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To maximize sales, leverage consumer psychology and shopping traffic.

 

Essential reading for startups entering the retail marketplace or if your business struggles to obtain the best product placement. You will benefit if you understand the mindset of retailers.

Some examples:

  1. Retailers like to place high-margin items at eye level. They place secondary stock or heavier items on lower shelves.
  2. They like to place the daily-use consumer products at the back of their stores. Why? To motivate consumers to browse other aisles.
  3. To encourage impulse buying or to sell limited-time offers, retailers use endcaps and checkout stands.
  4. To enable cross merchandising, retailers place complementary products side-by-side so shoppers are more inclined to fill their shopping baskets.

Strategies for dealing with retailers

In order for you to sell more products in stores, it’s important to persuade retailers to give your products premium exposure. For maximum sales, it doesn’t necessarily depend on whether your products provide the best product utility, or how affordable or innovative they are.

What matters most? Two components to enable you to get the premium spots on retail shelves. 

How to earn the best spot in retail stores:

  1. Package design.
  2. Marketing.

In essence, you must grab the shoppers’ attention with appealing packaging and you must persuade retailers to effectively showcase your products.

Many businesses start pitching retailers for premium spots even as they’re in the package-developing process, but it’s not necessarily a critical first step.

Package design

There are many aspects to successful retail packaging. Customer preferences and retail-marketing best practices are ever changing. That’s why it’s best to choose a credible package design firm.

For example, decisions must be made on typical concerns:

  1. In some cases — product protection 
  2. Brand identity
  3. Value proposition 
  4. Competitive analysis 
  5. Color scheme
  6. Target market
  7. Material cost
  8. Seasonality
  9. Sustainability 
  10. Retailer packaging requirements

Marketing 

In marketing, you have to successfully negotiate with retailers and to convince them to give you premium shelf space. Big box retailers are the hardest, time-consuming with which to negotiate. 

Many companies start with small retailers for two reasons:

  1. Faster sales revenue.
  2. Once they develop a track record, it’s easier to persuade big retailers to carry their products.

Other factors

Two other considerations:  Co-branding and shelf rental in highly competitive environments. To gain a competitive edge, co-branding is helpful if you’re a startup with limited financial resources. 

Your odds for a successful negotiation will be aided if you partner with a brand that has a strong track record and impressive resources.

Finally, beware that many retailers want a shelf rental.

From the Coach’s Corner, here are more relevant selling tips:

Sales: Mastering and Influencing Consumers Post — To stay abreast of consumers and persuade them to buy, it’s important to take precautions to develop enough insights to accomplish your objectives. Here’s how.

Use Consumer Psychology to Attract Customers — In the selling process, you must be aware of micro-moments. That’s when emotional seeds are planted in the minds of consumers that motivate them to do something. Not to oversimplify, in essence, consumers have four micro-moments.

Psychological Pricing Tips to Sell More Products, Services — Depending on your products or services, psychological pricing is based on the idea that certain prices are more appealing. Here are six options.

Strategies – Beat Competitors by Telling Your Brand’s Story — Buying decisions are based on emotion. So, to engage your target audience, it’s in your best interest to start by effectively telling your brand’s story.

Responding and Capitalizing on Negative Online Reviews — While bad reviews are disconcerting, there is a silver lining. Why? Ironically, bad reviews can lead to positive results for your business success. Here’s how.

“How you sell is more important than what you sell.”

-Andy Paul

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.