The competition today is greater than ever. Whatever your company does, you must be at the highest level and leave nothing to chance. If you are in retail, then this is the right text for you. Many studies have shown that the position of a product greatly affects how many people buy it. Under no circumstances should you arrange products on the shelves without a plan and order. To save you time to endlessly analyze data, planogram software has been created. They will help you significantly increase your sales by putting each product in an ideal place on the shelf and thus stimulate customers to buy it. What are the benefits of planogram software and why it is necessary for everyone who owns retail to have it, read in this article.
What is a planogram?
Before we move on to the many benefits of planogram software, let us first explain in detail what it is, to make it easier to keep track of the rest of the text. It is a graphic pre-assessment with which you can see exactly what the final distribution of the product will look like on the shelves. With planogram software, you will save a lot of time, because with just a few clicks you will be able to try out different product layouts, instead of wasting a lot of time stacking products on shelves and changing their places until you are satisfied. You will know in advance exactly what the layout will be.
Benefits of using Planogram software in retail
1. Fully utilized space
If you do not have spatial intelligence at the highest level, it will be very difficult for you to make ideal use of the entire space. You will probably sacrifice a certain space because not everything will be perfectly arranged. To make it look like you have stacked Lego cubes, use planogram software. Here you will be able to ideally arrange all the products so that every millimeter is used. After that, all you have to do is do the same with the products on your shelves. You will be surprised how much space you have wasted so far and that many more things can now fit in.
2. Use the software as leverage in negotiations
When negotiating with suppliers, this can be very helpful to you. Everyone wants to have the best place for their products in a grocery store or any other type of store. It is up to you to use that as a leverage in the negotiations. They will try to downplay the importance of product positioning on the shelves, and it is up to you to prove the opposite with the help of a planogram. Make such a presentation to make them see how much they will get if their product is in the best possible location. Then they will realize how much it will positively affect sales, and you will get much better purchase prices and other benefits. Many stores even get the first delivery of products from a supplier or factory free of charge, as compensation for a good product location.
3. Increase sales
Every little thing affects sales. And this is one of the most important. There are a few general rules you should follow. Put the products that are most important to you or whose sales you want to increase, at eye level. In psychology of people is to first reach for what is closest to them and what they see first. So it’s clear to you then why this is ideal positioning. And put the products for children at the height of the children, because in that way you will attract their attention, and then they will put pressure on the parents to buy them what they want. Children’s products placed on top of the shelf will have very poor sales, regardless of their quality. The software will also give you advice, based on sales data from the previous quarter. You will get an excellent sales strategy, and the supplier will also be satisfied with the increase in sales. As you can read at smsb.com, Planogram can be worth millions in increased sales revenue.
4. Always full stocks
You should never allow customers to come to buy a product and then find empty shelves that say out of stocks. This leaves a very bad impression and it is very possible that you will lose a loyal consumer. They will think that you are irresponsible and that it may happen again that he comes to buy something without finding it in your store. And that will be a very common occurrence if you don’t use a planogram. Planogram software will help you by using sales data to calculate how often you need to refill the shelves and that way you will always know how many stocks you need to have in warehouse. So you will always have full gondolas, and customers will be very satisfied and loyal. The only thing that can cause you a problem is a sudden change in demand, as happened in most countries of the world when the coronavirus pandemic started, so all the stores were left without some things. Of course no one can predict that, not even giants like Walmart. But make sure it never happens to you, unless it’s a force majeure like a pandemic.
5. People love the familiar layout
People love familiar spaces. It is in human nature, to aspire to the known. That’s why we all have a store that we go to regularly, precisely because we know exactly where it is and we feel at home, and we also do our shopping quickly. If you do not use planogram software, there is a high probability that you will change the position of the product. It is impossible to remember the place where every thing stands and to always set the layout that way. This can be very bad for your business, because you will not have regular customers, which are the most important for the good business of any small store.
Conclusion
Now that you know all the benefits of planogram software, it is time to implement it in the work of your company as soon as possible. Don’t procrastinate with implementation, because that’s why you lose customers.