Product knowledge...do you know your stuff

by Dirk van Wijk

This will be my third article in CNHR magazine and I am flattered that Bruce asked me a while ago to contribute to the well written editorials this magazine provides. I must admit, I am relatively new to the world of natural health food/products and I am learning a lot in a very short time.  Allow me to share a bit of my background with you. I have spent all of my working life either on the retail sales floor or in support positions at the head office of large, national retailers. A few years ago, I retired after 28 years at the head office of one of Canada's largest hardware and home improvement retailers. This extremely successful retailer is comprised of over 1,000 individually owned stores, located from coast to coast. My responsibilities ranged from product presentation by means of providing planograms, point of purchase development and execution, as well as the development of niche marketing programs. A significant and rather enjoyable part of my job was to conduct merchandising and promo product presentation seminars to the member stores and their staff. This provided me with one of the most important aspects of my job; to interact with store owners and their staff and experience first-hand what an important role those people play in the success of their stores.

It never failed to amaze me the sheer product knowledge these people possessed! Not only could they tell me just about anything pertaining to most of the 25,000-plus skus in the store, and equally, if not more importantly, they could tell me which of the 25,000-plus skus were significant contributors to their bottom line. That's what I call "knowing your stuff."

What constitutes a significant contributor? Products that belong to your core inventory and sell frequently and/or have good margins. Products that customers expect to find in your store. Significant contributors are a blend of products, some are fast selling with low margins and some will be slower selling with higher margins, but they are equally important.

You see, in your business, you are required to know just about everything about everything you sell in your store. Your customers rely on your knowledge to make informed buying decisions. But do you know which of the products you sell are the most important contributors to your bottom line? And if you do, what do you do with that knowledge?

It's actually rather simple. You make sure you are never in an "out-of-stock" position with these products. You merchandise them in such a way that they are easy to find in the store. You may even decide to have more than one facing of these products (if space allows). You promote them regularly and not necessarily at a discount. I have suggested in the past that stores make a list of their "best" (performing) products and have it handy as a reminder and guideline when merchandising or planning for a promotion. To be successful, it helps to know your stuff in more than one way.

Next issue, I will expand on this topic in more detail.