New Planograms Can Mean New Dollars

Imagine if you will, a mountain of information, all containing data on what products sell best, what shelf positions work best for sales, what the latest consumer trends are and how to make them work for AWG retailers. That sounds like something most AWG member retailers would want at their fingertips.

That’s the goal behind Category Sales Initiatives from the Category Sales and Merchandising teams – take all relevant vendor information and consumer insights, syndicated data, category trend information and then produce best in class planograms designed to maximize sales and product movement for key center store and HBC categories in your store. The Merchandising team collaborates with category managers from Category Sales, AWG Brands, and VMC as well as key vendor and broker partners to develop a very informative, sales building initiative. Every sales initiative contains a five to eight-minute video that highlights key category information and overviews of consumer trends, an executive summary that gives context related to the specific initiative, updated division specific planograms (with multiple sizes), promotional grid, discontinued items listing, and sign up forms.

So why should AWG retailers participate in the Category Sales Initiatives program? History has shown stores that participate in the program have four to eight percent higher sales performance than non-participating stores. In fact, the most recent Hair Care Sales Initiative reflects participating stores outperforming non-participating stores by over ten percent in dollar sales. 

In one of the most competitive retail environments in the U.S., having information that has been proven to increase sales and encourage consumers putting items in their cart can mean the world to a store. That’s why the Corporate Merchandising team typically publishes 10 to 12 new sales initiatives annually. This helps to ensure key center store and HBC categories are updated and aligned with important consumer trends. In fact, if a store were to participate in all sales initiatives over three to four years, it’s basically like conducting a full center store reset.  And the best news is this is a free program for participating members.

AWG members have likely seen some of these category initiatives and their relevant planograms at food shows. It’s always a good idea to take a look at the next show you attend as those retailers who have implemented an initiative tend to become repeat participants when they see the sales lift obtained. Please make sure to contact your District Sales Manager with any questions.

INITIATE A PLAN: For more information on the Category Sales Initiative Program contact David Dunn. Go to StoreFront and look for Merchandising/Planograms to find planograms.