Virtual Merchandising

& Visual Merchandising

in effect with Ambush Marketing

Virtual Merchandising

• A retail presence on the Web.

• The virtual store is an online store that provides a list of merchandise and an order form.

• Although most product Web sites include a telephone number, some sites provide communications only via e-mail or fill-in forms that must be submitted.

• In such cases, a response may not be immediate. A live text chat, in which the customer interacts in real time with a company representative, may also be offered.

Visual Merchandising

• Visual Merchandising: The physical display of goods in the most attractive and appealing ways.• Store Layout: the interior arrangement of retail

facilities.• Selling areas: where merchandise is displayed and

customers interact with sales personnel. (75-80% of the total space)• Sales support areas: devoted to customer services,

merchandise receiving and distribution, management offices and staff activities.

Visual Merchandising

• Floor Plan: A drawing showing arrangement of physical space, such as showing the positioning of merchandise groups and customer services for a retail store.

• Grid Layout: A retail floor plan that has one of ore primary (main) aisles running through the store, with secondary (smaller) aisles intersecting with them at right angles.

• Maze Layout: A free-flowing retail floor plan arrangement with informal balance.

• Fixtures: Shelves, tables, rods, counters, stands, easels, forms, and platforms on which merchandise is stocked and displayed for sale.

Merchandise Presentation

• Merchandise presentation includes the ways that goods are hung, placed on shelves, or otherwise made available for sale in retail stores.• Shoulder-out presentation: The way most garments are hung

in home closets with only one side showing from shoulder to bottom.

• Face-forward presentation (face-out presentation): Hanging of clothing with the front fully facing the viewer. This should always be done at entrances and aisles.

Retail Fixtures

• Carousels: Circular racks that turn.

Retail Fixtures

• Dump tables/bins: A rimmed table or bin used to hold sale or special merchandise on the sales floor, especially in discount operations; it has no formal arrangement.

Retail Fixtures

• Four-way rack: A fixture with four extended arms, that permits accessibility to hanging merchandise all the way around

Retail Fixtures

• Rounders: Circular racks on which garments are hung around the entire circumference

Retail Fixtures

• T-stand: Freestanding, two-way stand in the shape of a T, that holds clothes on hangers, sometimes with one straight arm and one waterfall.

Retail Fixtures

• Waterfall: A fixtures with an arm that slants downward, that contains knobs to hole face-forward hangers with clothing at various levels.

Displays

• Displays: individual and notable physical presentation of merchandise.• Displays are intended to:• Stimulate product interest• Provide information• Suggest merchandise coordination• Generate traffic flow• Remind customers of planned purchases• Create additional sales of impulse items• Enhance the store’s visual image

Interior Displays

• Locations for interior displays:• Just in the entrance• Entrance to department• Near cash/wrap• Next to related items• Across from elevators and escalators• Ends of aisles

Merchandise

• More interesting if in odd numbers• Groups:• One-category, or line-of-goods• Related groupings: go together or reinforce each

other• Theme groupings: event, holiday, etc.• Variety or assortment groupings: collection of

unrelated items all sold at the same store.

Lighting

• Used to direct customer’s attention to the display• Use more light for dark colors, less light for light

colors• Beamspread; the diameter of the circle of light• Beamspread techniques:• Floodlighting: recessed ceiling lights to direct light over an

entire wide display area• Spotlighting: focuses attention on specific areas or

targeted items of merchandise• Pinpointing: focuses a narrow beam of light on a specific

item

Props

• Objects added that support the theme of the display.• Functional Props: used to physically support the

merchandise. (mannequins, stands, panels, screens, etc)• Decorative Props: used to establish a mood or an

attractive setting for the merchandise being featured (ex: mirrors, flowers, seashells, surfboards, etc)• Structural Props: used to support functional and

decorative props and change the physical makeup of displays. (boxes, rods, stands, stairways, etc)

Signage

• Includes individual letters and complete signs. Often on some kind of holder.• Can tell a story about the goods.• Should try to answer customers questions.• Should be informative and concise.• Can include prices, sizes, department location.

Window Displays

• Seen from outside of the store.• First contact with the customer.• Can have a series of windows.• Advantages of Window Displays:• Establish and maintain an image• Arouse curiosity

• Disadvantages of Window Displays:• Expensive to design and maintain• Requires space• Merchandise can get ruined (sun ,etc)

Types of Window Displays

• Enclosed windows: have a full background and sides that completely separate the interior of the store from the display window.• Ramped windows: floor is higher in back than in

front• Elevated windows: from 1 to 3 feet higher than

sidewalk• Shadowbox windows: small, boxlike display

windows

Types of Window Displays

• Semi-closed windows: have a partial background that shuts out some of the store interior from those viewing the window• Open Windows: have no background panel

and the entire store is visible to people walking by• Island windows: four-sided display windows

that stand alone, often in lobbies.

Ambush Marketing

What is Ambush Marketing?

• A promotion tactic designed to associate a company, product, or service with a particular event, or to attract the attention of people attending the event, without payment being made for an official sponsorship.

What is Ambush Marketing?

• Not a guerilla,viral or stealth.• It is an aerial advertising.• Well planned effort.• Used commonly at worldwide sporting

organisations.• Trading of the good will be without

being an official sponsor.• Also called “parasitic” marketing.

Two Ways of Ambush Marketing

• 1. Direct Ambush Marketing: In 1994 football world cup, MasterCard received exclusive rights for using world cup logo, but a rival Sprints Communication used the logo without permission. This is direct attack but can be defended by laws.• 2. Indirect Ambush Marketing: Several ways

indirect ambush marketing can take place like sponsoring the broadcast of the event, sponsoring subcategories of the major event etc.

Ambushing Strategies

• Sponsor the Broadcast of the Event• Sponsor Subcategories within the Event• Purchasing Advertising Time Around Relays of

the Competitor’s Event• Engage in Major Non-sponsorship Promotions• Pourage Agreements• Corporate Hospitality and Ticketing

Reasons to Use

• Ambush marketing is used by companies to intrude upon public consciousness surrounding a sports property. Thus, ambush marketers avoid the cost of paying expensive sponsorship fees while gaining the benefits of associating with a sports property at the expense of the sponsor.

Ambushing Examples

First Ambushing Example

• In 1984, Fuji Film won the sponsorship rights for the Los Angeles Olympic Games. Kodak responsed to it by “ambushing” Fuji with a well planned campaign.

• Fuji took revenge on Kodak, which won the sponsorship rights for the 1988 games.

You won’t need a “VISA”

• Visa was the official sponsor of the Winter Olympics at Lillehammer (Norway) in 1994 and aired TV commercials were they claimed that American Express cards were not accepted at the Olympic Villa. However, American Express aired ads which stated that American travelers did not need any visa to travel to Norway.

“The Spirit of Australia”

• At the 2000 Sydney Olympics ; Qantas Airlines’ slogan "The Spirit of Australia" sounds strikingly similar to the games’ slogan "Share the Spirit." Qantas claims it’s just a coincidence.

• At the 2006 Football World Cup, Dutch brewer, Bavaria, gave away garish orange lederhosen displaying its name to hundreds of Dutch supporters attending the match against the Ivory Coast. Budweiser was the official beer. Stewards at the match ordered the fans to remove the garments before letting them in.

Pringles Ambushing at Wimbledon

• At outside of Wimbledon All England Club, almost 24.000 cans of Pringles were distrubeted to spectators.

• The packaging, which was similar to can of tennis ball, allowed to make product noticable.

• To reinforce the campaign, similar models to well known tennis players Roger Federer and Bjorn Borg are used.

Protecting from Ambushing

• The sponsor should focus on effectively exploiting and leveraging its purchased association with the sports property.

• Sponsoring both the event and the broadcast of the event.

• There should be detailed sponsorships contracts• There are special laws introduced for major events

and Olympic Games to protect main sponsors.• Official sponsors can sometimes bring pressure to

bear on the event owners to introduce anti-ambush marketing campaigns.

The Ethical Issue

• Is it ethical for a company to ambush an event? • Why do brands with excellent reputations get into this?• Are they justified?

• The questions arises as to whether or not practices such as ambush marketing is ethical, illegal or simply smart business practice. In order to decide this, an examination has to be undertaken of what are regarded as ethical marketing practices, in addition to examining what comprises ambush marketing, followed by a comparison of the two.

The Ethical Issue

• Typically, sports property owners and sponsors view the practice as being unethical,immoral and sometimes illegal. On the other hand, many companies unable to afford sponsorship fees will regard the practices involved as a legitimate form of defensive, competitive behaviour and perhaps even deny that what they are doing is ambush marketing.

Conclusion

• The law as it now stands seems unable to accommodate the concerns of official corporate sponsors. There is no limit to human ingenuity. As such, ambush marketing at the margins will arguably always occur (Curthoys & Kendall 2002).

Conclusion

• As sport has become a central element of an emerging global culture, marketers have recognised sports sponsorship as an international communication tool of commerce with the capability of providing a vehicle for firms to procure a sustainable competitive advantage.

Ambushing Used by Heineken

THanK YoU