Quality retail displays are absolutely key to increasing sales and delivering a great in store shopping experience.
It isn’t always a viable option for a company to perform its own merchandising using in-house staff. With more retailers cutting permanent staffing levels to save costs, the pressure on existing staff means that presentation levels can suffer, impacting the overall customer experience and quality of retail displays.
Here are 5 of the main benefits to retailers of outsourcing their merchandising to a specialist third party partner.
1. Save on staffing costs whilst managing peaks and troughs
One of the best reasons to allocate merchandising work to a specialist company is to reduce costs. Even though you’ll have to pay the external company for their services, this will be more viable than all of the costs associated with hiring and training your own staff, as well as all the other associated costs.
This is a huge long term commitment compared to the short-term and flexible arrangement of bringing in a third party team. External companies are able to support you when demand is high at crucial times such as Easter and the Golden Quarter and when demand is low you won’t be wasting money on unnecessary staffing.
2. Use of an experienced talent pool
One of the great aspects of deciding to outsource your merchandising is that you’ll have access to a huge talent pool of experienced merchandisers who can provide you with a reliable, quality service. By relying on a specialist retail merchandising company, they’ll get the job done, and will add real value to your business.
3. Free up your time
We all know that time is valuable. Therefore, it makes sense to allocate some of your workload to a company who lives and breathes merchandising and will do a fantastic job. This will free up some of your time to focus on the core areas of your business which will increase growth and productivity.
4. Improve your staff's morale
Getting the support of a merchandising company and letting them take care of your displays and supporting stock replenishment will place less pressure on your staff. This will increase morale and provide them with time to get more face time with the customer, delivering a better-quality service, enhancing the shopping experience and increasing your sales.
5. Benefit from specialist expertise
A retail merchandising company lives and breathes merchandising and constantly trains their staff on best practice and the latest developments. This means that they not only appreciate the nuances and intricacies that their role demands in making a store presentable and profitable, but they will be passionate about the work that they do. Your own staff are unlikely to have such an in-depth knowledge of merchandising, so it makes sense to outsource to a company who specialise in this part of the industry.
By introducing an external merchandising company to your business, you’ll be taking advantage of several key benefits that will add value. Seeing your business through the lens of an outside professional will widen the horizon and provide a new perspective. You’ll be giving yourself and your core team more time to focus on other important areas of the business, whilst saving money by successfully navigating the tricky peaks and troughs of the retail calendar.
RMS are a leading merchandising company with many years of experience working with major retail brands. Find out how we can help you improve your customer experience and increase your sales.
