Clearance Merchandise – Merchandising

Every year, right on the heels of a busy Holiday Season, inventory time looms ahead filling storeowners with the urgency to “get rid of as much merchandise as possible”. 

The most common selling activity we do to get ready for inventory time is to mark down seasonal and older merchandise and label it as “Clearance” hoping our customers will still be in search for sales.

According to Judith Bell and Kate Ternus in their book, Silent Selling, Best Practices and Effective Strategies of Visual Merchandising, clearance merchandise consists of products that have been permanently marked down for quick sale and these items may be handled in several ways:

= Clearance items may be pulled together at the rear of each department. For example, clearance suits may be positioned on one or more fixtures at the rear of the career department.

= Clearance merchandise from all departments may be pulled into one area of the store to form a permanent clearance department. This catch-all clearance department should be positioned in the rear of the store. Think about Gap and Banana Republic. Customers will routinely check the clearance department for bargains as they shop. Retailers like Saks and Neiman Marcus take this process a step further – moving their clearance collections to separate “clearance floors”.

= Clearance merchandise in specialty stores may be pulled to the front of the store for traditional major clearance events in January or early July.

= Some chain retailers consolidate clearance merchandise into a few larger stores (with high traffic of ideal bargain shopping demographics), send it to a company-owned outlet store, or remove their own tags and sell the lot to an outlet store.

 

Clearance Presentation Guidelines

While clearance merchandise no longer merits major promotional effort, it remains a company asset until sold. The visual merchandiser’s role is to present clearance goods effectively enough to sell them at their highest possible clearance price so that the company can reinvest the dollars in newer, more appealing merchandise. The following guidelines ensure that optimum presentation is achieved:

1. Present clearance merchandise on floor fixtures only. Clearance product with broken styles and color assortment cannot result in a fresh, exciting wall presentation; wall space is best use for new stock. The exception is when clearance merchandise is presented on an entirely separate clearance floor. There, you may utilize the entire space – walls and floor.

2. Never feature clearance merchandise on mannequins or in displays. These are your premium silent selling tools and must be reserved for only the newest products. In addition, clearance merchandise must be immediately available to shoppers, never out of reach on display.

3. Present clearance goods on large fixtures, such as round racks, superquads (extra large four-way racks with arms that may be extended) or rolling rack fixtures. Clearance tables for foldable goods are very effective because there is a general perception among shoppers that clearance tables hold the best bargains.

4. Sort clearance garments by size (with sizing rings or hangers with built-in size tabs) and then by color within each size range so that shoppers can readily see what is available. Example, Size 5 (red shirts, yellow shirts, and blue shirts) followed by size 7 (red shirts, yellow shirts, green shirts, and blue shirts).

5. Always clearly sign clearance merchandise with price points, percentages-off or at least a clearance sign.

6. Make selling floor maintenance a routine aspect of any clearance presentation. Clearance merchandise gets handled (and mishandled) continuously as shoppers look for bargains. Store staff must check clearance areas frequently, straightening sale racks, refolding table goods, checking for damaged goods and lost tickets, etc. These are aesthetic as well as security issues that tell customers how your company feels about its image, its merchandise, and its atmosphere. Customers should see clearance merchandise as an added benefit to doing business with your store. Even when merchandise is marked down, you should be adding value to it through your presentation.

Following these guidelines will make it easy for you and your staff to get ready for inventory season. The key is to plan ahead and work towards it stress free.

About the author of this article: Visit www.carlson-store-fixtures.com/Shop Our Store, to find the retail solution perfect for you.

Bell, Judith and Kate Ternus. Silent Selling, Third Edition, Pages 73 and 74. © 2006 by Fairchild Books, a division of Condé Nast Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Fairchild Books, a division of Condé Nast Publications, Inc. www.fairchildbooks.com

 

Pop-Up Stores, the latest trend in retail

Pop-up retail, also known as pop-up stores is the trend of opening short-term sales spaces. Retailers use Pop-up stores to create a unique environment to showcase and sell products to their customers in an interactive environment. It can also be for the duration of a peak in demand anticipated to be short.

This concept is most often used, but not exclusive, by apparel stores and intended to generate profits through promoting demand for certain products at targeted times, locations and markets.

Retailers use Pop-up stores to promote seasonal products such decorations, gifts and general merchandise for Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, 4th of July fireworks, etc; or to promote movies, heath trends & more.

This trend also touches the real estate industry helping landlords offer temporary lease options to retailers. Often, Pop-up stores become permanent stores.

What do I need to start a Pop-up Store?

To start, you need store fixtures that you can take apart, mount, move around, put away, and adapt to any location or space. Here are examples of your basic – must have – store fixtures and displays.

Wire Grid Panels & Accessories

 1. Wire grid panels are great to merchandise walls. They are versatile, light, easy to mount and put away. You can also transform them into floor fixtures to maximize your floor space.

2. Wire Grid Accessories include hooks, faceouts, waterfalls, shelf brackets, shelving, baskets, acrylic displays, signage and more.

Clothing Racks

3. Clothing Racks. You can use 2-way racks, 3-way racks, 4-way racks, round racks, double bar racks, spiral racks, z-racks & more, to display products. Some racks are collapsible, include casters and they are perfect as temporary display fixtures.You can also use rolling racks as a quick and easy storage option. 

Plastic Hangers

4. Hangers are a must have for any store. For apparel, remember to include a sizing system to organize your garments. Even if you don’t offer apparel products, hangers work great to display arts & crafts, linens and fabrics.

Signage

5. Sign Holders & Signs. First impressions are key to get customers to your store. Attract potential customers by placing a great, attractive sign, right at the front door of your store, that expresses loud and clear what products you have for them. If you don’t have a front door (kiosks) use countertop signage and hanging signage to grab customers’ attention as they walk several feet away from your retail space.

Mannequins

6. Mannequins are a must for apparel stores, that’s a no-brainer. For an apparel pop-up store, portable mannequins such as body forms (half round or full round), flexible displays, body part forms and soft torso mannequins are ideal, they are easy to dress, move around and put away.

Crowd Control

7. Crowd control. Having a crowd control option such as retractable posts helps you keep your register lines and dressing room areas controlled, specially on those busiest times of the day. A minimum of 2 to 4 posts for your register area or dressing room areas are suggested to make a statement.

Bags and Boxes

8. Bags & Boxes. Paper bags, plastic bags, boxes, totes and decorative tissue are key to make a great “last impression” with your customers. Remember that along with your merchandise, your bags and boxes are also a reflection of your store. Garment bags are also important to keep handy for special items.

9. Store Supplies. More often than not, store supplies are the last thing we think about when setting up our retail spaces. Essential store supplies include tagging systems, pricing guns & labels, shopping carts & shopping baskets, cleaning supplies, a floor sweeper, mirrors, and specialty supplies depending on your store (shoe supplies, dressing room supplies, jewelry supplies, specialty hangers, hanger accessories & clips, etc.)

Pop-up stores are temporary, exciting, fun, interactive, entertaining and people don’t get a chance to get tired of them. It is also a great way to test products in different markets to see how they do.

About the Author: Visit Carlson JPM Store Fixtures, your Ultimate Retail Resource, to find the retail solution perfect for you.

Wire grid, an inexpensive wall / floor display system – Store Fixtures

Gridwall or wire grid is another great way to maximize vertical display space. Grid panels are available in a variety of sizes and can be used to create both wall and floor standing displays. It is a versatile, economical and durable alternative that can give your retail space an industrial and modern feel.

Standard wire grid is made of ¼” diameter wire constructed in 3” squares. The vertical sides are reinforced with double ¼” wire uprights for extra rigidity. The panels are finished in polished chrome, white or black powder coat and raw clear coat. Panel sizes range from 12” x 60” to 24” x 96”.

Since wire grid is relatively inexpensive and easy to install, it is often used in Pop-Up stores, seasonal shops, mall kiosks (see image below), souvenir shops, dollar stores and klutz type displays. It is easy to take down, put away and put back up when needed.

Mall Kiosk

Grid panels attach to the walls with 3” wall brackets. If there are standards installed on the walls, there is a wall standard bracket version available that fits into the standards. For example, a 48” x 48” panel can be hung with “skyhooks” (two-sided hooks that range in length from 6” to 48”) to metal ceiling hooks, which are in turn attached to the ceiling grid frames.

Wire Grid Wall

Wire grid offers many types of accessories such as hooks, faceouts, waterfalls, wire baskets, shelving, shelf brackets plus many acrylic displayers as well as lighting.

There is another pattern of wire placement for the grid panels – it is known as “slatgrid”.  Slatgrid panels accept both, gridwall and slatwall accessories. Slatgrid is also available in polished chrome and white or black powder coat finishes. The wire placement is 3” x 6” on center and ¾” x 6” on center.

Slatgrid Panels

And of course, you can use gridwall or slatgrid as floor fixtures! There is a variety of grid merchandising bases available in several configurations. You can create H-shaped, L-shaped, T-shaped, triangle or  4-way pinwheel fixtures using the right grid bases and joining clamps or grid connectors. You can also turn any grid panel into a floor standing fixture using a set of grid legs; and when you add hooks, brackets and shelves and some signage, you’ve put together an attractive and versatile displayer. You can personalize these fixtures with wood molding trim or by dropping form core panels behind the grid for color.

You can also make floor fixtures without bases by using panels and connectors and forming a stable zigzag fixture.

Good planning is key when thinking about maximizing your floor space and getting the best value with wire grid or slatgrid fixtures. Visualizing the fixture placement in the store and product placement on the fixture can inspire many shapes and configurations. Remember to also keep your customers’ safety in mind when designing your wall or free standing grid fixture. We want to help you showcase your products beautifully and safely. 

About the author of this article: Visit Carlson JPM Store Fixtures/Shop Our Store, to find the retail solution perfect for you.

Why do you “do” retail? – Merchandising

 

With the holidays coming up (is it that time of the year already?) it is important to remember what motivated you to get in the retail business. This is really important because remembering this will be your beacon or guiding light to look for when the toughest times of the holidays come or when you have difficult customers and all you want is to scream and hide in your backroom (we have been there…)

We think store fixtures companies (like Carlson JPM) are a lot like our customers (you, the retailers). We both are filled with creative people (store fixtures people) who like interacting with another set of creative people (retailers), helping each other create success through great partnerships.

In the spirit of this partnership, we came up with a few questions to get to know you (our customers) better and to help you think about why are you in retail. We would like you to share your answers with us.

- How does retail “feed” your needs for creativity and socialization?

- Is retail a family affair? Did you get involved in the family business that has evolved  through the generations?

- Or, are you the only family member involved in retail? If so, what got you started in it?

- What has been the most meaningful lesson you’ve learned from being in retail?

- What has been your biggest accomplishment in retail?

- In the movie “You’ve Got Mail”, the relationship between Kathleen Kelly “little shop girl” and her three employees was very special to her. Can you relate to this? Do you feel like you have two families – the one at home and the one at work?

- With the holidays coming, how do you plan to capture the spirit of the seasons for your store?

Share your story, any ideas from past holiday seasons or your plans for this year with us. You can also send us pictures of a display or a niche area that really turned out well. We would like to show the 10 best ideas in our picture gallery – with permission from you, of course.

At Carlson JPM, our passion for merchandising and helping our customers succeed is why we “do” retail. So, why do you “do” retail?

About the author of this article: Visit Carlson JPM Store Fixtures/Shop Our Store, to find the retail solution perfect for you.

Slatwall and its many uses – Store Fixtures

 

Slatwall is generally manufactured out of ¾” mdf board (medium density fiberboard) and machined with grooves that accept its display hardware.  These panels can have decorative slatwall inserts in the grooves as an aesthetic detail or aluminum inserts which can act as an accent strip as well as a strengthening addition.  These vinyl and metal inserts come in many colors or finishes.

Slatwall panels are manufactured in a variety of finishes:

• Paint Grade – accepts all latex and oil based paints
• Melamine (LPL) – wide variety of solid and wood grain finishes
• High Pressure Laminate (HPL) – best for high traffic areas. Many finish choices available.
• Wood Veneer – ready to stain/seal or leave natural
• Mirrored – acrylic mirror

Slatwall is typically 4’ x 8’, fabricated in 8’ long horizontal panels to eliminate a vertical line where two 4’ panels meet. When installing slatwall, you mount the bottom panel first if (2) 48” high panels need to be stacked. Slatwall is traditionally grooved in 3” on center grooves, this works well for most apparel or sporting goods merchandising. Other groove patterns are 2”, 4”, 6”, 8”, 9” and 12” on center.

You would normally hire an installer to mount the slatwall to your walls. He will mount them to the stud walls, thru the grooves, using drywall screws. In the case of masonry walls, they should be furred out or studded to make a solid base for the panels.

If you are not sure, try slatwall in smaller sections like on your side and back store walls or in just a few niches depending on the type of products you wish to display.  You can add vignettes or “shops” by adding T-walls and end caps.

Because slatwall has become so popular, you can find many slatwall accessories such as hooks, shelves, shelf brackets, wire baskets, acrylic displays, faceouts & waterfalls to showcase, books on acrylic holders, stuffed animals in metal baskets, clothing on faceouts and waterfalls, the sky is the limit!

Slatwall is sometimes used as an insert panel on an open-sell counter, as panels on a hexagonal feature theme table or as end caps on T-walls or gondolas. You can also turn unappealing support columns into merchandising towers using slatwall surrounds.

Slatwall floor merchandisers are very versatile and are great to showcase products out on the floor. You can move them around and change them depending on your merchandising plan. They are available in various styles – Two-sided (Tombstone), Four-sided (Tower), H-shaped, and Pinwheel are some of the readily available types. Ready-made merchandisers are usually white or maple melamine, but you can special order them in the colors you need.

Slatwall Panels & Accessories are practical, affordable, versatile, modern and classic. If you are not ready to use slatwall on a big wall, try it in smaller doses such a  floor merchandiser. You will love it!

About the author of this article: Visit Carlson JPM Store Fixtures/Shop Our Store, to find the retail solution perfect for you.

Shoplifters don’t “shop” here!

 

How would you like to say that? Here are some loss prevention products and ideas to keep these unwanted visitors “unhappy” and help them want not to “waste” their time in your store. 

Store entry alarms and door chimes alert your store staff that someone has entered your store. When there are only a few staff members working, this “heads up” is especially important. 

A cheerful greeting from a staff member – not pouncing on the customer, of course – sets the tone that this store cares about its customers and its merchandise. This is a welcoming feeling for a true shopper but not for shoplifters, they don’t like attention drawn to themselves.

You’ve done your floor layout and merchandise planograms to create a good shopping environment. During this process, you have located easily pocketed items near to the cash wrap and in the sightlines of your staff either directly or via security mirrors.

Security mirrors come in various sizes and styles to work in all types of retail stores. They offer another set of eyes for your staff that can’t be standing in two places at the same time. 

Small items that are not pre-packaged can be individually hung on the hooks of a wire countertop rack if they have a chain on them, if not, you can attach pricing loops, or you can put them in clear containers. The important thing is to have them within sight and make them harder to get to discourage people from taking them.

Ratchet locks are an inexpensive deterrent to keep sliding glass doors from being opened. Simple things like cable ties can keep things from being taken because they can slow a shoplifter down along with an alert staff member. Counterfeit pens can help prevent phony bills from being passed – although they are not 100% foolproof.

Professional shoplifters know a simulated security camera when they see it. But, they help against non-professionals and hobby shoplifters. 

When some of your apparel merchandise is quite expensive but you can’t afford an electronic surveillance system, consider hanger security devices as an option.

A locking cable box turns any clothing rack into a security rack. Customers can try on merchandise without removing cables.

Fitting room strategies to prevent shoplifting:

• Make sure the fitting room is empty of garments before a customer uses it.
• The fitting room mirror should be sealed to the wall so merchandise price tags can’t be slipped behind it.
• Set a limit on the number of garments that can be tried on at one time.
• Ideally, the staff should count and carry the garments to be tried on, placing them in the fitting room for the customer (great customer service tip!)
• Staff should check on the customer to see if they need a different size or perhaps an accessory (another great customer service tip! This also helps to increase sales.)
• Set up a rack or a shelf with a sign to show customers where to return the items they are not going to buy after trying on. This rack/shelf should be near the fitting room area or next to the wrap counter.
• When ringing up the sale, the staff should glance and see if all the items taken in the fitting room are accounted for. If the customer didn’t buy anything or didn’t bring the excess from the fitting room, make sure the fitting room is checked before the customer leaves the store. 

All and all, the biggest preventives of shoplifting are store location, store layout, lighting and most of all, an alert trained staff. 

About the author of this article: Visit Carlson JPM Store Fixtures/Shop Our Store, to find the retail solution perfect for you.

Let Your Walls Help Create Your Store Image

When customers walk into your store, do your walls invite them to come see what you have to offer? Do they excite them with fresh ideas? Are your walls in harmony with your brand image? 

Depending on the size of your store, you might have more wall space than floor space. You can maximize this vertical space to grow the sales using visual presentations and highlighting products. Wall planograms can be a vital tool to use your walls for selling. Look for more on this subject in upcoming articles.

There are many ways to fixturize your store walls so they can present your products and your brand image at the same time.

If your store carries sporting goods, you wouldn’t put silk wallpaper and glass shelving on the walls. Sporting goods call for slatwall in the shoe area, and wall standards and brackets in areas where wall gondolas are not needed. You might be using presentations with rock walls, photographs of favorite team players, a running river mural by fishing rods, etc.

Many shoe stores will have slatwall behind the cash wrap counter merchandised with handbags. Depending on the price points of shoes being featured, the type of slatwall should convey low prices or highlight high-end items. Slatwall is available many finishes; they go from paint grade to logo-laminated versions as well as mirrored and heavy-duty plastic. And, of course, there are many slatwall accessories also.

A large grouping of smaller retail venues such as souvenirs, consignment, toy goods, sporting goods (again) make good use gridwall. This versatile inexpensive wall system has many accessories to display your products effectively.

Metal wall standards and brackets are the most basic wall system in the retail industry. Wall standards are attached to the studs and are slotted to accept a variety of brackets, display faceouts or waterfalls as well as a hangrail or crossbar system. Wall standards range in hanging strength from light-duty to heavy-duty. There are surface mounted standards as well as hidden standards, which need to be mounted to the studs before sheet rocking the wall.

Many apparel stores use a combination of wall systems in niches to create a department for accessories, casual versus career areas, etc.

By staying current with the latest stores in your retail field and whether you think these stores chose the right wall systems and accessories, you should be able to make a good decision about your own store’s wall system. Be easy on yourself when thinking of this. If you use higher end stores as inspiration, consider your budget and what elements of those stores can be adapted to your store and budget, and most important, think about what will give you the right brand image.

About the author of this article: Visit Carlson JPM Store Fixtures/Shop Our Store, to find the retail solution perfect for you.