Friday, May 15, 2009

Planogramming - A synonym for visual merchandising

After having dwelled on displays and themed displays, in particular, in my earlier post I thought it would be fitting to write on a concept that effectively enhances the embillishment of a retail store and an operational aspect on which I worked on during my internship at SPAR-Max Hypermarket - Planogramming in Retail. It came as quite a startling revelation to me that most of the conceptual terms that we use in our retail classes are not renowned in the practical retail world. A very busy manager of mine had instructed me to work on the planogram of the edible oils and fats section and I was dumbstruck as to what that meant. Realizing that it would create a non-cozy environment, during my early days as an intern if I asked for its meaning then from the manager itself, I went ahead with some web based research for the answer and found out that Planogram is a synonym for Visual Merchandising.

Much to my relief that I had gotten an answer, I started working on the procedure of developing an effective Plano (as they call it) which had certain steps to be followed. Though planogram softwares are available, retailers are still resistant to this change and follow the traditional excel sheet format to work out all their operations. After having designed a Plano for the edible oils and fats section, my manager was happy with my work who was always very difficult to convince. This success is completely credited to those excel sheets that facilitated the sales analysis calculations and the ultimate design of the plano. A planogram is a part of the overall display strategy of a retailer who wants consumers to better visualize brands that are slow moving than brands that are fast moving.

My manager had exclaimed - " A plano is a sequential arrangement of SKUs (stock keeping units), so as to differentiate products in terms of colours, brands, packaging, size and even prices. For instance heavier products are placed on bottom shelves so as to assist consumers in lifting them and placing them on trollies". From this and also from observing consumers visiting and shopping at the outlet, I infered that Vision of consumers in fact plays a huge role in point of purchase. This fact is better explained by another concept called 'Neuromarketing' which will be exemplified and described in my next post. Like I have depicted earlier that retailers follow themed displays, there is also provision for them to undertake themed planograms wherein more shelf space, which has a better visual display, is given to products that follow EDLP (Every Day Low Pricing) - a concept largely followed by Big Bazaar.

A better understanding on how Visual merchandizing and Displays enhance consumer attention would be well-explained in the next post.

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