Do-It Hangtabs | 8 ways to make your store more shopper-friendly

Customers face a dizzying array of products and choices when they enter a typical retail store. Hundreds of brands. Dozens of aisles. Promotions screaming for attention. Loyalty cards. Long lines. Messy shelves. It’s enough to stress out shoppers and make them cut their shopping trip short, or leave your store without buying anything.

Your customers need help navigating through your store and finding exactly what they need. Help that will lead to increased sales … and customer loyalty.

Do-It continues to develop new merchandising innovations that make it easy for customers to spot and buy what they’re looking for, and for retailers to promote and sell what they’re displaying. Read our 8 ways to make your store more shopper-friendly and give customers more reasons to walk down your aisles.

Since most shoppers visit to purchase specific products and with limited time to shop, make those products easy to locate and select. That way, they will have more time to browse for related products, new items and impulse items. You’ll make your customers happy and increase your bottom line.

Make it easy for customers to navigate to destination departments. Make sure categories and desired products are easily accessible. Bundle complementary products or locate them together to offer total solutions to shoppers’ needs.

Do-It display strips let you place impulse items and group complementary products easily, and place them precisely where you want them. Use our FlexiTab Hang Tab to hang curved, uneven or uniquely shaped packages for impulse purchase items or to hang next to related items.

Use clear signage, an easy-to-navigate layout and even products themselves to make your entire store’s merchandise available. Departments, categories and products should be clearly visible. Highlight frequently purchased items, merchandise available only from your store or chain, new items and those recently advertised. Signs should be easy to read, with lettering large enough to see from a distance (remember seniors who may need larger lettering) and contrasting enough from the background color. They should be displayed close to eye level, and the message should be short enough to ready quickly.

Make departments easier to find by labeling and even color coding them. Leverage landmarks such as checkout areas and entrances/exits to help customers find their way. Greeters can also help guide customers and answer questions.

You can also use products themselves, such as end-aisle and elevated displays, and popular brands displayed prominently, to help customers find them.

If customers face a large variety of similar products, they will need to compare by reading packaging and literature or asking salespeople for help. This daunting task often causes customers to simply pick whatever is on sale, put off the purchase or even leave your store to shop elsewhere.

Organize products based on what criteria customers use to decide, in the order they use them. For example, if customers decide which shirt to buy based first on style, then on color, then on size, group the shirts first by style. Within each style, group them by color, then by size.

Also, use displays to highlight product benefits and differences between products. This will simplify your customer’s buying decisions.

Do-It colored hang tabs can differentiate between product styles, sizes, flavors, etc., making it easier for customers to choose. Use Do-It display strips to place a related product next to another, such as hanging batteries next to cameras. And bottle neck hang tabs let you attach samples and other relevant items to bottle products.

Customers should be able to easily see products as they walk throughout your store. Position displays so they are visible but do not block other products. Display products at comfortable heights. Make sure lighting is sufficient. You may even use spotlights to focus attention on special products. Arrange product packages so customers can see the entire product, not just stacks or sides of boxes.

Do-It display strips are an effective way of putting products at visible heights and in high-visibility areas, and Do-It hang tabs can display products more visibly than stacking them or putting them in rows on a shelf.

Don’t rely on just manufacturer’s advertising and promotions to increase demand for new products. See the above tips for how to make products more visible and easier to find and compare. Draw customers’ attention to them and show unique features through placement, merchandising and demonstrations. For example, new products can be placed on end-aisle displays, spotlighted with signage or demonstrated, such as having a chef in a grocery store prepare and cook entrees using new food items.

Do-It POP products, especially flags and wobblers, draw attention to new products. Use the dolphin display’s billboard area to announce the new product, while attaching products on the display strip hanging from it.

A proliferation of signs, out-of-season merchandise and products that are similar but scattered throughout the store can cause clutter that hampers your customers' ability to find what they need. By minimizing this clutter, you can help customers focus and visually and physically navigate your store to meet their shopping goals.

Too many signs can confuse and distract customers. Highlight product groups by using a few large signs that feature the whole product group rather than many small signs. Remove outdated or irrelevant signs and consolidate similar ones. When displaying merchandise, keep shelves organized, group similar products and eliminate outdated or discontinued products. And don’t forget to make sure your aisles are wide enough for customers to pass through easily.

Do-It display strips are a tidy way to group similar products and allow you to place them where you need them.

You need to do more than replace swimsuit displays with long-sleeve shirts as the year rolls on. To keep your customers’ experience fresh and relevant, you need to continually change store layout, fixtures, merchandising and other features.

Do-It’s full line of hang tabs and other merchandising solutions offer the flexibility to let you display products in a wide variety of ways and locations to suit your current need. For example, display strips allow you to move products wherever you need them and signs work in almost every store environment.

How can you tell if your store is giving your customers the best shopping experience, with easy-to-find products that are clearly displayed? You can’t rely simply on sales figures such as sales per square foot. These measures may help you improve productivity, but they won’t tell you if your customers are having a good shopping experience and whether or not you are capturing unmet demand. If customers can’t find products they want or have a hard time choosing, how would you know?

Several methods can help you rate the shopping experience. The best way is to ask your customers. Mail surveys, organize customer panels, conduct exit interviews or simply call them for insight into how your store is performing for them. Or observe customers while they shop to spot obstacles and areas for improvement. Then experiment with different store layouts and displays to see which ones work best.

Need better merchandising solutions? Do-It invented the hang tab more than 30 years ago, and helps retailers like you display, promote and sell your products better. To find ideas to grab shoppers’ attention and improve your sales, e-mail us or call 1-800-426-4822.