Retailers face challenges such as poor inventory visibility, inefficient layouts, and inconsistent product placement. Without a robust merchandising app, stores encounter stockouts, overstocking, and lost sales. BRC estimates that the market for such software will keep growing at 10.9% CAGR until the end of the decade. Optimizing planogram execution and automating shelf planning benefit retailers. Technology provides real-time data and analytics, allowing businesses to adapt strategies based on customer behavior. Thus, choosing the solution that fits your unique business needs is critical. Let’s explore nine key aspects to consider when selecting a merchandising app:
Nine Considerations of Choosing a Merchandising App
Choosing the right app is crucial for retailers looking to enhance store layouts, optimize product placement, and improve sales performance. A well-chosen solution streamlines merchandising operations, ensures consistency across locations, and provides valuable insights to drive strategic decisions. Below are the main considerations when selecting a merchandising app:
1. Features and Functionalities
The first step in selecting a merchandising solution is ensuring it offers the right features to meet your business needs. Some essential functionalities to look for include:
- Planogram creation and management: Allows retailers to design, modify, and implement store layouts.
- Real-time inventory tracking: Ensures stock levels align with merchandising strategies.
- Automation and AI-driven insights: Helps optimize product placement based on sales data. According to LEAFIO, smart merchandising can boost sales per foot by up to 15%.
- Task management and compliance tracking: Ensures store teams follow merchandising guidelines.
- Mobile compatibility: Allows employees to update and access merchandising plans on the go.
Retailers should prioritize apps with robust automation, analytics, and cloud-based collaboration to enhance merchandising efficiency.
2. Ease of Use and User Experience
Merchandising teams, store employees, and managers must easily navigate the app for successful adoption, as a complicated or non-intuitive interface can lead to errors, inefficiencies, and reluctance to use the software. Key prioritized features include drag-and-drop interfaces for seamless layout modifications, simple reporting dashboards to track store compliance and sales performance, a mobile-friendly design that enables in-store staff to execute merchandising tasks efficiently, and customization options to tailor the app’s interface to the retailer’s specific needs. An intuitive and user-friendly app enhances operational efficiency and minimizes employee training time.
3. Integration Capabilities
A merchandising app should seamlessly integrate with existing retail systems to ensure a smooth data flow, prioritizing compatibility with key platforms. Integration with POS systems connects product placement with real-time sales performance while syncing with inventory management software to ensure shelf layouts reflect actual stock availability. Compatibility with supply chain and ERP platforms, aligning merchandising strategies with logistics and procurement, and integration with planogram and store planning software to maintain consistency in store layouts across locations. Strong integration capabilities eliminate manual data entry, improve accuracy, and enhance overall merchandising efficiency.
4. Scalability and Customization
As retailers grow, their merchandising needs become more complex, requiring a scalable solution that can support multiple locations, diverse store formats, and expanding product lines. Consider:
- Multi-store management: Enables centralized merchandising across locations while allowing for store-specific adjustments.
- Customizable workflows: Ensures that merchandising processes align with company-specific requirements.
- Role-based access: Provides different access levels for corporate teams, regional managers, and store employees.
A scalable and customizable solution ensures long-term usability and adapts to business growth.
5. Real-Time Data and Analytics
Real-time data and analytics in merchandising software provide retailers with immediate insights into store performance, product placement effectiveness, and consumer behavior. Instead of relying on outdated reports or guesswork, businesses can track real-time sales trends, stock levels, and planogram compliance, allowing for faster, data-driven decisions.
The business value lies in proactive inventory management, reducing lost sales due to stockouts while preventing overstocking. Retailers can also adjust merchandising strategies dynamically, optimizing high-traffic areas for maximum revenue. With AI-driven analytics, businesses can test product placements, measure performance, and refine strategies for better customer engagement.
LEAFIO.AI delivers advanced analytics that enhances retail operations through real-time insights into shelf efficiency and product performance. Features like performance reports and dashboards enable data-driven decisions to optimize layouts, improve SPF/M, and identify bottlenecks, increasing turnover and profitability. By providing online access to comprehensive reports and updates, LEAFIO.AI helps retailers stay agile and responsive to market demands.
6. Task Management and Compliance Tracking
Ensuring in-store execution of merchandising strategies is a common challenge for retailers. A good merchandising app should:
- Assign and track store-level merchandising tasks.
- Provide photo verification tools for visual compliance checks.
- Send real-time alerts and notifications to store teams for updates.
This helps bridge the gap between merchandising plans and store-level execution, ensuring a consistent and optimized shopping experience.
7. Cloud-Based Access and Collaboration
A cloud-based app enables teams to access data from anywhere, fostering seamless collaboration between corporate offices, regional managers, and store teams. It ensures instant updates across all locations, allowing planogram changes to be implemented quickly while facilitating cross-team collaboration between merchandising, sales, and supply chain teams. With robust data security and automatic backups, it prevents data loss and maintains information integrity. By enhancing efficiency, improving real-time communication, and increasing flexibility, cloud-based solutions optimize merchandising strategies and streamline execution across the organization.
8. Cost and Return on Investment
Retailers must assess the pricing model of a merchandising app to ensure it aligns with their budget and delivers a strong return on investment. Key considerations include whether the app follows a subscription-based model with recurring fees or a one-time purchase structure, as well as any scalability costs associated with adding locations, users, or features. Additionally, potential cost savings should be evaluated by analyzing how the app reduces labor hours, improves sales, and prevents stockouts or overstocking. The ultimate goal is to choose a cost-effective solution that enhances operational efficiency and drives measurable revenue growth.
9. Vendor Support and Training
Successful implementation depends on strong vendor support, so retailers should evaluate key factors such as onboarding assistance, ensuring the provider offers training materials and setup help; customer support availability, determining whether there is 24/7 support or dedicated account management; and software updates and enhancements, assessing how frequently the provider rolls out improvements. A vendor with responsive support and ongoing training resources ensures that retailers maximize their investment.
Conclusion
Choosing the right merchandising app requires careful evaluation of features, usability, integration, scalability, and analytics. Retailers must also consider real-time data capabilities, compliance tracking, cloud access, cost-effectiveness, and vendor support. The right app can streamline merchandising operations, improve execution, and drive higher sales performance. By investing in a well-suited planogramming solution, retailers can create a more efficient, visually appealing, and customer-friendly shopping environment while ensuring long-term business growth.
Source: Leafio.ai
