Education

Instore Promotion

December 16, 1998 | By: deaneparkes

Last month I covered the foundation of health store retailing “Education”. This month I cover the 2nd key factor “Instore Promotion”.

When I talk of instore promotion I am not only speaking of having a sale or a product demo. Your store, how it looks, feels and sounds creates impressions on your customers. Your customers want their shopping experience to be pleasant, convenient, caring and fast. I believe that with the increase in consumer awareness of health products and the emergence of many more retail outlets selling similar products a deciding reason people will come back to your store is from the positive impressions they leave your store with.

I will not be able to cover all there is to store layout , and product merchandising however I hope I can inspire you to keep your store in a state of continual change. If you approach your store with new ideas, creativity and lots of imagination you will see results in greater profits.

• Critic your store – Most people come to their store in a rush to open and leave quickly at night tired. After a while the faded poster in the window, the ragged floor display, and the dusty window become permanent fixtures. We must do everything in our power to avoid this. A couple of solutions would be to ask a friend [you trust will be honest and you love so you don’t punch] to walk your store once a week and tell you what they think needs changing. Often an outside person will give you more honesty than paid staff. I found 2 supplier reps who helped me a great deal Richard Vignola [Horizon] and Fred Hagadorn[Greens Plus].Another idea is to make a checklist [see end for suggested points] that you can fill out each week.
• Cleanliness –You may not agree with their products but Macdonald’s and Disney World identified cleanliness as their #1 key to success. Sure they have other reasons but their extreme fanatical approach to cleanliness creates a big impression on the customers. In the health industry our stores must be spotless. If you and your staff are not keeping up with cleaning hire an outside person to come in daily. They can have regular daily, weekly and monthly schedules made. I guarantee it will pay for itself. Create a CLEAN TEAM. Tom Peters the business management guru says he can tell how successful a company is by how clean their washrooms are…go figure!
• Layout – Every store space is different. The key is to have products placed so the customer has an easy time finding what they need. Creating mini selling sections within the store is the ideal situation i.e.: body care, aromatherapy, sports nutrition, herbal supplements, woman’s health, anti-aging health, organic products, a reading – education area etc. Ideally there should be space for people to pass in the aisles, not feel crowded and be able to discuss intimate concerns with some privacy. Each section should have some kind of a break between them. I still go into stores where the food items run into body care. This makes a subtle negative impression.

If you have the same layout you had one year ago change it! You will be surprised at the reenergized feeling in the store and the increase in sales as regular customers find products they had never seen.

• Signage- You need to have well written [we boomers need larger print] signs placed around the store to help customers find what they want with ease. Signs for each section is a start but effective shelf signs really sell product. A shelf talker [sign on a shelf] is like a silent sales person who works for you all day, costs very little and needs no supervision. This is one area health stores in general fall way short. The ultimate would be one shelf talker for every 4′ section of shelfs. What? I hear you saying this would make your store look cluttered? Not if done right. For stores that can afford it [it isn’t too expensive] make a generic shelf talker with your store name on it. This you can use for sale items, a store favorite product, product information, or to show a new product. Ask your suppliers for signs they have. Please use them and increase your sales. Put this on your check list to change on a regular basis.
• Information – Put some attention on creating a great book/handout area. If possible make it cozy, perhaps a bench. How else do we sell our products? Our labels say nothing and we are “supposed” to say nothing [mind you I never followed this rule], so books and handouts are the way to sell more products. The longer someone spends in the information area the better chance they buy more and are more informed. A rule I had was when a person purchased a supplement and we had information on the supplement we made a point of giving them information. I feel strongly that if the person reads the info the product has even a better chance of working [placebo effect]. Have great product files near the sales area! Charts in sections help sell i.e.: Aromatherapy charts, herb charts, body care by skin type, how to use beans, recipes, etc. Alive magazine [sure it costs money, sure it’s biased but it sells product] or other magazines, your own newsletter [will increase your sales by 15-20%] and any other good product information you can give to customers. When I had a few vitamin stores we had a nice Vitamin chart we gave out. We gave it value by presenting it to the customers as a “gift” and as thanks for shopping in our store. I know retailers who feel this is imposing on their customers. I do not remember anyone feeling imposed but quite the opposite they thanked us , asked for more to give to family and friends and constantly came back clutching the chart asking for suggestions from the information on it. Creative bag stuffing is a lost art and give customers a reason to come back to your store.  Remember only 3% of customers will pick up a brochure so hand them one, put it in their bag [not when they look the other way] and get rid of all that literature that may be laying around under your counter.

Customer Service:

• Entire books are dedicated to this subject but for this article I will only comment on the first impression the people working the store make. How are they dressed, do they look healthy, do they walk their talk, do they care, do they smile easily, are they enthusiastic, do they have a sense of humour ,are they committed to the wellness message etc. Anything less and all the fancy surroundings will be forgotten.

Spying – A must for great retailing. Remember most of your business comes from 8kms around your store. Make a regular habit of “spying” on every retailer who sells your products. Also check on the big mass guys for merchandising ideas. Generally they have great product presence. 

Final Comments – I only touched the surface but instore merchandising and promotion are extremely important. Remember some vital statistics. 65% of a consumers buying decision are made while in the store, a product floor display increases sales 430%, having 2 facings of a product increases sales 150%, having a large easy to read sign on display increases sales 400%, a product sale peaks after 3 weeks and usually sales after 6 weeks are the same as when the product was not on sale.