Merchandising Techniques: Identifying Unique Selling Points

A unique selling point is a concept that differentiates yourself from your competitors. It can be applied to promotional products or even to a business as a whole.   Also known as Unique Selling Proposition, this term refers to a feature or benefit that separates your products from anyone else. Such as offering at lower prices, creative design, extra functions etc.

The main advantage of USP: Attract potential clients.

USP focus on points like slogans, packaging and also brand recognition. With so many similar products and services in the market, Merch and Effect always finds creative merchandise solutions for a more distinct and iconic way your brand can be introduced to the market.

How can a customised leather compendium be an effective USP?

Premium Quality and Novelty. Unique features like special designs and materials would allow the customers to be attracted to the brand even more. According to every campaign’s budget, you can consider using real leather or PU for the external cover.  It is vital for every company since such strong brand recall can certainly help in brand awareness and brand image.

Strategic Merchandising: Activating your Consumers with GWPs

Having premium GWPs adds to the enjoyment of purchasing the beverage. This leaves a positive impression on your brand which, in turn, attracts audiences to buy your products. They may be potential customers who’ve yet to try them, or consumers who buy from competing brands but are looking for something different. In other words, an in-pack promotion can immediately translate to an increase in sales and profit. Here are some other benefits for incorporating this promotional strategy.

Why should you also choose an insulated beverage container for your next campaign?

Customisation and branding: An insulated beverage container has a large area and it easy to personalize. Matua has gone for simple but effective branding here and the same can be done on any other drink cooling product, with custom shape, colours and printing.

Increase perceived value: This item is given as a gift with purchase. The customers perceive it as a higher value as they feel like getting two items for one purchase. An insulated beverage container can be used for wine, beer and many other drinks hence, it would ideal as a gift to a friend.

Stimulate sales: For first time customers, it may be challenging for them to find the best wine to buy based on the bottle alone. Therefore, it is nice to have a GWP included, to tempt consumers in to trying your wine.

Customer Retention: Customers who have bought your bottle for the first time and plan to buy more will find themselves excited to see that they can get more containers with another purchase.

Merchandise Visibility: iPhone Cases from Matua

In today’s technological age, we can be certain that most of the clients we cater to have mobile phones in their palms and pockets. Gadgets have evolved into a necessity in this generation—a social disadvantage but also a marketing opportunity.

People nowadays can’t take their eyes off of their phones and have developed a habit of constantly taking it out to check for a message or even a call. Mobile phones have become very visible in our environment; hence, an opportunity for marketing and advertising.

In choosing your next merchandise, you should always take note of your target consumers and be able to immerse yourself into their way of thinking, their way of life. A strategy you can apply is embedding your brand to the essentials. Through this, it is certain that your brand will be seen as essentials, such as mobile phones, are always out of the house.

Producing merchandise which can complement and support a mobile phone’s function is an effective strategy to expand your brand’s coverage. It is also ingenious in a sense that your patrons will be your medium to a wider reach. The challenge comes with how you design such product which can attract and earn the trust of a patron.

Using premium materials is a definite must. Durability and style will be the main pillars of any merchandise. Just like this cellphone case produced by Penfolds, it is a simple classic design crafted in high quality leather. In producing merchandise such as these, one should always keep in mind the brand image you want your consumers to see--- a premium brand will always have to produce premium-looking merchandise made from quality material.

Merch and Effect takes you onto the road to ingenuity when it comes to developing your merchandise. To be honest, all it takes is a little common sense and a whole lot of motivation and passion for your brand. Let your ideas flow and imagination run wild!

Visual Merchandising: On-Premise Products for Visibility

Ice Buckets are an excellent and very visible advertising tool.  Cold drinks are a big part of pleasure in life. For parties or meals having a nice ice bucket on the table to keep your drinks cold is always a nice thing to do!

There are many factories in China and India who can offer standard designs for beer buckets. However, the design of your bucket will be the one who will determine the success of your campaign. 

Custom Ice Buckets for Vodka:  Since these drinks are usually sold for much more than beer, we can note that most of the time vodka buckets are also of higher quality, more complex in design and more ornate.

Even the best wine or champagne do not have the same taste when it is not cold. To ensure that your beverages are always at good temperature, you definitely have to use an customized ice bucket. That will make you stand out from the crowd as well.

Corporate Merchandise: Optimising your Marketing Budget

If you are looking into maximising your marketing budget this year, then you should invest in corporate gifts! Most people like to get things organized to welcome the beginning of the year. This is why everybody always have a new year resolution. Help your clients and business partners to get organized. A thoughtful gift is always appreciated far more than its actual value. Here are some ideas on how to make organizers and compendiums interesting and useful!
People nowadays own highly portable gadgets. These gadgets help them to be more productive. An iPad compendiums is great for any iPad owner who wants to get organized. The iPad can be inserted into a detachable pocket that serves as iPad case and stand. On the outer cover of this pocket there are some compartments where users can put their iPad cable, USB flash drive, credit cards and many more. being able to contain A4 size paper, this compendium is great for carrying important documents as well.

This gift is highly customisable. You have many options on colour and material. PU can be a very good material for this if leather is too luxurious for the target audience. Having a large surface area, you can choose to brand it prominently or subtly. You can even customize the finishing. Try using foil stamping to make your brand more visible.

Using Marketing Budget Optimally

Corporate gifts can strengthen your brand image and your ties with your partners. It also increases brand awareness. It is a form of subtle investment. Using your marketing budget for corporate gifts will enforce brand recall and hopefully generate more collaborations.

Point of Sale Merchandise: Liquor Closets

An original POS Display is great to gain a lot of attention and big sales through the whole campaign and even after. This design will especially catch the eyes of potential consumers and liquor enthusiasts in the supermarket or the DFS.

A private and dedicated POS permits you to offer the customer a larger range of products. Moreover, you are given enough space and freedom to advertise and highlight the main features of your products.

Why should you think about a Custom POS Display?

Unique but effective. A POS Display is used by many brands, which means that you need to come up with a new and unique design for your custom POS display. This design above is an original design, which you would not see at any brand.

Additional customers. After using such a custom POS display your brand awareness will be gained a lot of attention and this will not only influence the current but also potential customers and will increase your sale on these products.

Visual Merchandising: Custom Designs for Functional GWPs

A bottle stopper is a nice product to use as GWP. Because of the size and weight of the product, it is compact and suitable for many types of industries. If you are dealing in food and beverage industry, perhaps as a winemaker or a restaurant, this product would be a really cool premium product. Bottle stoppers are very simple and convenient accessories for wine lovers, bartenders and wine collectors alike to saver the aromas of wine, and keep its taste ripe.

This is why we suggest this iceberg-shaped bottle stopper to add a twist and cheer to your collection of wine accessories.

Why is this wine stopper a great merchandise idea?

• Practical. This wine stopped can be use multiple ways making it a very convenient item to have. People love receiving items that they can use.

• Brand awareness. This item can be used and placed on any item and any place leaving plenty of chance to expose and interest other people.

Innovative Merchandise: Unique Buckets for your Campaign

Ice Buckets are an excellent and very visible advertising tool.  Cold drinks are a big part of pleasure in life. For parties or meals having a nice ice bucket on the table to keep your drinks cold is always a nice thing to do!

There are many factories in China and India who can offer standard designs for beer buckets. However, the design of your bucket will be the one who will determine the success of your campaign. 

Custom Ice Buckets for Wine:  Since these drinks are usually sold for much more than beer, we can note that most of the time wine buckets are also of higher quality, more complex in design and more ornate.

Even the best wine or champagne do not have the same taste when it is not cold. To ensure that your beverages are always at good temperature, you definitely have to use an customized ice bucket. That will make you stand out from the crowd as well.

On-Premise Merchandising: Investing on Premium and Visual Products

Visual Merchandising covers all the necessity to capture the attention of the customers by all means from the facade of the store to the location of each product inside the store – may it be a department or specialty store.

To capture attention, awaken the senses, provide the customers a wonderful buying experience, which will bring them back to the store for the next time and become a loyal customer, and make more sales are the major concern of an effective visual merchandising.

No one wants to have boring product display; every visual merchandiser wants to have interesting shop window and indoor display to capture not just the attention of the customers, but their entire senses.

Variation will support your theme to avoid boringness of display and decoration. You can use the same theme every year but avoid using the same display and style. You need to create a new look or else you will only annoy your viewers.

Scheme is also best applied to employ variation. A scheme works like a sub-theme. Say for example you theme is Christmas, you can create one White Christmas Window, one Toys Kingdom Window and one Christmas Party Window. All of these three schemes are related to your Christmas theme.

Also avoid using the same material for different themes consecutively. You may keep the materials you have recently used and use it again after few months or put it in other locations or other branch of your store.

Premium Glassware: Innovative Glass Merchandise

Custom made whiskey glasses not only capture the essence of your liquor, they also showcase your brand’s depth and specialization in this field. By serving your rum in a signature, custom-made glass, your brand brings its small piece of history to the present (and even to the future).

Why is an on-pack gift great as a marketing incentive?

Point of sale promotion. This glass could be used in bars or at home on display in your drinks cabinet to promote your whiskey brand. When buying a glass of this specific brand of whiskey, customers tend to like their drink served with a matching glass to accompany the drink. Therefore, this premium glass will be on show to more customers, the nicer looking the glass, the more likely the customer will buy this rum.

Increase the perceived value of the product. This means that customers are more likely to pick a specific product over competitors in the same industry.  By offering an on-pack gift  that is used together with the actual product along with a premium packaging, the perceived value is increased even further.

Brand awareness. Because of its novelty factor, this promo glass will interest customers to buy, because it offers more than other whiskey brands at that time. With the higher level of interest about a premium item, the more recognition your brand will receive if you stamp your logo on it.