History of merchandising

What is merchandising? The concept is very broad, but first and foremost, it is to influence customers' purchasing decisions in such a way that they have a sense of "prowess" and the conviction that the decision is theirs alone. For this to happen, merchandising activities must be carried out in a way that is not intrusive, but at the same time clearly suggests to the customer what kind of product they need. It is a series of visual, but also subliminal activities that make shopping a pleasure. The essence of merchandising is that the customer ends up exactly where the merchandiser wants and takes the product the sales specialist cares most about from the shelf.

The origins of merchandising

The origin of the very concept of merchandising is traced back to Ancient Rome, from the Latin "mercatus," which meant market, fair or simply the activity of trading. Also following the etymology of the word "merchant", meaning merchant, it can be said that the origin of merchandising from the very beginning is closely related to trade, selling and buying. The word merchandising has evolved throughout history and now has many meanings. However, the most popular current translation of merchandising itself is the English word that corresponds to the definition of a series of activities used to indirectly persuade the customer to achieve sales benefits. There is no homogeneous Polish equivalent hence the widespread use in our country as well, but this does not really answer the question: what is merchandising.

History of merchandising

Using the marketing meaning of the essence of merchandising, as a set of activities that are used in commerce, merchandising has gained prominence with the advent of big-box stores. It is about the quantity of products offered, their price, differences in quality and often the costs incurred by manufacturers for marketing. This does not mean, of course, that small stores do not need proper product display, but in larger outlets merchandising has a greater impact on the consumer's purchasing decision. The genesis of merchandising as such, is when it was noticed that items tucked far away on the shelf, undisplayed, sell less well. And those that are highly visible, there are a lot of them and they are within reach achieve better sales results. Analysts place the timing of the forging of the concept of merchandising about a century ago.

Merchandising in Poland

The emergence of merchandising in Poland was observed when communism collapsed and the Polish market finally had more to offer than local, small-scale and state-controlled production. The moment foreign brands arrived, it became apparent that it was worth rethinking the placement of goods in the store. Those who came up with it earlier immediately recorded significant improvements in sales results. There were simply more products to sell, but importantly more products that were desired by customers. Merchandising since the early 1990s, having good models in the highly developed Western countries, could draw on ready-made principles. And it did so. Today it is difficult to imagine any store where any, even minimal, rules of professional merchandising are not followed. And most, especially large-format ones, apply various types of merchandising. This is taken care of by qualified people, but also by merchants themselves, who have noticed that it simply pays off.