Five Ways to Plant the Seed for Your Brand’s Success at Retail
04.19.2016
Like the rest of the country, we are thrilled that spring has finally arrived! Longer, sunnier days mean more time spent outside, sweaters are swapped for t-shirts, and gardens begin to sprout. Just as the seasons change, so does our work at retail. In order to cultivate more sales, your products need to be top of mind for both customers and store associates. Now is the time to ask yourself which retail services allow you to not only captivate your audience now, but also grow them into future customers.
Here are five areas where we have partnered with brands to successfully plant the seed with a retail program, and achieve the results they desire.
Does your retail plan currently include a Brand Advocacy component? If not, it’s time to plant some roots at retail with one of our most effective Brand Advocacy services, Market Development. What is Market Development, you ask? In short, it’s our platform for utilizing custom-built teams to develop relationships with retailers at the store-level in a particular market or set of markets. When you want to move the needle, and increase market share and mind share, implementing a long-term Market Development program is the way to do it. This is where BDS comes in; we partner with you to build a customized activation plan, implement strategies to maximize sales, recruit the perfect team to represent your brand, and execute the plan so you don’t have to put in all that elbow grease yourself.
When a customer is interacting with your brand at retail, is there an expert around to help answer their questions or guide their purchase decision? Assisted Sales Representatives work to increase brand awareness and drive sales by sharing their knowledge about your brand and the benefits that you offer to the customer. If your products are getting passed over for a competitors’, you should consider activating an Assisted Sales program to engage with shoppers, ensure they understand how the products fit into their lifestyle, and close the sale.
As we’ve discussed in prior posts, controlling your brand’s presence at retail can be quite challenging. There are only a certain number of variables that you can control when your products are sold under someone else’s roof. Brand Shops offer an alternative shopping experience where you can manage the entire customer buying experience. If you’re ready to take control of how customers are interacting with your brand, a Brand Shop is a great option to consider.
Do your products need a little love on the shelf? Ensure your brand makes a bold statement to customers and is set up for maximum exposure and availability in stores by activating a continuity or seasonal merchandising program. A strong merchandising plan takes into account five key components: how the product is priced, how the product is displayed, where it’s placed on the shelf, what condition the product is in, and how much inventory is available at the store. When all these pieces work together, your plan will blossom into results.
If you’re already spending money to get prime shelf space for your brand, you’d better make the most of that space. One way to do that is through compliance audits. These audits check to make sure your products are stocked, displayed and priced for the market, and compare your pricing and product offerings with your competitors. Once you have this information, you can make more informed decisions to move your brand forward.
Everything starts as a seed: a relationship, a business, even a product. But, it’s not until this seed is planted that something can grow out of it. Implementing any of the strategies above will position your brand for success at retail. All of these services work hand in hand to ensure you create a strong presence at retail, achieve the results you want and successfully grow demand for your brand.
Let’s plant the seed together. Contact us to start building your custom retail activation plan today.