The evolution of merchandising reflects the constant renewal of brand and retail strategy over the years, in order to appeal to an increasingly volatile consumer. Let's take a moment to look at the evolution of merchandising.<\/p>\n
In the early days of trade, goods were displayed on open-air stalls or on the ground. Fabrics, basic necessities, clothes... To sell them, they relied above all on the oratorical talents of the merchant who, positioned behind his goods, would call out to shoppers and extol the merits of his products. The two parties would then discuss the price until an agreement was reached.<\/p>\n
In 1852, the dynamic changed completely. Aristide Boucicaut, a French entrepreneur and businessman, had a brilliant idea: why not bring hundreds of items together in one place and allow customers to choose freely?
\nKnown as \"Au Bon March\u00e9\" (later \"Le Bon March\u00e9\"), this establishment was the pioneer of commerce as we know it today and marked the beginning of self-service. It was soon copied in France and even abroad.
\nA true visionary, Aristide Boucicaut is considered to be the father of the modern shop. It was under his impetus that concepts such as layout and price recording came into being. These concepts were gradually refined, reaching another milestone in 1963.<\/p>\n
In 1963, the French discovered the concept of the hypermarket. Thousands of items are grouped together over a surface area of several hundred square metres. While Le Bon March\u00e9 had around a hundred items, the first hypermarket in the Paris region (Carrefour Sainte-Genevi\u00e8ve-des-Bois - 91) had just over 4,000 items on a surface area of 2,500 m2! <\/p>\n Merchandising cuts across the interests of 3 players: the consumer (the customer), the distributor (the point of sale) and the producer (the manufacturer).<\/p>\n The challenges of merchandising are different for each party:<\/p>\n For a long time, merchandising was the preserve of manufacturers. They wanted to protect their market share and know how their products were positioned on the shelves. This ensured optimum management of the space allocated to their brand in shop, and guaranteed profitability. Merchandising - or \"merch\" - brings together a range of linear optimisation techniques.<\/strong> The aim of these techniques is to highlight products while optimising their display surface on the point of sale shelves. The aim of merchandising is to draw consumers' attention to a brand's products and encourage them to make a purchase. The aim of highlighting the product range is to increase sales. And, as a result, sales.<\/p>\n The concept of merchandising originated with Charles H. Kepner. In his 1963 book \"Modern Supermarket Operations\", he set out the famous \"5B Rule\". This rule is still widely used today.<\/p>\n The 5Bs are: the right product, in the right place, at the right time, in the right quantity and with the right information.<\/strong><\/p>\n By the \"good product<\/strong>Good merchandising means good assortments. Optimal merchandising depends in part on the choice it offers in terms of price, quality and the variety of products available to the consumer. Good merchandising must therefore offer a perfect product mix.<\/p>\n The \" right place \"<\/strong>This is where the products are positioned on the shelf and\/or at the point of sale. Is it at the top or bottom of the shelf? At the entrance to the shop? In the hot or cold zone? At the checkout? Most of the time, the distribution of products is determined by a very specific positioning strategy to encourage the act of buying. Some of the most common strategies include highlighting new products and impulse buying through permanent merchandising,<\/a>\u00a0 but also on one-off merchandising<\/a> during periods such as sales or destocking operations.<\/p>\n Who would bet on sales of sun creams taking off in December? The reason: you have to choose the \"a good time<\/strong>The calendar has a direct impact on what customers want: Valentine's Day, Easter, back-to-school, Christmas... This is why the products promoted are not the same from one season to the next or during \"high points\".<\/p>\n A customer who is loyal to his product is a customer who will not hesitate to seek it elsewhere. So to avoid stock-outs, you need to make sure you have the product in stock. \"good quantity<\/strong>. Effective merchandising also means having a shelf with no gaping holes and regular restocking. But the right quantity also means knowing how to adapt to your target, such as selling a product individually to singles or in a pack of 8 for a large family.<\/p>\n It's so annoying to be interested in a product, to want to buy it only to find that you can't see the price tag or the information sheet! It's important for customers to have the \"good information<\/strong>. Beyond the legal obligation to display information, this information (composition, label, price, etc.) encourages sales. Increasingly, it enables consumers to compare products and meet specific expectations (price per kilo, organic label, product origin and labels, etc.).<\/p>\n As we have seen, the concept of self-service was born, followed by the concept and science of merchandising. In its wake came the profession of merchandiser. Like merchandising, the profession of merchandiser has undergone many changes over the years.<\/p>\n A merchandiser is a man or woman in the field who is responsible for optimising the visibility of brands on shelves and the quality of product display. In a caricatural way, we could say that the merchandiser was the \"arm\" of merchandising.<\/p>\n But at the dawn of the 2000s, the scandals linked to the \"d\u00e9lits de marchandage\" (bargaining offences) involving certain supermarket chains put a major stop to certain practices.<\/p>\n These various scandals had an immediate impact on the number of interventions carried out at the point of sale. In the wake of the lawsuits, chains stopped funding ongoing maintenance. Merchandising is now carried out by shop staff or by the manufacturers themselves via their sales force<\/a>. Even today, the role and remit of the merchandiser are constantly evolving and expanding, and are no longer limited to traditional physical interventions.<\/p>\n The job of merchandiser now requires more technical skills, combining both know-how related to the job and interpersonal skills that require the development of human and relational skills. Today's merchandisers give advice, recommend product orders, provide information and produce reports using their tablet or smartphone. Because consumers have new expectations, the needs of manufacturers have also evolved. The automation of tasks and the rise of digital technology have provided merchandisers with new tools that enable retailers to monitor more precisely than ever, and in real time, the work they do on their shelves, the installation of point-of-sale displays (shelf stoppers, displays, shelf headers, touch screens, etc.), their impact and, above all, to measure the ROI (return on investment) of their campaigns more accurately. <\/p>\n It's easy to see that merchandising is essential in this vast battle. It is becoming an essential tool for making products and brands stand out in the eyes of consumers. Far from simply optimising shelf space, the levers of merchandising have also diversified: simplifying in-store routing, dramatising the product offer through presentation, layout and point-of-sale advertising, animation, digitalisation, etc. Merchandising is more important than ever in maximising sales, so it still has a bright future ahead of it. While its original role of promoting products remains, it is no longer the only one. Given the profile of the 21st century shopper, merchandising plays a key role in the customer experience...<\/p>\n Il \u00e9tait une fois le merchandising… L’\u00e9volution du merchandising est […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4639,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"two_page_speed":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-expertises","category-metiers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sigeurope.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sigeurope.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sigeurope.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sigeurope.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sigeurope.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4638"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.sigeurope.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4670,"href":"https:\/\/www.sigeurope.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4638\/revisions\/4670"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sigeurope.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sigeurope.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sigeurope.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sigeurope.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nBasically, the principles remain the same: products are displayed on shelves, self-service frees consumers from the pressure to buy, profit margins are reduced and sales are regular.
\nFor manufacturers (or producers), the hypermarket is an opportunity to reach more people very quickly and generate more profits. To establish their brands, retailers initially focus on one factor: price. It's all about demonstrating to consumers that they won't find a better deal elsewhere for the same value.
\nOver the decades, as demand has grown and the market has become ultra-competitive, we have realised that it is no longer enough for a product to be displayed on a shelf or to be the cheapest to end up in the customer's shopping trolley or basket.
\nA major challenge then arises: how do you enhance the offer and capture the attention of consumers in the midst of so many references?
\nThis is where the merchandising<\/a> comes into play.<\/p>\n3 players, 3 different but converging objectives<\/h2>\n
\n
\nTheir merchandising responded to techniques and a rigorous methodology<\/a>This is supported by elaborate planograms and in-depth market research.
\nSince the 1980s, the decades that have followed have seen the experimentation and application of numerous merchandising implementation techniques. This is true for both manufacturers and distributors.<\/p>\nBeyond science and techniques, a genuine strategy<\/h2>\n
The 5-B rule<\/h2>\n
The right product<\/h3>\n
The right place<\/h3>\n
The right time<\/h3>\n
The right amount<\/h3>\n
The right information<\/h3>\n
The merchandiser, the product enhancement expert<\/h2>\n
The merchandising profession has also evolved<\/h3>\n
\nUntil the early 2000s, the work of a merchandiser was virtually the same as that of a salesperson. They were involved in permanent merchandising missions focused on the organisation of space. Merchandisers were 'multi-client', meaning that they often worked for several manufacturers at the same time:<\/p>\n\n
\nAlongside merchandising, the merchandising profession has also undergone profound changes, mainly driven by the rise of digital technology.<\/p>\nMeet the Merchandiser 4.0<\/h3>\n
\nGone is the role of simple executor: with the feedback they receive from their work at the point of sale, merchandisers are now 'connected' and have a fully-fledged role to play in the chain of analysis of the famous data. A watchword: versatility, in addition to the dynamism, rigour, commercial flair and listening skills required of them.<\/p>\n
\nAnd there is now this interest in what is now known as the \"shopper\", often likened to a sort of chameleon consumer who juggles between the multiple channels available to him - store and web. Freed from physical and geographical constraints, hyper-solicited, hyper-connected and over-informed, the 2.0 shopper has more time to think and a virtually unlimited range of products to choose from.
\nThe challenge for brands is to capture the consumer's attention in order to encourage the act of purchase and build loyalty. Faced with a more volatile consumer, merchandising becomes a lever for improving and strengthening the user experience (UX) and the customer experience (CX).<\/p>\nPerspectives<\/h2>\n
\nWhen using the 5B strategy, the sales professional must not forget that human beings are above all sentimental creatures. For consumers to have confidence in an item or a brand, they need to feel that they share its values. That's why merchandising is relying more and more on the emotional.
\nMoreover, in recent years we have seen the emergence of new trends such as emotional merchandising and e-merchandising.<\/p>\n\n
You want to be sure that your point-of-sale displays comply with your merchandising rules<\/a>to your planograms and negotiated terms?
\nOur teams of merchandisers, with their expert profiles and autonomous pilots, can work on permanent merchandising assignments, one-off merchandising projects or as part of a project in commando<\/a>.
\nContact us!<\/h6>\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"