10-Min. Merchandiser

 No matter how many refrigerated cases a store has, there never seems to be enough of the cold, prime real-estate to go around.

For example, when one-pound clamshell strawberries are the lead ad item in a store, and the normal refrigerated allocated space is three linear feet, there simply isn’t enough space to support a mass display.

The easiest course of action is to line up a few, flat top tables or orchard bins, and in the words of many an aggressive merchandiser, “Stack it high and watch it fly.”

If you’re not careful, however, this also can mean that you watch the product spoil and your shrink get out of control.

Steps to merchandising cold on dry tables

1. Make sure you have enough traffic to support added sales.  This ties-in with your potential forecast. If your store has normally low volume you may wish to limit the size of the non-refrigerated display. Even in a high-volume operation, the size of the display should be large enough to attract attention, but small enough to ensure rapid product turnover. Our off-refrigeration strawberry display should ideally ‘turn’ at least once every hour to minimize shrink and maintain product quality.
2. Timing to meet peak customer traffic. If your store has good volume, but only between say, 4 to 9 pm, that’s the time period to expand the display. Until this time, some stores find that limiting the display to a single layer, or otherwise occupying the space (with shortcakes in our strawberry example) may suffice until things get busy. Once the dinner or weekend rush hits, then it’s easy to increase the stock to meet the demand.
3. Dummy up the base of the table. Create a mass look by using a false base. Stores do this successfully by using inverted crates or any combination of materials readily available in most stores. Try using a stair-step, layered base, and cover it all up using a thin, black, case liner or similar material. By doing so, a minimum amount of product is used, but the end result will be massive, with the appearance of abundance. 
4. Rotate display every time stocked. Keep your freshest stock on the bottom, and move older stock on top and towards the front of the display, where customers are more likely to shop. No step is more important than this. Any mis-rotation causes problems, but with high-respiration items such as clamshell berries, the product breaks down much more quickly, creating unnecessary shrink. Not to mention, any poor quality picked up by customers will repel the sales you’ve worked so hard to increase.
5. Allow display to sell down toward closing time. Keep the display neatly stacked and faced, taking care to cull closely throughout the day. As closing time nears, customer traffic slows down as well and the display needn’t be overly-full.
6. Assign the closing clerk to pull product from the display when the store closes. Pull and transfer product to the cooler overnight, taking care to minimize damage. One good method is to use plastic, stackable racks. Then, mount these racks on wheeled bases for secure storage and easy mobility. This will make the product easy to re-work onto the display the following morning.

It’s not an easy decision to merchandise items that normally need refrigeration, on a dry table. In fact some items should never be displayed in such a manner, especially if there are any safety or health concerns. Always consult your produce or store director and follow your chain’s policies.

Bend but don’t break

Periodically “interrupting” the cold chain is however, an accepted practice by most grocers. But only for certain items with potential for high-turnover, and with minimal time out of refrigeration. Done correctly and by following best practices procedures, the risks are minimal. The rewards of course, are building the category, maximizing sales, and enhancing the gross profit margin.