What is merchandising?

Merchandising is a marketing technique that exploits environments and the way they are organized to attract customers and encourage them to purchase.
Thanks to merchandising, it is possible to increase the footfall of the concerned retail space in order to maximize earnings.
In practice, it consists of exploiting a brand for commercial purposes through its dissemination and popularity in advertising.

The levers of merchandising

Merchandising increases the income of the retail space by acting on various levers:

• Layout of the equipment: the arrangement of the retail space, the selection and placement of equipment, and the organization of customer traffic flow.
• Merchandise layout: the ways of associating products and their placement within the retail space. It establishes the sequence of sectors and departments.
• The display: defines the arrangement of products in different sectors and the decisions aimed at determining the quantity and quality of products or brands.

Merchandising objectives 

Merchandising sets both short-term and long-term goals:

• Short term: it is used to optimize product exposure with the goal of maximizing sales through improved visibility.
• Medium-long term: it is used to influence the choice of the store and build customer loyalty, to maintain and develop the store's income. In practice, distributors ensure that choosing the store becomes a priority over choosing the product.

Finally, merchandising optimizes the display and presentation of goods by producing and operating at both the structural and organizational level of different departments, as well as placement and visualization of the product.

Case Studies: Ikea and Balenciaga, Two Different Approaches to Merchandising

The Balenciaga bag priced at nearly 2000 euros takes inspiration from an Ikea model costing 60 cents, born with a specific meaning and references to the company's tradition. Ikea presents the promotion on social channels as follows: "Only those who sleep make no mistakes". This merchandising triggers a certain populism that has nothing to do with the price of the object but with its meaning.