Cost Efficiency In Merchandising

70% shoppers leave if they struggle to find the price. Hidden prices lead to: • Frustration • Loss of trust • Delayed decisions You might not have an intention to hide it. And you might show it in the add-to-cart CTA. But the ideal placement is by the product name. This is using the proximity principle. When the price is NOT close to the product name (the usual placement), it will cause them to think. And that’s when visitors would leave. In this post, using Rue Sophie’s PDP, I’ve made 9 changes that tackle such challenges and improve the shopping experience + conversions. 1. Highlight the video of your product. Especially if you're in fashion as that's a competitive space. 2. Have the images with a slider with prominent arrows. Show the sneak peek so the swiping experience looks intuitive. 3. Highlight the model's dress size. This helps shoppers to visualize the best size for them. And imagine the fit better. 4. Place the price next to the product name, instead of in the options of in the add-to-cart CTA. 5. Highlight key features in bullets. Avoid paragraphs. 6. Show the color options when you have 2 or more. If only 1 color, best to hide this section. Make the color prominent and highlight the selected state clearly. 7. Optimize the area around the add-to-cart CTA. Show the delivery time and free delivery or return policy. 8. Have accordions instead of tabs or rich content. This helps shopper read more about what they're most interested in quickly. 9. Lastly, upsell. Complete your look section is a must. You can show matching accessories or other clothing products that go well here. Found this helpful? Let me know in the comments! P.S. If you want to optimize your site,  think about your shopping habits. When you can’t find the price, do you stick around? Probably not. Your customers are no different. Make it easy for them to browse. And you’ll see the benefits in your conversions. #cro #uxdesign

𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗣𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗦𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗢𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝗧𝘆𝗽𝗲𝘀. Over 70% of purchase decisions happen inside the store — not before the consumer enters it. That single statistic should change how every commercial team negotiates space in a hypermarket. In a region where LuLu, Carrefour, Panda, and Danube command billions in annual foot traffic, knowing which display type drives what behavior is a genuine commercial advantage. The global retail display market is already valued at $38.99B in 2024 — and digital signage alone can drive up to 33% sales increases and capture 400% more consumer attention than static signage. Yet most supplier negotiations still focus entirely on listing fees and shelf position, ignoring the strategic power of display format entirely. Here’s what every display type actually does — and when to use each one: 🔵 Endcap Display — End of aisle. Highest traffic. Best for promotions, seasonal launches, and impulse triggers. This is prime real estate — command it or concede it. 🔵 Pallet Display — Bulk pallet stacks at floor level. Signals value and volume. Ideal for FMCG staples, promotional pricing, and high-velocity SKUs. 🔵 Dump Bin — Bargain bin psychology. Creates urgency and perceived value. Perfect for clearance, grab-and-go, or trial-driving small pack sizes. 🔵 Shelf Display — Standard shelf setup. Your baseline. Brand blocking, planogram compliance, and eye-level positioning are the levers here. 🔵 Promotional Island — Standalone promo area in high-traffic zones. Separates your brand from the category shelf entirely. Excellent for NPD launches and mega deals. 🔵 Power Wing — Side hanging display attached to gondola ends. Maximizes secondary placement without negotiating a full endcap. Cost-efficient visibility play. 🔵 Freezer Display — Frozen food section. Cold chain categories require dedicated merchandising. Visibility inside a freezer door is a different science entirely. 🔵 Floor Stack — Stacked product tower in traffic aisles. Volume impression drives perceived popularity and deal urgency simultaneously. 🔵 Checkout Display — Impulsive buy rack. The final conversion moment. Snacks, confectionery, personal care — proximity to payment triggers last-second decisions. In the GCC, where hypermarket penetration is among the highest in the world and modern trade dominates FMCG distribution, display strategy is not a marketing function. It is a commercial and procurement function. Negotiating the right display type — not just shelf meters — is what separates brands that move volume from brands that occupy space. Optimised shelf positioning alone yields a 7% profitability increase and 3% higher gross profit. #Retail #Merchandising #Procurement #SupplyChain #FMCG #GCCRetail #SaudiArabia #CategoryManagement #AdamMostafa #CPO #TradeMarketing #Hypermarket #CommercialStrategy

“Don’t Just Stock It—Make It Count: The MBQ , Availability and Fill Rate Advantage.” In retail, the key to success lies not just in stocking products, but ensuring that the products are adequately stocked is critical for driving sales. Understanding critical inventory metrics—Minimum Base Quantity (MBQ), Availability, Fill Rate—is essential to optimizing sales and meeting customer expectations. Further to truly make an impact, these metrics must be applied at the assortment level. 🔹Minimum Base Quantity (MBQ): Units required on the shelf to maintain product visibility and meet customer demand. It’s not enough for a product to be “available”—it needs to be sufficiently stocked to catch the customer’s eye and drive purchases. It’s a critical measure, its true value is realized when applied to specific assortments that cater to different customer preferences. Ensuring each assortment meets its MBQ helps guarantee that the diverse needs and choices of customers are adequately addressed. 🔹Availability: Is more than just having a product on the shelf—it’s about meeting a set percentage of the MBQ (e.g., 75%) to ensure the product is impactful. If the stock falls below this threshold, the product might as well be considered “unavailable,” as its impact on sales diminishes sharply. Customers expect a range of options within an assortment, and if one part of the assortment is understocked, it can lead to a perception of unavailability even if other products are present. Focusing on availability at the assortment level ensures that all customer needs are met, not just those for the most popular items. 🔹Fill Rate: This measures how well we are meeting customer demand from your current stock, Overall fill rates can be misleading if they don’t reflect the availability of specific products within an assortment that address different customer needs and preferences. By monitoring and optimizing fill rates within each assortment, you can ensure that every customer finds what they’re looking for. 🔸Loss of Sale: When availability falls below the MBQ threshold at the assortment level, you’re not just risking a poor shelf presence—you’re also risking direct financial loss. The loss of sale is calculated by comparing potential sales (based on historical average daily sales) with actual sales on days when availability was low. This analysis can help in minimizing missed revenue opportunities. 🔸Backend Operations: A robust backend—covering vendor fill rates, warehouse stocking, and supply chain speed—is essential for sustaining high MBQ fill, availability, and fill rates at the front end, directly impacting your ability to meet demand and minimize loss of sales. 🔸Benchmarks: Varies between a fashion rand a grocery retailer due to differences in product types, demand patterns, purchase frequency and customer expectations - 1. Fashion Retailer • Availability: 85-90% • Fill Rate: 90-95% 2. Grocery Retailer • Availability: 95-99% • Fill Rate: 98-99%

Most inventory “reduction projects” fail because they start in the wrong place. They start with: “Where do we have too much stock?” Start with: “Where is our cash stuck?” Here’s a simple, practical way to begin. *Step (1): Rank items by inventory value (Pareto) Export your inventory from the ERP. One Excel file is enough. Sort by inventory value by item. You’ll usually see this fast: ~20% of items = ~80% of the value. Don’t waste week 1 arguing about slow movers worth €200. Go where the € is. *Step (2): Add “Days on Hand” Value alone isn’t the full story. Calculate Days on Hand from real consumption: “How long will this stock last at today’s usage?” Now you can spot the real targets: High value + high Days on Hand = the pain zone. That’s where you get cash back fastest. *Step (3): Fix the real lever: frequency Here’s the rule most teams miss: Frequency drives inventory. How often you: -receive deliveries -run production batches Higher frequency → lower average stock. Lower frequency → bigger batches → higher stock. So you don’t “manage inventory.” You change the system that creates it. The simple path: Find the items that matter (Pareto by value) See true exposure (Days on Hand) Increase frequency where it counts One more thing: you don’t need fancy tools to start. Years ago, our client's team cut inventory by 65% (about €145M → €65M) and pushed turns above 30. No new ERP. No Kanban rollout. No AI. Just an ERP export + the right sorting in Excel. The person who drove it was the “underperformer” no one listened to. Question for you: If you could only change one lever this month: smaller batches or more frequent deliveries, which would you pick, and why? _________________________________________ If you like real stories from operations, supply chain, and industrials, not buzzwords, not AI fairy dust, follow me here and join my newsletter: https://lnkd.in/dMGaUj4p

Mastering Assortment Strategy in Retail: 8-Step Approach to Customer Delight The secret to retail success?  It's not just about having products, it's about having the right products for the right customers at the right price.  This is where a robust assortment strategy comes into play. Trying to summarize the assortment strategy through my 20+ years of retail and e-com experience. We will dive deep into how a retailer should tailor assortment to meet the needs of diverse customer cohorts.  This goes beyond simple demographics! 1. KYC (know your customer) - Customer Segmentation (Cohorts) : It can never be a one-size-fits-all strategy.  Analyse data to segment customers based on location (metro vs. tier 2/3 towns), demographics (age, gender, region), lifestyle (high-rise dwellers vs. independent houses), and even pincode-level analysis for e-commerce to deliver personalized experiences. 2. Value for Money (VFM):  Pricing is king! leverage EDLP (Every Day Low Prices), large pack savings, and strategic entry-level priced assortment (think 49/-, 99/- deals) to deliver exceptional value. 3. Seasonality & Festivals:  India's vibrant festivals and seasons are key drivers of demand.  Proactively plan relevant assortment well in advance, ensuring customers find exactly what they need when they need it – building trust and loyalty. 4. Brand Strategy:  A balanced portfolio is crucial.  Strategically incorporate national, challenger, and regional brands to offer diverse choices.  Regional brands, often offering incredible VFM, make an instant connection with the customers. 5. Private Label (PL) Power: In categories where branding is less crucial, private label products offer significant value, driving strong customer stickiness.  This is particularly evident in staples like pulses and dry fruits. 6. Evolving Trends:  The world of retail is constantly changing. monitor emerging trends, innovations & global selection through social media, market research, and supplier insights, ensure to include the latest and most sought-after products into assortment.  Be agile and adapt quickly! 7. Supply Chain Efficiency: Assortment strategy cant be just about marketing; it's about operational efficiency also. Carefully consider supply chain costs, warehousing, and logistics to ensure products are readily available. Availability is the Key 8. Continuous Improvement: Assortment planning is an ongoing process.  conduct quarterly reviews, analyzing velocity, profitability, and emerging trends to continuously optimize offerings.  Consider "assortment modules" for faster scaling and roll-out. This 8 step comprehensive approach will allow to offer a tailored shopping experience that truly resonates with diverse customer base. What are your key strategies for optimizing assortment? Share your insights in the comments! #retail #assortmentstrategy #supplychain #FMCG #ecommerce #merchandising #categorymanagement #omnichannel #indiaretail #valueformoney #privatelabel

Tricks of Merchandising in FMCG In the FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods) sector, effective merchandising is key to driving sales & maximizing product visibility. Here are some specific tricks used to optimize merchandising in FMCG: 1. Planogram Optimization - Data-Driven Shelf Layouts: Use planograms to strategically place products based on sales data, customer preferences & market trends. This ensures that best-selling products are in prime locations. 2. Impulse Purchase Triggers - Checkout Area Placement: Place small, high-margin items like candy, gum & snacks near the checkout to capture last-minute, impulse buys. - Clip Strips and Sidekicks: Hang smaller products on clip strips or sidekicks next to related items to encourage impulse purchases while shopping. 3. Seasonal and Thematic Displays - Timed Promotions: Align product displays with seasonal events, holidays, or special occasions to drive sales. 4. Shelf Talkers and Wobblers - Attention-Grabbing Signage: Use small signs, shelf talkers, or wobblers that stick out from shelves to highlight promotions, discounts, or new arrivals. These visually interrupt the shopper’s journey & draw attention to specific products. 5. Product Facing and Stocking - Full Shelves: Keep shelves fully stocked and products neatly faced to create a sense of abundance. Empty shelves can discourage purchases, as customers might perceive the product as less desirable. 6. End Caps - High-Visibility Displays: Use end caps to display featured or promotional items. These high-traffic areas catch the attention of customers as they navigate the aisles, making them ideal for promoting special offers or new products. 7. Cross-Merchandising - Related Product Placement: Place complementary products together, like pasta with sauce or chips with salsa. This encourages customers to purchase additional items they might not have initially considered. 8. Eye-Level Placement - Prime Real Estate: Position top-selling or high-margin products at eye level, where customers are most likely to notice them. Lower-demand products can be placed on higher or lower shelves. 9. Limited-Time Offers - Urgency Creation: Use limited-time discounts or promotions to create a sense of urgency. Highlight these offers with bright, bold signage to drive immediate purchases. 10. Store Layout Optimization - Customer Flow Management: Design store layouts to guide customers through high-margin product areas. Position essentials like bread or milk at the back of the store to ensure customers pass through other sections. 11. Bundle Offers - Value Packs: Create bundles of related products at a discounted price to encourage customers to buy more items than they originally intended. These merchandising tricks are helped to enhance product visibility, appeal to consumer psychology & ultimately increase sales in the competitive FMCG sector.

🏁 Did you catch who the main sponsor of the new #F1 movie is? It wasn’t random. 🍏 Apple pulled in $40M in sponsorships — and one brand made a bold move that might’ve changed the game. 🎬 Producer David Leener’s team pitched brands a simple but powerful idea: “We’re creating a fictional F1 team. 🏎️ Want to sponsor it?” 💰 The price tag? Multi-millions 🎥 The upside? Brad Pitt wearing your logo for 2.5 hours in a film that’s likely to become iconic With a $250M production budget, they turned to brand integrations to recoup costs — a strategy that’s had highs (Reese’s in E.T., 🥤Pepsi/Nike in Back to the Future II, 📦FedEx in Cast Away) and lows (Transformers overload). 📉 In the 2000s, product placement took a hit — mocked, memed, overdone. 📈 But now… it’s back. 📊 New YouGov data shows: 43% of consumers prefer product placement to traditional ads Gen Z finds it more effective 88% better recall than standard commercials 🔥 Enter Expensify This wasn’t a logo slap — it was full-on narrative integration. 🏎️ Fictional team name: “Expensify APX GP” 🎙️ Brand woven into dialogue 📸 Visibility in every race scene They weren’t buying impressions. They were buying relevance. 💡 Expensify understood something critical: Success wouldn’t be measured in clicks or CPMs — but in brand perception, trust, and long-term impact. 📉 Too many brands obsess over short-term attribution and ignore top-of-funnel demand creation — leading to shrinking market share. 📈 Expensify went the other way. 🚨 At The Met Gala, Damson Idris wore the Expensify racing suit. Within hours: 📈 Sign-ups spiked 400% 💬 Social media exploded 💸 $0 spent on paid ads Because consumers don’t hate ads... ❌ They hate bad ads. ✅ They love relevant ones that are cleverly integrated. Expensify cracked the code — and early signs show they’re on pace for 5:1 ROI. 🔁 #F1Movie #marketing #sponsorship #brandtrust #demandcreation #brandimpact #productplacement #Expensify #bradpitt #damsonidris #metgala #F1 #GenZ #brandmarketing

𝗠𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗘𝗮𝘀𝘆 Retail Field Notes ● February 19 The best retail presentations don’t add complexity. They remove friction. A recent walk through the men’s floor at Scheels in Eden Prairie reinforced how consistently strong execution can elevate even the most straightforward categories. This 7Diamonds presentation is a strong example of that discipline in action. At its core, the assortment is simple. T-shirts and pants. Familiar product. But the execution lifts it well beyond a basic folded table. The fixture strategy immediately creates interest. Multiple tiers allow the assortment to be viewed from every angle, with merchandise presented at 45-degree sightlines that make the shop approachable from all sides. A wood beam hung from the ceiling and draped with industrial lights help frame the space. The mannequin positioned above the presentation adds height and clarity. A simple polo, sunglasses, and chain complete the look, quietly showing how the product works together. Apparel remains the hero, but Scheels smartly extends the story. Dr. Squatch colognes, Melin hats, and Scheels-branded chains sit just behind the core apparel, creating natural add-on opportunities without disrupting flow. It feels considered rather than forced. Small details reinforce the quality of execution. Wood crates ground the 7Diamonds brand. A single plant softens the presentation. Product signage is minimal but informative. Even the sale-colored bottoms are merchandised more discreetly toward the back, allowing the presentation to remain clean and premium. Nothing here is loud. That’s intentional. Scheels consistently succeeds by making shopping feel easy while still creating visual interest. The customer understands where to look, what goes together, and how to build an outfit within seconds of approaching the fixture. That level of clarity doesn’t happen by accident. It comes from strong merchandising standards and a clear understanding of how presentation supports selling. For other retailers, the lesson is simple. When fixtures, product, and styling work together, even basic categories feel elevated. The store does the explaining for you. An extended analysis on Substack: https://lnkd.in/gjTSbX8n 7Diamonds Dr. Squatch melin Scheels

Last week I reviewed a retailer's buying process. Solid brand. Good stores. They still had six figures frozen in excess stock. Here's what they missed before line 1 of the PO. A buyer walks out of a supplier meeting excited about a new range. Places the order that afternoon. Three months later the stock lands into a slow season and a full warehouse. The markdown clock is already running. Ask what went wrong and most teams say: the product didn't sell.  The product is usually fine. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘆. Open to Buy is that budget. One formula. Four inputs. OTB = Planned Sales + Planned Markdowns + Planned EOM Stock − BOM Stock The result is the maximum you can commit in that period. A limit - not a target. 1/ Planned Sales - the anchor ↳ Built from last year's actuals, not last year's plan. Under-plan and you stockout. Over-plan and you overbuy. 2/ Planned Markdowns - the hidden input ↳ Every promotion cuts the retail value of stock you already hold. Exclude this and you structurally overbuy every season you run a promotion. 3/ Planned EOM Stock - the bridge to next month ↳ Too low = next month's stockout. Too high = next month's excess. This is how periods link together. 4/ BOM Stock - the reality check ↳ Stock on hand plus stock on order. On order is already spent. Forget committed orders and you are over budget before placing a single new one. See the full framework - formula, component breakdown, three disciplines, four KPIs - in the image below 👇 Three numbers before your next buying meeting: → $1.77T - the global cost of inventory distortion. Overstock and stockout combined.   → 74% of SMBs use promotions to exit excess stock. Most of that excess came from buying without a plan, not from demand shocks. → 11% of annual revenue is lost by businesses due to poor inventory management, driven by inefficiency, waste, and missed demand. The buyer who overbuys rarely lacks product knowledge. They lack a guardrail. The question in every buying meeting should not be "What should we buy?" It should be: "𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗲 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺?" OTB does not constrain buying. It constrains buying the wrong thing. 💬 Do your buyers calculate OTB before the meeting or only after the PO is raised and the warehouse is already full? 📌 Save this before your next range review or seasonal buy. ♻️ Share with a buyer who has had to explain an overstock position they did not see coming. —  Playbook #19 of 100. One retail playbook at a time — for store leaders, category managers, and retail operators. Follow Anand Ganesh Rao for the rest.

Assortment Planning: Where Strategy Meets the Shop Floor In apparel retail, the success of a season depends not only on what you sell but also on what you choose to stock. That’s the job of Assortment Planning. What is Assortment Planning? It is the structured process of deciding the right mix of products across: -Categories (shirts, denim, dresses) -Subcategories (casual shirts vs formal shirts) -Attributes (sizes, colors, fabrics, price points) -Store clusters (flagship vs small format, metro vs Tier-2) The goal is simple: offer customers choice without creating clutter and maximize return on investment. How is it done? Start with sales data -Analyze historical sell-through, GMROI, and size curves. Example: If black slim-fit jeans sold 80% sell-through last season, but wide-leg denim only did 45%, you adjust the future buy accordingly. -Balance breadth and depth -Breadth = number of styles offered. -Depth = number of units per style. -A wide breadth ensures variety, depth ensures availability. -Too much breadth means thin depth (risk of stockouts). Too much depth means excess inventory. -Work with a budget framework Suppose your seasonal buy budget is $2 million. You split it across categories: Men’s: 50% ($1 million) Women’s: 40% ($800,000) Kids: 10% ($200,000) Within Men’s ($1 million): Shirts: 40% ($400,000) Denim: 30% ($300,000) Outerwear: 20% ($200,000) Accessories: 10% ($100,000) This breakdown ensures a strategic spread of investment. -Factor in seasonality and fashion risk Example: Outerwear gets higher weight in winter but drops in summer. -You might allocate 70% of your buy to core styles (repeat sellers) and 30% to fashion forward risk styles. -Tailor by region and store type -Metro stores may sell more premium styles, Tier-2 towns may respond better to value-driven ranges. -Assortment planning ensures localization of the product mix. Why is it critical in apparel retail? -It prevents overbuying and underbuying. -It reduces markdowns and increases full-price sell-through. -It ensures the right sizes are available (no more running out of M or L while XS gathers dust). -It makes inventory work harder by aligning buys with consumer demand. A simple way to think of it: -Assortment Planning is like curating a restaurant menu. -Too many dishes confuse customers and increase waste. -Too few and people don’t return. -The right menu keeps them satisfied and coming back. Next time you walk into a store and see a well balanced collection where every piece feels intentional, remember behind that display was a carefully built assortment plan.