NUMARK


Well-positioned categories will help your customers navigate your pharmacy and encourage link purchasing and incremental spend.


catEgorY aDJacEncIES category adjacencies involves merchandising link products and categories next to or near to each other; for example, cold and flu next to cough to create a logical flow and to help the customer to further navigate their chosen category as well as increase the potential for a link sale.


Very often a customer purchasing a cough product may also have a need for a throat lozenge or a decongestant, and ensuring that categories that have a clear relationship are merchandised together will certainly help to increase sales.


bEacon branDIng beacon branding uses the best selling, most recognised brands to assist customers in identifying product subcategories. most shoppers spend around 30 seconds browsing the fixture and won’t spend time reading packs to recognise and select products. Instead, they look for easy to recall ‘visual triggers’ which are made up of colours, patterns and shapes to help them navigate.


think about the power of tV advertising. manufacturers spend hundreds of thousands of pounds convincing the customer to buy their brands. Subliminally, the customers are absorbing this information and use the colours and shapes of brand leaders to help them navigate their way to the subcategory from which they intend to make a purchase. these brand leaders may not always be their purchase intention but they are used as a ‘beacon’.


branD blocKIng brand blocking is a technique which is designed to increase the prevalence of those triggers or ‘beacon’ brands. It is no longer necessary for pharmacy to stock a huge numbers of lines. In fact, all this achieves is customer confusion. bear in mind that 80 per cent of sales will come from 20 per cent of your range. It is much better to double and treble face top-selling products than list ‘me toos’ which have a lower rate of sale and do nothing to add value to the category.


traffIc floW Effective merchandising also relies on the way the customer shops the fixture. traffic flow simply means the way the customer moves through the store to browse products and categories.


customers generally shop from left to right. think about reading a book; browsing a fixture is much the same. It is the assimilation of information before drawing a conclusion. by applying this logic, always ensure that beacon brands are positioned on the left at eye level. also ensure that the larger pack sizes are on the left hand side as this encourages the customer to ‘trade up’.


oWn branD poSItIonIng the days when 'own label' was a cheap alternative are over. leading supermarkets have expanded their own brand range to offer better quality products. consider tesco’s finest and Sainsbury’s taste the Difference - customers are more educated than ever about own brand and understand the value and quality that it delivers.


positioning of own brand is vital. Where an own-brand alternative is available it should be merchandised next or near to its branded


poSItIonIng of oWn branD IS VItal. WhErE an oWn branD altErnatIVE IS aVaIlablE It ShoUlD bE mErchanDISED nExt or nEar to ItS branDED contEmporarY, thErEforE offErIng YoUr cUStomEr a bEttEr ValUE proDUct


contemporary, therefore offering your customer a better-value product.


here we detail a basic customer decision-making process which may help you apply some of the basic merchandising techniques to your business.


• assume consumers shop left to right


• beacon brands signal the start of a new category


• ‘Eye level is buy level’ - high rate of sale products at this level


• merchandise by ailment (ie, chesty, tickly, dry cough)


• merchandise by size (largest to left encouraging trade up)


• merchandise by format (tablet, caps, soluble)


merchandising is important to pharmacy in this ever-increasing competitive market. Your retail space should be working hard for you by generating sales and communicating the right message.


numark provide a series of comprehensive support aptly named 'retail therapy.' Developed to help you get to grips with the retail side of your business, we will provide you with advice and guidance to help you maximise your sales and profitability. •


To find out more call 0800 783 5709* or visit www.numarknet.com *calls may be recorded for training and quality control purposes.


pharmacY In focUS - 17


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