Archive for the ‘Merchandising’ Category
How Behavioral Merchandising and Product Recommendations increase sales and conversion rates

Avail Behavioral Merchandising Increased Average Order Size at Pharmacy2U
Average order values increased by 12%
The right medicine for online growth
How Pharmacy2U, the UK’s largest online pharmacy, enhanced the customer experience, and boosted order values as well as conversion rates at the same time with behavioral merchandising.
The company
Founded in 1999 by Daniel Lee and Julian Harrison, Pharmacy2U pioneered the online pharmacy market. As a result of over a decade of strong growth, it is now the largest dedicated Internet and mail order pharmacy in the United Kingdom.
Today, Pharmacy2U offers its customers online access to thousands of medicines, health, and beauty products, fine fragrances and exclusive skincare ranges. Having worked together with the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) to develop the new electronic prescription system, the company also offers a quality NHS and Private prescription dispensing service that includes the ability to manage repeat private prescriptions online.
The challenge
Providing a personalized shopping experience is a vital element of online retail and proven to have a direct impact on sales. A recent YouGov poll found that 35 per cent of consumers would spend more online if retailers offered better customer care or advice. Pharmacy2U is no exception – “Buying pharmaceutical goods tends to be a personal experience,” says Daniel Lee, managing director of Pharmacy2U. However, in a market where several million consumers now regularly buy pharmaceutical products online, a highly automated solution for providing that personalized shopping experience was required.
With an inventory of several thousands of lines, Pharmacy2U also looked for ways to present only the most relevant items to shoppers online, whether they were searching for a certain product, or simply shopping the cosmetics and fragrances section. This was particularly important to the retailer, which strives to make it as convenient as possible for consumers to get the medicines and personal care products they need.
For achieving the maximum return on its investment in technology, the company also wanted a partner that understood both the retail environment in general, and the requirements of their specific niche. “As our product lines differ to those of the average retailer, achieving personalization throughout the purchasing process has always been our aim,” said Daniel Lee.
The solution
After a thorough search of the market for relevant technologies and solutions, Pharmacy2U chose a merchandising platform from Avail Intelligence. “It was a straightforward choice to make when it came to choosing a merchandising solution that could deliver,” says Daniel Lee, managing director at Pharmacy2U.
Avail’s platform was easily set up to deliver personalized product recommendations on both product pages, for cross-selling and upselling purposes, and at the checkout, in order to drive average order values by offering pharmacy customers the convenience of adding e.g. various cosmetics or fragrances to their order.
Powered by actual shopper data, Avail’s recommendations are automatically generated. At the same time, Avail’s Control Panel lets Pharmacy2U control in detail which products are recommended and when, e.g. to avoid recommending sensitive products.
Both during launch and afterwards, the company benefited from Avail’s experience in online retail merchandising, which had been an important factor in their vendor selection. “When we coupled the technology with the company’s proven heritage in online retail, we realized we had found the perfect partner for our needs,” says Daniel Lee.
Results
“Avail’s technology is now helping us to treat every site visitor as an individual, just as you’d expect when visiting a traditional pharmacy,” says Daniel Lee, managing director at Pharmacy2U.
As expected, customers are already responding to the tailored experience offered on the site and Pharmacy2U has seen an increase in average order values by 12 per cent, from using Avail Behavioral Merchandising. The company is now expanding their use of recommendations to partner sites it operates, such as its high-profile online partnership with retail giant ASDA.
Further information is available at http://www.avail.net and http://www.pharmacy2u.co.uk.
“Avail was a straightforward choice to make when it came to choosing a merchandising solution that could deliver.” Daniel Lee, managing director at Pharmacy2U
+12% increase in average order values
On the product page, recommendations for complimentary products are now automatically generated based on shopper behavior. At the checkout, timely and targeted recommendations for products that may also be of interest, based on cart contents.
What is Behavioral Merchandising?
All about Behavioral Merchandising. How and why does it work?
Behavioral merchandising is the art and science of using customer behavior to place, promote and display products in order to maximize retail sales revenue. In an online retail context, examples includes using data on where visitors come from, what they search for, what they click on and what they buy, to drive as relevant product promotions to each visitor at every point of interaction as possible.
Behavioral merchandising offers a personalized shopping experience for visitors that is highly relevant, trustworthy, and that adapts to changing customer preferences automatically. The automation aspect also means it offers retailers an opportunity to cut costs of manual merchandising, while at the same time achieving better results. The ultimate rationale for BEM lies of course in the superior contribution to financial success that it brings to retailers in comparison to the other available approaches to merchandising. Studies have shown that measured as revenue-per-visitor (i.e., the combined contribution to conversion rate and average order value) the contribution of BEM is up to 300% greater than the contribution that a segmented merchandising approach will give.
SUMMARY - Product recommendations and personalization helped Pharmacy2U increase their average order size. Here is how Pharmacy2U, the UK’s largest online pharmacy, enhanced the customer experience, and boosted order values as well as conversion rates at the same time with behavioral merchandising.
NFL merchandise ? A perfect gift for your loved ones

The next time you want to buy an online gift, look into the choices offered by DieHardFans, the home of NFL merchandise. Unique gift ideas and a fine selection of clothing and accessories are on hand for the ultimate NFL fan. At times, it can really get very difficult to buy a gift for your loved ones. The job gets much easier with the availability of the wide range of options offered by NFL merchandise. There is something for everybody when it comes to NFL merchandise, irrespective gender and age.
The range of options
NFL has become a way of life for many people. They simply cant do without catching their favorite team in action. Also, to display their passionate support for their team, fans cant wait to get their hands on team merchandise. Go to any NFL shop or for that matter a shop selling NFL merchandise and you will come across numerous fans going through the available merchandise to add to their existing collection. The range of options in NFL merchandise means that that there is always something new that you can buy. Jewelry, apparel, head gear, home dcor, bathroom accessories, barbecues accessories amongst many other great options vie for your attention. You also have specific gifting options that are also available.
Gifting memorabilia
One of the best gifting option is NFL memorabilia. If your loved one is an NFL fan, there is no better gift for the person, than a memorabilia of his favorite team, player or event. Memorabilia takes many forms. These items commemorate a particular event in the NFL or a team centric event. The performance of a particular player of the team is at times also highlighted by some memorabilia. The design and visual appeal of the memorabilia makes them the perfect gift. It really does not matter when the person is fan of the NFL. Appreciation is guaranteed if your NFL merchandise in the form of memorabilia.
Buying the perfect gift online
If you are planning to gift NFL merchandise and dont have the time to go to an NFL shop, you can choose the online method. There are various online sports shops that sell NFL merchandise, and whats more they have made the process of buying a gift much easier. A good online sports shop will categorize the options available to you. So, you dont have to invest a lot of time and effort to search for the particular gift that you want to buy. So if you have already zeroed in on some jewelry item as your gift idea, you can directly click on the jewelry category and choose from the numerous options on offer.
Functional gifts
The great part about NFL merchandise is that you can also buy gifts based on the functionality. You can choose gifts that have practical usage and dont just improve the dcor value. Take for example the various tailgating accessories available. Such merchandise available at an NFL shop addresses the needs of all those who want to throw a tailgating party. Such accessories have a high functional and artistic value. The fact that the gift is functional takes away the need for the person to be an NFL fan.
Affordable and expensive An option of both
You have the option of going for NFL merchandise that is expensive or affordable items of memorabilia. If you choose your gift intelligently, you can get a nice gift at great rates. You can also search for some discounted memorabilia that is easily available online. NFL shops also offer the option of buying affordable merchandise. The trick is to know just what you want to buy. Good NFL merchandise does not mean expensive merchandise.
Its a good idea to keep a specific limit in mind, while buying a gift whether NFL merchandise or any other. This will help you keep things in perspective and restrict spending lots of money on a particular item that takes your fancy. There is no doubt that you are going to be lured by many different types of NFL merchandise. Having a budget cap, will help you make the right decision and buy the perfect gift. The perfect gift is one that is within the limits of your pocket and something that you know will be appreciated by your loved ones.
How to keep your store looking as if new merchandise is always arriving

Those who start a dollar store are always looking for strategies to keep shoppers excited. One of the easiest and most successful means of doing this is with the merchandise you have available for sale. The strategy is to always make your store appear as if new and different merchandise is arriving each and every week. Yet for many owners there just isn’t enough funding to continually bring in extra pallets of dollar store merchandise beyond the core products that must always be readily available for shoppers. There is another way. In this article I present strategies to keep your store looking as if new merchandise is always arriving.
Rotate end cap merchandise
Most shoppers will be drawn to end cap merchandise as they are walking through your store. However as they approach end caps in certain locations that are near newly-arrived merchandise or displayed in an aisle filled with consumables they need to purchase, they may overlook an end cap or two. As a result they don’t even notice the items on display. One way to make it appear new merchandise has arrived is to rotate end caps. Move merchandise from front to rear in your store. The next time those shoppers come in they are much more likely to notice items they missed during their previous trip.
Move merchandise from front to rear of the store
When you start a dollar store another strategy that works is to move merchandise being displayed at the front of your store to displays at the rear of your store. Possibly it is a bulk display in the store lobby, or larger displays running along front windows, or even bulk displays against the walls of your store. Simply move one or two of these large displays to the rear of your store. Shoppers who missed this merchandise on previous visits will react as if the merchandise just arrived.
Move merchandise from rear to front of the store
When you start a dollar store you will soon discover fewer people really examine merchandise toward the back of your store. Just reverse the ideas previously mentioned and move the merchandise being displayed in the rear of your store toward the front. Once again all who missed noticing this dollar store merchandise previously will assume it is newly arrived.
To your success when you start a dollar store!
Merchandising – What is it?

Merchandising.
I consider it as a science and an also an art. It is a mixture of psychological techniques but also you have to take into account the physical factors that take place when a customer goes into your store.
Think about merchandising as a way to promote those items you are selling but also a way to make your clientele feel more comfortable buying from you. You need to make every inch of the store a money making machine. Since the moment the customer puts one feet in it, has to feel this urge to go in deeper and take not only what he or she came in looking for, but also, those things they did not. Merchandising is as old as, I don’t know, human relations? or the need to exchange something you have for something you need? Merchandising is a marketing tool right, marketing is not such an old thing right? but we where all using merchandising before looking at it as we look at it today.
I remember 20 + years ago, going to my fathers hometown here at the Dominican Republic, seen those people aside of the high way selling stuff, usually fruits and other types of food, showing their merchandise making it look so good you had to stop and buy. As I think about it, I can see how they organized all their merchandise in a way to make things easier and faster when a buyer made a stop, also as they could expect a good haggling on every sale, they took very good care of how their fruits or whatever they where selling looked. Nowadays, it is a lot more complicated to do a good merchandising in the stores, there are a lot of software and tools associated to it and the results should be in your cashier at the end of the month.
Talking about the science part into the merchandising, in fact I could say Merchandising uses to two different sciences, mathematics and psychology. The effect that we all want to create in our clientele is a psychology effect. We want them to feel the urge of taking advantage of these great specials we have put up to attract their eyes, we want then to touch our merchandise and wand them to smell how good our food is been prepared for them. By us doing this things we are pulling their attention using their PERCEPTIONS in order to monetize this perceptions.
The side of psychology in merchandising points right to this human perceptions and how to manage the buyer experience ones she or he are into our “landings”. Hey you got them here, now you want to squeeze the money out of them, that meaning, giving them what they came looking for and also showing them other things that are good for them.
The part of mathematics in merchandising refers to all the calculations taking place when you want to make sure to get the most out of the square meters of store you have available. Not only the floor distribution but also the shelf’s space. For a Category Manager, this is the side of his or her job that has to do with ROI, how to get more money out of the space that I have to show my merchandise.
Merchandising as also for me, a king of art in which you as an artist learn how to interact with your audience that is of course, the costumers coming into your business. You like a writer or a painter are taking the attention to where you want it to be, and to get the effect you want to produce in the minds of your audience.
With merchandising you do all those things. You drive the attention to your “profits” to the merchandise you want to push out your store, you have got to make it emotional. In your way to taking advantage of the space you got to make money you need to choose the hot points and discover your cold spots in order to make them warmer and better looking to attract your customers attention. Working in the shelves you have to know what is the type of products go better in each level. Taking in consideration that every level has a specific amount of interest to every buyer and in the same way is going to happen to the merchandise you place in them. Also you need to consider at what part of the alley are you placing the products depending on the over all distribution of the store, the usual traveling of the customers, the level of profitability among other topics.
Next article will be about merchandising tools.
For now this is it, bye.
The Pittsburgh Steelers Capitalize On Merchandise Sales Through Various Ways

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been able to capitalize hugely through merchandise sales because of the success that they have had through the years. The impressive record they have acquired over the decades gives their fans a reason to purchase the latest merchandise items consistently. The fans want to be considered more of a part of the team, and what better way to achieve this then through purchasing Pittsburgh Steelers brand merchandise. The psychological ideas and feelings that these fans have for their team leads them to feel a need to purchase their merchandise. This creates a better buyer to seller ratio, and in turn creates a larger profit margin for the sellers of Pittsburgh Steelers merchandise.
This phenomenon is easy to witness. Just turn on a Pittsburgh Steelers game any Sunday, or any professional sports game for that matter, and take a look in the stands. they are literally covered in the home teams merchandise. Now just think about how much money was spent on those merchandise purchases and you will surely be able to see how selling Pittsburgh Steelers merchandise is a very profitable market. Multi-millions of dollars of consumers money is spent on sports apparel merchandise year round and it will not cease any time soon.
The main reason that Pittsburgh Steelers merchandise has been able to be so marketable is the actual Pittsburgh Steelers football franchise. If it had not been for their huge successes on the football field, the market for Pittsburgh Steelers merchandise would be so much smaller than it is, making the margin for profit off the merchandise a lot smaller as well. Lucky for the sellers, the Pittsburgh Steelers have been a winning team and a massive force in the National Football League for many, many years now.
The merchandise of the Pittsburgh Steelers have become so diverse over the recent years. Merchants are not just selling jerseys and hats nowadays. They have expanded their market hugely by coming up with little merchandise trinkets to sell, such as key-chains. watches, wallets, flags, socks, and even Pittsburgh Steelers kitchen-ware. There are literally thousands of Pittsburgh Steelers merchandise items marketable to the fans that are huge successes. Avid fans will by these small merchandise items by the truckload, increasing the volume of sales for Pittsburgh Steelers merchandise.
The sports apparel industry is expected to grow in the year 2009, and this holds especially true for Pittsburgh Steelers merchandise. Coming off their sixth Super Bowl win, the merchandise sales will shoot through the roof. Millions of fans want to get their hands on a Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl championship shirt or other merchandise. They are expected to sell more this year than they ever have before, and the Super Bowl win is what provokes these types of sales. Pittsburgh Steelers merchandise is a projected hot commodity of this upcoming year and will generate massive sales in the sports apparel merchandise industry for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
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