What are some of the best practices for merchandising seasonal and promotional products?

Seasonal Merchandising, What is the duration of the season, when do you want to be in and Out of the product. What socioeconomic trends could influence the movement of the individual products, such as strength of the dollar, inflation, what is the personality of the City, County, State. 'Buyers' must be in tune to accessories and order with intent to drive margin as most 'core seasonal' products are often purchased at a premium cost and the competition often forces curbing retail prices. Does the product have a shelf life. Understanding Location of the product. I have worked for the Home Depot, The Best Buy Corporation and now in Financial Services and each entity has a Season or in some cases, several Seasons. Be engaged and be humble.

It's about getting out ahead of the season. We, as retailers, are responsible for getting customers into the seasonal spirit. This is why Halloween shows up on shelves in August and Christmas right behind it in September. You're the driving force to generating the seasonal sales. The sooner you're in, for sales and margin purposes, the better. The same holds true if the customer is shopping online.

With many ways to shop (in store, online, pick up, personal stylist etc) it's not only essential to know what the customer is buying but how they're buying it. It's important to monitor and track the sales of each shopping platform, as there are differences and ensure assortments are properly reflected.

Customer understanding is an ongoing process. Building strong relationships with your customers and consistently seeking their feedback and insights is key to meeting their needs effectively and staying ahead of the competition

A part of planning should be factoring in the differences in productivity in your space, being intentional with your zones and category flow in your space plans

Every picture tells a story, doesn't it? I like to merchandise for seasonality and trends by walking throughout the store as a customer. Partner merchandise together by theme or use with "and" in mind rather than "or" when deciding which products go where. Timely placement of fast-selling seasonal merchandise will help customers pick up what they need and help leave you cleaner as the season winds down. If we have what they need, when they need it, we will be top of mind, every time.

Sometimes these stories are by "package" (e.g. lifestyle merchandising) and sometimes these mean a specific basic essential, which is when commodity merchandising would come handy. Both have their own purpose, and most of the time, both are needed in each space.

Cross-merchandising certainly helps with UPTs, and it also helps during times when there is an excess of one particular product type while others are too scarce, as long as their pair together logically.

Creating a vignette that extends across product categories has been successful in my experience. It has also been a lot of fun. For example, a winter wonderland display that included functional ski gear for the family as well as blankets, apres ski boots and clothing and even books and puzzles and games (for the less sports included - like me) worked extremely well and helped suggest merchandise for a specific end use as well as suggestively selling items the buyer didn't even know they needed!