In retailing, product display has a significant impact on sales. Incompetent merchandising can devalue the long and painstaking work of building a sales system. Incompetence of a merchandiser can devalue a long and painstaking work on building a sales system.

An inexperienced employee can try out the lay-out systems he or she has read about in a textbook:

1) ideational, when the display is based on an idea;
2) Species-based, when goods of the same type are combined;
3) price, when goods are laid out in descending or ascending order of price;
4) functional, when goods are grouped according to their purpose;
5) specialised, when goods are grouped by country of origin, brand, etc.

To simplify the task, it is most convenient to use the virtual designer of product display SpacePlanner from Lasmart. With the help of the designer you can create several versions of the showcase and conduct A/B-testing.

In general, experience shows that the formation of a basket of goods gives the greatest profit when it is organised on the following principles:

Requirement

Each showcase should cover some need of the target audience or carry some positive emotion. Thus, you will not sell goods, but a solution to a specific problem or a positive emotion - if the showcase is based on the idea of some emotion. This approach allows you to sell goods at a price above the market, because for a solution to a problem or a positive emotion buyers are willing to pay more than for goods that represent this solution or emotion. Hence, goods grouped on the basis of an idea are transformed from goods into a physical manifestation of that idea and can be sold at a higher price

Segmentation

Choose 3 similar products in different price categories - economy, comfort and elite. This grouping gives the buyer a choice. The choice should not be too large - then the buyer will get confused and postpone the purchase to explore all the options on offer. A choice of 3 analogues of different price categories seems to be optimal.

Emphasis

Make the economy class product a ‘locomotive product’. The ‘locomotive product’ is the product that attracts the most attention. In this case, it will attract attention by its price. This price can be mentioned in the advertisement as it is lower than its counterparts. For the sake of the ‘locomotive product’ customers will come to your shop from other districts, attracted by the price in the advertisement.

However, the characteristics of the economy-class product are usually inferior to those of its more expensive counterparts. For this reason, the ‘locomotive product’ serves only as a ‘bait’, but mostly will buy its analogue from the price category of comfort class. It is for this reason it is recommended to place the goods of economy and comfort classes next to each other: buyers will be attracted by cheap goods, and after an objective comparison, - choose the more expensive. Here you should also place the goods of elite class. Most likely, it will be bought very rarely because of the high price. Elite class goods are placed in the showcase for the sake of forming the image of your point of sale. People like to feel that they belong to something elitist. Seeing expensive high-end goods in your shop elite, customers will think that someone is buying them, since they are presented here, and that means that this shop is not some cheap. Even though most visitors don't buy high-end goods, they feel good that they are visiting and shopping in a shop that sells such high-end goods. In addition, even if the high-end goods are sold at least once a year, it will generate a tangible profit.

Impulse

Place related products in the shopping basket. If your storefront
has the idea mentioned in point 1, then you understand why customers buy the main showcase item. This way, you will be able to think of which products will enhance the realisation of the idea - complementing the main product and consequently increasing profits.