Before Covid-19 safety measures became part of the shopping experience, the role of product packaging and P.O.P. was mostly to provide an immersive consumer experience for your brand. Capture attention. Generate interest. Convert browsers into buyers. (etc.).

And while those in-store merchandising tasks are still important, consumers are expecting more from their shopping trips these days. As reflected in national surveys, consumers prefer safe practices by the retailer. But taking this to a level that possibly affects your merchandising, how might those shopper expectations about safety carry through to preferences in packaging? And if you provide signage, custom racks or other physical display systems, is the format helping to make the shopping experience as safe as it can be?

Would you shop at a retail store that didn’t implement some sort of safety measures to protect its customers from Covid-19? Do you notice when someone inside the store is improperly wearing a face mask (or not at all)? Do you look for the hand sanitizer station when you walk in or perhaps note if there are “Social-Distancing” floor stickers at checkout?

Although the economy as a whole is suffering due to the pandemic, major hardware and home center retailers have seen a significant jump in online sales due to the rise in consumer shopping from home. Here are some tips to help you maximize the visibility as well as sales conversion of your products in online channels.

MORE PLANNING IDEAS FOR SUCCESS IN PRODUCT LINE REVIEWS:

Considering the wide range of point-of-sale tracking tools available to help you prepare for your next Product Line Review (PLR), you may be missing the boat if you aren't equipped to address the metrics your merchant is most concerned about. Chances are, you may otherwise be inclined to go  over things that many buyers consider to be a waste of time. And even if you are bringing loads of information, perhaps it isn't presented in the way your buyer wants to view the figures. To help you plan for your next presentation, here are some thought starters you might keep in mind.

 

 

If your company manufactures do-it-yourself products, chances are good that new product development is a key part of your strategic plan. New products often serve as the life-blood of DIY categories that have come to expect a continual flow of new choices. As you look at current revenue and profits, you might ask how much of that financial performance was due to products you've introduced in the past 5 years alone. In many categories that number can easily exceed 50%. To make sure your new product development process is doing all it can for company growth and your brand position at retail, here are some practices we have noted to be successful in the DIY channel.

View These Winning Designs Announced At The 2016 NRHA Awards Program

If you are considering an update to your packaging and in-store POP merchandising, there are some great idea starters represented in this year’s awards program sponsored by the North American Retail Hardware Association (NRHA). Full disclosure: because the top packaging honor went to Heinzeroth Marketing Group for a Rain Bird package, we have a special interest in this awards program. But despite that small qualifier, we do think all of the winning designs are worth sharing.

Strategies for Connecting with This Audience

In Part 1 of this blog post, we discussed why it’s time to start marketing home improvement products to millennials. This post is dedicated to exploring how we can effectively reach this important audience with media, messaging and merchandising strategies that build relationships and, ultimately, drive sales.

Millennials (adults 20 to 34) represent a massive consumer audience with growing economic might. They are 74 million strong, accounting for 25% of the U.S. population and representing $170 billion in spending power. They grew up in a time when there has always been an internet, so their on-demand access to information and social networking has formed who they are as human beings and consumers. They represent the future of our industry… a world where marketing is a two-way ongoing dialog and the consumer has equal weight in the equation. 

Will your products sell successfully in another channel? It’s a common question and perhaps a tempting option to pursue if your products are nearing the mature stage of their lifecycle. Before you invest in a new channel initiative and get your team working on campaign materials, you might think first about how your business model would fare in another channel. If your company and brand strengths don’t transfer well, it’s likely that your products will need more than a marketing push. 

Preparing for a product line review (PLR) with a major retailer can be a challenging process. In the early stages of planning, it's normally best to follow the outline of topics your buyer has provided in advance of the meeting. Still, if that outline is rather sparse, or you suspect there will be other important issues discussed, it's always good practice to have your bases covered if the meeting takes off in a completely different direction. Perhaps these ideas will help you do a pre-flight check.