With the end of the year coming, retail promotional events such as Christmas, New Year, Valentine’s Day and Back to School are around the corner. These seasonal events not only provide a great opportunity for retailers to entice existing customers, but also attract new customers into the store. So, the question is, how will you plan the assortment for seasonal events? Or, how can you allocate the space for seasonal products within existing product lines? Well, the answer is simple. Assortment planning for seasonal events can be made with the help of visual merchandising strategies. Planograms are the visual merchandising tool, that helps retailers effectively place seasonal products on store shelves with the right amount of space between other products.

Best Practices Before a Seasonal Event 

• Consider the seasonal events: As a retailer, you need to consider factors such as time of year, duration of the event, product range relevant to the event, and a target market that celebrates the specific event. These factors can affect customer spending patterns, and retailers can expect an increase in sales during such a period. However, there is also a chance that demand for some product categories could decrease significantly. Therefore, retailers need to plan in advance what products should be stocked, space between products on shelves, promotional activities and more. The longevity of the promotional season can be made by extending the range of products on shelves. For instance, it is often a good idea to extend New Year promotions to stretch across February, where Valentine’s Day is near. Many reports have stated that people start shopping for Valentine's Day by January month itself.
• Analyze retail data & market trends: Sales data is very essential for retailers to plan the product ranges to provide the right product insights for their customers to buy. Retailers can also use last year's data for upcoming promotional events. By analyzing retail data and considering market trends, retailers can ensure that products are ready at the right time, at the right price and in the right quantities. For example, during Valentine’s Day, product categories such as chocolates, gift cards, and flowers can be arranged well in stores, so that customers can easily buy them. If the store is missing out on products during the seasonal events, it will cause shoppers to visit other stores.

Best Practices During the Promotional Event 

• Stock levels: Retailers need to ensure that there is sufficient stock on shelves to sell products during seasonal events. For that reason, you need to merchandise products correctly by considering the days of supply analysis and demand. Also, this helps to restock shelves when products sell out. This can help retailers to maintain stock levels and offer shoppers the right products at the right time during promotional events.
• Store Layout & Shelf Plans: During promotional events, it would be ideal to choose any custom fixtures for your store. This will help shoppers to subconsciously associate with the seasonal products and draw attention to the store. Using promotional displays close to the store, placing complementary products, up-selling and cross-selling of products can also entice customers to the store. After analyzing the store layout, it is important to merchandise products in the store effectively. Planograms can determine product placement and space between products on the shelves and help improve your sales during seasonal events.

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 easily designed by 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.

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