Creating Great Walls

Wing walls can be used to create great, innovative displays by adding full body forms with product underneath. If there are higher volumes of merchandise use either bust forms or bottom forms to create a display and double hang the items.

Quote of the Week

Advertising moves people toward goods; merchandising moves goods toward people.

~ Morris Hite

Simple Visual Technique

One easy way to create a simple visual effect on any wall is to place product on their hangers (usually over lapping a bit) to create a display. Anything from shirts to pants can be hung this way. However this simple idea can be taken a step further to look a bit more elegant and create a greater effect.

Simply take three wooden hangers. Hang a pair of men’s dress pants on them by folding the pants in half. Then hang the pants side by side on the wall. This will create a more streamlined look while also breaking up the wall,

Quote Of The Week

“Top” management is supposed to be a tree full of owls-hooting when management heads into the wrong part of the forest. I’m still unpersuaded they even know where the forest is.”

-Robert Townsend

New Technology Coming Soon

Be prepared for new technology hitting the stores this year.

Biometric payments using fingerprints taken by using a scanner will link consumers to their bank accounts and credit cards. A survey taken in 2008 found that 60% of shoppers say that this technology will be useable by 2015.

Interactive shopping carts will grace the isles of retail shops. The smart carts will have video screens that will allow consumers to locate products, check prices, and scan purchases.

Digital mirrors will use cameras to project a holographic image of clothing to see how it will fit without trying on the item.

Innovative Displays

Stock Room Renovation

Out of sight out of mind. That is the philosophy that many have when it comes to the stock room, but a clean stock room can help boost sales.

Think of it this way. A customer is looking for a size 10 bootcut levi. The sales person must climb over boxes blocking shelves, root through various piles spastically spread out of the shelves. This takes time and often the item in question gets overlooked until it is time to clear the stock room when new clearance is marked down.  Now the same customer is looking for the same pair of pants. The employee walks into the stock room, locates the section where the pants are and can easily scan the shelf for the item.

Keeping the stock rooms clean may seem daunting, but can be easily done. First the best way to start is by identifying how to break the stock room up. Does everything from the women’s department go into it or just women’s career and pants. Decide if the area needs to be broken up by sub department (juniors, plus, career, etc…), by product (jeans, t-shirts, sweaters), by brand or whatever works for your store. From personal experience I had two stock rooms to deal with for one department (one behind the register and one on the other side of the store). To make it easy for my employees I separated the stockrooms by demand. Since junior, seasonal, and pants were checked for the most in my store that is what went into the stock room behind the register.

Hours can be hard to come by when sales are down, so pick a time of the day (usually early morning) and get an employee who is good with direction and needs little supervision to ‘sort’ the stock room. Pulling them for a hour or two for a day can put a big dent in the project. Also try to stick with the same two or three people doing the cleaning. This way they know the expectations and have a good process going that doesn’t need to be interrupted by throwing in someone new.

Although this is the most time consuming part to separate everything it is important to train everyone in the department about where things are, the process of putting things away, and how to keep it clean. Even my most critical staff members were converted to believers when the saw with ease how they could find items and took it upon themselves to speak to anyone who messed with it.

The next step is to stage an area for clearance. Each time mark downs happen pull someone to pull all clearance items to one area in the stock room. This way as clearance items sell down pulling out more to fill the rack takes seconds.

Keep another area segregated for “the mess.” Yes, it happens. There are days when the wrap desk back up and the fitting room explodes. Keeping the mess contained to these areas is a big no-no. Get a cart, a rolling rack, anything and fill it with the over flow. Pull that into an out of the way area in the stock room to keep it out of the employees way and out of the customers sight.

The last set is training. The most important thing to do is walk the stock room with employees and set expectations. Show them where things are and let them know that keeping it clean is now part of the recovery process. Most importantly show them the “mess” area. Set the expectation of when it’s dead in the fitting room they work the rack there or every morning during recovery someone is responsible for the rack. Usually this is the responsibility of the fitting room person.

Keeping stock rooms clean should become as high of a priority as recovery of a store. Remember this is a continual process that makes fill much easier.

How Happy Is Your Team?

How Happy Are Your Employees? More Importantly Will The Good Ones Stay?

Working in retail it always seemed like there were the people who loved their job and the people who were there just to get a pay check. let’s face it retail is a thankless job; low pay, crazy hours, and customers aren’t always pleasant. When star employees pop up it seems like a blessing. Even with the tough times we are in managers got to remember that when consumer confidence returns  voluntary turnover rates increase. Retention of star employees are essential. There are several things that any manager can do to retain employees without spending anything.

1. Give Praise- Yes, it’s that simple. It’s often overlooked, but letting an employee know what they are doing well and how much they are valued goes a long way. Tie the praise to something that the employee did or something that they excelled at.

2. Build Skills- Standing behind a register all day or even doing the same job over and over can get boring. Often talking to an employee managers can find out what they are interested in or other areas in which they want to grow. Though teaching them new skills it is a way to keep employees engaged and interested in their work. It also great to have employees that are cross-trained in various areas in a store.

3. Communicate- In times of economic downturn fear runs high especially in retail. Keeping an open line of communication is important. Be honest, be open, but be truthful. Employees take their cues from management, but they can also tell when they are being lied to or aren’t getting the full truth.

Credit Card Changes Effecting Sales

In a recent report from comScore, Inc. it was found that once a consumer lost confidence in a card that 55% used it less, 27% no longer used it, and 12% closed the account.

What has caused this? Though a series of both government regulations and economic factors the credit card industry has reacted by making a series of changes to their credit card terms and conditions.

“This past year has been very volatile in the credit card industry, both for issuers and consumers,” said Kevin Levitt, comScore vice president. “With the economic environment and regulatory mandates prompting issuers to make product adjustments, an already financially-sensitive consumer is responding with dissatisfaction and an increasingly negative perception of their card issuer. Understanding the current sentiment and common concerns among consumers will be critical to success over the next year”

Some of the changes that have taken place included increased APR/interest rates, reduced credit limits, or additional fees. Consumers have reacted to this by changing their spending habits or even defecting from the brand.

Increasing Sales Through Cross Merchandising

Simple ways for cross merchandising can appear anywhere in a store. Here are a few simple ideas:

Mannequins: Pick a popular selling top and add shoes, jewelry, or a bag it. Make sure that the apparel is on a fixture nearby. Consider adding t-stands to displays of mannequins in the isle.

Table Tops: Add bust or bottom forms to the top of the table. Accessorize with belts, shoes, scarves, etc…

White Hangers: Add the hangers to the walls or to four-ways and display the garment with a piece of jewelry, a scarf, etc…

Furniture: Add pillows or throws to couches. Put items on a coffee table. Behind the display make sure to display the items on racks or another fixtures.