Merchandising

Although factors such as margin and competition within a vertical market can make product pricing difficult to manage, pricing is one of the key components of a merchant’s offering. If for no other reason, it helps customers determine the value of that offering. Many pricing models exist, and in their book “Marketing in a Nutshell: Key Concepts for Non-specialists” (Butterworth-Heinemann, $32.95), authors Mike Meldrum and Malcolm McDonald offer the following four strategies and when to use each. * Market skimming: Used when you find yourself targeting a niche for which the benefits of a product have a high value, market skimming prices a product at

We all recognize that inventory usually is one of our largest assets. Yet many of us don’t give it the importance or priority it deserves. Inventory management impacts almost every area of the company and can help contribute substantial hidden profits or losses depending on how it’s managed. The effect of poor inventory management often is hidden when business is good, and although quite evident when business is bad, businesses don’t have the resources at that point to address the issues. Unfortunately, this cycle is repeated far too often. Establishing a sound inventory management process within the ongoing company culture will cushion

Unfortunately very few people come to your door with a degree in inventory management. So what expertise is required when selecting or training an inventory manager/director? If you’re fortunate to find someone who has direct inventory management experience, that’s obviously a start. The key is finding or grooming someone who has the following attributes: • good common sense • both good analytical and business economic sense • strong social or interaction skills • someone who can “hold their own” under pressure and hopefully have a good sense of humor and self. You may be asking, why a good sense of humor and self? That’s because an inventory manager

As a multichannel retailer planning out inventory for various marketing channels, you should start with an all-encompassing financial plan, then work your way down to individual channels to ensure that each — retail, catalog and Internet — is appropriately stocked. Ray Goodman, vice president - technology for inventory management software solutions provider Direct Tech, described how to best go about multichannel inventory planning in a session at last week’s National Retail Federation conference in New York. Start the process by conducting an overall financial plan at the top level for each channel and by setting goals for the year. Then, by channel: 1. Determine what’s needed

Customers want to be stimulated, surprised, intrigued, involved, entertained and loved. “Just don’t bore them,” says Kevin Roberts, author of “The Lovemarks Effect: Winning in the Consumer Revolution” (powerHouse Books, 2006). As you draw up merchandising plans for the new year, use these words as a lens to view all brand-enhancing merchandising strategies. You’ll be surprised to discover you usually have more work to do to be truly customer-centric. Below are six timely merchandising strategies to focus you on delivering an inspired merchandising experience. 1. Break through your customers’ continuous partial attention (CPA). Customers not only are multitasking more these days,

In last week’s feature, I discussed the basic process for square inch (squinch) analysis and how the sales per inch metric can determine which products in your catalog deserve more space and which can be eliminated from the catalog entirely. This week, I’ll discuss other squinch metrics that can be tracked and those worth pursuing. Five additional metrics you can add into your squinch analysis spreadsheet are: * Profit per inch by item; * Sales per inch by category; * Profit per inch by category; * Sales per inch by page; and * Profit per inch by page. Profit per inch: Although it’s available in many software packages, especially

Because catalog space costs you money, you need to know which products are paying a return on investment and those that aren’t. However, square inch (squinch) analysis can be used to determine the relative strength of your customers’ demand for each and every product. This invaluable information then is used to make decisions about the catalog, such as featuring high-demand products and eliminating those with little or no demand. More importantly, however, squinch analysis provides a guide for correcting marginal items and shows you how to make them winners. The result is often an increase in total sales per catalog –- not just products

The advent of e-mail as a marketing medium has provided catalogers and online marketers with the ability to reach their customers with personalized, highly relevant messages that drive them to purchase again and again. In fact, 39.6 percent of respondents to The Direct Marketing Association’s “2005 Postal and E-mail Marketing Report” used e-mail personalization to increase response rates last year; 93.2 percent of those marketers said the tactic was successful. But before you can start slapping your customers’ names and other personal details on all of your outbound e-mails, there are five things you’ll need, according to a recent white paper from catalog management

Regularly benchmark your pricing policies against that of your competition and also within similar industries. Make modifications as needed. A small price increase or decrease can have a dramatic effect on your bottom line. —Melissa Rothchild, senior director of marketing communications, B-to-B accounting products catalog CPA2Biz

Some in attendance at the recent New England Mail Order Association conference in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., were a little taken aback by the presence of Tom Haugen, an executive director with Li & Fung (Trading) Ltd., a $7.1 billion division of the global outsourcing giant Li & Fung Group. After all, this is a conference that’s historically been targeted primarily at small- to mid-size catalogers from the eastern U.S. But Haugen, whose firm represents such catalogers as Blair, Haband and Restoration Hardware, offered some eye-opening trends on product sourcing around the world that can ultimately affect even the smallest cataloger. For starters, he noted that