November 2021 - HMY Group

We give you 7 practical tips to enhance your rows and make them more attractive to consumers.
From simple tips leveraging the modularity of the shelving units and ambience to high impact custom technologies with a high return on investment.

The consumer habits and the lifestyles of new generations have changed radically in the last decade. From the type of products purchased by each age group to the reasons for purchasing.

This, added to the boom in E-commerce and increased competition as a result of globalisation, has further demonstrated the need to rethink how we distribute products at points-of-sale.

To help the different sectors, we will give you 7 tips on how to make Retail shelving systems more attractive quickly and profitably.

1.Optimise zones by purchasing time and reason

Differentiating between bulk products and “pack” or thematic products in a row will attract different consumers.

An obvious example is the bulk product sections with legumes, pasta or nuts. This type of solution, which consists mainly of dispensers, contributes to food waste prevention and reduces the use of containers while creating a separate environment from packaged products.

2. Add a variety of materials to revitalise and enhance perceived row quality

There are many reasons why brands are regarded as being of high quality. One of them is the care and style with which they display their different products. Using a variety of materials in these displays can enhance the perceived quality of these products.

We can easily and inexpensively apply this example to our rows using end caps in the structural elements of our systems, which allow us to highlight the product displayed. A solution that allows us to attract consumers through a reinforced quality proposal.

Here are some examples of the varieties of materials:

Wood: a sustainable and renewable resource that allows us to create differentiating spaces in wine, bakery or perfumery sections, among others.
Porcelain: a solution that is warm to the touch, similar to natural stone; in addition to its resistance, durability and hardness, its lack of pores protects against bacteria.
Metal: a fully recyclable and customisable material, ideal for developing elements that allow us to properly display products.
Aluminium: resistant, hygienic, long-lasting and recyclable, ideal for use in bulk foods like fruit and vegetables, legumes and seeds.
Biodegradable: aimed at reducing plastic and leveraging our customers’ resources to develop solutions that will help us care for our environments, such as price tag holders or shelves.

3. Integrate visual elements to make the product display more attractive and engaging

We can make the row more attractive for consumers using:

Row end caps and accessoriesas attractions with thematic and promotional banners.
Magnetic vinylsto easily adapt the shelves to the product being promoted. Very useful and easy to install, for example, “back to school” campaigns.
Inexpensivemethacrylate display cases and other attractive elements to promote specific products in an original way, taking advantage of the modularity of the shelving units.

4. Give the consumer respite between one product and another

When the product displayed is very similar, we can give consumers visual respite by, once again, taking advantage of modular shelving systems to open a small space where we can include a lightbox or a product testing area.

When distributing aisles in a store, we must consider safety standards in order to prevent possible incidents, which will vary depending on the sector.

5. Combine technology and product placement for greater effectiveness

There are many retail technologies, but it is essential for point-of-sale technologies to be based on a business objective and not only seek a “wow effect”.

What is the purpose of applying technology to rows? Three examples:

Digital signage in aisles, with promotions and directions to the products.
Electronic price tag holders with pressure sensors.
Technological shelving unit end caps that combine digital signage and product display.

6. Involve your staff to create new distribution ideas and detect points of improvement

Store staff have to deal with consumers’ questions and requests every day, so their feedback is without doubt highly valuable.

Involving them in brainstorming-type dynamics can give us ideas about how to distribute our product so it is more attractive to consumers.

7. Leverage lighting

Lighting is much more versatile and effective than we might imagine. Not only because an efficient installation can lower the electricity bill and reduce the environmental footprint, but also because a good lighting study can completely change the appearance of the point-of-sale, including the rows.

Quality, well-distributed lighting evenly illuminates the products, avoiding shaded areas and high contrasts to prevent visual discomfort.
We can integrate lighting in rows and shelving units, improving the visual placement of the products and even increasing their perceived quality.

We recommend different solutions that adapt to each sector to efficiently leverage rows in a way that is attractive to consumers, namely:

Food: a sector in which conventional and robust shelving systems that are easy to assemble and have flexible height modulation prevail, but which are often under-utilised in accessories and visual communication.
DIY, household items, machinery, workshops and hard discount: which come in a wide range of weights and sizes; their storage options combine systems with racks and accessories. Often not focused on maximising visual product display.
Pharmacy and toy stores: sectors that seek the most standard possible shelving systems to optimise costs, but without relinquishing the possibility of personalising their final appearance using materials and colours.
Wines: this section has wine varieties that are presented according to quality. Using rustic woods to differentiate them or sorting racks would be advantageous in this sector.
Cosmetics: a sector where image is everything. Lighting and digital signage would play a vital role in cosmetics. Additionally, you can surprise customers with solutions based on materials such as Krion, which help to preserve the products.

If you are not only considering transforming the rows of your points-of-sale, we have prepared our 360-degree Shopfitting Guide, which you can download free here, in which we explain our outlook on Retail in the immediate future, inspiring success stories and the best way of approaching comprehensive shopfitting projects.

One of the sectors that has experienced the most digitalisation in 2021 is food.
Among the benefits, we can highlight: improvement of the user experience, cost reduction and process automation.

The pandemic and the tech boom

After months of the pandemic, all organizations dedicated to monitoring the economy and, more specifically, retail, have a clear conclusion: the technology adoption curve has skyrocketed.

Accenture, the consulting firm, has been especially clear about how online sales have grown in each sector, a clear indication of this adoption of technologies. In particular, the food sector has experienced a 333% increase.

On the other hand, in an article published at the beginning of the pandemic, McKinsey stated that the adoption of consumer technologies had taken a jump of 5 years.

But, doesn’t that go against physical retail?

It turns out that 73% of consumers are looking forward to going back to physical stores, according to a study published by IBM. Something that, along with the rate of technology adoption, sends us a clear message: the consumer is much more willing than ever to interact with technology in retail.

And one of the historical problems for technological investment by the retail sector was the absence of a consumer base educated in its use. Prudence and consumer ignorance made the risk of a negative ROI when digitizing stores and supermarkets too high.

The case at hand: even today, few food chains are truly committed to self-payment systems.

The true value of the contribution of technology to food retailing

The pandemic has changed consumers’ buying habits and they are now more comfortable with technology. It’s the food retail sector that now has to move to adapt to these new consumption habits.

The only difference is that if this change is going to be merely adaptive or there will be any brand brave enough to bet on technology as the main differential in the shopping experience.

In any case, it’s necessary to understand that online and offline are not parallel environments, but complementary. Of course, a purchase will invariably be made in one place or another, but consumers have shown that they do not want a single model, so what can food retail bring to the consumer through technology?

The 3 goals of technology: experience, costs and process improvement

At HMY we always work towards a goal: each technological solution that we offer to our clients must help them achieve three key benefits: an improvement in the user experience, based on their consumption habits, a reduction in costs for the consumer and the retailer and an increase in process efficiency.

8 trends in technology that are transforming food retail

1. Digital signage

Visual impulses are becoming more and more common in an industry that, until now, barely had screens outside of the electronics section. Promotions become much more effective when we can remind the user of them at key points of their journey in an audiovisual way.

Thanks to this, the communication in our centres takes a qualitative leap, since we avoid the saturation of printed posters, and it becomes much more effective.

2. Food Click & Collect

In an interview published in Forbes, the consulting firm LatentView Analytics estimated an increase of almost 20% in the preference of consumers for contactless methods of collecting their orders. That is a 20% increase in the preference for using BOPIS (Buy-Online-Pick-Up-In-Store) or Click & Collect systems.

Consumers are telling us that they want to avoid the economic and environmental problems of home or assisted delivery. Something that we can provide, thanks to Click & Collect systems such as HMY Cleveron solutions.

3. Capacity control

In some countries (such as France), due to legal obligations and, in others, to reinforce consumer confidence, automatic capacity measurement systems are being implemented, which notify consumers when they can enter the establishment.

Additionally, this is a technology that we can also take advantage of to collect data on the influx of customers, in real-time, to the points of sale.

4. Digital queue management

Until now, queue management systems have been mere functional elements to solve a problem: bottlenecks in supermarkets and hypermarkets. But the result is still consumer accumulation in the fresh food areas, who do not want to lose their turn with the consequent increase in frustration and insecurity.

Digital queue management solutions help food retailers solve this problem through a system that allows customers to pick a turn in multiple sections and viewing the progress of orders on digital signage systems distributed in different parts of the centre.

Thanks to this, the consumer can take a turn at the entrance of the establishment, make their purchase while they wait and have the peace of mind that, regardless of the section they are in, they know when it is going to be their turn.

5. Autonomous stores, getting closer and closer

Amazon, Walmart and Alibaba have led this fast-growing trend in the past decade.

In early 2020, an estimated 200 automated stores were opened in China alone, although the waters seem to have calmed a bit on this matter and investments in automation seem to have been redirected to delivery robots , but along the way, there are many lessons learned in sensor technology, artificial intelligence for visual analysis and fast payment.

6. Scan & Go on your smartphone

Some businesses are already using this new self-scanning trend, through which consumers simply scan the barcode in the products with their smartphone, minimizing physical procedures during the purchasing process.

This system is having a great reception among users due to its simplicity and how much more agile making a purchase is thanks to it. Such is the acceptance it has had, that according to the latest survey carried out by SOTI, 66% of consumers prefer to use this method in the supermarket.

The self-scanning system is also a step ahead of traditional scanners in health terms since it eliminates the hygienic risk of these and automatically allows people to maintain social distance.

And, as if all this were not enough, this technology has a great capacity to collect data on customer behaviour, which allows companies to assess key aspects such as users’ purchasing patterns and their level of satisfaction.

7. The Digital Sommelier

This simple technology allows the Digital Sommelier to guide you, via a simple questionnaire, to the wine that best matches the menu you have chosen for every occasion.

In addition to helping to choose the right wine, it enhances cross-selling, because the system recommends recipes and displays the shopping list so that the customer can purchase the ingredients right there and then.

These advantages are not just at the user level, but also at the company level, the main ones being:

Increase in sales volume: this occurs directly, through the information given to the consumer about the characteristics and storytelling that make the product unique. This allows the user to make a comparison between the different products and generate a great brand impact due to the attraction they achieve, thanks to this technology. Once they know the buying behaviour, companies can launch various promotions to achieve customer loyalty.
Reduction of operational costs, compared to more traditional solutions because it enables the immediate launch of campaigns and carries out a real-time analysis of their effects. This facilitates increased scalability and operational efficiency. By having all the products at hand, the Digital Sommelier gives greater visibility to the e-catalogue and ultimately generates more sales.
Memorable shopping experience: thanks to the information provided to the customers, this inspires them throughout the purchase process and offers them an exciting experience, thus increasing brand awareness among users. This technology offers a new form of dynamic communication between companies and consumers.

8. Dynamic labels

A typical customer is only capable of seeing 0.2% of the products on the shelves during a normal purchase. This electronic ink labelling technology draws the customer’s attention to the exact product we want to promote.

Its advantages include:

Increase in sales.
Attracting the user’s attention by animating the contents.
Direct differentiation from the competition.
Higher profitability than traditional POS material.

If you want to find out more about how we can digitalise the food sector, do not hesitate to contact us, or download our free guide with the keys to omnichannel sales in retail.