Have a quick look at your register, or if you’re at home, picture it in your mind. What’s nearby? Are you offering small products and easy add-ons to your customers?
In this article, we’ll discuss how to set up your checkout process for success, both in-store and online, with convenient small products and impulse buys.
What is merchandising and why is it important?
Merchandising means promoting sales by the careful placement and presentation of products in your store or on your website. It’s a powerful and important tool for you to maximize your sales.
The last time you shopped online, I’m sure you saw a “Customers who bought this also love…” list. This is a great example of merchandising and it’s a simple and fantastic way to sell more products. When a customer buys something, they’re more likely to perceive a need to buy something else, and they’ll often purchase small, convenient add-ons near the end of the checkout process without much thought, called an “impulse buy.”
Selling is about more than simply having the best products — they need to be presented at the right time, too. Your retail space should set both you and your patients up for success, with the right opportunities in the right places to maximize sales and introduce them to effective new products.
What can I do to merchandise more effectively?
There are many factors to consider, and to guarantee results, it will help to keep track of which products get the most attention at your practice.
Your #1 seller should have the #1 most-visible location in your storefront, ideally placed front and center where customers can find it easily. The same is true for your website — your most successful products should take the center stage on your homepage.
Meanwhile, you can place smaller products that are nice to have by your register or online checkout page. In this spot, they’re quickly and easily available for customers to add to their order to tack on a bit of extra benefits to their purchase.
What products work best as add-ons?
Compare a bread-and-butter product like Salicylic Face & Body Wash with Ultra Benefits® Eye Gel or Lip Benefits®. While Salicylic Face & Body Wash is likely to be helpful to almost every patient that steps into your office, eye gels and lip balms are more specialty products that are nice to have; in other words, one is a foundational product in a skincare routine while the others are add-ons.
Rank your products from “essential” to “nonessential, but nice to have” for your clients. The list you create is a simple optimization of the order in which customers should see your products: the most essential should be seen first, and the most convenient add-ons should be seen last.
We recommend these products as add-ons:
- Lip Benefits®
- Ultra Benefits® Eye Gel
- Ultra Firming Eye
- Acne Spot Treatment and Overnight Spot Treatment
- Lipid Drops
What else can I do with my checkout counter?
A promotion can be a fantastic way to sweeten the deal — for example, you could offer 25% off Lip Benefits® on orders greater than a certain amount, with Lip Benefits® conveniently located and offered at your register where you ring up your customers.
If your practice doesn’t carry any “add-on” products, you can still use your checkout space to merchandise. For example, it’s a great place to put a display with more information about your main products, in case someone missed them.
You can also give out samples by your register, and encourage shoppers to ask questions and learn more.
Summary
Setting up your storefront is a more complicated and delicate process than it may seem. We recommend placing products so that the customer sees them in approximately the order that they are likely to need them. Smaller, nice-to-have items should come last, ideally next to your checkout, so that they’re available for a quick impulse buy and add-on sale.
View more helpful add-on products here.
