Cathy Carter-Culp of Barrington, IL is a brand marketing and merchandising professional. In the article below, Cathy Carter-Culp explains the differences between merchandising and marketing, and how the two go hand-in-hand.
Knowing when to use “merchandise” vs. “market” in a sentence seems simple but choosing between “merchandising” and “marketing,” however, can be much more complex. What is merchandising, what is marketing, and what’s the difference?
Carter-Culp says that while “marketing” refers to a company’s long-term efforts to popularize its brand and build a loyal customer base, “merchandising” involves more immediate, short-term efforts to promote a certain product by manipulating its selling location, store placement, product promotion, and display designs.
Cathy Carter-Culp provides an overview of merchandising, marketing, and their related roles in money making.
Cathy Carter-Culp on Merchandising
Cathy Carter-Culp of Barrington, IL says that merchandising deals directly with the product being sold—and more specifically, how merchandise is presented to consumers during the shopping experience. The goal of merchandising is to increase sales by maximizing a product’s visibility and appeal.
Some key factors involved in retail merchandising are:
- Which stores carry a product
- The product’s aisle location
- The product’s shelf placement
- How well the product is advertised
- How much the product costs to produce and purchase
- The availability and price of similar products
What Merchandising Involves
In physical stores, Cathy Carter-Culp says that strategically placing products together in point of purchase merchandising, can increase sales by drawing a shopper’s attention to an item that may not have been on their list, but would “go well with” a product that was.
For example, a grocery store might strategically place canned salsa beside the tortilla chips so that customers who come to the aisle seeking only chips may see the salsa and spontaneously decide to buy it. This strategy works well with add-on accessories, collectables, and items that come in sets.
A company might also offer in-store samples of a product to promote sales, or periodically send field representatives to do site-specific quality assurance and display checks.
While the online equivalent of point of purchase merchandising might be a “related products,” or “we thought you might be interested in…” side bar, the online version of a sample stand might be a “try it free, just pay shipping!” promotion or sending samples of a new product with every order.
Cathy Carter-Culp of Barrington, IL says that another merchandising strategy both online and in-store is to consider consumers’ emotions through packaging and advertising styles.
While bright, colorful package designs and video advertising of a slumber party might appeal to a fun-loving teen-girl audience, an eco-friendly design might make conscientious parents feel proud of how their choices are helping to preserve the planet for future generations.
Marketing
Cathy Carter-Culp says that merchandising is a highly visible part of retail marketing, but marketing itself encompasses a much wider range of business strategies. In fact, much of marketing takes place in behind-the-scenes brand-building efforts like product testing and development, marketing, and promotional research, and cultivating loyalty in employees and consumers.
Business analysts often refer to the main principles of marketing as “the 4 Ps”:
- Product: What is being sold and why consumers will want or need it
- Price: How much consumers are likely to pay based on the product’s value, production costs, and the price of its market competitors
- Place: Where the product is sold and how it is displayed, both in-store and online
- Promotion: How the company communicates with consumers to convince them that the product is necessary and worth the price
With the number of consumer goods and services constantly on the rise, companies invest in marketing to stay in the running for consumers’ attention. Today, Cathy Carter-Culp of Barrington, IL says that most companies attract customers through holistic marketing by selling not only their products, but their entire enterprise.
In addition to their goods or services, companies market their brand, what they stand for or represent, and how their company message might align with a consumer’s own lifestyle and values.
What Marketing Involves
In the new era of holistic marketing, most companies aim to develop a brand that consumers want to “be a part of” by considering factors such as:
- How their product/service compares with similar items on the market
- What role their product/service plays in the economy and how economic shifts might impact its popularity/pricing
- To whom the product/service might appeal, and how to engage this audience most effectively
- Where potential customers might expect to find their product/service
- Whether aligning themselves with a certain social/environmental cause will boost business
Based on these and similar considerations, most companies then focus their attention on a target audience and decide how to appeal to this population most cost-effectively. Cathy Carter-Culp of Barrington, IL explains that popular marketing strategies include:
- Celebrity endorsements
- Catchy slogans
- Creating a unique and memorable logo
- Emphasizing direct customer service through their website or email, in-person with brand representatives and ambassadors, or with efficient social media messaging
- Television, radio, magazine, newspaper, and mail ads
- Special company-wide promotional offers
- Brand alliances and joint giveaways
- Rewards programs
Which Should I Focus On – Merchandising or Marketing
While merchandising and marketing often go hand-in-hand, different considerations can influence which set of strategies will best serve a company’s current goals.
Companies that provide a service, rather than products, will almost always find marketing to be more effective than merchandising, as any branded merchandise the company may stock will likely generate little to no revenue.
For example, while a travel agency may sell branded umbrellas and t-shirts, but the bulk of their income is from travel planning, not the sale of these branded items. Cathy Carter-Culp of Barrington, IL says that to use resources efficiently, the company would likely invest far more in marketing their brand than deciding how to arrange the display case housing this available merchandise.
For retail companies, however, whether to prioritize merchandising or marketing may be situational and susceptible to change. For a new company, investing in marketing to build and popularize a brand name will likely be more profitable long-term than focusing too heavily on merchandising.
While merchandising efforts such as creating attractive aisle displays can help to sell the company’s product, people are more likely to buy something when they recognize or are attracted to the brand itself, perhaps based on a celebrity endorsement, its affiliation with an ethical cause, or its growing social media presence.
For example, by marketing itself as an “environmentally conscious and cruelty free company,” a new makeup business may attract consumers who prioritize animal rights, and eco-friendly products. While they may not know the brand name and the product itself might not be the most eye-catchingly displayed in the aisle, the brand’s alignment with their values are likely to entice these customers to purchase.
For a brand going out of business or aiming to clear a product in oversupply, prioritizing merchandising may also help to empty the shelves. Offering BOGO sales on a particular item, creating an in-store “everything must go” sign, or engaging in saturation advertising by flooding the market with clearance ads are a few ways to maximize output.
On the other hand, Cathy Carter-Culp of Barrington, IL says that an established brand expanding its reach by launching a new product line might rely heavily on both strategies. While marketing techniques would help to build the company’s existing business platform and align the new items with its established image, good merchandising might make the new product more appealing than those already on the shelves.
Conclusion
While merchandising aims to boost product sales with attractive store displays and attention-grabbing product placements, marketing refers to a broader, longer-term effort to build a company’s brand identity.
Most companies, including those in product sales and consumer services alike, engage in some form of marketing. Merchandising, however, is most effective for product-based businesses, and especially for companies that are new to the market, hoping to clear overstock, or going out of business.
