A Guide to Grocery Merchandising
July 9, 2021
Just because customers consider food a necessity, it doesn’t mean that store owners shouldn’t put work into grocery merchandising. In fact, a little more attention in this area can offer a huge return on investment.
What Is Grocery Merchandising?
At the most basic level, merchandising displays refer to the areas of the grocery store with products in places other than the regular aisles. End caps, free-standing pallet displays, and even point-of-purchase displays are all great examples. These displays can (and should be) changed out frequently. The purpose is to draw attention to specialty products — think: new arrivals, special deals, or seasonal food and drinks.
However, that’s not to say you should overlook the shelves! Where you put everyday necessities and how they are merchandised throughout the aisles also plays a key role in creating loyal customers who know where to find exactly what they’re looking for.
Different Merchandising Techniques
Shelf Placement: There’s a reason that the phrase “top shelf” exists. More expensive grocery items need to be placed on higher shelves and displays, impulse buys need to be at eye level (called “reach”), and the lower levels should be reserved for the items customers will buy no matter the brand or price. Place generic or store brand items to the direct right of their branded competitors, and merchandise-related items across the aisle from each other.
Promotional Products: As we mentioned above, these are the products that will go on freestanding displays, end caps, gondolas, and other non-aisle merchandising displays. Focus on products that will give your grocery store the biggest profit margin, and not just the hottest, cheapest items in the store. One pro tip: Add a store brand product to every promotional display to boost sales.
Fresh Food/Produce: Use color theory when merchandising fresh produce. There’s a lot of green in this department, and if you don’t get creative your customers’ eyes could get overwhelmed and make it hard for them to shop. Add interest in the bakery department with custom cases, stagger levels of product in the deli section, and don’t be afraid to use props to make things really interesting.
More Merchandising Tips
- Focus on optimizing the merchandising in the front 10 feet of your grocery store. Research shows that customers are paying close attention to this area and stocking best sellers here will improve the chance they’ll pick it up on the way to get what they need
- Lighting can illuminate the way for shoppers. Your merchandising displays deserve to have the best possible lighting, especially if you have high-end or luxury food and beverage items. Invest in displays that have quality, built-in lighting to make this easy.
- Along with appealing merchandising displays, you can help grocery store shoppers make an educated buying decision with supplemental signage. Make them just as stylish as the rest of your store with plenty of product and pricing information.
- Get creative with your merchandising and encourage customers to share images on social media. Invest in top-quality merchandise displays that look amazing in the background of Instagram photos or provide a canvas for an easily-shared image from your Facebook business page.
Working With the Pros
We are your one-stop shop for merchandising in the grocery store. The advantage we offer over our competitors is the breadth of our capabilities including, but not limited to temporary corrugated displays, semi-permanent displays, permanent retail fixtures, and premium acrylic displays. Whatever your need for merchandising in the grocery store, we have the capability and experience to execute.
We help drive customer’s brand preferences and ultimately, sales. From concept through distribution our capabilities are not limited by the medium, retail channel, customer size, or delivery requirements. We are committed to transforming great ideas into even greater examples of the finest quality merchandising equipment while maximizing the visual impact of our customers’ products.
With PFI we help you win more sales through innovation and excellence in the delivery of custom branded merchandising systems. Our US manufacturing facilities have delivered our award-winning products faster, with less hassle, at a lower total cost of ownership for over 50 years. Consider PFI for your custom branded display and merchandising solutions.
