There is a saying that winning new shoppers costs you five times more than keeping existing ones. That is why you need to understand their choices in shopping and, most importantly, the brands they prefer most. When you stock a particular brand over others for quite some time because of its popularity, what will happen when your customers decide to switch brands to try something different? You will face a huge loss of sales, and it will result in a fall in market share.

Why Customer Switch Brands?

Shoppers around the world are driven by the value of other things. About two-thirds of shoppers around the world have switched brands for better sales in the last year. Better product quality, better customer service, product availability, convenience, greater product selection, changing needs or expectations, and better value assignments are some of the reasons why shoppers are switching brands. About 70% of brand switching can be resolved with the help of visually appealing shelves. That is the reason why most shoppers implement planograms for their stores to entice shoppers of different nature. Planograms are visual merchandising tools, which help retailers display various brands of merchandise on shelves to maximize sales. The easiest way to show that is with an example of two leading soft drink brands. Let us say ‘Brand A’ has been the best-selling soft drink brand for almost five years. However, since the arrival of ‘Brand B’ whose soft drink is 20% cheaper and tastes similar to ‘Brand A’, customers will purchase ‘Brand B’s soft drinks over ‘Brand A,’ which can result in a huge drop in sales and existing customers also. So, let us look at the reasons why shoppers switch brands and how planograms can fix all these problems effectively: 

• Introduction of a new brand of products: When you introduce new brands of products and display them on your shelves, there is a chance that shoppers will either avoid the new brand or they will ditch the old brand. In such cases, as a retailer, you need to be alert and carefully place such items on shelves where you can sell them both. If you notice that your old brand is sitting on shelves for a long time and is not selling enough, you could place discount labels on shelves to easily sell. When your shopper regularly switches between different brands of the same category, there is no threat of lost loyalty, since these shoppers had no personal likes in the first place.
• When the price of items does not match the value: Your customer always values the money they spent on shopping. Let us say that, when your customer’s shopping list includes bread, milk, butter, and cereals, they know what type of bread they want to buy. But, when they reach the shelves, there is a possibility for them to change their minds due to some reasons. First, when they get to the shelf and find the bread is priced higher than they had expected or is out of stock. During such times, they have no other choice but to switch to an alternative product or different brands. The probability of them switching can be high when there is a similar product merchandised at a lower price, or if the item is out of stock.
• When you fail to understand the choices of shoppers: If you do not understand why your shopper is buying items, you will not know why they are switching to a different brand. After all, if you cannot satisfy their needs, they will walk out of your store. Let us take an example: When a brand introduces a unisex jacket in their apparel store, and merchandise in the men’s section, women find it uneasy going there, and they leave the store without buying them. This causes a loss of sales and negatively impacts overall store performance. Retailers can place jackets in both categories to entice men and women to purchase items.

Overview of Nexgen POG

Nexgen POG is a robust and user-friendly cloud-based visual merchandising tool. It is designed for quick and efficient planogramming with minimal effort. Planograms can be designed by easily dragging and dropping the products. The multi-device compatibility feature of POG allows you to obtain, share and edit planograms on any device, including your phone. It helps in designing store-specific planograms for increased product visibility and sales.

                                                             Get Your Free Trial Now!