Effective merchandising strategies, how to strengthen your shelf placement

You've worked hard to develop an amazing product that will revolutionize the industry and meet unmet consumer needs. You've also managed to gain distribution at key retailers and shoppers love your product. So, what are you doing to keep your product on store shelves?

Most brands and retailers put all their effort and energy into getting a product on store shelves. Few put as much energy into keeping it there. This is a colossal mistake that can ultimately impact the strength of your entire brand portfolio. Where and how your products are merchandised on retailers shelves is critically important to your brands survival.  

Getting the product on a retailers shelf is sometimes easier than keeping it there. Some brands rely exclusively on brokers and distributors to manage their distribution. While this can be an effective strategy to getting your product on a stores shelf, it is not necessarily the best strategy to manage the ongoing relationship with the retailer.

This is why I recommend that brands partner with their brokers and distributors and work closely with the retailer to help support your brand. Working together, you can aggressively strive to develop, implement and execute strategies to grow sustainable sales for both you and your retailer partners. You can leverage their strengths to maximize your growth.

Tips for keeping your brand on the shelf

Store shelf space is limited and competition is fierce. Brands that don't continually work to support their distribution and meet shoppers needs will soon find their products in jeopardy of being discontinued to make room for new items. Brands need to remember that stores are continually bombarded with new item requests. You'll be viewed as a trusted and respected ally to your retailer partners if you're willing to take a leadership role in the category.

Getting a product on a store shelf is no guarantee that it will sell. Brands should work closely with their retailer partners to build excitement around products.  This can be accomplished through strong promotional support, strategic merchandising, fair prices and educating the store on the benefits of your product to help them make the sale. Your website, digital strategy, social media, pricing strategy, advertising and merchandising should all be coordinated to help drive sustainable sales.

The best strategies put the shopper first and always strive to exceed their expectations in the retail. The key to optimizing product growth should also include cross merchandising and promotional strategies.

Proper product placement is key. Once you get you brand on the shelf, your goals should be to gain optimal product placement, make your products easy to find, increase your shelf holding power and creating a home for more of your branded items.This strategy is important because it helps to protect your shelf presence. It strengthens your brand image and creates additional holding power to support future growth. Brands who fail to capitalize on these strategies while sales are strong might find it difficult to maintain their leadership position in the face of new brand competition.

You've worked hard to be a category leader. Take advantage of that and focus on maintaining and protecting your shelf presence?