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Retail SMART |
Store
Signage - The Price Tag |
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By:
Dennis A. Conforto
Chairman & CEO of A-Z Media Group, Inc. |
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In today’s retail world, price
tags serve more than their obvious purpose of stating the
product’s price. They take on many functions. Price tags act as
a form of inventory control providing the product ID in the form
of either a bar code or SKU#. Some stores even use price tags as
a form of security, with alarms sounding when the item is not
properly paid for.
Price tags come in all shapes, sizes and colors depending upon
their intended use. Price tags are also used to state the type
of sales going on in the store or the status of a product. Such
as an “as is” price tag, or a “clearance” price tag, or a “best
seller” price tag. Some tags hang on to the product with a
string, others stick on, and still others are attached to the
display units that are showing the products.
The consumer should be able to see and understand the price of
any product in the store without having to ask anyone. Many
scrapbooking and paper crafting stores have too many items that
are not clearly priced; many are not priced at all. When this
happens, the consumer’s trust in the retailer suffers.
Pricing your retail store is the very essence of retailing.
There are many options and therefore, many right ways to price
tag your store. Here are some rules to help you have effective
price tags:
1. Different product categories may require different types
of price tags in the same store. Price tags for paper racks
can be different than the price tag for a tote bag.
2. Make sure every single product in the store is clearly
priced. If the consumer has to ask you about the price,
consider it an indicator that some improvements should be made
on your sales floor.
3. Computer-generated price tags are more believable in
your core product selections than are handmade price tags.
However, handmade tags are more believable in a clearance
area than are computer-generated price tags. Handmade
clearance price tags lead the consumer to believe that the
clearance items are now being marked down below a
computer-generated price point. (It is important to remember
that consumer perceptions are the key here, not the reality of
your store policies in this regard.)
4. Price tags can be combined with additional information
like the features and benefits of a product. This type of
product information is the great silent salesperson within your
store; use it often. The customer should have the information
she needs to make product decisions; make it easily accessible.
5. The price tags should be kept as close to eye level as
possible. Make it as easy as you can for the customer to
always see the price.
6. The type fonts and colors need to be readable. The
colors should match your company identity program and need to be
easy to view.
7. Consider the importance of different types of price tags.
These would include “clearance”, “special buy”, “brand new”,
“best seller” and comparative pricing. Comparative price tags
should match your store up against a mass merchandiser or
specialty chain, not against other independents.
8. Consider where the price tag belongs for each product
category. Does the tag belong on the merchandise or the
display? The more you can price tags on the display the less
time you have to touch each and every item in the pricing
process.
A note about price points:
Price tagging is one thing, price points are something else all
together. The combinations of price tagging and price points are
a true art form to many retailers today.
When you think about price points always think in terms of good,
better and best. It’s about stepping the consumer up or down
based on how much she wants to invest. Pricing strategies make
great retail stores stand out. Through their pricing strategies,
great stores show how they line up products in the store to
achieve good, better and best. For the independent retailer this
is critical. The mass merchandisers just want volume, and the
independent retailer needs to worry about volume, margins and
average price more than the chain operators do.
So as you can see it’s more than just posting a price on a
display or attaching it to the item. It takes time, effort and
thinking to get it right. Once right, the rewards are great and
the effort is less. And that is what being Retail SMART is all
about. |
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