Merchandising

Often in a retail setting, creatively tying in related products or accessories is a great way to entice consumers to purchase more.

As just one example, in the United States the basic retail cycle begins in early January with merchandise for Valentine's Day, which is not until mid-February.

The trend of stocking stores with merchandise many weeks prior to the actual event targeted and the period of consumption can be described by the term advance selling.

As promotional merchandise acquires a larger portion of companies' annual budgets, its appearance in the hands of unintended recipients increases.

[2] This study concluded that considering allotting a greater sum of money to smaller pieces of merchandising that promote a brand would benefit newer companies that have yet to become quickly recognizable.

In the supply chain, merchandising is the practice of making products in retail outlets available to consumers, primarily by stocking shelves and displays.

For major food manufacturers in the beverage and baked goods industries, their merchandisers are often the single largest employee group within the company.

For nationwide branded goods manufacturers such as The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo, their respective merchandiser work forces number in the thousands.

In recent decades, these methods utilized by companies to provide merchandise have expanded from in-person only, to online-only for some stores during the COVID-19 pandemic, to a mixture of both, sometimes referred to as omnichannel retailing.

The combination of both options for consumers provides a favorable encounter with retailers that makes them more likely to purchase products and return to the seller again at a future date.

[3][4] A challenge that online retailers face in comparison to the traditional in-store shopping experience is the sensory exploration that isn't available to consumers through a screen.

An area this is especially prevalent in is clothing or fashion retail in which potential sizing issues can be a large factor in a customer refraining from purchasing an item online.

Moreover, accurately portraying the texture and quality of a product in all areas of retail, not limited to fashion, remains a challenge in the field of online merchandising as the lack thereof has been proven to result in more indecision for consumers.

[7][8] Erica Wagner of The Times states, "Beatrix Potter was the first to recognise that content—as we now call the stuff that makes up a book or a film—was only the beginning.

In 1903, Peter hopped outside his pages to become a patented soft toy, which gave him the distinction of being not only Mr. McGregor‘s mortal enemy, but also becoming the first licensed character".