Automatic Merchandiser serves the business management, marketing, technology and product information needs of its readers including vending operators, coffee service operators, product brokers, and product and equipment distributors in print.
Issue link: http://automaticmerchandiser.epubxp.com/i/331646
enough to be considered core prod- ucts, but have their own, very positive consumer demand levels. Rotating sec- ond-tier brands within a micro market product set will often deliver a sales spike and also make the micro market look "fresh" to consumers. As operators add new products to their micro markets, there are two options for their location – a separate "new item" shelf area just for such items, or the placement of the new products within their general category shelf space. Whichever approach is taken, new products need to be clearly identifed as such to draw attention. A challenge for micro market oper- ators (and every other retailer) is how to deal with slow moving items. Every business that sells to consumers ends up at some time with products that simply don't sell as well as expected. It is important that the slow sellers are identifed and "moved out" to allow that shelf space to be used for better selling items. The worst thing is to leave poor sellers in a market to just "sell through." Once a decision has been made to discontinue an item, do something to eliminate the item from the micro market within a short time period. Discount slow selling items, perhaps with as much as a 50 per- cent price reduction. Whenever an item is being discontinued, be sure to remove the items from the micro market reorder process to eliminate any automatic replenishment orders. Adjusting, refreshing POGs Micro market planograms need to be adjusted or "refreshed" for two reasons: 1) to keep market product sets looking new and interesting to consumers and 2) to tweak individ- ual location shelf space allocations according to the specifc sales and consumer demand at that account. As all vending operators know, different locations consume differ- ent types of products at very differ- ent levels. One location may consume twice the cookies and half the pas- tries of another location that, from the outside, looks very similar. The same thing happens at micro markets with specifc location consumers hav- ing very different purchase patterns. After about six weeks following a micro market installation, it is impor- tant to do an initial planogram review. A category sales analysis on the new market will show the specifc consump- tion pattern for that location. Category shelf space adjustments and elimina- tion of slow moving products can then occur to better offer the location a prod- uct set that best matches demand. Thereafter, it is best to routinely and relatively frequently change the micro market product set to keep the overall micro market and its appear- ance from getting "old" or "stale" from the consumer's perspective. A micro market can be refreshed by using new or different non-core, variety products, realigning category place - ment and even moving the position of shelves. Market planograms should be refreshed at least every four months to let consumers know their micro market operator is on top of product selection and merchandising. Visible product ID and pricing A recent topic of discussion related to planograms is whether or not to place on-shelf position identifcation for each item and if such identifcation should include pricing information. There are positives and negatives associated with shelf-product-position identifcation in micro markets. Prod- uct placement identifcation is often used and is effective in convenience stores and other retail channels to help ensure that specifc products are in their correct location when prod- uct is restocked, which is a good thing in terms of maintaining planogram design. The challenge is that specifc item identifers must be changed and kept up-to-date with every product modifcation and do not allow drivers to move and adjust product placements when out-of-stock situations occur. Relative to visible pricing, few micro markets to date have individ- ual item pricing that is visible to the consumer. The debate supporting vis- ible pricing is based upon consumer demand being impacted by different product pricing levels. At issue, how - ever, is that visible pricing requires that price changes be timed with loca- tion visits when price markers can be physically changed in order to be consistent with the kiosk software price adjustment. One of the benefts of micro market kiosk software is to remotely schedule price changes for midnight Friday or any time, a beneft that is lost with on-shelf pricing. In closing, planograms are an extremely important part of effective micro market merchandising. Plano- grams establish a basis for initial prod- uct placement, can be adjusted based upon specifc location demand and ultimately help to refresh locations in the minds of the consumers. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Brad Bachtelle is president of Bachtelle and Associates, a national consulting and research frm. Contact Bachtelle at bbachtelle@bachtelle.com, 714-731-5830. MICRO market merchandising should occur at least once every four months to keep the market looking new. 16 Automatic Merchandiser VendingMarketWatch.com June 2014 M I C R O M A R K E T autm_14-17_0614MicroMarket_F.indd 16 6/10/14 10:57 AM