Client services
Store Planning
This service is offered to retailers, wholesalers and suppliers to facilitate store space optimisation and new store openings, refurbishments and existing store evaluation. New store layouts are backed up by reports displaying category space mix in relation to sales or profit performance. We help to identify over and under performing areas of the store and design new store layouts that maximise profits and sales. Suppliers can take advantage of this service by optimising the space allocated to brands they own.
In addition to store planning our services include hosting a web viewing solution for store access and feedback on plans generated at head office. This services delivers store plans via a web portal which is interactive, allowing for printing in store and implementation, with all important feedback capabilities.
Planograms
This service provides suppliers and retailers planogram schematics that display products on shelves based on their relative performance within their category. The most successful planograms are those based on proven merchandising principles, well thought out range, and correct space allocation. Such planograms help achieve your strategy for category.
Working closely with our clients we offer skilled consultants with expertise in building planograms that reflect market demand and that are also aesthetically pleasing; making them easy to shop. Defining clear objectives and working in a collaborative way is therefore essential and we understand how to gain the correct information; having the knowledge and experience of software technology, data, category range and merchandising.
Consumer Centric Planograms
Using the new generation of planogram software our services team now have the ability to produce consumer centric planograms. These plans are more tailored towards optimising product range and space for individual store clusters, taking into consideration consumers shopping preferences at a local level. In order to produce more consumer focused planograms, we use software called Apollo Designer Workstation. DWS automates the planogram production and range allocation and can produce planograms in seconds rather than hours, as per traditional software. This fast and automated way of producing planograms is required due to the increase of plans needed to services more localised demands. With our planogramming automation software the one size fits all approach is rapidly becoming a thing of the past, planograms now fit the space and hold the correct range to meet consumer demand.
Merchandising Principles
Retail Smart understands how vital merchandising principles are to maximise the visual display of products and that each category requires individual definition.
Each retailer often develops its own structure and framework that will be unique to retail type, store and category. These variations can be vast and incredibly complicated, working in collaboration with the retailer and supplier, we can develop principles for merchandising which help you to achieve category objectives.
We offer proven expertise in creating category strategy’s to enhance any existing product range tailored to your own aims whether it be increased footfall, profit or incorporation of new products. Our solutions can accommodate highly detailed data such as Epos through to Market Share Data.
Virtual Reality
This service for retailers and suppliers is to test and visualise in real time using a 3D Virtual Reality environments, consumer behaviour before a product launch, or to study consumer reactions to new concepts stores, point of sale, gondolas or planogram positioning etc. This services is also aimed at companies wishing to visualise the impact of any type of in-store marketing activity, like the impact of new product launch, brand presents on shelf, change of department or store layout or new fixture equipment or promotions whether on gondola end or marked down in usual position. The ability to visualise these changes before implementing in store helps with a successful change or launch.
Promotion Analysis
Our promotions analysis service provides a consistent environment to plan, execute and track promotions with their relevant data. We facilitates easy access to historical sales and promotional data providing you with a ready source of information when identifying appropriate promotional strategies.
Range reviews
Working in collaboration with Retail Smart we can help build creditable justification to new range decisions, whether adding new products, delisting or winning additional shelf space. Our aim is to identify robust category objectives and help you produce strong sales presentation to maximise the range review potential.
Our mission is to deliver consumer value, whilst focusing on our clients goals, by working on the management of your category as a strategic business unit.
Best practise & processes
Retail Smart is highly regarded for its expertise in originating space planning strategies and systems for many major retailers. Familiar with all ongoing developments we offer additional support services that greatly enhance the performance and presentation of these processes.
In-store merchandising
In partnership with Contact, we offer an end to end solution from planogramming to in-store implementation. We have merchandised products on behalf of clients in all the major national retailers. In fact in 2007 Contact conducted over 24,000 merchandising calls throughout the UK.
Product image & data capture
Our Digital Image Capturing service allows us to produce images for use in all common planogram systems. Captured images can be tailored to meet specific client specifications; high resolution for marketing purposes or low resolution for use in planogram software.
We also capture and build your product database/spreadsheet to your requirements. Typical data captured and recorded for each product is Barcode, Dimensions and Description.
Training & workshops
We provide specialist knowledge in space management by holding training days and conducting workshops on the following topics:
- Aldata's Apollo suite of software
- Consumer centric planogramming
- Store planning
- Planograms
Design – point of sale & new product development
Our design team has extensive experience in concept visualisation and full design project solutions. We understand the importance of creating strong, clear product presentation at point-of-sale and have a strong design portfolio.
For you; we can create and develop strong, effective product or brand identity and can also further enhance your brand or product range with highly creative and innovative POS materials and promotions.