Contact route
The contact route ( English facing ) in retail is the route that leads the customer directly to the goods .
General
The compound “contact route” is made up of the route through a store (especially in a supermarket ) and the customer's visual contact with the goods placed on this route. The sales area in shops consists of the shelves and the contact lines in between. The larger the sales area (for example in a supermarket or department store ), the longer the contact distance. It is assumed that the longer an article is in contact with potential customers, the more likely it will be to buy it. Since the shelf space is the bottleneck factor , it is a trading strategy to design this contact route , weighted according to shelf space, in such a way that the company goal ( profit maximization , contribution margin , area productivity ) is optimally met. Because the sale of goods is largely determined by the shelf space provided for it.
species
Two types of contact path on the shelf are common:
- Contact distance meters is the absolute contact distance in meters that is available for a brand / manufacturer / category .
- Contact distance share is the contact distance of a brand, manufacturer or category divided by the total number of meters of contact distance for this category.
Contact routes must enable the customer to perceive the goods and must not have any visual obstacles.
Another distinction is made according to the viewing height of the shelves:
- The viewing zone at eye level (140–160 cm): Consumers include products in this area most heavily in their purchasing decisions .
- The grip zone (60–140 cm) is suitable for positioning the normal range, novelties and impulse items .
- The bending zone (up to 60 cm) is intended for fast- moving items , merchandise and confectionery (viewing and grip zone for children).
These three zones are therefore not filled unplanned, but are intended to encourage purchasing decisions for all target groups.
economic aspects
Not only the store design and the distribution of the goods are important criteria for a successful sale, but also the placement of the goods on the shelves. If products are placed on the shelf in such a way that only the side surfaces are visible, the articles are not even noticed by the consumer. Even if an article is facing the customer, the threshold is not yet overcome. The contact path indicates the width that an article needs to be allowed on the shelf in order to be perceived. Fast- moving items are in the foreground, while slow-moving items are less well placed on the contact path. The "Facing" expresses the visibility of a product, with the number of "Facings" determining the sales.
In this context, the contact path is understood to be the quantity of a product available to the buyer, whereby only the horizontal shelf width is measured. The expert in consumer behavior, Hans-Georg Häusel , found out that in the best case scenario, an item must be given a shelf width of 30 cm. This "30 cm contact rule" states that products should be presented on the shelf with a width of at least 30 cm in order to be clearly seen and perceived by customers. This topic can be traced back to the rational functioning of the brain, which is designed to function with reduced complexity. In the case of narrow packaging , for example, it is essential to place several items of the same product next to one another. Consumers use less than 30 cm in width.
In practice, the contact path for impulse articles with little awareness and for goods with basic needs is reduced to a necessary minimum. This minimum is defined by the packaging unit (for example the box size). On the other hand, articles with a high contribution margin should have more contact routes. In practice, often reinterpreted as a high- turnover item . However, the costs are not taken into account. Often the dealers also orientate themselves on the market shares of the manufacturers.
Statements about the profitability of a placement can be made with the help of the contact route . Depending on the range and the rotation of the goods , there are gaps in the shelves along the contact route, which reduces customer satisfaction and can lead to a permanent change of store.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Werner Pepels, Gabler Lexikon Vertrieb und Handel , 1998, p. 148 f.
- ↑ Werner Pepels , Gabler Lexikon Vertrieb und Handel , 1998, p. 208
- ↑ Ulrich Dirk Frey / Gabriele Hunstiger / Peter Dräger, Shopper Marketing , 2011, p. 325 f.
- ↑ Stefan Hoffmann / Payam Akbar, Consumer behavior: Understanding consumers - Shaping marketing measures , 2016, p. 166
- ↑ Willy Schneider, Introduction to Sales Policy , 2019, p. 17
- ↑ Stefan Hoffmann / Payam Akbar, Consumer behavior: Understanding consumers - Shaping marketing measures , 2016, p. 167
- ↑ Martin Günther / Ulrich Vossebein / Raimund Wildner, Marktforschung mit Panels , 1998, p. 228
- ↑ Hans-Georg Häusel, Limbic Success! , 2002, p. 215
- ↑ a b Springer-Verlag (ed.), Betriebswirtschaftslehre des Handels , 2013, p. 230
- ↑ Werner Pepels, Gabler Lexikon Vertrieb und Handel , 2013, p. 148 f.