Merchandising in Chain Stores, Pharmacy and Hardware
The role of a merchandiser is varied nonetheless, in essence, are employed to maximise the brands shelf presence through effective visual merchandising. The services we can offer include:
Speed to Market – New Lines
Promotional Compliance
Planogram / Relay Implementation
Shelf Compliance including; filling and re-stocking, stock rotation, ordering, ranging compliance, pricing and ticketing.
Point of Sale (POS) Compliance and placement.
Where we operate
Our large, national visual merchandising team currently service various FMCG company brands in the major Australian chain stores that include but are not limited to; Coles, Woolworths, Big W, Target, Kmart, Priceline, Chemist Warehouse and Bunnings.
We have the field capacity to service over 2,000 retail stores on a frequency nominated by the client, which is based on the activity level and support required.
Our variable merchandising structure allows us to alter frequency or change tact respective to requirements at the time, this is usually seasonal or promotionally driven. Our structure offers value for money for our clients via our syndicated model, or we can structure dedicated store visits for individual clients, this is known as a dedicated model.
How we operate
Our field services are flexible, we work with you to provide the very best of what works for you and when it works for you. Supported by our Field Managers, the merchandisers represent your brands in a professional way through the multiple tasks allocated by the client at the time.
We have over 100 merchandisers nationally making thousands of store visits a year to execute visual merchandising, maximise shelf presence, build and maintain displays, fill & rotate stock, ensure shelf compliance to range, location and price and promotional compliance activities. In addition we encourage our teams to build solid relationships with store staff and provide product knowledge including upcoming promotions and retail marketing activity.
The Superlink Difference
At Superlink we allocate each client a dedicated Business Manager as a single contact point to manage, report and guide our full-service 3rd party field team to support our clients. We are a one stop shop, should you need it, to simplify your sales & merchandising field team needs, by delivering multiple sales activations and merchandising requirements across a multi-channel structure.
In addition to the routine merchandising and, key to delivering success we offer;
Speed to Market – new lines are important to any growth plan and more important than having the product, is having the product physically available on shelf, in store and in easy reach for the shopper to find when advertised to capitalise on the marketing spend. Our experienced merchandiser team understand these principles and as a team we target and blitz stores to deliver your products with a sense of urgency – speed to market.
Promotional activations – critical to any sales plan, at Superlink we can deliver and build agreed displays and even negotiate over & above locations to maximise your investment and improve your return on promotional spend.
Space Planning / Planograms / Relays – usually forming part of most trading agreements with major retailers, suppliers are required to provide support in updating store layouts. We have a dedicated planogram merchandiser / relay team ready to complete category layouts as required within set timeframes. In addition to our competitive pricing, our relay teams are very experienced in Coles, Woolworths, Big W, Bunnings, Priceline and IGA.
Pharmacy – these days, many FMCG company products cross over the boundaries of retail channels which provides convenience to shoppers allowing them to purchase the same products in more than one retailer. Whether your products are single channel or multi-channel, we too cross over to different channels and chains too! This means we offer the convenience of having 1 team to service and represent your brand across multiple or single channels.
Hardware – as hardware stores like Bunnings pivot their offerings to include grocery lines, this segment in retail sales is becoming more prevalent in the FMCG channel. Our teams are fully compliant with hardware industry standards and currently complete store merchandising services for hardware clients in this channel.
Reporting
Technology advances allow us to provide information and photos to be accessible to clients within minutes of completing and uploading them from stores.
From the information gathered, a client can analyse the data and evaluate the performance of products, assess the impact of promotions, and identify focus areas of improvement in real time.
Our merchandisers capture critical data and sales information from every store visit. They collect the information that you want or maybe don’t want via our customised, cloud-based CRM software (Opmetrix).
Information such as sales, distribution, orders, facings, competitor activity, one-off surveys and display photos are easily attained. All the information is quickly uploaded into our CRM on completion of each store visit.
We provide links to access your tailored reports that offer you valuable market feedback and insights almost instantly. Additional report summaries can also be provided as needed in a timely manner.
