One of the most crucial tasks to running a retail business is creating a planogram or model for your shelf space.

The concept of how to best showcase or display product is often overlooked by cigar retailers. In giving you some insight in this month’s edition of the Retailer Corner we’re going to show  how to organize your shelves to maximize sales.

Three things are key:  grouping products together, where to put your best-selling products, and the importance of creating a planogram before putting product on the shelf.

The first concept we believe you need to consider is grouping products together. Typically, your customers at a normal tobacconist or cigar lounge will be males, and men shop differently than women. Paco Underhill, author of the book Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping studied the shopping behavior of men and women. Underhill believes “men typically spend less time shopping, and often refuse to ask for help in finding something.” Thus, it is important to make the shopping experience as easy as possible for your targeted demographic. One of the best ways to do this is by grouping products based on brand. So, it’s a great idea to put all of the Arturo Fuentes in the same vicinity on shelves, making it easier for the customer to find the Arturo Fuente they are looking for.

The second practice is putting your best-selling brands closer to the front of the shelves and in the middle of the shelf. People often shop the same way they read a book, left to right and front to back. Typically, a customer starts off with the first shelf they see rather than the ones toward the back. The best way to make the shopping experience easier and to maximize sales is by putting your most popular items and higher dollar items closer to the beginning of the shopping experience. Also, customers typically focus on the middle shelves not the top or bottom if they are too high or low to the ground. If you have five shelves, then the shelves with the best visibility will be the middle three. The bottom shelf would be a good place to put brands that don’t sell as well. After all, you don’t want to use the best real estate for the slower-selling products.

The third and most important thing you need to do as a retailer is create a planogram or model for your store. Before any contractor starts construction on a new building they must first have an architect create a blueprint. A planogram is pretty much a blueprint for your retail space, and will help you decide where each product goes. You can do this via creating an Excel spreadsheet, Microsoft Word document, or simply by drawing on a piece of paper the dimensions of your shelves and where they will be located. Typically, the average cigar box is twelve inches long, so if the shelf space is 84 inches you know seven boxes should fit on each shelf. Make sure to measure your shelf space before you create the planogram. Creating a planogram allows you to determine the facings you can fit in your store, and how best to organize your shelves.

We hope you found this month’s edition of Retailer Corner informative for you and your business. At Santa Clara Cigars, we strive to help our partners successfully run their business and ensure long-term success.