Retail Excellence

Ever wonder how some stores can make you want to buy their product better than others? This coming holiday season is going to be a challenge for most retailers and having a presentation strategy that establishes an emotional bond is a welcome additional to your retail arsenal. Research show that when an item is presented in a way that makes a connection with your customers, the item sells.

When people buy, they buy for what the product can do for them. For example, when a customer buys a Gucci handbag, she is buying for reasons such as social acceptance, prestige and status establishment. Otherwise, that customer can always buy a handbag that sells for $10 and function the way an $800 bag does. Gucci's emotional building starts from the images we see in magazines. The model represents a certain lifestyle and more importantly, celebrities who carry Gucci bags further promote the glamour associated with this product. Just look at what Princess Diana did for the quilted Dior bags.

Regardless of what business you're in, use your presentation to further promote and strengthen the reasons customers buy your product. This is evident in the cosmetic industry where they are in the business of selling hope, success and feeling good. Health food stores may want to incorporate photographs of healthy people to reinforce what their products can do. Children's stores may show how much love is generated through their merchandise. Have photos of ecstatic children running to their parents' arms after opening their presents. Almost anything can sell love-even power tools. Show parents how they can build a closer and loving relationship with their children by working on projects together using power tools.

I often ask people what they sell, and I always get the reply of shoes, clothing, fragrance, home accessories, etc. What I'm looking for is what they're really selling and not their product. Therefore depending on their specific categories, a shoe store can sell comfort and health while another can sell fashion and social acceptance. Home accessories can sell an atmosphere of well-being or prestige. Now, what do you sell?

Left: The presentation for this $499.99 elegant set hardly does it justice. Instead of the cardboard carton it currently sits on, why not display this on a proper shelf or better yet, on a nicely laid table? This will not only create desire in customers but also establish product credibility.
Middle: Wildlife and the outdoors-a great theme that evoke visions of a nice crisp autumn or winter day. Why not present these decorative wildlife plates in a setting that promotes this very theme?
Right: Beds. Our personal cocoon where we want to be most relaxed. Beds soothe our tired souls and get us ready to face the world. This presentation falls short of creating the retreat we all look for in our beds.

Left: This simple yet appealing setting at the Bay shows what customers can achieve with mixing inexpensive dinnerware pieces together. It promotes multiple selling and enhances product value. This also builds desire and aspiration in customers.
Middle: Golfing merchandise elevated to achieve certain social standing and prestige is well executed by this PGA Tour shop at YVR.
Right: A soothing and calming atmosphere is used to sell bath products. This presentation not only differentiates Spa Canyon's products from other bath products in the market, it also reinforces the experience they want to promote.