Gone are the days when brick-and-mortar stores used to have a monopoly in the shopping world. Shoppers who once relied exclusively on retail outlets have the option of buying products online. It is indeed true that online shopping is on the rise, leading to competition in physical stores. While online shopping is gaining popularity, brick-and-mortar stores continue to entice shoppers. Increasingly, most online retailers are opening physical stores to attract more sales. And this new idea is called clicks to bricks. In order to maintain profit, shops are currently planning for a backup by developing in-store experiences with physical stores.

Why Clicks to Bricks Matter in Retail?

The pandemic accelerated the digital transformation of every retail business. But, even with the pandemic, online sales represent only a small percentage of total retail sales. Recent studies on consumer shopping behaviors indicate that 55% of consumers prefer to shop in physical stores, while 45% use online shopping. This demonstrates that the pandemic did not entirely knock out physical stores because merchants are still making investments in them. Because of their alluring window displays, competitive product lines, and appealing store designs, brick-and-mortar stores are still successful in attracting customers. Now that more retailers are embracing various platforms to sell their items, visual merchandising planograms have become an important tool to maximize sales regardless of the channel. Planogram aids retailers in shelf planning and optimizing the availability of shelf space for the right product at the right time and place. A well-designed planogram can be vital in motivating shoppers to purchase items other than the ones they are specifically seeking.

Planogram Factors to Consider While Opening Physical Stores

A physical store is challenging to build compared to an online store. As a result, most retailers are implementing planograms for better shelf planning and execution of products to entice shoppers. Physical stores not only help shoppers get to see your products, they also provide a sense of trust among your customers since the service is available both online and offline. The in-store experience shoppers will get from the physical stores cannot be replicated in online stores. Most shoppers want to visit stores and discover new things. Additionally, it allows shoppers to shop in groups. For instance, A family can go shopping and personally experience the products in store. This cannot be experienced if they shopping online. So, the following are some planogram factors to consider while opening a brick-and-mortar store.

• Ensure you have the correct assortment/range: A data-driven assortment plan that aligns with your store or cluster means you can create a planogram that improves performance by aligning your store’s different category roles and matching customer’s demands. Customers in online stores might not always find what they are looking for on the shopping website, or they might think that spending too much time scrolling through the pages or searching for that item is a waste of time. With physical stores, shoppers can go through each aisle and will get the in-store shopping experience. By ensuring you have the correct range on your planogram, it will help you to fill the empty spaces on the shelf, since you would not include discontinued items on your shelves. This leads to a more visually appealing shelf and provides a better shopping experience for your shoppers since they will get what they are looking for without any fuss.
• Analyze online sales data:If a planogram is being implemented on your shopping website, analyzing previous sales data will be informative in designing a better layout for your physical store. This will help you identify consumer demand, best-selling items, and even stock the right items in your store planogram. This will boost your in-store sales and maximize overall retail profit.
• Determine product categories: Effective merchandising in retail is having a good product assortment and displaying them on shelves to entice customers. Planograms will help you in planning and placing the product categories based on target segments and identify how shoppers encounter such items on store shelves. This helps you easily optimize shelf space available for each item based on sales data, and even extend product categories based on customer demand. Let’s say, while choosing some clothing, your customer will consider things like color, fabric, price, or size. For instance, Customer A is motivated by fabric type, like cotton. Whereas Customer B favors warm and light colors of clothing. In either case, you must place goods that appeal to each shopper separately in order to meet their needs.
• Ensure proper inventory management: Like online sales, retailers do not need to worry about managing inventory when it comes to physical stores. It has been reported that 75% of shoppers prefer to return products to a store rather than send them back. This causes overstock, and retailers find it difficult to replenish them with stock on a regular basis. In physical stores, with the help of planograms retailers can control shelf space by communicating to store staff exactly what they should do with the product returns, like where they should be placed in relation to each, and on which shelves they should go. This ensures proper stock management in retail and boost sales.
• Research and think seasonally: Research on matters like consumer demand, their needs, market trends, and more importantly seasonality. Use past retail data to analyze consumer shopping patterns and their behavior to maximize sales. You can also alter planograms based on the holiday or festival season. For example, during the New Year, demand for gifts and greeting cards tends to increase. Similarly, if a festival is coming up featuring products that fit with the occasion, it could draw the customer’s attention. By changing the planogram layout once a month or at any appropriate interval, you can make customers happy and entice them to make purchases.

Overview of Nexgen POG

Nexgen POG is a robust and user-friendly cloud-based visual merchandising tool. It is designed for quick and efficient planogramming with minimal effort. Planogram in retail can be designed by easily dragging and dropping the products. The multi-device compatibility feature of POG allows you to obtain, share and edit planogram on any device, including your phone. It helps in designing store-specific planograms for increased product visibility and sales.

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