Successful book retailing has always been about selling lots of books and related merchandise.  In order to sell a lot of these products, stores must be visually interesting, well-conceived, and easy to shop.  They must be merchandised to fit the customer and their community.  And the merchandise must be the star!  As a mentor of mine told me over and over and over..."nothing sells merchandise like merchandise"!

Making merchandise the star requires an almost obsessive approach to creating exactly the right environment. The merchandise must be presented and attractive to customers.  I have scrutinized some of the best conceived and well merchandised bookstores around the country and have found several common characteristics that separate them from the rest.

1.  The merchandise selection is constantly changing in order to keep customers interested and coming into the store frequently.  Too often new merchandise gets lost or hidden within a store.  It's only found in a specific area, and if, for some reason customers don't get to that area, they never see the newest, freshest merchandise.  The best retailers rotate their star merchandise to ensure their customers will see it.

2.  Leadership is committed to great merchandise presentation and making sure displays are always fully stocked, neat and organized.  There is much more to this than keeping the merchandise fresh and exciting.  In the best conceived and well merchandised stores, the merchandise is beautifully displayed.  All of the merchandise.  All of the time.  Consistency and commitment from the top down lead to a beautifully merchandized store.

3.  Employees know that when they walk through the store and see something out of place, it's THEIR responsibility to take a moment and put it back as it should be!  I've also been in stores where the process of keeping displays fresh and interesting, shelves fully stocked, and everything in pristine condition never stops.  In these stores, it is part of the culture.  Everyone takes great pride in making sure the store always looks good for a visiting guest.  Fixtures, floor coverings, and lighting to paint, wallpaper, signs and props are all used to enhance your customer's shopping experience.  And it takes a team to keep it up to speed.

4.  The best booksellers are constantly experimenting with and fine tuning the store layout and merchandise positions.  From the all important decompression zone in the very front of your store to the width of your aisles, everything you do to make it comfortable and convenient for your customer to enter and move throughout the store is vital.  Watching how your customers naturally flow within your store is very important.  Identifying traffic bottlenecks and dead zones within the store can help eliminate areas where sales may be lost.  Attracting customers to areas within the store where traffic is light may require some research.  Try installing a video camera in an inconspicuous spot, and for several days tape the traffic coming and going in poor sales areas.  Viewing the tape will help you better understand what needs to be done to change the layout to open up the area and attract more customers.  If it is hard to get to the merchandise, the number of customers who fight the battle to get to it will reduce your sales.

In summary, be obsessive!   Great stores require obsessiveness for making them look better all the time.  You can never reach perfection, but the more you strive for it each day, the closer you will come to it.
-Mark Zobrosky has held several Senior Retail positions.  He served as Vice President of Operations at Family Christian Stores, Vice President of Operations and Real Estate at National Book Warehouse, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Gibson Greetings Retail Division as well as Vice President of Electronic Commerce for OnePlace, Ltd. You can reach Mark for Retail consulting via e-mail at markzobrosky@aol.com  or via telephone 336-327-7594.