Merchandising Research

Merchandising.co.uk

Merchandising

Merchandising describes the way that companies get their products or services promoted. There are various ways of doing this and they all have the same aim - to get a company and/or its brand products in poll position to catch the eye of a potential customer.

Merchandising isn't just about where a product goes in a shop to catch the eye of a customer. There are also a lot of issues behind this kind of 'Point of Sale' merchandising that can affect the outcome. So, a company's marketing department also has to research issues such as packaging, promotions, tie-ins and pricing.

The most obvious merchandising route in retail terms is the Point of Sale route. So, for example, you could go into a supermarket and see a display set up by the entrance to sell videos from a specific company on a 3 for £10 offer. This will immediately catch your eye.

Another option here is selective merchandising where smaller shops will agree to sell a specific brand of a certain product (i.e. like ice creams and lollies) but not others. In return they will be given promotional tools, freezers and other incentives. Or a restaurant chain may be incentivised to sell one big brand of cola but not the other.

Another route that can be taken here is cross-selling merchandising. So, for example, the producers of a kid's TV show may do deals with clothes manufacturers and toy makers to have images from the show put to market on clothes and toys. This helps them build brand image and maximise profits.

Nowadays, sports merchandising is also big business. The companies, for example, that sponsor premiership football team get all kinds of advertising thrown in to the mix. Their company name or brand will appear on the TV regularly and fans will buy and wear the team shirts with their name on the front.

Print Advertising

Print advertising is the term used to describe adverts or advertising campaigns that appear in print media. So, adverts here can appear in:

• Newspapers - i.e. in local, national and international papers.
  
  
• Magazines - i.e. in local, national, international, niche and general magazines.
  
  
• Directories - i.e. in telephone directories such as Yellow Pages.
  
  
• Poster sites - i.e. on posters that are placed in specific billboard sites or in bus shelters, on public transport or at train stations.
  
  
• Catalogues - i.e. in store catalogues and free catalogues that are posted to customers as direct mail, dropped through letterboxes and/or inserted into newspapers and magazines.
  
  
• Leaflets, flyers and mailers - i.e. inserted into newspapers and magazines, left for customers to pick up in shops, sent by post as direct mail or hand delivered to your home.
  

Print advertising can take many forms. Some adverts will be primarily text based, some will mix text and images and some will have an image-based focus. They can be used to advertise products and services and may run as an individual advert or as part of a bigger advertising campaign.

As with any advertising it is important to know who your target audience is and what kind of advertising they are likely to respond to. So, for example, if you are selling computer components then placing an advertisement in a computer magazine may do well for you. But, placing an advert in a knitting magazine may not bring in such good results!

Online Advertising

Online adverts are a form of advertising that appears on the Internet - i.e. they appear online! These adverts are a specialist form of advertising and can serve both static and interactive uses. So, for example, a static advert simply works like a standard advert in that it gives/show a message and has a call to action. An interactive online advert gives/shows the message but the viewer can use the advert itself (usually by clicking on it) to move to the next stage.

Since the early days of online advertising this sector has moved on and there are now multiple ways that an individual or business can advertise over the Internet either via email or via web pages. The most popular ways of doing this include:

• Banner adverts - a banner advert will show you some information and will lead you to a website when you click on it. These adverts can be static or animated/use video and can run across the page or appear horizontally to the side (where they are known as skyscrapers).
  
  
• Pop ups - these adverts open up in front of the web page that is being looked at.
  
  
• Pop unders - pop unders send the advert behind the web page that is being looked at.
  
  
• In text advertising - here a word/words in a piece of text will be highlighted and underlined. When the reader moves the mouse over the word(s) then an advert will appear on the screen.
  
  
• Rich media adverts - these adverts may use hi-tech techniques to grab attention (such as animation, sound and video).
  
  
• Floating adverts - these adverts can be set up to float over content or to move across the screen.
  
  
• Trick advert - these adverts are designed to look like error messages.
  
  
• Interstitial adverts - these adverts will appear as you go through the pages of web site.
  

Given the technology in use with online advertising many people that want to use this form of advertising will use a independent specialist agency to help create and place their adverts. In some cases sites that sell these kinds of advertising on their own web sites will help with the design and creation of adverts for advertisers.

In general terms there are various ways that advertisers pay to have adverts appear on the Internet. They may, for example, pay on a Cost Per Impression (CPM) basis where they pay per 1000 impressions. Or, they may pay on a Pay Per Click (PPC) basis where they pay for every user that clicks on an advert that leads to their website. And, they may pay on a Cost Per Action (CPA) basis where they only pay if a visitor uses the advert to access their site and then buys or does something specific.