Ever since I can remember, merchandising has always been a thorn in the side of marketing, and that’s some 26 years now. Never understood why...when in-outlet execution excellence is so fundamental and basic to growing volume, share and profit...yet it always gets neglected and oftentimes forgotten in both the planning and implementation stages. But that’s another column for another day.

Maybe that’s why it’s so neat working with my young Convoy/Limtuaco team here in Manila consisting of John Evangelista (Operations), Miriam Cruz (Sales), Joel Eugenio (IT) and Pao Dulalia (Marketing) because they are all open-minded and willing to learn about the different areas of merchandising professionalism and how they easily fit into the overall marketing mix and effectively impact sales.

We started late last year with extensive group training to get as many people involved as possible because that sets the stage for us all being on the same wave length. Then we began to concentrate on ‘how to look for opportunities’ and this only happens by spending time in the marketplace, looking at a variety of different product categories in various trade channels through in-field coaching followed by the ‘hands-on’ part...valuable practice in the streets by being part of a Market Impact Team. It’s hard work resetting a beverage section or building an off-location secondary display, especially in SE Asia, where many stores have neither doors nor windows and therefore the lack of air conditioning. Yet the foundation for good merchandising procedures in based on muscle and emotion.

In this fashion, people learn in step-by-step fashion –on how to utilize the Principles and Standards of Merchandising within their various disciplines and only when they have the essentials of the Process in their hip pocket can they advance to the next level.

In Pao’s case, she learned that it’s important when designing Point of Sale material; it must be bold, bright and eye-catching in capturing the image of the product while also containing a Command Statement as well as the Price.

Joel now understands the role of computer technology as a means of creating data bases to monitor and track marketplace accomplishments so the information can be measured and appropriate adjustments made when things break down at store level.

Now John and Miriam have incorporated the art of merchandising into their Business Reviews. When a large chain customer asks for a bigger discount allowance for instance, they know now to show pictures of existing merchandising conditions in several stores of that chain - which are often times horrific, especially in this part of the world. Core brands located on the bottom shelf, no pricing or POS, company brands and packages everywhere because there is no Corporate Block, out of stock situations of best sellers, secondary displays in poor locations…explaining that “no wonder sales are stagnant”.

The main reason for showing existing marketplace conditions is that is I’ve found most Head Office buyers and marketeers never get out to visit their OWN stores...so this is a real eye-opener for them. They sometimes get so caught up in margin theories and thinking about how much money in support and discounts they can gouge from suppliers, they completely forget about the consumer convenience factor and being able to offer top quality products and services to their shoppers.

That then puts John & Miriam in an ideal position to offer a series of merchandising solutions to the customer; like bringing in an MIT team to reset the section and put up a series of shelf-strips and to possibly build an exciting and creative off-location display to introduce a new product line. Maybe even bring a sampling team in on the weekend to encourage trial and gain additional impulse purchases.

For additional support, the team created a brief 3 minute – MIT video to show customers exactly what will happen in terms of team execution in their outlets.

It is also important that the Team concentrate not only on their products but the category as a whole which establishes a Win/Win situation for the Company, the Customer and the Consumer.

Coaching Point : Everything a company does from the Conference Room to the Point of Purchase should be geared toward SELLING product through the eyes of a Merchandising Spectrum.