NiPoS & Store Design Allow your store to stand out from the crowd! Understanding your target market
Sue Benson, Managing Director at The Market Family comments...
Sue Benson
Any retail or PoS project should start by gaining a real understanding of the shopper to ensure that they can be engaged and persuaded to buy in the best possible way. For the nursery sector this means identifying the type of mum or family member you’re hoping to attract and then the role the store plays in their journey. First time mums are hungry for advice and generally looking for expert guidance from store staff. Conversely, second time mums have been there before, they have a clearer understanding of what they’re looking for and so shop in a much more focused way - their routines have been established and consequently brands need to disrupt this pattern in the retail environment.”
Strong branding and how it can help drive footfall to your store
Here, Heidi Easton of the Shop and Display Equipment Association (sdea) offers retailers some useful advice on PoS
and store design. In our currently depressed economic climate consumer confidence and spend is at an all time low, so good retail design is paramount. Cramped and cluttered stores are where so many retailers go wrong. A modern, minimal interior, backed up by good customer service, is the answer and works every time. This gives the customer more space to shop both physically and emotionally, increasing browse time, and in turn allowing the products to stand out, increasing sales and securing repeat business.
sdea’s top ten tips - Strip out the clutter to create a clean and more spacious environment where the customer feels comfortable and wants to stay longer! - Branding is vital. Whether you are an independent, or multiple the overall design must reflect your corporate identity, brand heritage and outlook. - Consider the products that you stock and how they fit together, what colours and styles work best together, what they convey and what you want to convey to the public.
- Identify your target market and aim your product displays and shopfittings at that audience. - Choose a relevant theme, create a unique feature, enlarge upon it and make it the very essence of your shop. - Stunning windows bring the shoppers in! Be creative, use lots of colour and have fun. When the shop is closed it continues to work so it needs to be powerful!
- Good lighting is essential! It has the ability to make or break a great store layout. Bright lighting is imperative for successful display, way finding and the feel good factor. - Smells and tastes are also important. No one wants to enter a foul smelling store, or changing area! - For the perfect retail mix add a variety of instore events, special offers and customer loyalty benefits to ensure additional footfall and sales in quiet times. - Good customer service – there’s absolutely no point in investing in your store interior unless you invest in your staff. Polite and courteous staff, well informed about the product and willing to help and offer advice when necessary, will win every time.
Usually priced at £10, readers of Nursery Industry will receive a free copy of the sdea Directory of Shopfittings and Display Directory by quoting this feature. Call 01883 348911, or send an email to
enquiries@sdea.co.uk
Secondary to understanding your target market is positioning the brand. During pregnancy and early motherhood women, more often than not, find themselves in a highly emotive and confused state, and so seek beacons that they can associate with and make connections to. Having a strong visual identity is not the only element of this connection, more vital is ensuring you have a clear story with reasons why mums should engage and shop with you.
Marketing messages - how to draw people in
There are many ways to draw people into your store or website, such as having a unique product or service offer. However, one of the primary driver’s in retail marketing is the offer; SALE is still one of the most motivating words in a retailer’s armory. Having a clear and obvious promotional framework is crucial to success as it’s the reason for shoppers to come in today, and buy now, rather than simply pass by or browse your store or website.
Educate the consumer with good PoS material
Samia Khan, Managing Director, aden + anais comments: “At aden + anais, we truly care about both our retail and consumer customers. We don’t want them to just buy our products, we want them to understand why aden + anais is the right choice for their family.
“Through Point of Sale Merchandising, we are able to really educate our customers and highlight features that may not be noted on our packaging. For example, when we first introduced our 100% cotton muslin swaddles, many people didn’t know how to use them. But with our in-store displays, the customer was able to see, first hand, how a swaddle works and the versatility and multiple uses it has. The use of Point of Sale Merchandising doesn’t only grab our customer’s attention, but helps them make an informative purchase decision and builds awareness of our brand.”
Organic baby bedtime specialists, The Little Green Sheep, launched their innovative new Mattress & Moses Basket PoS at the Harrogate Nursery Fair. Marketing Director, Mark Nicholls, spoke about the reasons why they decided to develop PoS and how it can help retailers convert more customers in store: “We believe PoS is absolutely paramount to helping drive sales in-store, with the baby
mattress and Moses Basket category in particular suffering from poor presentation and limited information for parents. That is why The Little Green Sheep has worked hard to develop a solution that not only better communicates the benefits of buying organic & natural products, but also blends well in store and requires no additional space.
"Our Mattress Pod PoS units are unique in that they actually sit within the crib, cot or cot bed itself, combining the purchasing decisions of both products and increasing conversions. By attaching a Little Green Sheep Mattress Pod to a cot, no additional floor or wall space is used and customers can quickly access information whilst also choosing their furniture. The flexible Mattress Pods can also be moved from cot to cot, enabling retailers to offer special mattress /furniture bundles”.
www.nursery-industry.co.uk • APRIL 2012
• NURSERY INDUSTRY
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