Empty shelves got you down? It can be difficult to keep a full inventory in stock these days. However, even if you're struggling with limited inventory, you don't have to make it obvious to your customers that you are. These merchandise display tips can help you make less look like more:
-
Remove some shelving units and space departments further apart
Fortunately, gondola shelving units and other retail fixtures are easy to set up and break down. You can remove some shelving units and other fixtures from your departments so that you'll have less space to stock things and can keep those shelves full. Customers won't even know that you're limited in stock; they'll just think you've got a new and more open floor plan.
-
Redo your store layout
If your store's current layout is dominated by shelving units with narrow aisles between them, redo your store layout. Instead of having narrow aisles between shelves, you can establish wider aisles. Experiment with placing merchandise displays strategically throughout the store to fill up empty floor space and showcase merchandise.
-
Fill up your empty floor space with other customer friendly elements
Since you don't need the room currently to showcase merchandise, you can fill up empty floor space with customer friendly elements like strategic seating. It's something all customers can enjoy. When you give customers the ability to sit down during shopping visits, you extend their stay, and they're more likely to buy from you, too.
-
Use lots of "filler" elements in merchandise displays
Beef up displays with empty boxes, backdrops, lighting, cloth – all of these non-salable items can add to display's attractiveness without making use of actual merchandise you have to sell.
-
Use "one item" displays to fill up empty floor space
Create single-item displays throughout the store. Make displays look visually interesting and fleshed out with lots of varied elements that aren't actually merchandise, in addition to the single piece of merchandise you're displaying.
-
Make strategic use of lighting
Focal lighting can highlight merchandise displays and take customers' attention off the relatively small selection that you may actually have available for purchase. In addition, strategically shadowing or lighting certain areas can hide the fact that shelving is less dense than it was previously.
-
Place displays of inexpensive or high-volume items throughout the store alongside sparser merchandise
Even if some areas of inventory may be sparse, others may not be. For example, if some of the merchandise you sell is comprised of high-volume low-cost items, make sure you keep those items stocked. Placing multiple displays of these items throughout the store is more convenient for customers – and gives you the appearance of having a well-stocked store, too.
-
Compromise sometimes
If you have a popular item that's nonetheless difficult to keep in stock because of cost considerations, it's okay to let your customers know that. Place pictures of "soon to be ordered" merchandise on those empty shelves and offer customers a rain check. By doing so, you're letting customers know that you can get them what they need once you reach a certain number of requests for it. Some customers won't be happy about that, but others will – and you will keep their loyalty by letting them know what's happening upfront and offering to rectify it.
Even if you you are having some trouble keeping inventory items in stock, your store's merchandise displays don't have to look picked over and bare. Strategically positioning merchandise displays throughout your store, removing some empty shelving and rethinking your floor plan, and filling in floor space "gaps" with courtesy seating can get you through these empty inventory times without customers being any the wiser.
