After reviewing 50 experiments that involved more than 5,000 consumers, and researchers at Switzerland's University of Basel, Germany's University of Mannheim, and Indiana University in the U.S. concluded that the more choices for the shopper, the better.There are two types of product lines that are more likely to show sales increases when you implement variety.
Type 1 - Product categories in which you're seeing a dramatic increase in sales.
The increases are a sign that you could be an end location for that type of merchandise. If you're selling lots of exercise equipment, expand the exercise merchandise variety to bring in even more exercise equipment buyers.
Type 2 - Product categories that are under performing in sales, compared to what you'd expect.
If you show signs that other retailers are selling more sandwichs than you, per sq. ft of merchandise space, consider expanding the variety of sandwichs you offer in that merchandise space.
It's not enough just to load on variety. It's important that you give the shopper a way to easily sort through the choices. Otherwise the abundance of alternatives will overwhelm and stop the shopper. Read Full Article
