In Visual Merchandising, there are two types of presentation styles that speak to the wants and needs of customers: Lifestyle and Commodity-Driven Merchandising.
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One style is all about styling the product to sell as a product and communicate a clear theme, while the other is about relying on the customer to use their imagination to understand coordinating accessories.
In this blog post, we’ll dive into details about the benefits of each presentation style so you can understand why they matter in your annual sales and marketing plan, and how they can improve your customers’ overall shopping experience.
Lifestyle merchandising is all about communicating a clear theme and selling everything as a package. This means each product displayed can be paired with another one to encourage the buyer to get the complete look.
For example, while we were working with Wrendale (as part of the Portmeirion Group), we displayed each product to show it would be wiser for the customer to purchase them as a package deal, rather than separately. If the customer is interested in a unique and stylish dish bowl, why not pair it up with the matching dinner plates, drinking glasses and utensils that surround it?
Commodity Visual Merchandising works by merchandising each product type, allowing customers to use their imagination when it comes to pairing that item with accessories. Commodity-style merchandising also works well for essential and staple items, since they don't need any further education about the context of these products.
While VM ID set up showroom sections at a Toronto Market Week wholesaler, the areas which contained essential or staple items were merchandised by product type. In this instance, we learned that baby bibs are a staple item that customers were searching for. By merchandising in commodity, we are making the search simple for customers by showing them all of the colour options in one place, rather than having the customer hunt through various styled packages.
Understanding visual merchandising techniques is essential for having a successful store. Not only in terms of money and numbers but also as a reliable and go-to place for buyers.
Both lifestyle and commodity visual merchandising styles are important, but they need to be applied with a perfect balance to ensure the desired results are achieved.
Stores are not like they used to be years back. Nowadays, buyers expect a whole experience when they walk-in, browse and shop for a product. Having an effective visual merchandising strategy might sound hard, but there are resources to give you a helping hand.
A fully-curated shopping space using Lifestyle Merchandising can be beautiful, yet potentially unapproachable. However, a Commodity-Heavy store can be quite uninspiring for some customers who want businesses to (shop for them).
So, why don’t we combine the benefits of both?
The VM ID way is to create a combination of the two styles. This practice helps us to identify the most appropriate locations for each type of presentation while catering to the product's needs. This teaches the customers to understand the products better as well, putting them in the right context within these merchandising styles.
Planning the layout of your retail space heavily depends on being able to recognize the products that require lifestyle merchandising vs commodity. That’s why it’s always best to reach out to the VM experts first.
Are you looking for guidance on how to stylize your retail store or exhibitor booth? Book a Discovery Call with VM ID!
For a considerable portion of my career I have worked in the Manufacturing and Logistics/Distribution Industries. In these industries a segment of the Procurement organization is called Commodity Management.
However when I entered the Retail industry the group largely responsible for Procurement, amongst other things, was called Category Management.
At its core each group was procuring goods. But while there were shared responsibilities there were also key differences.
So what is the difference between Commodity Management and Category Management?
In my Manufacturing experience the Procurement function was essentially split between Commodity Management (or Strategic Sourcing) and Tactical Buying.
The Tactical Buying teams performed all of the day to day Procurement activities. They would place, change, and manage purchase orders. They would call suppliers to deal with specific delivery and quality matters.
The Commodity Management team was more strategic.
First of all they were organized by “Commodity”. That is each Commodity Manager would be responsible for a certain commodity (eg. cables, plastics, semiconductors, etc). And the Commodity Management team clearly reported into the Supply Chain organization.
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The Commodity Manager would be responsible for the entire strategy for buying their respective Commodity. They would be responsible for Supplier selection, negotiations, terms and conditions, sourcing decisions, competitiveness, and performance management.
The Buying teams were basically the execution engine working with the suppliers and terms that had been strategically defined by the Commodity Management (or Strategic Sourcing) team.
The Commodity Managers were typically career Supply Chain and Procurement people. There were certainly exceptions as they were considered to be running small businesses with respect to the considerable amount of spend that they controlled.
When I entered the Retail industry I brought along my concept of Procurement and Commodity Management.
I quickly learned that Retail defined and managed Procurement in a much different fashion. And it was organized much differently.
In Retail they use the term “Category Management”. Depending on the type of Retail company you have the categories will differ but the concept is the same. In a Grocery business the categories could be Produce, Dairy, or Canned Goods for instance. In a General store environment categories could include Women’s clothing, Automotive goods, Hardware, and more.
The organizational alignment of the Category Management team was much different. Category Managers reported into the Merchant organization, not Supply Chain.
Responsibilities for Category Managers also extended far beyond that of the Commodity Management group I was used to.
Category Managers were also responsible for Sales and Marketing of the Categories that they managed. They also had input into Merchandising and Promotions.
They managed the entire processes of Strategic Sourcing AND Tactical Buying.
Unlike the Commodity Managers who were largely Procurement experts, the Category Managers were largely Sales, Marketing and Merchant experts.
Without exception both Commodity Managers and Category Managers were performing Strategic Sourcing activities. They both searched for, selected and qualified suppliers. They performed all negotiations and managed all contracts. And they were both responsible for how their suppliers performed in all respects.
Beyond that Strategic Sourcing responsibility there were key differences. The Category Managers were clearly responsible for Product selection and Sales and Marketing, which Commodity Managers were not.
Category Managers would be required to report on Sales performance at a detailed level which would inform future supplier and product selection decisions. Commodity Managers would be buying the products and materials selected by Customers or Product Development teams.
Category Management was unequivocally aligned with the Chief Merchant. The Logistics and Distribution organizations were aligned with Supply Chain. Commodity Management on the other hand was aligned with Supply Chain and the Chief Procurement Officer.
Consistent with these differences, in both organization and responsibility, the skills and experience of these groups varied as well.
Category Managers were more likely to be Sales and Marketing experts. The task of visiting suppliers and negotiating was, while important, secondary and not the prime expertise of Commodity Managers.
The Commodity Managers on the other hand were primarily Procurement experts. They were negotiating experts with business management skills and aptitudes.
Depending on your industry you may be familiar with the term Category Management or Commodity Management. Or you may consider these phrases to be synonymous.
In my experience there are both similarities and differences between these two terms with respect to responsibilities, organization, expertise, aptitude, and capabilities.
In either case both of these roles are phenomenal positions with respect to learning and managing a business. Their contributions are incredible and will make or break the success of any company in any industry.
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