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By Megan Moyer
Ensuring your vision comes to life in-store can be the most nerve-wracking part of a reset. Relying on installers or potentially inexperienced store staff who may be unfamiliar with your brand and don’t have your passion for the products can be cause for worry, but by providing the right tools you can ensure a smooth installation. There are many options, from printed instruction and merchandising manuals to brief videos and animated renders — methods to match any learning style.
When choosing a vendor to help streamline the setting and resetting of beauty departments for seasonal or off-season resets, experience matters. In addition to having data analysts who have space-planning capabilities and can create accurate-to-fit product and fixture planograms, a team of creative professionals who can provide a variety of tools to ensure the planograms are executed as envisioned in-store will make your job easier. Not to mention a project manager who oversees all aspects to keep tasks on time and on budget.
In one scenario, a mass retailer who was redoing its entire beauty department needed to provide guidance for store personnel to help them complete the update with minimal downtime and productivity losses. Both videos and an instruction manual were produced.
The instruction manual was organized so whoever was completing the installation had a user friendly, easy-to-follow guide that detailed each step of the process. It included photographs of the installation steps with a visual reference along with the written instructions. Detailed steps for putting up the new fixture walls from start to finish provided a reliable road map for in-store staff to follow. For familiarity, the models in the photos wore clothes to look similar to the store associate dress code.
The videos were offered as an alternate way to understand the order and organization of the new fixtures; they also demonstrated implementation techniques. Each one was 30- to 60-seconds, covering a section of the installation. To keep the file size down and ensure smooth streaming on mobile devices or limited access environments, neither sound nor voice-overs were used. One-sentence statements were overlayed to succinctly describe the action portrayed.
The instruction manual was intentionally placed in the “open me first” box so store associates would find it immediately. In addition to the manual, one-sheet instructions for each fixture that required assembly were enclosed in each component shipping box. These also included photos as well as written instructions, so even if the manual was misplaced or being used by another associate, it wouldn’t slow down the installation.
In the second scenario, a cosmetics brand needed an instruction manual for installation of its fixture pieces that included line drawings instead of photographs. This option may be a good solution when there is limited time or if the drawings already exist. Twenty 30- to 60-second videos were also created to show how each shelf, tray, clip and graphic should be installed. These short instructional videos showed how every piece should be attached to the display wall. Because the same vendor also created the fixture planograms, between the listing they received with their planogram and the videos, there was little chance of error in setting up the new configuration.
Another cosmetic brand needed a merchandising guide specific to each mass retailer that carries its products. Some retailers allow each brand to specify its own fixtures, so a comprehensive guide was necessary. The merchandising guide contained the fixture planogram with products, a line listing, product pictures, and a list of the required fixture pieces, such as inserts, trays, hooks, etc.
Selecting a vendor that has data management, space planning and print capabilities all in-house reduces the amount of time spent coordinating multiple vendors, and can improve quality as well as reduce cost.
For an effective and successful set or reset, consider what you are providing to ensure the brand vision comes to life as planned. Offer multiple tools to cover the variety of potential circumstances and scenarios. Covering all the bases will give you peace of mind, and those doing the installation more than one reliable, relatable option to follow for easy completion.
Megan Moyer is a 20-year retail industry veteran who manages HRG’s (Hamacher Resource Group’s) corporate marketing. HRG has been working in the details of retail for more than 40 years.
