Imagine you are swiping through Tinder or Bumble app looking for a date. Who catches your eye? The pics with fun colors, designs and remarkable settings make you stop the scroll and take a second look. It is no different for brand managers hoping to help their products stand out on the shelf. 93% of people cite visuals as an important factor in purchase decisions, and 83% say color is the primary decision lever. As social media and iPhone and Android phone use grows among GenZ and Millennials, attention spans are dropping fast, so you must get creative to capture their business.
Just because you're a smaller brand breaking into retailers like Target, Walmart, Whole Foods or Krogers, doesn't mean you can't make your products irresistible! Here are some shelf-savvy tips to help your sales pop!
Packaging that Pops
Packaging is the first thing customers see. Packages that stand out on the shelves pull in more sales and encourage loyalty. Don’t lose out to competitors simply because your packaging is dull, old-fashioned and unappealing.
Pick the packaging that best matches your brand identity as that will help getting your product noticed on the shelf and reinforce your image. If people can identify your company with your product – you’ll have a long-lasting customer base. With a great package design, your products will stand out from the crowd and get shoppers excited about what else is in your product line.
Powerful Pricing
Price is one of the most important factors when consumers choose to purchase a product. The market is constantly changing and it can be hard to know what the current market value of your product is. It could vary tremendously by season, geography and store.
Price transparency is important to many consumers, especially Gen Z. For this reason, prices should be clear on the product pages of your website for ecommerce purchase, and relatively consistent in retail stores. You can even add graphs so users can see the price change over time.
You probably won’t know exactly what the optimal price to maximize sales volume for each product and each location or region without doing competitive research - gathering near real-time data about competitors’ pricing on the shelf can be invaluable to guide your decision making.
Playful Promotions
When most people think of a grocery store display they think of huge displays for popular products that people want to buy. Some would think of demo tables offering sample sizes or tasty treats.
But most shoppers don’t think about the all-important promotional items or signage which are placed on the shelves near those popular items. These stand out products are placed along with less popular products often only appearing once or twice a month. The displays help create a “wow” factor for customers and help create “snackable” quality foods for people to purchase with their disposable income.
Collaborating with desirable companies or influencers to offer contests or special access can also draw in the eye and capture market share.
You might also consider package stickers, or window clings on coolers or store windows for an extra pop of visibility.
Placement
Sales velocity depends on so many factors, but many product managers overlook shelf dynamics.
One friend with a perishable product confided that a major retailer was placing his product on shelves ruining inventory and possibly losing loyal customer sales! Don’t let that happen to you!
Whenever you negotiate and pay dearly for a unique placement, you’ll want to verify that your agreement is implemented and hold retailers, merchandisers or brokers accountable for performance.
Picking Prized People
Getting the right people in front of your product can be tricky, especially during a critical launch or promotional period. Identifying people who will buy your product is a challenge. Building an audience and driving them to the store is not simple. If they hear about your product on social media, will they be motivated to get off the couch, go to the store and look for it? If and when they get there, can they find it and will they purchase it? If they haven’t heard about your brand before, will they be attracted to try your brand?
Put Eyes on the Shelf
With technology changing so quickly and trends constantly changing, finding the right people willing to try your brand during a launch or promotion is trickier than ever before. When reorders from retailers are riding on impressing them with early sales velocity, it is time to try PICKL.
PICKL helps you get “eyes on the shelf” rapidly. With a few simple clicks, you can activate our shoppers to visit any specific store, find your product, and report back with photos and survey questions. On average, PICKL delivers results in 3.6 days, and some results come back within minutes! Plus 36% of PICKL shoppers actually purchase the products they are asked to find.
PICKL saves brand managers like you time, money and hassle. You don’t have to drive around from store to store, or pay an expensive retainers to gather the essential visuals and data that you need to spot issues, understand the competitive shelfscape and make smart decisions to enhance their customer’s purchasing journey.
What are you waiting for?
Set up a free account to check it out or book time with a real live PICKL pro to put PICKL to work for your brand.
See any shelf, in any store, as soon as possible. We put the power of the crowd to work for you.