Merchandising: Choose Better Products With a Merchandising Strategy

* Have a game plan. “This means a written strategy based on known sales for the year before,” Muldoon writes. In combination with your circulation plan, this game plan will help you decide which product categories and price ranges should be increased, decreased or re-tested.

* Get the right analysis. Many catalogers still don’t conduct enough analysis within their organizations, the author notes. A proper merchandise analysis will let you know what products customers like, what products they return and what products they complain about, as well as the price points appropriate for these customers.