The performance of any department or category is the result of the assortment itself and the delivery in store – its location, visibility, display, service, visual communication and many other touch-points.

The key to maximise the performance of any category is to understand the product, define its benefits, and then communicate these visually to the customer in a way that is compelling and attractive.

 

Failure to understand how each part of the store delivery either helps or hinders the sales performance of each department and category , and to what extent, means that they will never achieve their true profit potential

  • how do I learn what will make every department perform most commercially?
  • which departments need to be in a precise store location to drive sales?
  • what are best adjacencies for each category to stimulate purchases?
  • which categories need excellent visual display, and which not?
  • what departments should I focus my “wandering” sales staff on?

This is how we can help… Category Performance Optimisation

 

“How can I learn what store facets & elements to prioritise, and invest time and money in, to maximise my individual departmental and category sales performances, such as their location in the store, their level of visibility, adjacencies to other categories, their level of visual impact, signage and POS communication, the assortment grouping & presentation and the delivery of customer service for each?” 


Overview:

The combination of video analytics, traditional POS data and a sequential series of sales performance “before&after” tests to identify the optimum delivery of categories & departments

  • the sequential trial of new and different store deliveries measured against sales performance KPIs
  • the comparison of new store initiatives against unchanged “control” stores
  • the analysis of changes to traffic activity, dwell, stop, touch and conversion with the delivery of different physical store variations
  • the analysis of increases and decreases in attraction of traffic to areas, the engagement of customers with the area and the conversion of sales within the area

Benefits:

  • Identify which combination of store delivery facets and elements deliver the optimum sales performance for each department and category
  • Identify which store elements and touchpoints deliver maximum ROI in general and by category & department
  • Create the “store delivery matrix” with priority criteria for the delivery of store facets and elements by department/category
  • To develop the most profitable and commercial store layout for any store

Process:

  • Interviews with HQ and store personnel to understand the store issues
  • Interviews with buying & merchandising teams to understand assortment commercial issues
  • Category assortment analysis by major department and category
  • Visits to pilot stores and planning of video camera locations
  • Study of the traditional sales KPI patterns and trends across all stores
  • Analysis to understand the current customer behaviour and to identify priority areas of KPI opportunity
  • A progressive series of “before&after tests” by department and categories

Aggressive actions (from a potentially long list):

  • immediately change delivery barriers to better performance
  • set up “quick-win” tests to verify priority opportunities
  • improve low-cost deliverables – layout, graphics…
  • prioritise most important departments commercially
  • roll-out by department to many stores quickly

 

For more information on how category performance optimisation analytics can help.