Retail Merchandising Series

The setting

FERNWOOD GARDEN CENTRE has received a corporate planogram that cuts its seed range sharply. The store's regulars are serious growers who travel to it specifically for the unusual varieties, and head office has built the plan around stores whose customers are nothing like them.

Your role

You are to assume the role of a merchandising associate at FERNWOOD GARDEN CENTRE.

Your task

FERNWOOD GARDEN CENTRE is one of fourteen stores in a regional chain. Head office sets a planogram for each department every season, and this spring's seed planogram cuts the range down to the chain's best sellers to free space for outdoor furniture.

FERNWOOD's regular customers are experienced growers, many of whom drive past two other stores in the chain to get there because it stocks heritage and unusual varieties nobody else carries. Several have already asked staff whether the rumours about the range are true. Head office has allowed stores to request exceptions, but rarely grants them.

The regional merchandising manager (judge) wants you to explain how FERNWOOD should respond. Explain how a merchandise assortment should be planned for a store whose customers differ from the chain's, explain how you would identify the emerging trends among those customers, describe how you would determine the quality of merchandise to offer, explain what product management covers at store level, and describe how the store should maintain its relationship with the growers who come for the range.

Performance indicators

• Plan merchandise assortment (e.g., styling, sizes, quantities, colors).
• Identify emerging trends.
• Determine quality of merchandise to offer.
• Explain the nature and scope of the product/service management function.
• Build and maintain relationships with customers.

The judge will ask

1. 1.What evidence would convince head office to grant an exception?
2. 2.If the answer is no, what do you do for those customers?

The setting

HOLLOWAY & SONS is a home goods store whose back wall carries bedding. Shoppers reach it, pick up one item and leave, and the staff have noticed that nothing near it suggests anything else in the store.

Your role

You are to assume the role of a merchandising associate at HOLLOWAY & SONS.

Your task

HOLLOWAY & SONS is a home goods store laid out so shoppers pass through tableware, candles and decorative pieces on their way to bedding, which fills the entire back wall. Bedding is the reason most shoppers come in, and they head straight for it.

Sales records show that most bedding customers leave with bedding and nothing else, even though the store carries throws, cushions, lamps and storage baskets that would suit a new bedroom. Those items sit on the other side of the store. The manager wants the back wall to work harder without making the department feel cluttered.

The store manager (judge) wants you to explain how the back wall should be merchandised. Explain how cross-merchandising techniques could work here, describe how you would determine the on-floor assortment around the bedding, explain how merchandise should be placed for impact, explain how a planogram should be read and implemented by staff, and explain how the wider product mix should inform what sits next to what.

Performance indicators

• Use cross-merchandising techniques.
• Determine on-floor assortments.
• Place merchandise for impact.
• Read/Implement planograms.
• Explain the concept of product mix.

The judge will ask

1. 1.What would you place beside the bedding, and why that?
2. 2.How would you tell whether the change made any difference?

The setting

BRIAR & POST has agreed to host a community evening in store at short notice. Nothing has been planned, the floor is laid out for an ordinary trading day, and the staff working that evening have never run an event.

Your role

You are to assume the role of a merchandising associate at BRIAR & POST.

Your task

BRIAR & POST is a gift and homeware store on the high street. The local business association asked at short notice whether it would host this year's community evening, where residents walk between shops after hours, and the owner agreed. The evening is ten days away.

Nothing has been planned yet. The floor is laid out for ordinary trading with narrow aisles, the staff rostered for that evening have never worked an event, and the owner has only said that she wants it to be something people remember and that she hopes it brings in new customers.

The store manager (judge) wants you to explain how BRIAR & POST should run the evening. Explain how you would plan the special event, describe how the store or department should be prepared for it, explain the use of visual merchandising in setting the room, explain the role promotion plays in making the evening worth holding, and describe the customer service mindset the staff working it will need.

Performance indicators

• Plan special events.
• Prepare store/department for special event.
• Explain the use of visual merchandising in retailing.
• Explain the role of promotion as a marketing function.
• Demonstrate a customer service mindset.

The judge will ask

1. 1.What would you change about the floor before the doors open?
2. 2.What would make the evening worth repeating?

The setting

WESTGATE HOME is losing stock, and the pattern points at the stockroom rather than the sales floor. Several people hold keys, the log has not been kept since spring, and every recommendation is going to sound like an accusation.

Your role

You are to assume the role of an operations associate at WESTGATE HOME.

Your task

WESTGATE HOME is a home furnishings store whose stock counts have been coming up short for several months. Loss prevention has noticed that the missing items are almost all small, high-value lines stored in the back stockroom rather than on the sales floor, and that the losses cluster around the closing shift.

Several employees hold keys to the stockroom, the sign-in log has not been kept since spring, and deliveries are sometimes checked in by whoever happens to be free. Staff morale is already low after a difficult season, and the manager is worried that any new measure will be read as an accusation.

The loss prevention manager (judge) wants you to recommend what WESTGATE should do. Describe the merchandise security measures that would reduce the loss, explain the policies and procedures for handling theft when the suspect may be an employee, explain the routine security precautions the stockroom should already have, explain the established security procedures staff should be following, and explain what the company's selling policies should say about stockroom access.

Performance indicators

• Devise/Enact merchandise security measures to minimize inventory shrinkage.
• Explain policies/procedures for handling shoplifters.
• Explain routine security precautions.
• Follow established security procedures/policies.
• Explain company selling policies.

The judge will ask

1. 1.How would you investigate without accusing anyone?
2. 2.Which single control would you put in place first?