Free Essay on Strengths and Weaknesses of Visual Merchandising Techniques for Debenhams

The following is a discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of visible commodities techniques used in Debenhams. There are many methods used in Debenhams but the following are used in the main departmental stores.

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Complementary merchandise placement

This is advertising a product in the store whereby if one buys a product, for example a dress it gives rise to need of another commodity that will fit that dress for example a pair of shoes for that dress. It is quite important to have the right employee in the business that will be able to promote products of the business and be able to increase their sales since good advertisement of products skilled staffs always leads to over complimentary products to customers and promotes more products than the consumer needs.

Complimentary merchandise placement goods are advantageous in that they bring good profit margin to the business. Display of products in the store is very important in that, for example, if you display dresses in one position it is better to display shoes, bags and accessories somewhere near the dresses. This will influence customers to think that they may need other accessory that goes hand in hand with the commodity they have bought. Its also advisable to employ someone who is aware of fashions since he/she will be able to persuade the buyer to consider fashions. For business to have many customers and increased profit margins it must have skilled staffs and also attracting displays that attract consumers intentions. It is good for a display to have price costs in it.

As in any business complimentary goods has its disadvantages in that some consumers might not be happy being influenced or persuaded by staffs since some consumers opts to take their decisions alone without being persuaded to. This may lead to decrease in sales since some consumers may shift from Debenhams to other shopping stores where consumers are not convinced by employees in making decisions. This applies to consumers who opt to make their own decisions when they are buying commodities. Debenhams needs to find a balanced method of making sales.

Specialty goods

These are goods meant for special people. They tend to meet the needs of certain categories of people. Otherwise, they are luxury goods. Debenhams businesses are built to sell these goods which create an image of disparity since low class earners are not able to buy those products since they are expensive. By doing that it lowers the profit margin for Debenhams this creates a disadvantage to the whole business since expensive products does not fit all classes of customers since low wage earners cannot afford to buy expensive products hence Debenhams does not fit all customer hence low or less consumers.

Commodities advertisement

Debenhams advertises and demonstrates about some of their new products. It is important for a seller to introduce his products in the market in order to bring awareness to the consumers. This is carried out in special events organized by the company or businesses owners. The sellers do this in order to attract more consumers to the business who wishes to try the new products. Advertising activities sometimes need special demonstration to show how smart the business is, it also needs to have space and this costs the business extra funds since every product needs to be displayed in a smart and nice way in order to capture the intention of a consumer.

Advertisement of products like cosmetics might cost a lot of money to the consumer since cosmetics have limited amount of space. Some few consumers may buy the product but for many consumers they may complain that the advertisement is not free, also since the advertisement may not have enough space it means not all people may attend the event hence other people may complain which means that they are not ready to buy the products from Debenhams, when there is less consumers it means there is less profit in the business.

When a business have less consumers, it means it has less profits hence when they are doing advertisement they have to find money from elsewhere since their profit would not enable them to advertise for the product. Since staff members who involved in product promotion incur some expenses that is why Debenhams needs to do measurement and analysis to see if this promotion has been profitable to the business by calculating the sales of the products which was being demonstrated and compare the sale of the same product in the future. So that if there will be promotion in future it will be done according to the popularity of the product in one store will be repeated in other stores, but those that are not so profitable will not have more demonstrations.

Overall

In general the main methods used by Debenhams are that they sell luxury goods and expect consumers to be convinced that the products are sold at a fair price and standards. As Debenhams is all about fashion business should be able to adapt their special goods for the atmosphere in the store, what would definitely increase their sales even more and more.

Waitrose

Waitrose retail sub sector is a supermarket that sells all types of foods, drinks, and other commodities. Morrison is a retail store inside Waitrose, which sells flowers, hygienic products, drinks, different goods and a big range of food brands.

The figure shown above shows the entrance of Waitrose and its display arrangement and the percentage offer given to customers when they buy certain commodities. As seen in the picture, the entrance of Waitrose in Harrogate looks quite attractive with automatic doors and very nice visible windows. Waitrose is a popular supermarket which has a lot of stores around the UK.

Unlike any supermarket, Waitrose has its own merchandising and visual display techniques used to attract customers when they are walking around. The display of the commodities is well organised and beautifully displayed around the stores that makes the supermarket to have a good atmosphere and also makes customers feel comfortable when they are purchasing goods from them. The following are examples of visual techniques used by Waitrose to display their commodities:

Shelf layout

This is the organisation of products of same use in one place. For example, fruits and vegetables are displayed somewhere near in one section. By doing so it helps Waitrose to have everything organised inside so that consumers will know where to get them and what to buy. The following pictures clearly shows shelf layout used in Waitrose.

Positioning

Waitrose techniques of displaying different commodities are attractive to consumers in that the display itself persuades the buyer to purchase the products.

Themes

Waitrose businesses sell products that are adapted to specific themes and events. As, for example, during the Christmas season the sell products like sweets and meals for this celebration and also they tend to have discounts for those products. Another example would be Valentines Day where they offer chocolates and different sweets, which people present to each other. Here are some photos from the supermarket showing the above explanation.

Stock facing

This is displaying commodities on the edges of shelves facing the consumer. It helps the consumer to easily identify the commodities of his or her choice as shown in the picture below.

Promotions

Product promotions are a method used by Waitrose to upgrade a certain product by advertising it. By doing so, it helps to create consumer awareness of the existence of that product in the supermarket. The pictures showed below shows examples of products -promotions done by Waitrose to attract customers.

As we can see Waitrose offers dinner for two for 10 pounds. This step attracts more people.

Special Events

These are periods when businesses introduce new products and display them to consumer for trial that is called field trials .it gives the business the ability to see consumers response on the product introduced. As seen in the picture below Waitrose offers different products like cheese.

Price marking legislation

All products need to have a selling price, hence Waitrose put the prices of all their products on special card placed near the product so that consumers could be able to see their prices and see if there are any special offers for example 2pounds for 100g. This helps the buyer to capture the price of the commodity easily as shown in the figure below.

Use of point of sale material

This is where the seller places commodities at a strategic point for promotion. This increases sales of the same item since the buyer might decide to purchase the same where he/she had no plans of buying the commodity. The picture below shows items placed in a well displayed position.

Impulse goods

These are goods placed near the checkout or near the doors to show the consumer varieties of commodities that are sold in the supermarket. In most of the cases the products are usually sold by the till and are unplanned purchases

Use of fixture and fittings

Different businesses use different types of fixture and fittings like hard line and soft line in order to promote their products in the store. Here is the example of hard-line and soft line fixtures that Waitrose uses in their store:

Gondolas

This is a method used by many Businesses in order to promote different products by displaying goods in the most suitable way so that consumers can easily see them. The end of gondolas is used to make promotions, for example, dinner for 10 pounds. The picture below shows the displayed product.

Soft line fixtures in Waitrose

This is another method of displaying goods in the stores. Most businesses do not use these methods, although the below is an example:

Shelves

This is a method used by sellers to display products in the stores. They may put the product so that it may be more attractive to the consumer. The below figure shows products displayed on shelves.

Convenience goods

These are goods that are mostly consumed by consumers and are readily available all the time in the store. Waitrose is a place for people from different target market as business represent different brand of products for different price, as some of them are luxury and quite expensive and some of them are cheap for the same product. A range of different products helps to attract more people and help organization to suit different target market. They also sell the same commodities for different prices e.g. one can find black chocolate of three different choices, as one of them may be 1 pound another for 2 pounds and the most expensive may cost 3 pounds. By doing that it caters the consumer needs either low earner and high earners can afford the product as shown below.

Specialty goods

Waitrose does not have specialty goods, but instead they deal with a range of different commodities for different prices. This includes luxury and expensive products as well as affordable commodities.

Complementary merchandise placement

Waitrose does use this method a lot as this is all about products bought by a consumer and its substitute product. For example, if you buy a commodity from the supermarket you need to buy a sauce for that product.

Seasonal goods

Waitrose is more likely to offer people special meals at specific seasons. There are some food products, which people are more likely to buy on specific season. For example strawberry is cheaper and better at summer than at winter so people are more likely to buy it during that season. This is also noted during Christmas se...