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total snack sales and candy 28 per- cent. Accordingly, an appropriate planogram for these markets should initially allocate one-third of the snack shelf space to salty snacks and, similarly, a 28 percent portion to candy. Space-to-sales shelf space allocation is a direct and simple cal- culation and a fundamental compo- nent of category management and planogram development. Whatever amount of shelf space a category is assigned by the plano- gram process, it is very important to ease consumer shopping by group- ing same-category products together. Consumers often shop for a type of product to meet an existing, specifc consumption desire, should that be for salty, sweet or healthier snacks. Grouping like products side-by-side greatly eases consumer identifcation of the available options that will meet their current situational demand. Category shelf placement Another issue relative to planogram structure is where to place various category space sections within the total shelving area. At most initial micro market installations, opera- tors tend to put salty snacks on the top shelves of the snack racks and gum and mints at the very bottom. Why? Candidly, because that is the normal shelf placement within snack machines – salty snacks can fall four feet in a vending machine without product damage and gum and mints will only ft on the very bottom shelf. Category placement within micro markets should only consider how best to enable consumer product identifca- tion and ease shopping. The smaller footprint and space between shelves for bar goods will enable better con- sumer access by moving their category positions onto higher shelves. Larger graphic items can be easily identifed by consumers regardless of their shelf positions, so lower shelf placement makes sense without losing consumer visibility. Gum and mint items are generally impulse purchases, so place- ment high on shelving units or near the checkout kiosk makes sense to gain that incremental purchase. Specifc product selection Once the shelf space is allocated, specifc product selection for each category is the next step. Products should always include a combina- tion of core products that are lead- ing, proven items, plus new or variety products that present consumers with options within a category. The general rule of thumb is that core products should represent 70 to 80 percent of category SKUs to ensure strong consistent sales. The shelf capacity and fexibility within micro markets allows opera- tors the ability to try new products and different varieties while main- taining core item positions. One of the best things about the expanded variety that can be offered in micro markets is that operators can try new items without the fear of failure and loss of sales. Even if a new product turns out to sell poorly, its placement brought to the location a very positive perspective of newness and differ- ence. It is also important to under - stand that every top selling product at some point was "new" and that every retailer has at some time added products that have underperformed versus expectations. "New" is okay! Another important component of variety is the use of rotational, non- core products. A wide variety of top selling items are simply not strong June 2014 VendingMarketWatch.com Automatic Merchandiser 15 M I C R O M A R K E T Market coolers allow operators to take advantage of larger, eye-catching fresh food package designs. Group products from the same category together to match consumers shopping habits. One of the best things about micro markets is that operators can try new items without the fear of failure and loss of sales. Slow sellers are identified and "moved out" to allow that shelf space to be used for better selling items. autm_14-17_0614MicroMarket_F.indd 15 6/10/14 10:57 AM