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Sales Promotion And Publicity
MERCHANDISING
Merchandising is defined as product planning activities involving the internal company planning to get the
right product or service to the market at the right time, at the right price and in the right colours, sizes
and quantity.
Merchandising activities include trading, buying, selling, planning the advertising or supplying of or
the selling campaign for a product. Merchandising includes all company planning activities designed to
prepare an assortment of products to meet a market demand.
THE PRODUCT MERCHANDISING MANAGEMENT
Product merchandising management involves planning and control of all the activities needed to maintain
a balance between inventories and sales. Strategy elements in product planning for merchandising include:
• PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE: the concept can provide important strategy insights for merchandise
assortment planning in retailing of products.
• MERCHANDISE ASSORTMENT POSITIONING: retail outlet image is affected by a firm’s
product assortment, particularly when compared to competitors. Merchandise assortment
positioning is the retailer’s attempt to develop a merchandise assortment that will be
perceived by consumers as superior to the assortments offered by competitors.
• MERCHANDISE GAP STRATEGY: some retail outlets can make judgment from practical
experience and may consciously plan their merchandise assortment to satisfy consumer
needs gap identified in the market.
• IMAGE FIT ANALYSIS: the products carried must fit with the consumer’s image of the firm,
to enhance the new product line to sell and maintain the retail outlet’s credibility.ESSENTIAL TERMS OF MERCHANDISE MANAGEMENT
- PRODUCT LINES: are defined in terms of variety and assortments.
- VARIETY OR CLASSIFICATION: means the different kinds of goods that may be present in
a product line, such as food. The food product line may include such diverse classifications
as bread, canned goods and cheese. - ASSORTMENT: means the range of choices available for any given classification in a
product line or the number of stock-keeping units within a classification. For example, the
bread classification may consist of a number of stock-keeping units or a wide assortment
of choices in terms of brands, size of package and type of flour.