I talked about how important it is to follow up to make sure that once your merchandise is delivered, it also makes it on to the selling floor. A couple of recent incidents made me think of a few more things that are good to know so that maybe you won't have to deal with the same headaches:
- Pre-load your display with your product before you ship. I was just talking with someone who shipped merchandise to a couple hundred drug stores (to the distribution center). The merchandise was on two pallets and the displays were on the third. The displays didn't make it to the stores so the product went on the shelf without the display. This was bad because it's a new product and the display tells the story very nicely. It was a big hassle to get the displays out to the stores but there's still no guarantee that they will make it on the shelves. A LOT of times, even if you ship the displays along with the merchandise you can't count on them being used. These folks are extremely busy and if it's not something that they can just open the master carton and put on the shelf, they usually won't go to the trouble.
- Speaking of displays, don't invest a ton of money into making long-lasting ones. You can plaster "DO NOT THROWAWAY-PLEASE REUSE" in a hundred places on the display but it's still going to end up in the garbage. Most displays are disposable and a new one comes with each shipment. Again, these folks are busy and are used to getting disposable displays. Unless it's just too big or too heavy to haul off to the trash, there's a pretty good chance that your display is going in the garbage when it's empty.
- If shipping a hanging display (sidekick) make sure to stick a few extra hangers in the box. Clips have a habit of getting lost somehow. If the clips aren't right there when they go to put out your display, then it's probably going to end up on the floor.
The point is that if you want your products to make out to the selling floor in a particular manner, then it is your responsibility as the manufacturer to do whatever you possibly can to make sure that it happens. That means no assembly, no complex instructions, no having to make two or three trips to the back room, no putting shirts on hangers, etc. Big manufacturers might be able to get away with shipping unassembled displays or whatever but I can tell you from experience that 99% of the little guys can't. So, do yourself a favor and do whatever you can to make it a short, quick trip for your goods to go from the back door to the selling floor.