Effective Merchandising...How To Make Them Buy Now

Written by Patrick Anderson


Rememberrepparttar promise of Internet retail, where you could access a world wide audience and offer thousands of products at incredibly low costs?

Now readrepparttar 106773 sentence above and picture in your mind exactly what this means. Can you put a face on a world wide audience? Can you see thousands of products, or just thousands of boxes stacked high in a warehouse?

Even if you can, your customers cannot. It is proven. Offering thousands of products to faceless people yields no sales. Now look aroundrepparttar 106774 Internet and guess what you find? Perfectly intelligent people are makingrepparttar 106775 same mistakes over and over, then blamerepparttar 106776 Internet for their lack of sales.

Asrepparttar 106777 old saying goes, those who don’t learn fromrepparttar 106778 past keep repeatingrepparttar 106779 same mistakes. This is part ofrepparttar 106780 confusion of Internet retail and it is alsorepparttar 106781 key to your opportunity. Considerrepparttar 106782 experience of a retail store, how it is designed to introducerepparttar 106783 customer torepparttar 106784 products and how this can benefit you.

==== Give Them One Product and a Comfortable Place to View It ====

If you have ever been shopping for apparel inrepparttar 106785 United States, then you already understandrepparttar 106786 design of an effective retail system. For years retailers have been testingrepparttar 106787 placement of products, where to putrepparttar 106788 best pulling products and how to introduce you torepparttar 106789 overall purchase.

For example, takerepparttar 106790 experience upon entering an apparel store. Usually you have about 5-10 feet of open space after enteringrepparttar 106791 door, like a walkway torepparttar 106792 store, immediately available before you start seeing products. For years retailers tried to pack products into this entry point, figuring that people would want to buy most upon entering.

Now you have an open entry point with one specific product line. Here’s why: 1. Retailers discovered that customers enteringrepparttar 106793 door were in need of relaxation. Coming from a busy highway or parking lot, rushing around with friends and family,repparttar 106794 customer simply needed some time to orient themselves. The open path is a place to greetrepparttar 106795 customer, not overwhelm them.

2. Customers who did stop and look were disturbed by other customers brushing up against them, talking, and speeding by. It was like shopping in a busy tunnel; allrepparttar 106796 noise and commotion irritated people.

3. Retailers discovered that placing one product line atrepparttar 106797 end of this entry path helped introducerepparttar 106798 customer torepparttar 106799 buying process with a suggestive lead item. For example, I go to Men’s Wearhouse to buy a suit. Upon enteringrepparttar 106800 door I have my open entry point, and atrepparttar 106801 end are a selection of ties. Ties arerepparttar 106802 lead product forrepparttar 106803 entire suit; if I see a tie I like,repparttar 106804 salesman can then guide me torepparttar 106805 suit that fits that tie. Or if they offer a pair of shoes, we can then proceed to tailorrepparttar 106806 entire suit to those shoes. The entry point givesrepparttar 106807 customer a place to startrepparttar 106808 buying process, introduced by small, low price products (i.e., lead items) which they like.

Is Innovation Dead?

Written by Rob Spiegel


You can tell it's quiet out there inrepparttar world of new products whenrepparttar 106772 biggest introductions this season both come from Microsoft,repparttar 106773 X Box andrepparttar 106774 XP platform. Though these new items are getting some buzz from tech journalists,repparttar 106775 coverage only comes because there isn't much else to write about. What I'm loudly not hearing is any street noise that would indicate real excitement.

You can't blame this one on September 11. Even beforerepparttar 106776 terrorist attacks snapped us awake torepparttar 106777 dangers lurking in our world, consumers and business people alike had grown very ho-hum about tech introductions, from PCs to broadband. Have you noticed thatrepparttar 106778 urge to getrepparttar 106779 newest, fastest computer or Internet connection is just not as pressing lately?

In this drowsy period,repparttar 106780 optimistic blush has faded fromrepparttar 106781 Internet and from technology in general. Our expectations have moved into a long, slow decline. We no longer really expect to be surprised byrepparttar 106782 reach of connectivity of by advances inrepparttar 106783 quality of our life. Mostly I think we're hoping thatrepparttar 106784 odd, intangible decline we sense around us will not be too severe.

Yet just as there was a crash hiding behindrepparttar 106785 1999 dot com explosion, there is an innovation boom growing stealth-like behindrepparttar 106786 gloomy headlines of layoffs and sinking earnings reports. Ask any tech company about its design staff and you'll discover this isrepparttar 106787 one pocket inrepparttar 106788 corporation that is free from cutbacks and layoffs.

This is not news to Gary Smith, chief analyst design & engineering atrepparttar 106789 San Jose-based Gartner Dataquest research firm. "Design spending always goes up in a recession. You 'design' yourself out of a recession," said Smith. The analyst recently revealed data that shows an innovation spurt occurring as repparttar 106790 economy tanks. Innovation slacks off as spending climbs. Much ofrepparttar 106791 innovation that will driverepparttar 106792 coming upturn is being developed in a flurry of activity that is offrepparttar 106793 radar right now. Don't let these quiet streets fool you.

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