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Oct 30, 2023

Shopping With Your Eyes: Keys to Successful Merchandising Strategies

By CSD Staff | June 5, 2023 By Kellogg’s When it comes to establishing effective

By CSD Staff | June 5, 2023

By Kellogg's

When it comes to establishing effective strategies that increase basket sizes and store sales, merchandising should be at the top of your list. By offering popular snacks throughout your shopper's purchasing journey, creating bundling options, placing the right products in the right places, and promoting those products across the c-store environment, you can enhance your shopper's in-store experience and position your store for success.

1. Embrace your shopper's purchasing journey

The idea is simple – you are more likely to increase sales by placing and promoting your products where your shoppers shop. And, knowing that the average c-store visit lasts 3 minutes, you only have so much time to guide shoppers to snacks they really want1. But, where do your shoppers actually look for their favorite snacks?

Outside the aisle

When thinking through a shopper's purchasing journey, there are only three guaranteed touchpoints: entering the store, checking out, and leaving. This leads to high amounts of traffic in general store areas, but only 25% of shoppers venture out of these high-traffic areas and walk down the aisles to find their favorite snacks.2

This means that strategically placed merchandising around the perimeter of the store, like end-caps and wire basket racks, can drive incremental sales and impulse purchases through visibility alone.

At checkout

The ability to increase basket sizes does not end once a shopper decides to check out. Since the majority of c-store snacking purchases are impulsive, capturing a shopper at checkout is a prime opportunity to encourage a shopper to add another item to their purchase.3

By placing core snack items along and below the checkout counter, you can reinforce snacks that shoppers may have missed during their initial trips around your store and provide a compelling reason to follow through with their purchase as they reach for their favorite snacks.

2. Bundling increases purchase opportunities

You can continue to drive their basket size with bundling opportunities that offer popular pairings for their favorite snacks.

There are few different ways to approach bundling. Some of the most popular bundling strategies include mix-and-match bundles, where shoppers choose from a limited selection of snacks for a set price, cross-sell bundles, where a complementary product is sold as an add-on to a popular item, and BOGO bundles, where shoppers can get multiple products for the price of one.4

Bundling creates opportunities to drive cross-category sales, as many shoppers will look for additional snacks and products that complement their primary purchases. Kellogg's® Rice Krispies Treats® and Pop-Tarts® offer great pairings across categories, since 20% of baskets that include Rice Krispies Treats® also include single serve snacks and chips, while 14% of baskets that include Pop-Tarts® also include packaged bakery items.5

And, since over a quarter of shoppers say that bundling opportunities play an important role in selecting their c-store of choice, proper bundling has the potential to drive new customers to your store.2

3. Shelf placement matters

As shoppers continue their journeys throughout your store, they might venture down your snack aisles. During this point in their journey, you, as the retailer, can influence their final purchasing decisions based on where you choose to place craveable items.

There's a popular saying, "eye-level is buy level" – basically meaning that shoppers will reach for the items they can see. They tend to avoid searching for items that are placed too low to the ground given the extra effort to scan the shelf, and are much more likely to buy ones directly in their eyesight.6

In order to maximize aisle sales, you should prioritize items you know will turn more in this prime location. For example, Pringles® is kept top-of-mind for shoppers – as the #1 salty snack on social media7 and the share growth leader (+0.8pts) in c-stores8 – so you’re likely to see more growth by featuring a top brand like this on-shelf at eye-level.

Proper shelf placement can be the difference between increasing shoppers’ basket sizes or allowing them to pass through empty handed.

Understanding how your shoppers move through your store can go a long way in capturing their attention. By employing merchandising strategies, you can intercept shoppers along their purchasing journeys, promote core snack items, and drive sales throughout your store.

For more information on merchandising strategies and tools, please visit KelloggsAwayFromHome.com or contact your Kellogg's® Sales Representative.

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