The Days of Clip Boards Are Over! How Technology is Improving Brand Management

• January 8, 2013
• Topics:
  • Brand Management

Staying Informed about your brand at retail is integral if you want to succeed. Effective brand management means keeping on top of product placement, restocking, and product movement. If you find yourself struggling to maintain control over your product, this can be a big problem, so how can you solve it? By leveraging merchandising technology and working with a merchandising company that employs this in their suite of merchandising services is key.

According to a recent study done by The Parker Avery Institute, only 57% of retailers have a well-formed merchandising strategy, and these are the ones who experience 3% or better sales growth from year to year. Those that don’t have a well-defined brand management/merchandising strategy don’t see these results. Clearly there is something to be said for planning ahead.

What are the benefits that exist when you leverage merchandising technology as part of your brand management strategy?

1. Speed. What if you sent out a planogram but are unsure whether or not it was executed properly? What if you see that your product is not moving well compared to last month? Knowing the answers to these issues, in real time, is crucial for effective brand management. Merchandising companies that leverage merchandising technology can send out a rep and send you information, before and after pictures, and stock updates right from a mobile device.

2. Accuracy. Using merchandising technology that uses a store’s “store data” system to report on your brand means that no manual inputs are necessary, ensuring accuracy. The days of clip-boards are over, so relying on them instead of merchandising technology will put you at the bottom of the retail hierarchy!

3. Competitiveness. Being aware of how the competition is performing is also a crucial part of effective brand management. Merchandising companies use merchandising technology to do this by comparing pricing (which again can be sent to you immediately), checking display execution, and gauging customer satisfaction. Get a leg up on the competition through effective brand management and merchandising technology.

4. On Demand Access. By syncing store data to a web portal, you can have on demand access to reports and data mined by merchandising companies. Relying on updates from the store (if they will even provide them) can be costly and time consuming, so taking advantage of the services offered by merchandising companies that leverage merchandising technology for on demand access is a really smart idea.

Most of the big brand names leverage merchandising technology to ensure that they maintain control over their own brands. This doesn’t mean though that this kind of brand management has to be expensive. It is actually a smart way to achieve cost savings that allow you to stay in control and always be aware of what is taking place with your brand.

If you are having trouble controlling your product in-store, or if you just want to ramp up that marketing campaign, a merchandising company that leverages merchandising technology as a part of their merchandising services is the way to go. An effective brand management strategy should include technology which will ultimately make your life a lot easier.

For more information about leveraging merchandising technology for effective brand management, or any other merchandising services you may need, please contact Marketsupport at 1-877-421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.