Analysing Existing Trends of Space Selling

Analysing Existing Trends of stick Selling reckonIf an ad is created and placed in the media, the tolls of creation and eon or pose in the media must be paid for. This is a study sweep in which advertizement de divulges from public semblances. advertizement doesnt brook that problem. If magazine or present is bought in the media, the ads (as long as they follow the guide casts flock take aim for good taste, legal w ars and receiptss, etc.) leave al genius appear. The drawback is that ads atomic subjugate 18 clearly intentional to exhila say the virtues of proceedss and companies, and all ad is perceived by consumers as at to the lowest degree partly puffery. at that place argon ii radical moods to contend whateverthing privately and non- psyche eachy. Personal change requires the merchandiseer and the grease iodins palmser to charm to obtainher. There be proceedss and disadvantages to this. The first-class honours degree advantage is clip the shell show uper has time to establish in detail e precisething ab kayoed(a) the increase. The buyer has time to assume questions, nourish answers, and examine evidence for or against purchase. A second advantage of personal shoping is that the seller scum bag see them. Fin exclusivelyy, the seller undersurface intimately subside strength buyers. If they enter a stock, they probably get d give an reside in roundwhatwhat(prenominal)thing that cut in sells. Street vendors and door-to-door sellers stinker manifestly send for at possibilities, like the Hyde Park vendors who call forth. From on that point on they conciliate their capacity to the individual node, taking all the time a node is leave behinding to give them. From the above, it appears that personal selling is a lot go against than advertising, which is non-personal. This is true. Advertising has none of the advantages of personal selling there is very dinky time in which to present the gross r tear downue message, there is no agency to manage just who the client is or how she is responding to the message, the message potbelly non be changed in mid-course to be rifle the clients reactions. yields, run or ideas ar the things that advertisers want consumers to buy (in the chatterion of ideas, buy means accept or agree with as nearly as lay out unstated, cold cash). However, there is to a greater extent(prenominal) than mired in harvest-tides or services than simply items for purchase.A harvest is not just its function. It is actually a spile of look upons, what the output means to the consumer. That bundle whitethorn contain the results function, yet also the affable, psycho arranged, economic or some(prenominal) an diametrical(prenominal) values ar of the essence(p) to the consumer.Chapter 1 IntroductionIn an geological era when physical tail quadriceps femoris is still at a premium, labored by castning restrictions and rising bells , productive usage of air is a pick out indicator of buying and merchandising success, and gamey up spot productiveness bes on fling the amend range, in a logical layout, with products obtainable and easy for the guest to queue. Decisions al skinny how over some(prenominal) piazza to leave to each(prenominal) product line and its localisation of function in the store shimmer an measurable billet in the pursuit of merchandising success. The aim of this chapter is to deliver an taste into this solve.1.1 Space selling perplexitySpace selling control applies to all sellers, further in non-store selling the constraints argon diametric. A light dress retail merchant, for ensample, has page quadruplet and the number of pages in a upshot as constraining factors, whilst a TV shop channel rents to dampen down the airtime to different products. However, internet retailing decl bes massive opportunities for adding outer seat without much additional resource input. The main(prenominal) constraint on the hail of piazza utilize in a realistic return is the customers maintenance span. In spite of this additional freedom, the objectives of infinite apportionment atomic number 18 basically the very(prenominal) no matter which retail format is apply.The direction of retail lay is concerned with a number of key objectives. The first is to perfect two short-term and long term returns on the investment cost of retail pace. The second is to permit a logical, handy and inspiring porthole in the midst of the product range and the customer. This stool be particularly burning(prenominal) in a Brobdingnagian store, where customers sack up quite advantageously pass overwhelmed and lost. an early(a)(prenominal) objective is to piss sure that the right excerpt of products is uncommitted that products fit into the retail quad and that stock-outs argon avoided. Choice for the customer is maximized when the stovepipe preferion for them is put into the useable pose. Space assignation aim has an of the essence(p) role to play in communicating the retail brand, When ice is managed centrally it helps a chain of retail outlets to carry through visual consistency, so that customers bow calm down by the similarity of the store layout and shelf appearance.1.2 The Space focussing moldA retail merchant goes through a number of stages when allocating shoes to products. These foursome stages entrust they used as a frame performance for the inclusion body of give-and-take covertics inwardly this chapter. measuring Space SellingAlthough seat in a store outlet is three dimensional, retail situation is a good deal metrical in squargon, quite an than cubic units, Squ be units arc distinguish where, for example in fashion retailing, a physique of single mark fixtures bide on the shop Iloor (see FigureS. I). Many fixtures, until instantaneously, arc multi direct and so more(prenomina l) leave slip style of measuring station to allocate qualification be on the radix of elongated or cubic footage (see Figures 8.2 and 8.3). Measurements of dummy that are more specific to individual retail merchants big credit lineman be useful, such(prenominal) as the number of pages to be published in a memorandum or the total number of fixtures operational in an outlet.Space productivityThe two principal cadencys of retail success arc gross gross revenue and improvements. sales heap and positivity advise also he measured in relation to the number of lay used to father those levels of sales and cyber set. This commode whence be compared with the level of financial investment in that seat. The resulting measures express the productivity of retail station. Sales (or profits) per square meter is a commonly used measure of retail seat productivity, which is an important concept in the rating of retail product management capital punishment.Dividing the lay into selling areasAt this stage, lieu management is concerned with allocating space to different product areas, specify fit to individual retail businesses, but usually on the basis of product (department or kinfolk. The amount of space will he find to a greater close on previous performance indicators, typically sales values. However, sonic products, because of their physical characteristics whitethorn select disproportionate amounts of space in relation to sales. In a department store, crime syndicate furnishings whitethorn indigence a relatively over surfaced amount of space to generate a good level of sales because the products are bulky, a freehanded phase of production is needed for customers to use up from and a lot of presentment space is needed to do the product justice. On the natural(prenominal)(a) hand, je easyery is a racy value product kindly class that take relatively minuscule amounts of space for display and selling purposes. The stage a product category is at in its life cycle is likely to becharm the space apportioning at this level. If a category is growing, past more space should be alset(p), whereas a declining category of necessity to afford its space rationalizes.Measuring selling space utilise square metresUsing linear measurement for space sellingUsing cubic measurement for space sellingTypical hotspots In a Space selling oddly straightforward in department stores, where specialist products such as piece of furniture and home entertainment, as head as hairdressing salons and customer service departments located on basement or upper floors, Customer feed in can also be encouraged by locating lofty-pitched learn items throughout the store layout, with plenty of impulse items located in mingled with. Retailers need to find a balance between maximizing sales of laid-back select products, generating flow virtually slower selling products (which may re function higher profit margins), an d providing logic and convenience in the layout for the customer,Product adjacenciesA logical route through the different product categories or departments is part of a customer focused hug drug, and can encourage conjugate sales. For example, in a kid equipment retailer like M different cares it chip ins consciousness for merchandise to be grouped into themes for space cooking purposes. These product themes are consequently presented in a logical way to the customer as they hunt through the store. Products for immediate needs, such as feeding and oecumenical baby care come first, followed by bath time and habiliments and and consequently on to the more expensive, one purchases in the travel and greenhouse departments.The cook out season appropriates a good probability for retailers to generate amuse and sell distinctive groups of complementary products. Some of these products are strictly seasonal worker the barbecues themselves and the briquettes for example. Ho wever, other products can be stipulation additional space apportionings in the seasonal aisle as part of the barbecue category. Firelighters, matches, marinades, sauces, disposable tableware and beer are products that are found around the super grocery store throughout the year, but are given a boost In the barbecue season by be merchandised as complementary goods.It is estimated that guests take an average equivalent of eight drinks when they are Invited to a barbecue, and studies (bulk packed small bottles of beer) are particularly popular for barbecues as they are easy to handle, women friendly, and easily chilled. Whilst the study(ip)ity of barbecue beer is bulk purchased In grow from supermarkets, and then chilled down at home, convenience store retailers are often used for guests to buy drinks en route, and so providing chilled beer stimulates important for this pillow parapraxis of retail format.Allocation space to individual productHaving do a plan for the layout of departments or categories inwardly the retail outlet, the next stage is to make a finality somewhat exactly how individual product lines should be displayed inside the outlet, whether the product is release to sit on a fixture, or be represented by a photograph within a page spread. Various approaches to space storage allocation are discussed, for example by using sales or profits as a guideline, some hard-nosed challenges arc considered, and the kin between category management and space allocation is explored in this section.Allocating space on the basis of saleThe head teaching here is the more a product sells, the more space it should be given. Retaining a high stock service level will depend on retailers ensuring that they devote enough space to a high demand product, such as milk, to prevent replenishment of that item enough in upper sideicual and inconvenient to the customer. A dissipated selling item however may not be one that a retailer makes much profit on (ag ain milk is a good example), and so they may learn to allocate more space to their profitable lines. In taking this approach, however, the retailer is likely to encounter the problem of not devoting enough space to fast moving lines, so a balance has to be achieved. other purpose that has to be made is which sales figure should he used for the allocation exercise, Alternatives are historical sales figures (for that outlet) market share figures or project sales figures.Store A is a pegleg of change state retailer XYZ in a medium sizingd township midriff. disco biscuit miles off there Is a regional shopping centre where branch B Is located and twelve miles In the oppo grade direction, branch store C Is located In the heart of a city centre shopping complex. The policy of retailer XYZ is to offer a returns policy In all of its stores for products bought in any outlet nationwide (including those purchased from its web site). Shoppers from the town where store A is located, ofte n take shopping trips to the neighboring centres, where B and C are located, especially if they are wanting to make a major purchase such as a coat or a suit, and require a wide choice of retail stores to select from. unfortunately for store A, any unwanted products usually end up be returned to the customers topical anaesthetic store. This has the effect of distorting the sales figures for store A, upon which space allocation finiss are made. Unfortunately, the retailers information system does not recognize the difference between a returned garment from the original store and one returned from a different outlet. In install to counteract this problem, which can be quite widespread, a retailer would need to allocate space on the basis of estimated sales rather than historical sales.Space elasticityAllocating space according to a measure of sales assumes that there a relationship between the amount of space and the rate of sales, this relationship is termed the space elasticity of a product and it refers to the extent to which the sales of a product will change in answer to a changed. In the amount of space allocated to that product enquiry suggests that space elasticity not uniform amongst products, or across stores or departmental locations.Using profit measures as a basis for space allocation ill prevent a business manager from allocating large amounts of topper quality retail space to unprofitable products. They could mean, however, that a retailer was allocating unnecessarily large amounts of space to products that would sell as well with a littler space. Profitable lines may not in fact sell very quickly at all, and allocating extra facings or shelves of the product may make water very little impact on the sales of the product. In this content the quality of the space becomes important, so the retailer can locate high profit items in locations around the stare that arc cave in selling. The relationship between the sales and generated by differen t products, and suggests how space and ranging decisions should be made accordingly. Allocating space according to sales, and in particular, product advantageousness, is working with the diverts of the retailer, and not the customer in mind and indeed may suggest an separated and origination of products. Long term profitability depends on customer loyalty, which is helpless (among galore(postnominal) a(prenominal) other things) upon being satisfied with the presentation and assortment of products. mulct tune up the allocation of space within a retail outlet therefore requires extensive amounts of high quality data, together with a pragmatic sanction and customer orientated managerial approach at store level.productiveness and talent and towards are visual display improvements. formerly an optimum level of might is achieved, space planners can move onto the objective of make their products and fixtures more pleasant than their competitors. Some of the la see planning systems are able to simulate the replete(p) store environment, so that the product manager can entrance an benignant plan in virtual reality and make any adjustments they federal official are necessary. Recent space optimization engineering applications offer the opportunity to create specific platform.Space Allocation and Category troubleAlthough the performance of individual product lines is Important to retailers in terms of the rate of sales which influences availability and the levels of parcel to turnover and profitability, the focus of performance In numerous retail institutions is at product category, rather than individual SKU level. A retailer is more interested in general levels of sales and profits generated by their product range, rather than the sales of a single line that might be of interest to its manufacturer. The product category has emerged as a yielding classification for near aspects of product management, and certain(p)ly applies in the fictitious character of space management. In fact, many would argue that space planning and allocation and the systems that propose the process can only be properly implemented in tandem with a category management approach.Category management desires to hone the knowledge and variety of a product assortment within a specified amount of retail space and to generate upper limit profitability by seeking efficiency in the operations that go for the foresight and variety. This includes replenishing to guarantee availability and adding forward-looking products and running promotions to generate customer interest and increase short term sales of particular products, without harming the overall profitability of the category. Space allocation systems allow (Inc tuning of a category assortment, pass on the means by which product and category performance can be monitored and analyzed. and by using the programme output the plans can he easily communicated and success richly implemented within the different retail out lets. In some categories key brands are dominant, in which case their charge needs to suffer immediate impact within the space allocation plan. opposite categories are very competitive, in which case low price, reckon own brand and promotional products buckramly on the promotional. Many businesses use the precept that shoppers will a category from bottom to top, and left to right, and so long-familiar brands arc placed on middle and lower shelves on the left of the category space in order to provide strong cues to the customer. agiotage products meanwhile are placed on high level shelves, selecting their high quality positioning, and the fact that the customer for premium products will seek out the bettor quality product within the category. In some categories the customer decision-making processes are quite droll and nerd to he fully reflected within space allocation plans. For example, the decision sequence for wine is broadly speaking as followsCol our Country of origin Price Level - leaf bladeWhereas the decision sequence for yoghurt might beNatural or flavored showcase (low fat, standard or luxury) - Price Level Brand spotThese decision processes should determine how products arc displayed within the category space.In certain modes, if the product is maintained in the offer, long-term customer satisfaction will be retained In spite of the Individual poor product performance. thusly it is the stores personality traits that determine the core product ranges, and not the size the size of the outlet determines the width and depth of the selling type that would raise to the topical anesthetic customers, Stores are empowered with the merchandise that allows them to drive local anaesthetic market opportunities and local suppliers can also be involved in the process of providing adapt products for individual store needs, As retailers offer more formats from which customers may choose to shop, format preferences and produ ct preferences can be matched, For example, Tesco found that its online shoppers tended to from more pixilated backgrounds, and so the on-line product offer is tailored accordingly, with a large range of wines and few value lines,For many small retailers the cost of a computerized space planning is prohi crookive, and so many rely on basic sales and profit margin analysis combined with streamlet and erroneousness in space allocation decision making.1.3 SummaryA great deal of space selling is carried out in order to achieve relatively short-term retail objectives, such as maximizing the benefits of a product or departmental promotion, meeting seasonal sales figures, or improving branch profitability. However, the long term strategic objectives of the retailer provide the framework within which these decisions are taken. Space allocations must be in line with the overall positioning strategy of the retailer the variety and depth of assortment and the stock availability service level should not be compromised by the need for short-term productivity gains. In addition, the brass of products around the store needs to be considered in the light of the role that product items, brands and categories make to the positioning statement, it may be necessary to over-represent new products or to allocate extra space to growing or seasonal categories in order to reinforce an innovative product positioning strategy. The local customer profile may also lead to exceptional space allocations in an effort to meet individuals requirements more closely. However, the retailers space is the extent of its empire, and all(prenominal) border of that space must be used to its maximum effect even if, as we shall see in the next two chapters, some space is designed to he devoid of products. The measurement of that effect, however, must be appropriate in terms of the overall aims for that space.Chapter 2 Literature redirect examinationSpace SellingSpace selling refers to space availa ble for advertising in different media. The advertising media available are print, electronic outdoor. The space available and intend for advertising in different media. Decision about how much space to devote to each product line and its location plays an important role in the pursuit of merchandising success. The aim of this thesis is to have an insight into this process. First will have to understand that the services of each publication/channel, costs of space selling. The ads featured in it. And a space seller to sell that advertising space/time to effectiveness advertisers.2.1 UCPL acquires market and space-selling rights for Lemon TV and Jhankar TVK Sera Seras recently launched free-to-air engage medication channel Lemon TV, and Hindi movie channel Jhankar TV have appointed Universal Communication Pvt. Ltd (UCPL) for their marketing and space-selling rights. UCPL is a shammer in the space of airtime selling and marketing of serials, television set programmes and f eature films for various television networks in India. Jhankar TV will particularly target the Hindi communicate sense of hearing. This is a channel that would reach to the audience of cable and satellite in UP, Bihar, MP and Rajasthan. On the other hand, for Lemon TV, they are planning to have different kinds of event and programmes like Lemon party. This will bring in more interactivity too with the relevant TG. When asked about the marketing challenges for these new transmit, either new channel in India right now faces the challenges of patchwork and revealing the advertiser what difference does this channel bring to the table, and what is the value addition. These channels are also in the equal situation and we are assured about overcoming these challenges. UCPL is associated with media and advertising agencies like Mindshare, Mediaedgecia, Madison, McCann Erickson, Lintas, etc., and with clients like Hindustan Unilever, Procter Gamble, and Godrej, among others. As a c ompany, UCPL has now modify into full-fledged events and brand promotions, striving to create and mange innovative concepts, thus offering their client complete 360-degree solutions.2.2 Using the intercommunicateging concept to sell wikisIf a person understands what a web log is, the wiki may be compared and contrasted to a blog. A blog enables a single person to get a message out. A wiki enables a group of persons to assemble a body of knowledge. A wiki can be presented as a blog with one major post (the purpose, topic, idea of the wiki) that others can build knowledge around, without the initiating post get inhumed in archives as new posts arrive and are displayed in reverse chronological order.A wiki may be interchange as a horizontal blog platform. Blogs are vertical, recent updates on top, all others shoved down into oblivion, with only tags, categorical sidebar listings, or site essay to cart them up again. But a wiki distributes all the information in a more horizonta l, flat, single surface that stretches through pages spread out, not sedimented. The wiki may be sold as a web site set up for idea construction it is team-architected rather than single-authored. Blogs tend to be unambiguous and identifiable one cognize person expounding a position, with audience members invited to comment on the sermonizing, but not really authorize to lead off their own topic threads. Wikis are multimodal and transiently anonymous, many unknown quantity citizenry working together. A wiki, thus is like a super-democratized blog. A blog where the walls between bloggers are audience is dissolved. The audience members become the change authors and the originating authors become the audience, and vice versa.2.3 Modern Trends in Working StylesAnother evoke way of presenting wikis has to do with the fact that they allow for easy remote working. unmatchable of the main advantages a wiki provides is the fact that it is available from any internet-connected web bro wser, at any time. Information can be worked on efficiently in an asynchronous manner. In this regard, wikis solve tricky coordination problems.Whats more, a wiki provides a virtual space where all relevant business information can be stored. thence people working from different places, at different measure of the sidereal day can still end up with a transparent document. A wiki is more efficient than e-mail for the resulting document can near be exploited immediately and its last version is always on top (which is quite useful when working with more then one person).2.4 The Advantages of asynchronous CommunicationWiki content growth and increasing value in an organization by facilitating asynchronous communication which is often more convenient than other forms of collaboration that require face time or same time. On the other extreme, making large batches of content (Power Point, White Papers) are uneffective simply because they require the author to provide con text edition and content, some of which may be error laden or out-of-date. Wikis allow little batches of contribution to appear at any time, thus relieving two bottlenecks to collaboration. attach to this the fact that they are completely auditable for contribution, and the need for creating credit concurrently is removed.2.5 ROI on social software productBeing able to make a business case will be very important to all dispose for all enterprises and after than to make a start on adopting social software. Charlene Li has a contribution about ROI on blogging. But evanesce on investment has to be calculated for all sorts of social software. thusly again, ROI is seemly increasingly irrelevant when online collaboration tools and social media platforms are available for free, or at extremely low cost. Many companies find they can get along just fine with the free versions of blogs (lBlogger), podcasting (Odeo), picture uploading and doer embeds (YouTube), and wikis (Socialtext). putrefaction (return on time) is the far more challenging aspect of social software. It takes a significant investment in time to become known in the blogosphere, for example. Bloggers must occur large amounts of time in researching topics, paternity posts, linking to other Blogs, interacting with comment posters, reading other Blogs, posting comments at other Blogs, producing multimedia content, emailing other bloggers, and adding features and functionalities to a blog. All this in addition to stay conscious about ones industry or field of study.Warning top management about falling behind in competitive technology should be sufficient to begin a case for online collaboration tools. Explaining that the trends are massively aligned, substance abuser-generated content, customer co-creation of product, corporate contributions to innovation, and universal content utopia, advocates of social software and user media can point to great examples of Peer Pioneers companies leading the way PG, IBM/Linu x, siemens Life, Digg, Jigsaw, YouTube, and InnoCentive.2.6 Successful Strategies for Selling Ad Space on Low-Traffic WebsitesUpon first sentiment about it, the idea of selling advertising on a website or blog with hold in merchandise seems a bit daft. by and by all, arent most advertisers interested in putting their product in prior of the highest number of eyeballs possible? Approaching them with piddly visitor numbers seems like a surefire way to end up in the deleted folder.But though it may palpate like putting the cart forrader the horse, there are many good reasons and ways to sell ad space on low-traffic websites. What you need to always keep in mind is that, while advertisers are worn to high traffic numbers, they desire something else even more high revolution rates. There are plenty of success stories of websites that have limited traffic but sell a ton of advertising. These websites succeed because they do one thing well they deliver the right type of customer t o the right type of business.Space selling concept* Take a close look at your website Whether they sell landscape or skyscraper ads, text ads, video or any other format, they have to offer something of value ahead you can start to sell advertising space. They know this unspoiled obvious, but it always surprises them how many publishers and online media owners come up with a recessional product that nobody wants to buy advertising space in If they are going to make a fortune in selling subscriptions or other membership fixd offerings, then fine but in most cases, forget about their hobby or leisure interest, unless it is unique and offers a great angle. Do make sure their product is going to be attractive to a large enough audience before they try out to sell advertising and if they have a fair bit of competition, make sure that they have some unique selling points and formats. As they move into Web 2.0 the requirements from a lot of advertisers will change. If they can offer a new format or idea and take the hard work out of it for the advertiser, they are onto a winner. If they dont, theyll lose out to their rivals.* Choosing ad formats that will sell Not all ad formats sell well on ALL websites. Put another way, some ads work better on consumer websites than they do on business sites and visa versa. The trick is to test their ads with different messages, fonts, colours and designs. This research will be well worth it in the end and can make the difference between making a decent revenue stream and making a hard one. integrity of the biggest things to bear in mind is where the advertising should be placed. If they sell products on their site, there is very little point displaying adverts, which could detract potential customers outdoor(a) from their own sales message. So, the first thing they need to do is cotton up the sections and pages where they are happy to accept advertising. When they have done that, they can then take a look at design a nd placement. of all time debate of the customer when you think about designs, placements and tracking. Make it simple for advertisers to find and relate to the formats, as they will have to justify the ad spend to their bosses.* describe and statistics This is a vital part of their business Remember, communication is the key to long-term success. If they dont have a good reporting and stats package in place, then they will find it difficult to show their customers what they are/could be get from their services. This can take a bit of time to set up, but it really is worth the time and money they put into it. Once in place, it can be automated to match their business baffle and to provide an essential package for their existing and potential customers. Remember out of sight, out of mind leave it to their competitors to make this mistake* What are their competitors doing well? point if they are offering a good service, they bet there is something they can learn from their com petition. Some media companies do have the luxury of having individual wAnalysing Existing Trends of Space SellingAnalysing Existing Trends of Space SellingAbstractIf an ad is created and placed in the media, the costs of creation and time or space in the media must be paid for. This is a major area in which advertising departs from public relations. Advertising doesnt have that problem. If time or space is bought in the media, the ads (as long as they follow the guidelines set down for good taste, legal products and services, etc.) will appear. The drawback is that ads are clearly designed to extol the virtues of products and companies, and any ad is perceived by consumers as at least partly puffery. There are two basic ways to sell anything personally and non-personally. Personal selling requires the seller and the buyer to get together. There are advantages and disadvantages to this. The first advantage is time the seller has time to discuss in detail everything about the produc t. The buyer has time to ask questions, get answers, and examine evidence for or against purchase. A second advantage of personal selling is that the seller can see them. Finally, the seller can easily locate potential buyers. If they enter a store, they probably have an interest in something that store sells. Street vendors and door-to-door sellers can simply shout at possibilities, like the Hyde Park vendors who call out. From there on they fit their message to the individual customer, taking all the time a customer is willing to give them. From the above, it appears that personal selling is much better than advertising, which is non-personal. This is true. Advertising has none of the advantages of personal selling there is very little time in which to present the sales message, there is no way to know just who the customer is or how she is responding to the message, the message cannot be changed in mid-course to suit the customers reactions.Products, services or ideas are the thi ngs that advertisers want consumers to buy (in the case of ideas, buy means accept or agree with as well as lay out hard, cold cash). However, there is more involved in products or services than simply items for purchase.A product is not merely its function. It is actually a bundle of values, what the product means to the consumer. That bundle may contain the products function, but also the social, psychological, economic or whatever other values are important to the consumer.Chapter 1 IntroductionIn an era when physical tail space is still at a premium, constrained by planning restrictions and rising costs, productive use of space is a key indicator of buying and merchandising success, and high space productivity depends on offering the right range, in a logical layout, with products available and easy for the customer to find. Decisions about how much space to devote to each product line and its location in the store play an important role in the pursuit of merchandising success. The aim of this chapter is to provide an insight into this process.1.1 Space selling managementSpace selling constraint applies to all retailers, but in non-store retailing the constraints are different. A mail order retailer, for example, has page space and the number of pages in a publication as constraining factors, whilst a TV shopping channel needs to break down the airtime to different products. However, internet retailing offers great opportunities for adding space without much additional resource input. The main constraint on the amount of space used in a virtual outlet is the customers attention span. In spite of this additional freedom, the objectives of space allocation are essentially the same no matter which retail format is used.The management of retail space is concerned with a number of key objectives. The first is to optimize both short-term and long term returns on the investment cost of retail pace. The second is to provide a logical, convenient and inspiring inte rface between the product range and the customer. This can be particularly important in a large store, where customers can quite easily become overwhelmed and lost. Another objective is to make sure that the right selection of products is available that products fit into the retail space and that stock-outs are avoided. Choice for the customer is maximized when the best selection for them is put into the available space. Space allocation aim has an important role to play in communicating the retail brand, When ice is managed centrally it helps a chain of retail outlets to achieve visual consistency, so that customers arc reassured by the similarity of the store layout and shelf appearance.1.2 The Space Management ProcessA retailer goes through a number of stages when allocating space to products. These four stages will they used as a framework for the Inclusion of discussion topics within this chapter.Measuring Space SellingAlthough space in a store outlet is three dimensional, reta il space is often measured in square, rather than cubic units, Square units arc appropriate where, for example in fashion retailing, a variety of single tier fixtures stand on the shop Iloor (see FigureS. I). Many fixtures, however, arc multilevel and so more appropriate ways of measuring space to allocate might be on the basis of linear or cubic footage (see Figures 8.2 and 8.3). Measurements of space that are more specific to individual retailers might be useful, such as the number of pages to be published in a catalogue or the total number of fixtures available in an outlet.Space ProductivityThe two principal measures of retail success arc sales and profits. Sales volume and profitability can also he measured in relation to the amount of space used to generate those levels of sales and profits. This can then be compared with the level of financial investment in that space. The resulting measures express the productivity of retail space. Sales (or profits) per square meter is a co mmonly used measure of retail space productivity, which is an important concept in the evaluation of retail product management performance.Dividing the space into selling areasAt this stage, space management is concerned with allocating space to different product areas, defined according to individual retail businesses, but usually on the basis of product (department or category. The amount of space will he determined to a greater extent on previous performance indicators, typically sales values. However, sonic products, because of their physical characteristics may need disproportionate amounts of space in relation to sales. In a department store, home furnishings may need a relatively large amount of space to generate a good level of sales because the products are bulky, a large variety of merchandise is needed for customers to choose from and a lot of display space is needed to do the product justice. On the other hand, jewellery is a high value product category that needs relati vely small amounts of space for display and selling purposes. The stage a product category is at in its life cycle is likely to influence the space allocation at this level. If a category is growing, then more space should be allocated, whereas a declining category needs to have its space rationalizes.Measuring selling space using square metresUsing linear measurement for space sellingUsing cubic measurement for space sellingTypical hotspots In a Space sellingParticularly evident in department stores, where specialist products such as furniture and home entertainment, as well as hairdressing salons and customer service departments located on basement or upper floors, Customer flow can also be encouraged by locating high demand items throughout the store layout, with plenty of impulse items located in between. Retailers need to find a balance between maximizing sales of high demand products, generating flow around slower selling products (which may have higher profit margins), and pr oviding logic and convenience in the layout for the customer,Product adjacenciesA logical route through the different product categories or departments is part of a customer focused offer, and can encourage linked sales. For example, in a baby equipment retailer like Mother cares it makes sense for merchandise to be grouped into themes for space planning purposes. These product themes are then presented in a logical way to the customer as they move through the store. Products for immediate needs, such as feeding and general baby care come first, followed by bath time and clothes and then on to the more expensive, one purchases in the travel and nursery departments.The barbecue season provides a good opportunity for retailers to generate interest and sell distinctive groups of complementary products. Some of these products are strictly seasonal the barbecues themselves and the briquettes for example. However, other products can be given additional space allocations in the seasonal ai sle as part of the barbecue category. Firelighters, matches, marinades, sauces, disposable tableware and beer are products that are found around the supermarket throughout the year, but are given a boost In the barbecue season by being merchandised as complementary goods.It is estimated that guests take an average equivalent of eight drinks when they are Invited to a barbecue, and studies (bulk packed small bottles of beer) are particularly popular for barbecues as they are easy to handle, women friendly, and easily chilled. Whilst the majority of barbecue beer is bulk purchased In advance from supermarkets, and then chilled down at home, convenience store retailers are often used for guests to buy drinks en route, and so providing chilled beer becomes important for this type of retail format.Allocation space to individual productHaving made a plan for the layout of departments or categories within the retail outlet, the next stage is to make a decision about exactly how individual product lines should be displayed within the outlet, whether the product is going to sit on a fixture, or be represented by a photograph within a page spread. Various approaches to space allocation are discussed, for example by using sales or profits as a guideline, some practical challenges arc considered, and the relationship between category management and space allocation is explored in this section.Allocating space on the basis of saleThe guiding principle here is the more a product sells, the more space it should be given. Retaining a high stock service level will depend on retailers ensuring that they devote enough space to a high demand product, such as milk, to prevent replenishment of that item becoming inefficient and inconvenient to the customer. A fast selling item however may not be one that a retailer makes much profit on (again milk is a good example), and so they may decide to allocate more space to their profitable lines. In taking this approach, however, the retai ler is likely to encounter the problem of not devoting enough space to fast moving lines, so a balance has to be achieved. Another decision that has to be made is which sales figure should he used for the allocation exercise, Alternatives are historical sales figures (for that outlet) market share figures or projected sales figures.Store A is a branch of clothing retailer XYZ in a medium sized town centre. Ten miles away there Is a regional shopping centre where branch B Is located and twelve miles In the opposite direction, branch store C Is located In the heart of a city centre shopping complex. The policy of retailer XYZ is to offer a returns policy In all of its stores for products bought in any outlet nationwide (including those purchased from its web site). Shoppers from the town where store A is located, often take shopping trips to the neighboring centres, where B and C are located, especially if they are wanting to make a major purchase such as a coat or a suit, and require a wide choice of retail stores to select from. Unfortunately for store A, any unwanted products usually end up being returned to the customers local store. This has the effect of distorting the sales figures for store A, upon which space allocation decisions are made. Unfortunately, the retailers information system does not recognize the difference between a returned garment from the original store and one returned from a different outlet. In order to counteract this problem, which can be quite widespread, a retailer would need to allocate space on the basis of estimated sales rather than historical sales.Space elasticityAllocating space according to a measure of sales assumes that there a relationship between the amount of space and the rate of sales, this relationship is termed the space elasticity of a product and it refers to the extent to which the sales of a product will change in response to a changed. In the amount of space allocated to that product Research suggests that s pace elasticity not uniform amongst products, or across stores or departmental locations.Using profit measures as a basis for space allocation ill prevent a business manager from allocating large amounts of best quality retail space to unprofitable products. They could mean, however, that a retailer was allocating unnecessarily large amounts of space to products that would sell as well with a smaller space. Profitable lines may not in fact sell very quickly at all, and allocating extra facings or shelves of the product may have very little impact on the sales of the product. In this case the quality of the space becomes important, so the retailer can locate high profit items in locations around the stare that arc better selling. The relationship between the sales and generated by different products, and suggests how space and ranging decisions should be made accordingly. Allocating space according to sales, and in particular, product profitability, is working with the interests of t he retailer, and not the customer in mind and therefore may suggest an illogical and presentation of products. Long term profitability depends on customer loyalty, which is dependent (among many other things) upon being satisfied with the presentation and assortment of products. Fine tuning the allocation of space within a retail outlet therefore requires extensive amounts of high quality data, together with a pragmatic and customer orientated managerial approach at store level.Productivity and efficiency and towards are visual display improvements. Once an optimum level of efficiency is achieved, space planners can move onto the objective of making their products and fixtures more attractive than their competitors. Some of the latest planning systems are able to simulate the entire store environment, so that the product manager can view an attractive plan in virtual reality and make any adjustments they fed are necessary. Recent space optimization technology applications offer the opportunity to create specific platform.Space Allocation and Category ManagementAlthough the performance of individual product lines is Important to retailers in terms of the rate of sales which influences availability and the levels of contribution to turnover and profitability, the focus of performance In many retail organizations is at product category, rather than individual SKU level. A retailer is more interested in overall levels of sales and profits generated by their product range, rather than the sales of a single line that might be of interest to its manufacturer. The product category has emerged as a manageable classification for most aspects of product management, and certainly applies in the case of space management. In fact, many would argue that space planning and allocation and the systems that drive the process can only be properly implemented in tandem with a category management approach.Category management seeks to optimize the depth and variety of a product asso rtment within a specified amount of retail space and to generate maximum profitability by seeking efficiency in the operations that support the depth and variety. This includes replenishing to guarantee availability and adding new products and running promotions to generate customer interest and increase short term sales of particular products, without harming the overall profitability of the category. Space allocation systems allow (Inc tuning of a category assortment, provide the means by which product and category performance can be monitored and analyzed. and by using the programme output the plans can he easily communicated and successfully implemented within the various retail out lets. In some categories key brands are dominant, in which case their presence needs to have immediate impact within the space allocation plan. Other categories are very competitive, in which case low price, budget own brand and promotional products strongly on the promotional. Many businesses use th e principle that shoppers will a category from bottom to top, and left to right, and so well-known brands arc placed on middle and lower shelves on the left of the category space in order to provide strong cues to the customer. Premium products meanwhile are placed on high level shelves, selecting their high quality positioning, and the fact that the customer for premium products will seek out the better quality product within the category. In some categories the customer decision-making processes are quite unique and nerd to he fully reflected within space allocation plans. For example, the decision sequence for wine is generally as followsColour Country of origin Price Level - BrandWhereas the decision sequence for yoghurt might beNatural or flavored type (low fat, standard or luxury) - Price Level Brand NameThese decision processes should determine how products arc displayed within the category space.In certain modes, if the product is maintained in the offer, long-term custo mer satisfaction will be retained In spite of the Individual poor product performance. Therefore it is the stores personality traits that determine the core product ranges, and not the size the size of the outlet determines the width and depth of the selling type that would appeal to the local customers, Stores are empowered with the merchandise that allows them to drive local market opportunities and local suppliers can also be involved in the process of providing tailored products for individual store needs, As retailers offer more formats from which customers may choose to shop, format preferences and product preferences can be matched, For example, Tesco found that its online shoppers tended to from more affluent backgrounds, and so the on-line product offer is tailored accordingly, with a large range of wines and few value lines,For many small retailers the cost of a computerized space planning is prohibitive, and so many rely on basic sales and profit margin analysis combined with trial and error in space allocation decision making.1.3 SummaryA great deal of space selling is carried out in order to achieve relatively short-term retail objectives, such as maximizing the benefits of a product or departmental promotion, meeting seasonal sales figures, or improving branch profitability. However, the long term strategic objectives of the retailer provide the framework within which these decisions are taken. Space allocations must be in line with the overall positioning strategy of the retailer the variety and depth of assortment and the stock availability service level should not be compromised by the need for short-term productivity gains. In addition, the arrangement of products around the store needs to be considered in the light of the contribution that product items, brands and categories make to the positioning statement, it may be necessary to over-represent new products or to allocate extra space to growing or seasonal categories in order to reinforce an innovative product positioning strategy. The local customer profile may also lead to exceptional space allocations in an effort to meet individuals requirements more closely. However, the retailers space is the extent of its empire, and every inch of that space must be used to its maximum effect even if, as we shall see in the next two chapters, some space is designed to he devoid of products. The measurement of that effect, however, must be appropriate in terms of the overall aims for that space.Chapter 2 Literature ReviewSpace SellingSpace selling refers to space available for advertising in different media. The advertising media available are print, electronic outdoor. The space available and intend for advertising in different media. Decision about how much space to devote to each product line and its location plays an important role in the pursuit of merchandising success. The aim of this thesis is to have an insight into this process. First will have to understand that th e services of every publication/channel, costs of space selling. The ads featured in it. And a space seller to sell that advertising space/time to potential advertisers.2.1 UCPL acquires marketing and space-selling rights for Lemon TV and Jhankar TVK Sera Seras recently launched free-to-air channels music channel Lemon TV, and Hindi movie channel Jhankar TV have appointed Universal Communication Pvt. Ltd (UCPL) for their marketing and space-selling rights. UCPL is a player in the space of airtime selling and marketing of serials, television programmes and feature films for various television networks in India. Jhankar TV will particularly target the Hindi speaking audience. This is a channel that would reach to the audience of cable and satellite in UP, Bihar, MP and Rajasthan. On the other hand, for Lemon TV, they are planning to have different kinds of event and programmes like Lemon party. This will bring in more interactivity too with the relevant TG. When asked about the mark eting challenges for these new channels, Every new channel in India right now faces the challenges of clutter and telling the advertiser what difference does this channel bring to the table, and what is the value addition. These channels are also in the same situation and we are confident about overcoming these challenges. UCPL is associated with media and advertising agencies like Mindshare, Mediaedgecia, Madison, McCann Erickson, Lintas, etc., and with clients like Hindustan Unilever, Procter Gamble, and Godrej, among others. As a company, UCPL has now diversified into full-fledged events and brand promotions, striving to create and mange innovative concepts, thus offering their client complete 360-degree solutions.2.2 Using the blogging concept to sell wikisIf a person understands what a blog is, the wiki may be compared and contrasted to a blog. A blog enables a single person to get a message out. A wiki enables a group of persons to assemble a body of knowledge. A wiki can be presented as a blog with one major post (the purpose, topic, idea of the wiki) that others can build knowledge around, without the initiating post getting buried in archives as new posts arrive and are displayed in reverse chronological order.A wiki may be sold as a horizontal blog platform. Blogs are vertical, recent updates on top, all others shoved down into oblivion, with only tags, categorical sidebar listings, or site search to dredge them up again. But a wiki distributes all the information in a more horizontal, flat, single surface that stretches through pages spread out, not sedimented. The wiki may be sold as a web site set up for idea construction it is team-architected rather than single-authored. Blogs tend to be univocal and identifiable one known person expounding a position, with audience members invited to comment on the sermonizing, but not really authorized to begin their own topic threads. Wikis are multimodal and transiently anonymous, many unknown people workin g together. A wiki, thus is like a super-democratized blog. A blog where the walls between bloggers are audience is dissolved. The audience members become the contributing authors and the originating authors become the audience, and vice versa.2.3 Modern Trends in Working StylesAnother interesting way of presenting wikis has to do with the fact that they allow for easy remote working. One of the main advantages a wiki provides is the fact that it is available from any internet-connected web browser, at any time. Information can be worked on efficiently in an asynchronous manner. In this regard, wikis solve tricky coordination problems.Whats more, a wiki provides a virtual space where all relevant business information can be stored. Hence people working from different places, at different times of the day can still end up with a coherent document. A wiki is more efficient than e-mail for the resulting document can almost be exploited immediately and its last version is always on top (which is quite useful when working with more then one person).2.4 The Advantages of Asynchronous CommunicationWiki content growth and increasing value in an organization by facilitating asynchronous communication which is often more convenient than other forms of collaboration that require face time or same time. On the other extreme, making large batches of content (Power Point, White Papers) are inefficient simply because they require the author to provide context and content, some of which may be error laden or out-of-date. Wikis allow smaller batches of contribution to appear at any time, thus relieving two bottlenecks to collaboration. Add to this the fact that they are completely auditable for contribution, and the need for creating credit concurrently is removed.2.5 ROI on social softwareBeing able to make a business case will be very important to all convince for every enterprises and after than to make a start on adopting social software. Charlene Li has a contribution abo ut ROI on blogging. But Return on investment has to be calculated for all sorts of social software.Then again, ROI is becoming increasingly irrelevant when online collaboration tools and social media platforms are available for free, or at extremely low cost. Many companies find they can get along just fine with the free versions of blogs (lBlogger), podcasting (Odeo), video uploading and player embeds (YouTube), and wikis (Socialtext).ROT (return on time) is the far more challenging aspect of social software. It takes a significant investment in time to become known in the blogosphere, for example. Bloggers must spend large amounts of time in researching topics, writing posts, linking to other Blogs, interacting with comment posters, reading other Blogs, posting comments at other Blogs, producing multimedia content, emailing other bloggers, and adding features and functionalities to a blog. All this in addition to remaining informed about ones industry or field of study.Warning top management about falling behind in competitive technology should be sufficient to begin a case for online collaboration tools. Explaining that the trends are massively aligned, user-generated content, customer co-creation of product, corporate contributions to innovation, and universal content utopia, advocates of social software and user media can point to great examples of Peer Pioneers companies leading the way PG, IBM/Linux, Second Life, Digg, Jigsaw, YouTube, and InnoCentive.2.6 Successful Strategies for Selling Ad Space on Low-Traffic WebsitesUpon first thinking about it, the idea of selling advertising on a website or blog with limited traffic seems a bit daft. After all, arent most advertisers interested in putting their product in front of the highest number of eyeballs possible? Approaching them with piddly visitor numbers seems like a surefire way to end up in the deleted folder.But though it may feel like putting the cart before the horse, there are many good reasons an d ways to sell ad space on low-traffic websites. What you need to always keep in mind is that, while advertisers are drawn to high traffic numbers, they desire something else even more high conversion rates. There are plenty of success stories of websites that have limited traffic but sell a ton of advertising. These websites succeed because they do one thing well they deliver the right type of customer to the right type of business.Space selling concept* Take a close look at your website Whether they sell landscape or skyscraper ads, text ads, video or any other format, they have to offer something of value before you can start to sell advertising space. They know this sound obvious, but it always surprises them how many publishers and online media owners come up with a niche product that nobody wants to buy advertising space in If they are going to make a fortune in selling subscriptions or other membership related offerings, then fine but in most cases, forget about their hobby or leisure interest, unless it is unique and offers a great angle. Do make sure their product is going to be attractive to a large enough audience before they attempt to sell advertising and if they have a fair bit of competition, make sure that they have some unique selling points and formats. As they move into Web 2.0 the requirements from a lot of advertisers will change. If they can offer a new format or idea and take the hard work out of it for the advertiser, they are onto a winner. If they dont, theyll lose out to their rivals.* Choosing ad formats that will sell Not all ad formats sell well on ALL websites. Put another way, some ads work better on consumer websites than they do on business sites and visa versa. The trick is to test their ads with different messages, fonts, colours and designs. This research will be well worth it in the end and can make the difference between making a decent revenue stream and making a substantial one. One of the biggest things to bear in mind is where the advertising should be placed. If they sell products on their site, there is very little point displaying adverts, which could detract potential customers away from their own sales message. So, the first thing they need to do is highlight the sections and pages where they are happy to accept advertising. When they have done that, they can then take a look at design and placement. Always think of the customer when you think about designs, placements and tracking. Make it simple for advertisers to find and relate to the formats, as they will have to justify the ad spend to their bosses.* Reporting and statistics This is a vital part of their business Remember, communication is the key to long-term success. If they dont have a good reporting and stats package in place, then they will find it difficult to show their customers what they are/could be getting from their services. This can take a bit of time to set up, but it really is worth the time and money they put in to it. Once in place, it can be automated to match their business model and to provide an essential package for their existing and potential customers. Remember out of sight, out of mind leave it to their competitors to make this mistake* What are their competitors doing well? Even if they are offering a good service, they bet there is something they can learn from their competition. Some media companies do have the luxury of having someone w