The shelf is the new battleground for consumer goods manufacturers. With the advent of digital technologies, consumers are spoilt for choice and can easily compare products before making a purchase decision. It has become more critical for CPG brands to have a strong shelf presence in such a scenario.
Getting your product into the store is just the beginning of your product journey. It is equally important to ensure that your products are visible at the right height, on the right shelf, because this is where your products meet your consumers. Statistics indicate that almost 80% of all purchase decisions are made at the point of sale. But how do you make sure that a consumer picks up your products from the many others that jostle for your customers’ attention? Every inch of shelf space is fiercely contested, and every retailer wants to stock the best-selling products and give them maximum visibility.
If you are a start-up or an early-stage company, it becomes an even bigger uphill task. One easy way to build a presence for new brands is by undercutting and offering humongous margins to retailers. But that can bleed your trade marketing budget dry. However, knowing the suitable parameters of ‘shelf success’ can tip the scales in your favour without putting a dent in your marketing spend.
So how can brands like you really work the Share of Shelf to their advantage? By following these 3 simple hacks that will help you amplify your shelf presence:
If you know which product assortment to keep at which retail chain, that is half the battle won! Because not all Modern Trade stores are created equal, and not all products sell at every store. By understanding the demographics of each store, you can identify opportunities that may have otherwise been missed.
Sales automation solutions that are made specifically keeping Beauty Advisor or Promotor workflows in mind, like the FieldAssist Promoter app, give you visibility on purchase patterns for each store.
For example, your merchandiser may discover that the 1 kg family pack of bhujia is not selling in the hypermarket near Kalkaji in Delhi, but it is quite popular in another retail chain just 2 kilometres away in Kailash Colony, or that roasted namkeens are more prevalent in Golf Course outlets in Gurgaon while fried namkeens are consumed more in Old Gurgaon. The visibility of this kind of granular data lets you leverage and maximize the consumer Insights that are now available in the palm of your hand!
Another key metric is Product Availability as per the assortment. Is your product available all the time on the right shelf? Let me give you an example and show you why this question is important. Suppose you earn Rs 4 lakh per month from a particular retail store on the basis of your product assortment. If there is a stockout and your products are not available for 2 days, that’s a loss of business to the tune of almost rupees 27,000! Is that something you are willing to forego?
You can drive your product availability better by setting targets for your team and measuring their performance. For E.g. you can set a stockout target of no more than 5%, which means if you have a total of 30 SKUs in the store you cannot have a stockout for more than 2 products. The FieldAssist Promotor App allows you to define the minimum stock quantity for your products, so in case the availability goes down below the predefined limit, the supervisor gets a notification on it so that he can take immediate action.
This kind of real-time information can help you make better decisions about your products, your inventory as well as your marketing campaigns, and get greater value out of every shelf your products are on.
A Planogram is a visual representation of your product on the shelf. It allows you to see how much space your product line occupies, where it is positioned relative to competitors etc. Designed with the proper structure and the correct placement, planograms can leverage the power of your shelf to its fullest potential. The success of any planogram and Share of Shelf reporting depends on adhering to the defined plan that ensures that the right products are in suitable locations on the shelf. As a result, products get their desired space.
The FieldAssist Promotor app helps you measure the compliance of Planogram or Share of Shelf by your beauty advisors or promoters. With just a click of an image, you can know how your product fares against the competition on a shelf with no possibility of manual error.
The app also measures the impact of planogram adherence on tertiary takeoff across different stores. So at any given point in time, you know exactly what is selling where. Real-time visibility allows you to take immediate action in stores where the share of the shelf is below the minimum threshold.
Just kidding! But you get the point. Now that you have placed your products on the shelf, how will you let your consumers know where your products are? By creating visual fanfare around them!
That involves using marketing tools such as flyers and endcaps to draw attention to your product. End Caps are particularly effective because they are in the eye line of customers as they walk down the aisle. They are also the last thing that customers see before making their purchase. On the FieldAssist Promoter app, the merchandiser or promoter can take multiple photos of the POS and marketing materials in every store. This can help your team ensure that all flyers, standees, flyers, banners, posters etc are placed properly for the customers to see your brand.
You can also conduct a Display audit on the FieldAssist Promoter app by scoring the overall marketing and merchandising at every store. For example, if a product is available at the end-cap, there is a certain score, if it is placed on a shelf that is at eye line, there is a certain score. The total scores help you ascertain how each outlet is performing in absolute terms and relative to one another.
ModMart | A Deep Analytics Platform for Acing In-Store Execution for CPG Brands
While these hacks are proven strategies, they are not the only way to improve your SOS (Share of Shelf). The most important thing is to continually test and measure the effects of each change you make. With the FieldAssist Promoter app, you get accurate, real-time data about your product’s performance on the shelf. You can make informed decisions to help you achieve a greater share of the shelf. A full-service solution like ours can genuinely become the game-changer in amplifying your brand’s presence at every Modern Trade outlet.
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Nikhil Patwari
Nikhil always works towards making the app user’s experience more rewarding and empowering. Also a self-described wanderlust, his secret talent is being able to travel to exotic places on a shoe-string budget.