by applying additional promotions, presentations, tastings, etc.;
- products are located facing the customer and must be visible in their entirety, without blocking each other. A good overview helps to increase visibility and sharpen the attention of the buyer;
- price tags must be truthful, aesthetic, correspond to the product and carry easily readable information. A plus would be the presence at the counter of a catalog with products and prices, where buyers could independently find the information they are interested in and need about the composition, clarify the cost;
- if you want to take the product in your hands, there should be no unnecessary barriers, the consumer should be comfortable, an accessible way to the product is another rule. The most advantageous, as already mentioned, is the use of "golden shelves", but if this is not possible, then it is necessary to place the product on the upper shelves so that it is convenient to remove it from there, to place it in a reasonable amount. For example, if you put three-liter cans of juice on the highest shelves, then their availability in this case is excluded.

The main goal of merchandising is to increase sales while maintaining (and increasing) the satisfaction of the buyer from the process of making a purchase in the store. When applying merchandising at the point of sale, it is recommended to use various rules that will make it possible to make this work most effective.

Let's analyze the main groups of these rules.

The following principles of merchandising are distinguished:

Effective margin;
effective location;
effective .
The first group of rules is related to the principle of effective reserve.

This principle of merchandising is carried out by observing a number of rules.

1. Assortment rule - for each type of trade organization, the supplier determines the indicators for the minimum set of assortment items.

Assortment is the number of types of commodity units of one commodity category. The minimum set of assortment positions must always be present, the decision to expand the assortment is made by the trader and the supplier individually for each case. The factors influencing the formation of the optimal assortment of goods in a store can be divided into general (not dependent on the specific working conditions of a particular trade enterprise) and specific (reflecting the specific working conditions of a given trade enterprise).

Common factors influencing formation in stores include: customer demand; product offer; price.

The specific factors influencing the development of the assortment of goods in each particular store include: type and size of the store; technical equipment of the store; commodity supply conditions (availability of stable sources); the number and composition of the population served; transport conditions; the presence of other organizations in the area of ​​activity.

Demand is one of the most important factors in determining the optimal range of outlets. It is divided into the following types:

Special demand (for a certain product, does not allow replacement by any other, even homogeneous product);
alternative demand (finally formed in the process of choosing goods, getting acquainted with their offer);
impulsive demand (formed under the influence of motives and characteristics of the supply of goods at the point of sale).

2. The stock rule is to create a stock level sufficient for the continuous presence of the assortment in the trading establishment.

IN modern conditions Trade enterprises are trying to reduce the level of stocks in order to increase the sales area, respectively, reducing the warehouse and utility areas. The ratio of the area of ​​the trading floor to warehouse and auxiliary is currently striving for 70-75%. In practice, this means that preference will be given to suppliers that provide a convenient and reliable supply chain. The amount of inventory in days is calculated using the following formula

Ut.z.=TZxD/OB,

Where,
Ut.z. - commodity stocks in days;
ТЗ - the size of commodity stocks for a certain date;
D - number of days in the period;
OB - turnover for the period.

3. Rules of presence.

1. The required range of products, present in the warehouse of the store, must be presented on the trading floor.
2. Items displayed on the showcase must be available for sale. Violation of this rule can often be encountered in small sales pavilions, with small rooms for storing a stock of goods and a lack of time to monitor the showcase.

4. The rule of terms of storage and rotation of goods is that the batch of goods delivered to the store earlier must be sold first. To replenish stocks on the trading floor, it is necessary to select products from a batch that was delivered earlier or whose shelf life expires faster.

When replenishing stock on the trading floor (on shelves and counters), the goods received from the warehouse should be placed back, and the goods already on the shelf should be moved forward. In this case, it is necessary to check the expiration dates again.

The next principle of merchandising is the principle of effective location, which ensures the optimal placement of goods on the trading floor and its correct display on the trade and technological equipment. There is a difference between product placement and display. Placement refers to the distribution of goods on the area of ​​the trading floor, while laying out is the arrangement, stacking and display of goods on commercial equipment.

There are two approaches to determining places for goods on the trading floor.

Commodity-industry principle - placement within the departments of products belonging to the same product category; for example, footwear department, clothing department, dairy department, vacuum cleaners department, etc. This approach reflects the traditional merchandising division of goods into groups and corresponds to the traditional approach to assortment management in a store.

The complex principle is the selection within the same department of goods from different groups that satisfy the same need of a specific target audience of buyers. For example, products for children, products for expectant mothers, delicatessen products, products for photography, products for the kitchen, etc. This approach is creative and is used in category management - a new look at assortment management.

Studies have shown that in stores where the assortment is grouped by consumer complexes, the turnover per 1 m2 is on average 12% higher, and customers spend 17% less time choosing.

In merchandising, there is the concept of a point of sale (Point Of Sale) - a place on the trading floor where a consumer can see a product and make a decision about its choice and purchase.

Points of sale are commercial equipment - structures designed to demonstrate and select goods.

The main point of sale is a place on the trading floor, where the entire range of this product group (juices, beer, mineral water, etc.) is presented.

Priority places on the trading floor are determined depending on the flow, that is, on the path that the majority of buyers take. The highest quality product, the most widely advertised and even the most popular product will not be sold if its position in the store is chosen unsuccessfully.

In these places, in contrast to the so-called cold zones (internal passages between racks) and the so-called "dead ends" or "pockets", the passability of buyers is much higher.

For goods of impulse demand and goods with a high turnover, additional points of sale are organized. Additional point of sale - a place where products presented at the main point of sale are placed additionally. They increase the likelihood of a purchase.

There may be several reasons for additional placement of goods:

Volumetric representation, that is, the presentation of goods in large quantities. A large volume of goods displayed on floor displays evokes associations, firstly, with a low price, and secondly, creates the feeling that this product is in high demand;
placement of related products next to the main ones. The buyer, making the purchase of the main product, may suddenly realize the need to purchase an additional, accompanying one. To do this, for example, chips and nuts can be placed next to the beer. The arrangement of complementary products is sometimes referred to as "cross merchandising";
advertising display or information about new products. In this, a separate arrangement of goods is combined with the use of promotional and informational materials, located in the most visible places for viewing;
the location of products for which special promotions are held. It is very important that the product placed at an additional point of sale is also present at the main one, otherwise it will be perceived as taking products out of a certain product group.

The next principle of merchandising is the principle of effective positioning.

Product presentation contributes to the solution of the following tasks:

Delivering messages that stimulate demand;
sale of various products;
formation of customer needs;
development and expansion of the commodity market;
acceleration of the turnover of goods;
achieving a balance between supply and demand;
creation and dissemination of the image, individuality of the store;
impact on seasonal fluctuations in sales;
the formation of a culture of consumption and the development of people's aesthetic tastes.

The presentation of goods is carried out by placing information, promotional materials, equipment and devices that perform an advertising and demonstration function (stands, displays).

To attract the attention of the buyer to the product, advertising materials at the point of sale (POS-materials) are used. Most popular:

Stickers (stickers) - self-adhesive leaflets;
shelftalkers - a cardboard strip that is attached to the end of a shelf. Used to separate products of one brand from others;
dispensers (trays for leaflets) - are used during special promotions in the store, as well as to disseminate information about a novelty product;
wobblers - a small advertising pointer on a plastic flexible leg, attached to a shelf or rack. Usually on wobblers a logo or a picture with an inscription is depicted. It is used to highlight the boundaries of the display of goods of a particular manufacturer, trademark, as well as to draw attention to a new product;
banners - vertical or horizontal banner of the big size. Placed above the point of sale;
mobiles - a hanging structure, a figured poster on a rigid basis or volumetric image goods. Mounted, as a rule, to the ceiling. Serves to indicate the place of display of goods;
dummies - an enlarged copy of the product packaging, attached to the ceiling or installed on the top shelf of the rack;
posters (posters) of A3 or A2 format - used to decorate the back walls of departments, focuses on a particular brand or type of product;
special price tags - bright colors indicating the price during the sale period.

So, let's consider this group of rules in more detail. Here, too, there are certain rules for the use of auxiliary materials.

1. Rule of optimality. The effectiveness of POS-materials is achieved when they are used for no more than 15% of goods. Demand analysis shows that their shopping decisions depend on a combination of information they can remember and external information available at the time of shopping on the sales floor. Moreover, consumers more often choose a product, information about which is available from the outside, rather than one that has to be remembered.

2. Buyer Assistance Rule. The purpose of promotional materials on the trading floor is to provide a meeting of the buyer with the goods or to conduct their acquaintance. A consumer viewing or receiving additional information about a product is more likely to buy if he receives this information at the point of sale. The sales assistant, promoter and merchandiser must convey to the buyer the necessary and important information about the product. Given that the decision to purchase up to 70% of product names is made by the customer directly in the store in a short period of time, he experiences certain overloads from a lack of necessary information or receiving too much information. Therefore, the following rule must also be taken into account.

3. The rule of brevity and simplicity (KISS: Keep It Short and Simple). This principle involves understanding the information that you want to convey to the customers of your store, a 14-year-old child with an average level of education and intelligence - these are the characteristics that American researchers cite.

4. The rule for placing price tags. The price of products should be clearly marked and clearly visible to the buyer, the price tag should not block access to the necessary information. The location of the price tags should be such that the buyer clearly understands which product each price tag refers to. Remember how hard it is to sort out the price tags for frozen products in the refrigerated counters of individual supermarkets, where all the price tags are located along the perimeter of the refrigeration equipment, and the goods lie inside in a common pile. The formats of price tags for homogeneous groups of goods must be the same. Many consumers have a highly developed sense of trust in the product depending on the country of origin - Swiss cheese and watches, Finnish plumbing, German cars, etc. The buyer's misperception of the price tag can lead to the following consequences: he will not buy the product at all if he needs it not very big; the client may make a mistake in choosing a product and experience unpleasant feelings when paying for the purchased goods, or may even turn around and return the goods to their place or refuse to make further purchases in this store; lose confidence in these types of goods in this store or the network as a whole. No price tags - no sales.

Electronic means of advertising use in-store television and radio, multimedia terminals, talking price tags, holograms, cable and satellite television. They not only deliver product information and promotional messages, but also broadcast entertaining clips that make the customer feel more comfortable in the store, spend more time shopping there.

There are others general rules, for example, the comfort rule. It is based on the fact that when locating and displaying goods, placing advertising and information, it is important to eliminate the possibility of perception discomfort for the buyer. And it may occur in the following cases:

Inaccessibility or inaccessibility of information (on price tags, packaging, promotional materials);
the location of the inscriptions at the wrong angle of view;
the inability to find a choice (the product is not visible, unavailable, the “goods by face” rule is violated, there are no price tags);
the presence of information (advertising) in the absence of goods at the point of sale;
unsuccessful color schemes and combinations;
an unsuccessful combination of forms and volumes (poor layout and representation);
incorrect musical, sound design (too loud or harsh music, fast music during the hours of quiet work of the store and slow - during the hours of crowds of customers);
poor lighting in the room or inside the trading equipment (it is impossible to see the product while facing it, the access of light is blocked, the information is reflected).

Never forget the rule of cleanliness and tidiness. It is necessary that order is observed inside the hall, trade equipment and advertising materials are safe and sound. There should be no equipment in which it is unacceptable to store these types of products.

Merchandising Tools

Before we start talking about specific merchandising tools, it is necessary to define the meaning of some concepts.

A point of sale (or a point of purchase) is a place on the trading floor of a particular pharmacy where products are placed. An example of a point of sale could be an over-the-counter drug section, a branded vertical stand for cosmetics of a brand, etc. Organization of a stock of goods of the greatest demand. On the shelves, first of all, it is necessary to present those goods that customers expect to find in this pharmacy.

The manufacturer in his merchandising strategy will most likely indicate the set of brands and packages that he will promote in each outlet. Obviously, this set can be differentiated in different trading channels. For example, in pharmacies, the customer is more likely to expect to find a wider range of medicines than in small pharmacies.

Brands and packages that are most popular with customers should always be on the shelves, therefore, purchases from suppliers should be made in proportion to sales. Moreover, products should take up space on the shelves in accordance with the level of sales. This is necessary to ensure that the best-selling products are always in sufficient quantity.

Efficient location of points of sale in the hall and display of goods Primary (for example, a section of medicines used for respiratory diseases) and additional (for example, a rack or display) points of sale in pharmacies with free access to the goods must be arranged in accordance with the movement of the flow of buyers on the trading floor. An additional point of sale gives the buyer another chance to see and choose the product. Therefore, it is located separately from the main one, and the best-selling goods are duplicated on it. Additional points of sale are especially effective, located along the outer perimeter of the sales area (where 80% of customers pass), as well as near the cash desks.

Products should be laid out in such a way that the search for the desired product is as easy as possible. To do this, it is necessary to create visible blocks on the shelves by brand, packaging and product group. At the same time, it should be remembered that the lower shelves of the sections are not visible, and in large pharmacies they account for only 5% of the sales of the entire outlet. Therefore, one should strive for vertical branded blocks. The layout should also organize the borrowing of popularity by weak brands from stronger ones. To do this, strong brands (positions of medicines) begin and end the row on the shelf. Thus, weak (less familiar to the consumer) drugs will be within the "castle walls" organized by strong products, and borrow additional attention from buyers from them.

The key merchandising tools are:

Store design (both external and internal);
store planning (more precisely, planning the flow of customer traffic);
advertising and other tools at the point of sale;
color blocking;
assortment of goods (merchandise ranges);
comprehensive measures.

The value of communication merchandising is that it helps to establish contact with the visitor. The atmosphere of the store, the psychological attitude and qualifications of the staff, the ability to communicate unobtrusively - all this determines communication with the buyer.

Many studies show that 65-70% of purchasing decisions are made by visitors directly in the store. This means that the lion's share of the profits of the retail trade is brought by impulse, i.e. unplanned purchases. When making such purchases, buyers are guided not by reason and logic, but by feelings and emotions. It was these factors that formed the basis of the concept of communication merchandising.

In any communications that merchandising operates, it is possible to single out the image and information components.

The image component is inherent in the following elements of communication:

The area occupied by the goods;
display of goods;
package;
visual advertising (image posters, shelf talkers, floor and door stickers, wobblers);
branded racks;
image video advertising on various screens and monitors;
projection images;
advertising on food carts;
image audio clips.

The information component is:

price tags;
announcements on monitors;
packaging (content);
information leaflets and posters;
recommendations from sellers and other buyers;
informational audio clips and broadcast announcements;
running lines.

The information component appeals mainly to the verbal and conscious thinking of the buyer and therefore, as a rule, acts immediately. The effectiveness of information communications can be assessed relatively accurately by examining the change in sales of the promoted product at the point of sale in connection with the conduct of merchandising events.

The image component often operates at the subconscious level, a significant role here is played by the process of accumulating the required number of effective interactions. Therefore, there are no guarantees that the result will affect the level of sales in the point of sale where efforts were made to promote, and, moreover, there is no reason to expect an instant effect. In the case of image communications, it is more important how your product is presented on the trading floor in comparison with competitors.

The priorities in choosing the types of communications depend on the specific product, but in any case, an integrated approach is the most effective. In addition, it is obvious that each specific type of communication almost always combines image and information components.

Merchandising standards

Merchandising standards, as well as retail chain standards in general, ensure the unity of the Company's brand.

They set the general rules for design and display in all retail outlets of the company. As a result, merchandising standards increase the ability to purposefully influence sales and make them more predictable.

Another important function of standards is that they help form the rules and criteria for evaluating the work of employees responsible for merchandising in a company.

The development of merchandising standards itself involves the following steps:

1. Diagnostics of existing merchandising standards.
2. Development of a merchandising concept for various trade channels and typical points of sale of products.
3. Creation of a booklet on merchandising for merchandisers.
4. Description of the work procedures of the merchandising department, creation of a work planning system and a reporting system for merchandisers.

The implementation system assumes:

1. Conducting a "marketing strike" campaign.
2. Implementation of a methodology for quantifying the efforts of merchandisers (field audits).
3. Widespread introduction of standards and building a system for obtaining operational information from retail outlets.

The very first stage in the implementation of standards is the implementation of the so-called “marketing strike” campaign. This is a one-time action to bring a narrow number of outlets in line with the company's merchandising rules and solve other merchandising tasks. As a rule, the key and most loyal outlets are selected at the first stage. If wider coverage is required, then additional sales promotion tools are used.

The “marketing impact” campaign involves the introduction of the merchandising concept at a focus group of outlets, thematic promotions to expand the display, install branded equipment, competitions for sellers (motivate outlets to constantly maintain the assortment and comply with merchandising rules).

When introducing the concept of merchandising in large retail outlets, a working group is created, which includes representatives of the sales and marketing departments. The team is divided into subgroups of 2-3 people and visits a certain number of points per day.

Team meetings are held daily and situations at various outlets are discussed to consolidate skills and adjust actions. All these actions are carried out together with the developers of the concept, consultants and supervisors visit the outlets following the merchandisers and make an assessment. To motivate employees at the first stage, the best teams are awarded valuable prizes.

Retail resistance can be overcome by holding loyalty programs (competitions for sales personnel) and thematic promotions to expand the display of products. For many vendors, promotions and tastings can be an effective way to convince retailers to expand their shelf space. With stores where tastings are held, it is easier for the supplier to agree on a temporary expansion of the assortment, sometimes even twice. After the end of the promotions, as a rule, the display does not narrow down much - store managers end up keeping a wider range of assortment.

One of the effective ways to stimulate the sales staff of stores is promotions and promotional games among store sellers. For them, a competition can be arranged with the issuance of prizes for increasing the range and maintaining the rules for laying out products. This makes it possible to significantly facilitate the process of implementing standards and shift the labor-intensive process onto the shoulders of shop assistants. Significantly improved brand awareness. The supplier's next task is to build on the success and keep the retailers and end consumers engaged. In this type of sales promotion, it is IMPORTANT to take into account the organizational complexity of the mechanism - the success of the action will largely depend on the correct organization and control over the implementation of standards. The challenge is how to ensure that all vendors are informed and reached – they work in shifts and as a result, information may not reach many. At the same time, the prizes should not be large - it is better not to arrange strong motivational competitions so as not to offend those left behind.

At this stage, as a rule, companies still have a full-fledged merchandising service. Building this service and providing the necessary human resources at the implementation stage is a very costly undertaking. Firstly, according to statistics, from the moment of hiring, ONE merchandiser will work for you on average 4.5 months, spending 17 hours of your working time. The salary of one merchandiser will be from 300 USD. per month, multiply by 2 (taxes, hiring expenses, overheads, social package, etc.), add a supervisor (another 500 USD), training costs - we will get an amount of at least 10,000 USD . with 10 employees in the department. Such a department will be able to cover from 1,000 to 2,000 outlets per month, depending on the volume of merchandising tasks and the company's assortment. At the first stage, such investments are appropriate only for national brands. Therefore, it is often more profitable to involve third-party specialists.

visual merchandising

Visual merchandising is focused on the effective presentation of the product on commercial equipment - counters, showcases, racks.

In other words, visual merchandising answers the question: how to present the product in the best light - how to place it on the window so that you immediately want to buy it.

Visual merchandising is especially important for those product groups in which the emotional factor plays an important role: clothing, accessories, souvenirs, and jewelry. To sell these products, it is not enough just to be logical, consistent and accurate in the layout, since people do not just buy clothes or jewelry in itself, they buy the image that is created with their help.

Various marketing studies confirm the importance of visual merchandising: up to 2/3 of all purchasing decisions are made by consumers directly in the store, standing in front of the window. Moreover, even if the purchase is pre-planned (and there are, respectively, more than a third), 7 out of every 10 buyers make the final decision in favor of a particular product model only at the window!

Answering the question why Western companies, entering the Russian market, immediately occupy such a large share and how can you compete with them, winning back or, at least, not losing your market share. There are quite a few components of success, including advertising, the strength of a promoted brand, and, finally, the financial capabilities of international corporations, but perhaps their most important advantage is a high level of merchandising.

Now visual merchandising is one of the most important components of marketing communications, and its role has long been appreciated abroad. For example, Reebok's investment in visual merchandising is 25% of its advertising spend. The results of her testing showed that in terms of increasing sales, visual merchandising is 3 times more effective than outdoor advertising.

However, according to research, so far only a small part of retailers are fully using the possibilities of visual merchandising. For example, firms that sell clothes and shoes have better visual merchandising than representatives of other trade sectors, but only 20% of them use external windows to attract the attention of buyers. And sellers of durable goods have almost no such practice.

In Russia, they started talking about visual merchandising not so long ago. Now it is in its infancy, but the pace of its development is already noticeable, although the backlog from foreign companies is still significant. Consider, for example, the outer windows of shoe stores Gucci (USA), Selfridges (UK) and TsentrObuv (Russia).

It is known that it is difficult to exhibit a small product in such a way that the consumer can take a good look at it and get excited about purchasing one of the presented copies. An excellent solution was found by the merchandisers of the Gucci salon. The original stand with separate shelves and contrast lighting is the best way to present each model individually and the entire collection at once.

Selfridges managed to attract attention to their new collection with the common phrases "Done a runner" ("Done a runner"), "Legs turned to jelly" ("Run away"), which they interpreted by means of visual merchandising.

The TsentrObuv store is still far from its foreign counterparts. The showcase of the salon, if it exists at all, does not participate in the creation of the image at all.

Meanwhile, the possibilities of visual merchandising and the tools of its representatives are very rich. A special combination of different color shades, backlighting, the use of high-tech tools (LCD displays, interactive devices), creative product presentation - all this helps to interest buyers.

An example is the avant-garde product display in denim stores of various brands.

Levi's hang their jeans in rows from ceiling to floor. Barneys built a huge staircase out of jeans. Diesel on the shop window laid out funny figurines made of denim. In the same segment, there are such unorthodox ideas as nailing jeans to stands or hanging them as a barrier in a dressing room. Believe me, this cannot be ignored.

Attracting customers and increasing sales is the main goal, but visual merchandising solves many important intermediate tasks. For example, the correct presentation of the product allows not only to direct the attention of consumers to the product, to talk about it, but also to increase customer awareness of the company's brand and new promotions and events.

Just look at how different firms inform consumers about seasonal discounts. You can stick up shop windows with eye-catching posters with numbers (say, "SALE 40%"), or you can find a more interesting solution using visual merchandising tools. This is exactly what the merchandisers of one of the stores in Iceland did - they informed the customers about the sale by decorating the window in an original way.

It is important to remember that visual merchandising is not a science, there are no absolute rules. It's more like an art, where sometimes you have to break the rules to achieve a striking effect.

Research in the field of “the art of selling”, and marketing is often called that, shows that in most cases (66-67%) a person decides to buy this or that product, being directly on the trading floor and seeing this very product in front of him. The issue of choosing a brand is solved in the same way, because at least 70% of buyers make a decision on the spot. In order for a person to buy your product, it is necessary to present it correctly, that is, to make its advantages noticeable and soften, or show insignificant, its shortcomings.

There is a direction of merchandising called “Visual merchandising” or, simply put, the art of competent product placement, signage, plaques and posters in such a way as to show the product with better side and sell it as quickly as possible. This direction of merchandising is a kind of symbiosis of two separate directions: the art of trade and competent psychological approaches to the visual picture of the product and the environment in which it is located.

Visual merchandising is not just a certain direction, it is a very real science that helps not only to correctly position the goods on a particular showcase, but also to competently arrange the entire sales department. The areas where it can be used are any advertising components: posters, scoreboards, counters, racks, sales equipment and everything that a precious buyer can look at. Naturally, visual merchandising is primarily of interest to owners of large retail outlets: supermarkets and hypermarkets, but it is also necessary for all other stores, especially if they are associated with the sale of various accessories, cosmetics, and of course fashionable clothes and shoes. And the thing is that these goods are most often located on the counter in an open form and in large volumes. The opinion that visual merchandising is important only for large shopping centers or pavilions, where the mistakes of “similar experiments” are insignificant, is wrong. This specific direction can be used in almost all trade areas, regardless of their scale. Just the fact that visual merchandising is able to stimulate sales growth through unplanned purchases makes it relevant in any field.

A lot depends on this science - it will help make any corner of your trading floor brighter, more colorful and inviting. In outlets where the logic, literacy and attractiveness of the goods are put in the forefront, sales are much better, and the point itself becomes more known to the general mass of consumers. The reason why a person subconsciously chooses a particular product or store is beyond his understanding. However, for experienced marketers, the answer is quite obvious!

So, visual merchandising can help with the following:

Properly and effectively arrange the goods in the hall
Facilitate the search for goods in the department, direct the visitor
Create a favorable atmosphere and make the buying process extraordinarily pleasant

The golden rules of visual merchandising

Rule 1. Highlighting a product against the background of its environment.

There is an exercise for visual analysis: go to the window, put a small mark on the glass with a pencil or marker. Then move back a little and concentrate your vision on this mark. Look like this for ten seconds, then look at the glass. If you experiment, you will notice that the mark becomes an obstacle, a kind of background, from which the glass and everything outside the window fade into the background. Focusing of vision occurs and the mark becomes more pronounced against the background of its surroundings. In order for the product to become more noticeable, it is necessary to give it a greater emphasis on the background surrounding it, as well as to give significance. Here are some ways to do it:

The quantity of goods is the key to significance. You can make longer or wider rows for the product, or make a slide of the product that you want to sell first. Just increase its mass.

Color is always relevant. It will help to highlight the product with the right color, so it will be more noticeable, therefore, subconsciously the person will react to it. Best suited for this are yellow or yellowish shades, shades of the orange spectrum, of course, red, as well as luminescent and shiny elements. In principle, other colors are also suitable, but the tone itself should be saturated, but not too poisonous, it should not tire and there should not be a lot of it.

Packaging is not just a box. It is also possible to put the goods in exotic or attractive packaging. A person is curious by nature, perhaps this will interest him, create the effect of novelty.

The logic of the world In the jewelry sales departments, there is always a backlight, this highlights certain jewelry, and also makes the counter itself more noticeable. Think logically, where would you prefer to buy a product? In a dark and gloomy hall or in a lighted room… The answer is obvious. It remains to correctly illuminate the subject of sale itself.

POS elements are not just for attaching goods and displaying prices. Any POS element, such as a wobbler, a shelf talker, a price tag, a sticker, a promo stand, a tray, a flag, etc., always attracts attention, as it helps to present the product in the best possible way. They will not only allow you to evaluate the product, but will inevitably attract a buyer.

Rule 2. The main goods are installed at eye level.

A person can look for completely different things, but his gaze is often directed forward, straight and unshakable (especially in men). It is not surprising, because the human mind evaluates the situation and especially the faces of people. Any more or less competent seller knows that the goods must be placed at eye level. Thus, it is much easier to attract a buyer. You need to focus on the average height of a person and place the goods at the level of 150-160 cm.

As practice shows, there is a blind zone - this is the bottom of the counter or the floor. Those goods that are already in demand, for example, beer packages, containers with “hot products”, as well as goods in stock, it is logical to put them at the bottom. So it's better to make room for a more relevant product. And remember: the lower left corner is considered the most common dead spot for most people.

Rule 3. Variety pleases.

Man is fickle, he craves variety. That's why it's important to create this effect. Often, going into stores, it seems to us that the same thing is being sold everywhere. The choice is small, but you want something unique ... What to do? Separate each product category with different POS elements. Using a variety of materials will increase engagement.

Rule 4. Group display.

An important criterion should be considered a competent placement of goods into groups. A person looking for a dress is unlikely to ask for cookies. The product must be in the group in which it should be. For example, shoe rows should be far from food. And the distinction within the group itself should be logical and intuitive. You can distinguish, for example, expensive shoes in one group, and cheap in another. A distinction can be made depending on the product by type, shape, weight, etc. At the same time, the main thing is that the division should be visible to the buyer, and not only to you.

Rule 5. Profiling is the solution!

When we walk around large pavilions with different goods, what can distract us the most? People! After all, everyone is looking for their own product ... A child wants a cake, and a bearded biker buys a machine nearby, and excellent juicers are sold 100 meters away. And around the crowd. From such a turmoil, willy-nilly, I want to leave as soon as possible, preferably to a small shop that sells only the goods you need. If you do not have a supermarket, but rather a small store, it is better to focus on the area of ​​\u200b\u200bactivity you need. Diversity is the destiny of large shopping centers, and the division into departments is made primarily there.

Rule 6. A few items create an accent, and a hundred create a panic!

It has been proven that a person usually remembers no more than nine objects located in the same environment. Rarely, a person is looking for many things at the same time, most often the search is specific or phased. At the same time, it must be understood that 9 items is a very overpriced amount, it refers to large retail outlets with a great variety. Practice shows that for medium or small stores 4-5 items is the limit! What does this mean? This means that you should not abuse the abundance of auxiliary materials. In a given environment, there should not be more than 5 POS elements pointing to 1 product type. If this rule is abused, then confusion is created and the client may lose sight of the right thing, which I already noticed in your store.

The basic rules of visual merchandising look like this:

1. Highlight the desired product against the background of the environment. Make it more visible compared to the objects standing next to it.
2. Place important products where the buyer's eyes often fall - at eye level!
3. Create diversity within a product group by making clear distinctions.
4. Arrange product types correctly and logically.
5. Make profile departments and shops.
6. Don't overuse POS items.

All this has been tested in practice many times. Rest assured that proper adherence to these rules is guaranteed to make you more successful.

Merchandising in a pharmacy

A few years ago, the very concept of "merchandising in a pharmacy" was rather an exotic phrase with an incomprehensible semantic load.

Mastering the "shop technologies" of merchandising was sufficient to talk about merchandising in a pharmacy. However, retail sales in a pharmacy differ from other sales not only in their specifics (sale of medicines), which is obvious. We believe that, first of all, in relation to merchandising, another difference is important: in a pharmacy, a visitor demonstrates a fundamentally different consumer behavior. It is important to note that the main goal of merchandising is a certain influence on the consumer behavior of visitors in a pharmacy.

Based on numerous observations of pharmacy visitors and the results of interviews with dozens of pharmacists (for the last year at least 200), we can talk about the following model of consumer behavior in a pharmacy.

Firstly, it is in the pharmacy that the mass consumer demonstrates the maximum susceptibility to influence from outside (in comparison with other points of sale). Despite the appearance in the media of information about falsifications and other "negative" information regarding the pharmacy, in general, consumers "trust the pharmacy and the pharmacist." Moreover, health problems that occur periodically in most people can give rise to a feeling of insecurity and insecurity.

It is for this reason that visitors are often not just more receptive to outside influences, but rather expect "that influence" in the form of a compelling recommendation from a specialist.

Secondly, it is in a pharmacy that a visitor most often provides information about himself (which in itself is a demonstration of confidence), while asking for advice from a pharmacist or pharmacist. Trust in a pharmacy employee is an indirect indicator of trust in the pharmacy as a whole.

It is known that it is subjectively preferable to buy hygiene products, “medical nutrition” and other goods in a pharmacy. Here it can be assumed that the pharmacy is associated with the presence of greater quality control, effectiveness of funds, safety, scientific validity, high qualification of the staff, higher moral and ethical principles and other aspects that also speak in favor of trust in relation to the pharmacy.

Thirdly, a pharmacy is not only a place to receive positive emotions from a purchase, but also a place to “get rid of negative emotions”, since the purchase of a drug and its use relieves negative conditions caused by illness or health problems. Thus, the visitor receives not only positive emotions from the purchase (for example, buying vitamins for a child), but also gets the opportunity to get rid of negative emotional states caused by health problems.

Since the assortment in a pharmacy is prone to constant expansion, and the visitor is increasingly forced to resort to an independent (without the participation of a pharmacist) choice of a drug (of course, we are talking about over-the-counter).

So, high confidence in relation to the pharmacy, increased susceptibility and high positive motivation of the pharmacy visitor, on the one hand, and the irregular growth of the assortment, coupled with the high workload of pharmacists, on the other hand, lead to the fact that the consumer "increasingly remains alone with the counter" and independently makes a purchasing decision. It is the appearance of this state in the consumer that leads to the appearance of such a phenomenon as merchandising in a pharmacy.

Pharmacy merchandising, while largely retaining its market component (“in-store marketing”), emphasizes the following:

Help the visitor quickly find out if the required drug (or related product) is available. Perhaps only a pharmacy is in a situation where one person must “responsibly” (the consequences of an erroneous professional recommendation can be very serious) sell a very wide range of medicines. The pharmacist (pharmacist) is interested in the fact that as many pharmacy visitors as possible independently determine the drugs they need.

Help the visitor make a thoughtful choice of drugs to solve their problems. The ability to read the country of the manufacturer (or company) on the box, familiarity with the spectrum of action and restrictions on use will help the visitor to choose "what you need" on your own.

Help to get what you may need in the future. The presence of a health problem in a pharmacy visitor at a given time leads to a targeted search for the necessary drugs. But after the necessary drugs have been found, "with the help of merchandising", you can recall those drugs that should be purchased "in the home medicine cabinet."

Thus, the following aspects can be attributed to pharmacy merchandising:

Trading floor (format, pharmacy model, zone planning)
layout (planning, forming and window dressing)
advertising (placement and availability of information for the consumer in the pharmacy)
assortment of showcases (formation of priorities in the layout based on economic analysis)
"pharmaceutical companies' merchandising" (determination of the principles and formats of an effective "pharmacy response" to "outside merchandising")

It is not uncommon to find a display in a pharmacy that is defined as “beautiful”, but this display is unlikely to help a pharmacy visitor in finding drugs, and therefore it is unlikely that such a display can provoke an “impulsive purchase”. Rather, on the contrary, it is precisely such a calculation that can both prevent an “impulsive purchase” and seriously complicate the search for the necessary drugs.

Those who form the layout in a pharmacy are often guided by the following (obviously unfounded) statements: “the window should be filled to the maximum”; “formation of stands not on the basis of drug marketing groups”; “you need to spread little-known drugs”; "lay out the entire range" and so on. In any case, the layout in the pharmacy will be formed, however, it can be justified (aimed at achieving certain results) and spontaneously developing (in the case of aesthetic considerations or the principle “to present everything and to the maximum”). Depending on the goals that are set before the calculation, its various options are possible.

When creating a display, there are a number of variables that are decisive: the geometry of the counter, a certain assortment of the showcase, the primary and secondary purposes of the display, the design and geometry of drug packages, and some others. That is why it is clear that in relation to the pharmacy there can be no "calculation for everyone."

Dozens of medical representatives and merchandisers of pharmaceutical companies seek to broadcast "their merchandising" in pharmacies. Needless to say, the approaches to merchandising in various pharmaceutical companies vary greatly, thereby giving rise to various options"spontaneous merchandising". IN individual cases a kind of barrier on the part of the pharmacy can serve as an offer to pharmaceutical companies to buy "travelling places in the windows."

But today the sale of "hot spots in the windows" is not popular. And not only because it is “expensive”, but rather because the concept of “traveling place” for a pharmaceutical company is more of a formal concept than an economic unit. The “return” from buying a place for pharmaceutical companies is not completely clear, and pharmacies do little to reasonably determine the cost of a “market place in a shop window”. In any case, the lack of economic models for determining the price of a "hot spot in the window" leads to the fact that pharmacies lose a promising source of income, and companies lose important additional opportunities for thoughtful investment in drug promotion.

An even more difficult issue is determining the price of a "traveling place" for various pharmaceutical companies. It is known that the movement of a well-known and frequently bought drug to a “not popular place” in the window can lead to the fact that sales for it will decrease, which will lead to a general decrease in profitability in the pharmacy (which, of course, is not profitable). Thus, for the formation of the price of a “traveling place”, the key problem remains the ratio of profitability for drugs, the profitability of a “running place” in relation to a particular drug, and, possibly, the profitability of groups of drugs. It is obvious that in the future the following factors will influence the formation of the price of "shelf space": the profitability index of the drug group, the drug profitability indicator, the shelf space rating, and factors of the format and location of the pharmacy.

All these difficulties can be successfully solved only if pharmacies create a product for pharmaceutical companies, the essence of which will be reduced to a thoughtful and economically justified promotion of drugs through merchandising. Of course, the design and implementation of such a service has a number of difficulties, but the prospect of obtaining an additional reliable source of income (in some cases commensurate with advertising costs) will obviously force pharmacies to create a “merchandising product” for pharmaceutical companies in the near future. Moreover, it is quite possible to develop a "merchandising product" in the advertising paradigm (target audience, contacts and other numerous indicators).

Today, a pharmacy visitor may note that the service in some pharmacies differs from the service in others. But will this service develop, transforming into a service for pharmaceutical companies? The growth of the assortment of pharmacies (the emergence of “analogues”), the complication of drug promotion technologies, the complication of consumer behavior of pharmacy visitors, the need to increase the efficiency of promotion costs will obviously contribute to the fact that pharmaceutical companies will have a clearly defined need for a “merchandising product”.

And the general increase in competition, the growth of economic costs and the decrease in profitability in the pharmacy business will encourage individual pharmacies (more likely chains) to develop and sell a “merchandising product”.

Merchandising in retail

In retail, a huge amount of money is spent to increase sales - on new trade equipment, reconstruction of facades and halls of stores, advertising in various media, sales promotion through discounts, gifts and sweepstakes, and additional bonuses for employees. And all this for the sake of 2-5% growth. Wouldn't it be better to start with the basics of merchandising and get the result much higher?

Properly placing product categories in the store and taking into account the behavior of customers, you can increase sales by an average of 10%. A correct layout will raise income by another 15%, and accentuation techniques (color, location) - by another 25%. In general, ceteris paribus, sales of a store where merchandising principles are worked out and observed can be 200-300% higher than in a similar outlet where goods are randomly laid out.

Merchandising is the fastest growing area of ​​sales promotion. In fact, merchandising is a technique that allows, knowing the psychology of the buyer, to significantly increase sales. The facts are as follows: 80% of goods are purchased in stores not because they are better, but because at a particular moment these products made the most favorable impression on the buyer.

Let's look at the key principles of merchandising:

"Focus Point": While the offer is visible from a distance, the main item should be centered and offset to the right.

"Eye Movement". The movement of the buyer's eyes on the shelf resembles reading a page with an epigraph. So apparently we were taught from school. First glance in the upper right corner, then undulating movement from left to right and from top to bottom. It became interesting how things are with this in countries where writing and reading are reversed - from right to left. So far I have not found any material on this topic.

"Reverse Clock". Most of the buyers move counterclockwise around the trading floor, bypassing it along the outer perimeter. This means that the main goods must be placed in the traffic area and the internal racks should be arranged in such a way that they have a good overview in the direction of the buyer's movement. Also keep in mind that the goods located too close to the entrance (even if on the right) remain unnoticed. Let your customer "recover" after he entered the trading floor.

"Golden Triangle" or "3/90". Nearly 90% of shoppers walk through one third of the store and are about to exit. Therefore, it is necessary to place the main goods in the visibility zone from the entrance, to provide them with a good presentation and free access. The entrance itself, the main product (for example, meat, milk or bread in a grocery store) and the cash register form a “golden triangle”, on the area of ​​\u200b\u200bwhich you can lay out the goods needed for a quick sale (expensive, perishable, new, related). The rule of the "golden triangle": the larger the area between the entrance, the cashier and the best-selling product, the higher the sales volume. Accordingly, the most “desired” product, for which a person is ready to make a journey through the entire store, is optimally placed in the far part of the store, this will force the buyer to cross the hall and get acquainted with the entire assortment. Don't forget about thoughtful navigation for customers - turning around the same point or walking the same path twice in search of a product is depressing for the buyer.

"The Principle of Compatibility". One of the most dangerous errors when laying out is to place in close proximity goods that are not compatible in terms of image and consumption. In one Moscow supermarket, the products of the market leader in sweet carbonated water were placed next to toilet paper. As it later turned out, only three bottles of the drink were sold in two weeks, although it was hot outside.

"Hand Out Zone". It is known that goods for children are not recommended to be placed too high, out of sight of the child. He must see them and want them. Even better if the child touches the toy. But this thesis works not only with children. Touch is the oldest and one of the first forms of claiming the right to property. It reinforces the desire to possess the thing. Excessive inconvenience leads to lower sales. If a customer doesn't understand how to get a product out of a complex structure, they most likely won't even try to do it.

“The tops can’t, the bottoms don’t want”. If we take the sales indicator (turnover) on the middle shelves as 100%, then sales on the top shelves are 62%, and sales from the lower shelves are 48%. According to research by the French chain Carrefour, when moving goods from floor level to eye level, sales increase by 78%. And from the level of the hands to the level of the eyes - by 63%. In general, the lower shelves are considered the worst place. However, buyers instinctively got used to it: the heavier the goods and the larger their packaging, the better they are bought up from the lower shelves, and at the same time, such an arrangement of goods on the trading floor simplifies the problem of their storage. It is believed that the top shelves are generally good for products with a high margin and low turnover. Usually, these are high quality goods with beautiful appearance. First of all, of course, these rules work in self-service stores. However, on an emotional and psychological level, they are also relevant in retail outlets where there is a counter and a seller. Due to them, you can create a certain image in the department.

"The Vinaigrette Effect". Too many brands or types of packaging often results in a loss of visual focus on a product. Therefore, it is important to repeat the packaging of the same brand, and even on a long shelf, no more than 2-3 leading brands should be placed. In this regard, the "artificial gap" technique is relevant - a rule derived from practical observations. When restoring any display, a few items should still be removed as buyers are trying not to destroy the integrity of the display.

"The Locomotive Principle". Following this rule, a new or less popular brand is put up next to the leading brand. Using the popularity of leading brands and the fact that they take up a lot of space and attract the attention of the buyer, you can significantly increase sales of outsiders who will attract a low price. This is called the rule of preferential influence, when the rule assumes that if in a multi-brand store next to a product of a recognizable brand there are products of a little-known company that are not inferior in quality and price, then the aura of success extends to both groups.

Color correction- using the "color accent" method, sales growth can be increased up to 90%. For example, with the help of color accentuation (accent colors - red, orange, yellow; attention-grabbing - green, blue, white), the increase is 20-30%.

Sound accompaniment. Sound effects are widely used. But it should not be limited to verbal announcements. Sound effects can create an appropriate atmosphere in different departments of the store (for example, dynamic music in the sports department) or a certain mood (forcing, say, the buyer to move faster or, on the contrary, relax).

aromatherapy. To stimulate the mood of the buyer and provoke them to purchase, various smells are often used inside the store. Monell Science Center in Philadelphia has launched pilot projects to study the effect of certain smells on buyers. For example, the well-known, in this case, floral-fruity, smell made casual visitors to the jewelry store linger there longer. And a very low level of some odors could change the individual's train of thought and mood (for example, relaxed and trusting). In the UK, some home goods retailers use the smell of a bakery/cafe to encourage customers to buy products that have nothing to do with food: clothing, lighting equipment, etc. To be fair, in supermarkets, the smell from the fish department must recede before the spreading aroma freshly baked rolls from the bread department. All this is already related to creating a unique atmosphere in the trading floor.

Rational supply. A person tends to get out of the gloomy zone into a more illuminated one, so the subdued light that is appropriate in an antique shop cannot be used in a supermarket. With emotional purchases (when the client faces a rational choice), playing with light can cause irritation.

Irritation of consumers in general often arises precisely as a result of excessive, or rather, inadequate efforts of merchandisers and promoters. A classic example: a supermarket is promoting broths and soups under a new brand. For her, one of the main, from the position of the movement of buyers, passages of the trading floor was chosen. The presentation is carried out by long-legged beautiful models in short skirts and tight-fitting tops. The manufacturer is satisfied - it turned out presentable! In addition, the best time and the best place of the trading floor have been chosen. The owners of the store are satisfied - everything is very bright and attractive. Here are just visitors ... The main buyers of broths and soups in supermarkets are housewives aged 35-45 years. They just can’t stand the bright and overly naked, frivolous eighteen-twenty-year-old girls! As a result, our customers are trying in every possible way to get around the place of the presentation, without catching the eye of the girls-promoters.

So who rules the ball - the buyer or the seller, is a very big question. In any case, it is useful for the seller to learn how to step on the throat of his own song in order to better listen to the voice from the audience and, as a result, increase his sales.

clothing merchandising

Where does a person go in order to acquire the things necessary for his image? Of course in a fashion store! And whether it is a boutique, a department store or a market, a rather difficult procedure awaits the buyer - the choice. And let it be quite easy for some (happy!) representatives of the consumer fraternity, while others are much more difficult, you can’t do without it. For the fashion store itself, the main task is to facilitate this very choice. Any seller dreams of letting a buyer out of his door with a purchase (and more than one!), a feeling of deep satisfaction and a desire to return here as soon as he has a certain amount of money.

But this is, so to speak, an ideal goal. And you need to start a fashion store with a task so that its potential consumer does not pass by. Remember, reader, how many shops did you go through (or drive through) on the way to your work, glancing at them every day? But if you are told that on your daily path there is a wonderful fashion store with wonderful things of excellent quality, will you be very surprised and only vaguely remember something? And they really wanted to please you!

Is there too much competition, too much spending on advertising and research? But marketing has enough tools, one of which directly relates to the store itself and direct communication with the buyer - this is merchandising. Its influence on the consumer is not obvious, but very strong, due to the fact that it is based on psychological characteristics person and often acts through the subconscious. We will talk about merchandising in the fashion industry, its features and differences from the concept of merchandising commonly used in our country in this article.

Merchandising, as a marketing tool, came to us along with large Western manufacturers and their requirements for the presentation of their products. Against the backdrop of a high level of competition without merchandising, survival in the market has become almost impossible. For our country, merchandising is relatively young and insufficiently developed precisely because of the long period of saturation of an almost empty market - it was simply not needed. However, the subsequent rapid growth of competitiveness forced everyone to quickly master unknown tricks. In this regard, the general concept of merchandising in our country is rather vague and can vary greatly for individual products and industries.

The Western concept of merchandising includes all forms of company activity related to goods at a point of sale. This is the whole complex of techniques aimed at increasing sales in retail spaces:

Selecting the location of the outlet;
Visual merchandising (layout of the trading floor, signboard, showcase, interior, commercial equipment, placement of promotional materials, presentation strategy and direct display of the product itself);
Commodity merchandising (accounting for the supply of goods, calculation of inventory by assortment groups, placement of goods by price categories).

For different products, merchandising accents can be placed differently. So, for most food products and FMCG, the main purpose of merchandising is the display of goods and the placement of promotional products at points of sale, i.e. narrow specialization in a separate part of visual merchandising. For wholesalers, the most important part is commodity merchandising, etc.

The concept of image is key in the fashion industry. Only in the event that the image of a fashion store "coincides" with the image that this particular buyer wants to create for himself, he will enter its doors. Therefore, the most important part of fashion store merchandising is visual merchandising and everything related to it.

But let's start in order, so to speak "in the direction of travel" of the buyer. Such an expression was not chosen by chance, since it is with this factor that the first stage of fashion store merchandising begins - the choice of the location of the outlet.

For this it is necessary to take into account:

Target consumer group - i.e. Who is this buyer and where does he "walk"?
Type of retail business organization.

The study of the target group of consumers is a separate extensive topic. There are also separate tools for determining customer flows, their location, and the time of greatest activity.

The types of retail business organization differ both in terms of the size of retail space and price segments, the number of fashion product brands presented, the separability or combination of assortment groups. According to the classification created by A. Lebsak-Kleymans for the HSE course "Structure and Segmentation in the Fashion Industry", the following main types of retail organization in the field of fashion are distinguished:

1. Department stores - can be both traditional (with a full range of goods) and specialized. The merchandise in the sales area belongs to the department store itself, which itself decides both the assortment and its presentation (e.g. "Stokmann")
2. Department store department stores - department stores can be rented out to an "outside" company that decides on the assortment, but to the buyer it looks like one of many department store departments, as it follows the general department store policy.
3. Middle-class clothing (shoe) brand stores (private label stores) - can be either single or network structure, represent one clothing line (eg "Gap", "Benetton", "Mango", "Mexx")
4. Multi-brand stores - the assortment in such stores is recruited from various suppliers, while the company may have its own brand of clothing, trade is organized similarly to a department store, but, unlike it, such stores are smaller and offer only an assortment of clothes, shoes and accessories, without other product lines (eg "Thing", "Paninter")
5. Boutiques - stores of luxury lines and ready-to-wear designer lines require a special approach to the design of the retail space, product presentation, service and promotion. For the most part, these are mono-brand stores, but there are boutiques of various brands for Russian designer lines.
6. Stock-centers and second-hand stores - places of sale of trade residues and second-hand clothes.
7. Markets - places where cheap clothes are sold.

All of the above types of fashion retail require a different approach to choosing a store location. Department stores are either reanimated from old Soviet department stores, or located in the most "passing" places - passageways, shopping malls, where there is a large flow of buyers of various target groups - in department stores, as a rule, the assortment is quite diverse, unlike Private label stores that sell a specific brand that has a consumer - an adherent of the brand. Such stores are preferred by large shopping centers and the central streets of the city, and are located there, contrary to the thought of competition, all together. Thus, oddly enough, the effect of supporting each other is achieved. Rare people dress completely "from" one brand, as a rule it is an individual "mix" of clothes from different manufacturers, but having a similar style and dressing the same age category. Therefore, even when choosing a specific street or shopping mall for the location of your store, it will be important to study your future "neighbors" and decide whether they will support you, attracting your target group, or a hindrance, scaring away a desired customer from your store.

IN last years there was a persistent trend of the emergence of "shopping streets" aimed at different price categories of buyers. In Moscow, "boutique" streets - Stoleshnikov lane, Tretyakovsky passage. Stamps for the middle class were densely populated with shops on Tverskaya Street. An analogue of shopping streets are large shopping malls, such as Mega, Crocus City. They essentially imitate several shopping streets inside a huge room. Stores are selected either according to one profile, or based on one class of consumers. Despite the fierce competition, such a grouping allows you to get the highest concentration of target consumers in one place. For the buyer, this creates the convenience of visiting one place in the city instead of three or four and a wide choice. There is mutual benefit.

Stores with a fairly cheap assortment and a different set of brands should be located:

Near various metro stations, separately or in shopping centers;
in the center of sleeping areas, because The target consumer of these stores has a habit of entering them after school or work, on the way home, and rarely goes there on purpose, so such a store located outside the main population flows using the metro has every chance of becoming unprofitable.

Even if it is near the metro, but "around the corner" and the crowd does not pass by, then it is necessary to make a large bright advertising stand already inside the metro station, informing about what and where is located. And from the exit from the subway to the entrance to the store, build a chain of bright signs as when playing "Cossacks-robbers". In St. Petersburg, near one of the metro stations "around the corner" there are three shoe stores close to each other. Only one of them took care of such "barkers", while the rest decided to "sit down". There are enough customers in this store, sometimes there is even a queue. The sellers of the other two are bored.

So, let's say the location issue is resolved and the target consumer walks past the location in sufficient numbers to generate a decent turnover for the fashion store. And what does he see as he passes by? Naturally, the pediment of the store and its showcase, if it is - and not everyone has it. Such a moment as the angle from which the buyer sees the pediment of the store and the distance to it is very important. On a narrow street with turns, a huge sign will be a failure, because. it will become unreadable. It is necessary to place the showcase in whole or in part before the entrance to the store in the direction of the customer flow, so that the buyer can see the goods and decide to enter the store until he reaches the entrance - he is unlikely to want to return to the doors. As Robert Colborn writes in his book "Merchandising. 15 Keys to Retail Store Success.":

"According to the results of studies, more than 60% of women have a desire to buy this or that thing when she sees it in the window."

With a high frequency of shops located on the street or in the mall, protruding gables are very successfully used - they can be seen from afar.

These are far from all the conditions and "tricks" of the right choice of place and design of the internal and external space of the store. Many books have been written on the subject and many university courses have been read. Therefore, it is necessary to trust the performance of merchandising work to professionals. Despite the fact that this technique is new to us, quite a few people already know it and continue to learn, so the number of professionals in this field is growing. So, the choice of the location of the store must be entrusted to the marketing department, because. it is there that specialists in the study of the target consumer and his psychology work. But the design of the external and internal space of stores is carried out with great success by people who have the education of a graphic designer, or an artist-designer in the field of fashion. The second is preferable, because merchandising of fashionable goods very much depends on the knowledge of the features of the assortment and well-chosen combinations of things in the ensemble - whether it be a mannequin or commercial equipment in the form of a table.

The showcase of a fashion store itself requires frequent change of exposure, good lighting and a fairly large volume. If large advertising posters are used on the showcase, then they must be changed every season, no matter how good they are. I know one store where, in order to save money, very successful window posters of the autumn-winter collection were left for another 3 seasons. I must say that already in the summer they looked, despite their initial success, rather strange, not to mention the next summer, when even the style of the clothes presented on them went out of fashion. If it is not possible to make posters, place mannequins on the window and change them 4-8 times a season (preferably every time a new "theme" of the collection comes to the store) and the window will always be relevant.

Removability requires the specifics of the fashion industry itself. If 5-6 years ago, manufacturers of industrial collections produced two seasonal collections - spring-summer and autumn-winter, now all major manufacturers have switched to producing 4 seasonal collections for each season, and often each of them consists of several parts - " themes", distinguished by a separate color scheme and characteristic details, or by the material used.

Even when you entrusted merchandising to a professional specialist, it is necessary to control his work. To do this, you must have at least basic knowledge of merchandising in order to speak the same language with a specialist, to be able to correctly formulate a task for him. In addition, all components of the store's merchandising must be linked into a common concept. Not only among themselves, but also with the overall brand image of the company or the brand it represents. And the main brand manager of the company is its head. It is he who must ensure that the merchandising of one single fashion store works not only for the prosperity of himself individually, but for maintaining the image, strengthening and increasing brand loyalty of the entire chain or brand, and, consequently, of the entire company as a whole.

In different cases, we are talking about a different image. Thus, a "mono-brand" store - from a manufacturing company or a franchise company - must support the concept of the product brand itself, clothing, shoes or accessories with merchandising, most often such stores look almost the same all over the world. A striking example of this is the Benetton stores.

If it is a department store or a store selling various brands, there may be two options:

In general, the store, with its appearance and interior design, promotes the brand of the store (or chain), but on the trading floor it is possible to single out certain zones selling a certain brand, and the design concept for this zone can be aimed at maintaining and promoting the brand of the product. This is most common in department stores and malls that rent departments, or when the trading company has its own brand of products that it needs to position separately. This is the type of product presentation in Paninter stores.
A store with a set of various clothes and shoes of different brands is designed as a whole, presenting itself as a store, without highlighting any brand of the product. In this case, loyalty to the brand of the store or chain increases, and in the mind of the buyer, it is usually associated with a price or quality factor (“You can buy inexpensive clothes in Veshch stores”).

But whichever option is chosen, the concept of interior and exterior design should be unified and support a common brand, and not contradict it. You should not place clothes for teenagers in a classic interior or organize a boutique of expensive business suits in a shopping center near the metro in a residential area, decorating a shop window with neon graffiti. At best, you will be considered an eclecticist, and at worst, your store will go bankrupt.

Speaking about the visual merchandising of the interior space of a fashion store, it is necessary to highlight the basic concepts on the basis of which the overall picture is built:

1. Color is perhaps the main point in the design of a fashion store. Any fashion collection is based on color schemes. It is the color that first of all attracts the buyer, whether it be a man, a woman or a child.

Inside the fashion store, there are two color concepts - the color scheme of the interior and the color schemes of the collections themselves. The color scheme of the interior is relatively often changed only by boutiques of expensive brands, which are the flagships of fashion, their interior is also a landmark of fashion trends and the specificity of their customers lies in increased demands. The rest of the fashion stores, as a rule, try to solve the interior in such a way that it does not need to be redesigned for quite a long time and any collection of this brand would look harmonious in it. The color schemes of the collections are radically different by seasons, and within each seasonal collection there are several color schemes - the already mentioned "themes".

Manufacturers and design bureaus think over the visual merchandising of product placement already at the stage of designing and creating an industrial collection. The collection is accompanied by a special document - an album on merchandising, with planograms (schemes of the location of goods on the trading floor) on a signboard, where combinations of articles by "themes" and recommendations for their placement and grouping are indicated. And also at companies that produce collections, information meetings are constantly held for merchandisers of company stores and distributors. At these meetings, they are given complete information on the timing of the release of all parts of the seasonal collection, its style and recommendations for presenting the collection in retail outlets. It is more difficult for those who work with a large number of suppliers and take goods for sale. As a rule, suppliers are small manufacturers producing certain product groups. Therefore, the goods collected in the store are not always combined with each other in colors. The task of the merchandiser is to link all this diversity into a single picture.

posters,
flower arrangements,
mirrors,
liquid crystal screens broadcasting fashion shows or commercials for fashion brands,
household and household items, such as a sewing machine,
furniture, ottomans, sofas are especially important in stores with a price category above the average, so that the buyer or his companions can relax and make their choice in calm environment.

Decorations should complement and emphasize the product, but not "overshadow" it. The exception is rare "image" boutiques designed to shock the public and draw attention to the brand. A striking example of this is the famous Prada boutique in New York. There, the interior is built on the scenery, and the goods themselves are "hidden" on the lower floor. But this is more of a bright publicity stunt than the creation of a profitable fashion store.

3. Lighting is an important factor that can both save a rather unsightly composition and spoil the most competent one. Light should not just be a lot, it should be correctly selected and balanced. Different types of light have their own color and the ability to emphasize or "kill" different colors of the product. So, in the soft, yellowish light of incandescent lamps, natural and warm colors look advantageous, and halogen lamps emphasize cold colors and "kill" some natural shades. Point light lamps "snatch out" individual objects to which special attention must be drawn. For example, products whose sales need to be increased. Or accent items in the collection - "attractors of attention." Lighting is varied, the whole question is its balance.

4. Layout of the retail space and commercial equipment - The layout of the store is an individual matter, but subject to certain laws. Proper planning allows you to significantly increase the number of spontaneous purchases (which are decided right in the store), and in the field of fashion sales, this category of purchases significantly exceeds the planned ones. It also allows you to timely move goods around the sales area in order to stimulate sales of individual groups that, for whatever reason, "hung". If the layout largely depends on the configuration of the retail space and must take into account the trajectory of the buyer's movement through the store, then the choice of retail equipment depends entirely on merchandising specialists.

Color, style, design and material, and therefore the price of the equipment, must match the product. Equipment is an important sales tool and should look good. It is unacceptable for fashion store owners to wait for a situation where the shop equipment looks like partially repaired ruins. Fashion is associated in people with the concept of new, relevant and any old, directly and figuratively, details in the store negate the efforts of the creators of fashion collections and greatly reduce their sales. The choice of the number and type of retail equipment depends on the size of the retail space of the store, the price category of the goods, the layout of the retail space and ... guessing the expectations of potential consumers. The basic rule here is this - the higher the price per unit of goods, the less in the store the goods themselves, and, consequently, the equipment itself.

Exclusive goods, as a rule, are produced either in single copies or in very small batches, therefore there is not much commercial equipment in the boutiques of the "luxe" category and the placement of things on it is carried out in such a way that each unit is highlighted. This is due to the desire of the buyer to find and purchase an exclusive item in terms of individual service. It is for this "non-serial" that he is ready to pay a round sum. Shops of cheap youth clothes "load" the space with a large amount of equipment and goods. Because these members of the buying public have enough time and desire to "dig around and find something nice" and are attracted to the abundance of things. Therefore, the more fashionable goods you place on your sales area, the "cheaper" your store will look and the more massive your buyer will be. Then you will have to keep prices low enough. It all depends on your trading goals.

When choosing commercial equipment, it is also necessary to take into account the types of hanging and display. Clothing can be hung frontally and sideways. An optimal store layout includes various types of equipment, but it must be borne in mind that clothing should be adequately presented frontally or on mannequins. If the hangers in the store are mostly vertical and the things on them are located sideways, increase the number of mannequins. Certain product groups require special types of equipment. For example, outerwear should be placed on tables, shoes - on special racks, etc. In any case, if a store wants to be "fashionable", it cannot do without decent commercial equipment.

5. Music and smells are those external stimuli that actively influence the subconscious, along with color and lighting. They should also "fit" into the overall concept and be unobtrusive. Radio stations should not be chosen as background music. Even if you have the same target audience with them, the tasks are radically different. Your task is to draw attention to the product, the task of the radio station is to listen attentively. A person attracted by a favorite song or program will go to your store, but the product will only "glide" with his eyes. And those who do not like this radio station will not even go. In addition, even the most famous radio stations can present an unexpected surprise. In one of the Paninter stores, " Russian radio". In the middle of the day, when the store was mostly student audience, the radio suddenly announced: "And now the song of the raccoon will sound from famous cartoon!" and cheerful children's voices began, "From the blue stream……"! The feeling was rather absurd.

Also, do not put albums of specific artists - you can not guess the tastes of buyers. It's best to have music without vocals in the background, this can be a very common "lounge" style of late or, in the case of a classic store, classical music.

Same story with smells. It is not necessary, I think, to explain why in a fashion store there should not be "edible" smells in any case - this is the worst mistake. Faulty business communications can ruin your whole trading day, so it is best to constantly perform preventive maintenance checks. A thick, strong perfume smell will force the buyer to leave the store before he orients himself in the product. The smell should either not be at all, or it should be barely perceptible and finely selected.

Here I can't help mentioning a good air conditioning system - the retail space should be cool and not stuffy. With a lack of oxygen, you can not count on a long stay of the buyer in your store. In the worst case, it can lead to fainting.

The easiest way to test background music and smells is to ask your shop assistants who have been there all day. If at the end of the working day they are sickened by perfume compositions on the trading floor, and a hackneyed song is spinning in their ears, from which there is no way to get rid of - change both.

6. Trade stocks - in the slang of fashion stores there is a term "sorting". It means the possibility of replenishing the size and color ranges of each article on the trading floor. According to the rule of merchandising, the right product must be at the right time in the right place at the right price in order to ensure the necessary turnover and sell most of the collection before the sale, and the sale itself should be carried out with the benefit of both parties - both the buyer and the seller. Subsorting models of the new collection should be done without temporary "gaps" to avoid the "out of stock" situation. Cases of "not brought" and "will be, but tomorrow" must be minimized, and preferably to zero. Unlike consumer goods, fashion goods are rarely "waited" by buyers. Just go to a nearby store and find an analogue. As soon as the article is "washed out" - one color and one or two sizes remain, it is completed, if possible, with other similar articles and hung out in a separate discount zone.

On the subject of a sale. Contrary to popular belief that a seller's dream is to 100% sell the collection before it starts, at the time of the sale, the store should by no means be empty or with a minimum amount of goods. Sale these days is the hottest time for both trade and merchandisers. Buyers love sales, the first meeting of a future loyal customer with a fashion store often happens at this time. This is the period in which the buyer allows himself to enter stores with more expensive brands than he visits during the presentation of new collections and, if he makes a successful purchase at a sale, is able to change the price category to a higher one in the coming season. An empty store leaves the impression of a lack of assortment, poor presentation, and this impression remains in the subconscious of the buyer for a long time. Therefore, the store's stock should be planned taking into account the sale, and visual merchandising for the period of discounts should become very mobile and quickly respond to the rapid "washout" of the assortment - move goods in the hall, complete them with each other in the most profitable way literally on the go. Inventory management ensures the planned sales volume at the beginning of the season and the minimum inventory after the sale.

This review of the specifics of fashion store merchandising does not cover all the techniques that visual merchandising professionals use to create the image of retail spaces. Special short courses-seminars have been created on this topic.