6 Steps To Transform Your Retail Merchandise Program

What do Apple, Harley-Davidson, Nike, and Disney have in common?

They are the brands with the strongest brand loyalty.

Think about all the money customers spend on Branded Merchandise from these companies.

Breweries generate the same type of emotional connection with their customers and inspire this type of brand loyalty. What is our evidence for this: sales of Brewery Branded Merchandise.

Done well, this is an opportunity for your brewery to flood the market with high-visiblity (apparel) Branded Merchandise! 

And… increase incremental revenues and profits

KNOW YOUR BRANDED PRODUCT GOALS

Write down your goals and use them to keep on track.

Some of the more common objectives include:

• Sales
• Gross Profit
• Number of new products introduced
• Establish and execute a product plan
• Take a physical inventory once per month
• Refresh your display once per day (Clean and add replacement inventory)
• Number of user generated social media posts

KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER DEMOGRAPHICS

Who are your primary and secondary customers?

Conduct a quick study! For a week, track your actual customers. Do this by going into your taproom/brewpub once an hour and do a quick count of:

• Male vs Female customers
• Age
• Single or in groups
• Group Sizes (and genders)
• Parents with Children
• Customers with Pets
• Beer Geeks
• Fitness types (Runner, Yoga, Cyclers)
• Gamers

Use your findings to inform the selection of your retail apparel. Choose products your customer demographic will want to buy.

KNOW YOUR UPCOMING EVENTS, PRODUCT LAUNCHES, HOLIDAYS, ETC.

Any event that brings customers into your brewery is a sales opportunity for your branded merchandise as well as your beer.

To take full advantage of these opportunities, schedule an inventory review 30 days before. The idea is to make sure you have solid inventory on all of your strongest selling merchandise and your most popular sizes.

These events are also an opportunity to create special nd limited-edition branded products.

Limited-Edition products:

• Use can or bottle label art to create a koozie for new/limited releases 
• Create event specific items for events like St. Patty’s day and Oktoberfest
• Find some fun Holiday themed products that can be purchased as stocking stuffers or gifts 

KNOW YOUR ORDERING & SELLING TIMELINES

With your Brewing Schedule you plan out your yearly production. These plans allow you to develop budgets and sales projections, purchase raw materials, and schedule equipment use.

Opportunity: Apply the same planning skills and process to your retail branded merchandise program.

The basics of a successful plan include:
Ordering the right sizes and quantities
Knowing your lead-times to ensure products will arrive when needed
Scheduled selling periods for seasonal products and with a developed markdown plan

We recommend an “order less, more often” strategy. This will allow you to:

• Manage your inventory more efficiently
• Reduce the number of days a product sits on the shelf
• Reduces inventory costs and space required to store inventory
• Adjust to changes in the market or special events
• Add new product, colors or designs more often
• Reduce costs related to discounts for slow moving products
• Adjust sizes ordered based on sales to right size your orders

PUT IT ON PAPER & FOLLOW THE PLAN

Create a Product Plan 

A solid Product Plan lists each product and includes:

• Timing – Plan out your products based on season, product launches, sporting events, festivals, and holidays.
• Core vs Seasonal – Core products are on sale every day – Season products are on sales for a pre-determined number of days
• Design – allow the time needed to create the design, select the product and negotiate price and delivery
• Production/Sampling – Once the design phase is complete, now its time to place the order and approve the sample (digital or actual)
• Full Display – decide when each product goes out to the display at full price (Make sure to promote new products through social media and train staff on product features and price)
• Discount #1 – Period for first discount (reduce by ½ of gross profit) try to sell remaining product during this period
• Discount #2 – Period for second discount (remainder of profit – sell at cost) move to a discount rack or last chance rack to make room for new product
• Remove – toss into a box and use as a giveaway at a future event

Schedule time to look at due dates weekly to keep on track.

AN ENGAGING PRODUCT DISPLAY

Visual Merchandise is your salesperson for these products!

Keep it organized and clean
Assign someone to restock daily/weekly

Here are a few thoughts:

Highest margin products should be displayed at “Line of Sight” between 3 - 6 feet from the floor.

Pricing should be printed (not handwritten) and be displayed as a Menu or on each product. DO NOT use tape to attach price signs.

When hanging products, make sure all hangers are facing the same way (Question Mark) Hang items Small to large – front to back.

If folding or rolling, make sure to keep the items neat and organized. Small to large top to bottom.

Have a specific area set up for closeouts and discontinued merchandise.

For a more thorough treatment, check out our Merchandising Workshop.