When it comes to merchandising in the queue, you want to maximize your profit potential by turning otherwise idle time and wasted floor space into an impulse sales-generating opportunity. How can you make the most of this situation and increase the value of the space you have, without overwhelming your customers? Keep these tips in mind:
1. Have a place for everything. And everything in its place.
It’s the rule our mothers taught us for keeping a clean room, and it works in the queue as well. Present your merchandise in an organized manner and have the right accessories for the job. Use hooks, baskets, shelves, and bowls to present merchandise in an appealing way. Your customers shouldn’t have to dig for goodies unless they’re at a flea market – make it as easy as possible for them to see what’s available. That begins by displaying merchandise in neat, orderly, and logical ways.
2. Top-off your fixtures.
An often over-looked area, the top edge of your merchandising panel or the top of a stanchion can be a bonanza for impulse merchandising profits. This small area of real estate often goes unused, but is actually one of the most visible — and accessible — areas of your queue. Post-top bowls and panel-top bins can maximize available merchandising space while presenting products in an appealing fashion. Fresh fruit, candy, hand sanitizer, to-go snacks – the options are endless for stocking bowls and bins with goodies right at your customers’ fingertips.
3. Have the right tools for the job.
Merchandising accessories like baskets, shelves, and hooks should be easy to mix, match, and change at a moment’s notice. With the right merchandising system, you should be able to easily change or add display accessories to your existing merchandising panels to suit your product mix. Lip balm in the winter. Sunblock in the summer. Go from baskets to shelves in a snap.
4. Don't neglect the corners.
When your goal is to maximize profits per square foot without overwhelming your space with products, sometimes the successful formula comes down to just a few inches. In the queue, it’s easy to end up with inside corners that are simply not merchandisable. That is, unless you have the right merchandising system. Corner shelves turn awkward dead space into valuable merchandising real estate.
5. Work the perimeter.
The perimeter of your queue is a valuable and often overlooked area for merchandising. Adjacent to other areas of the store, the queue perimeter is usually a high-traffic area, presenting a valuable opportunity to attract more sales. As you can see, the sky is the limit when it comes to displaying your in-queue merchandising. Use these tips to take advantage of every square foot, both horizontally and vertically, to increase the profitability of your queue. Be cautious though, because in-queue merchandising takes a careful balance between the right merchandising, effective displays, and the temptation to over-do it. With a smart approach, you’ll effectively turn idle time and unused space into a satisfying and profitable queue.
