Shelf placement is the number 1 most important thing you have to pay attention to once you get a purchase order.

Getting a sizable purchase order is congratulatory, but if your beers aren’t moving from the shelves, then the ballgame changes completely. The location and placement of a product in a store can make a significant difference in its sales.

Is your beer visible to the consumer? Is your beer in a place where consumers usually gravitate towards? Or is your beer being placed in a random corner of the store with dust gathered on it - a place where consumers’ hands don’t usually reach out to? These are some of the questions you need to ask yourself once you receive a purchase order.

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Shelf placement is an important part of building the presence of your beer and getting your sales up. Let’s dive into the importance of shelf placement, and a few hacks to grab the perfect spot for your beer. 

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The Importance of Shelf Placement 

We’ve all heard the tale of ‘being in the right place at the right time’ haven’t we? Well, the same goes for your beer. 

For example, imagine you get a purchase order from Walmart for 50 cases of IPA during the summer, because a lot of people are drinking beer during that time of the year. You think you’ve hit a homerun right? - well, you have, sort of. Your beer is going to be in Walmart, but it matters where. 

Consumers are going to go grab the lager on the shelves, but imagine your lager being placed right beside all the full-bodied stouts, or maybe beside beer that people don’t usually gravitate towards - no one is going to be able to see your beer, so where will the sales come from?

Now let’s turn the tables. Imagine your lager being placed in the center of all other lagers, with a sign that says ‘lagers picked for you’ at the top of the shelf. Makes more sense right? This way consumers will get attracted to it and there’s a high chance that they’ll end up picking your beer. 

Shelf Placement Hacks 

Beer bottles and cans on the shelf

1. Request the retailer if you can get an eye-level shelf to stock your beer.

If there are four rows of beer bottles, cans, and packs on a particular shelf, you’re going to want to aim at the second row from the top, where the eye directly meets the shelf.  The eye-level placement is where all the magic is. 

Eye-level placement is said to be the best way to get your sales up and place your product. This is simply because consumers are more likely to pay attention to the beers that they can see directly instead of them bending down to check out something else, or tiptoeing to see what’s on the top shelf. If it’s easy for them to see, pick, and grab, then they’re surely going for it. 

2. Check where your beer is placed

The second thing you want to look at is where your beer is placed on the shelf. For example, if you’re selling an IPA which is $2.99, you would want your beer to be placed beside the number one selling sku in that category. This is because you already have that IPA drinker who is looking for a certain beer - and if your beer is placed beside the best selling sku, then all you have to do is to attract the consumer to that area and there are high chances of your beer being picked up. 

Beer lovers are looking to try new things these days, so if a new product catches their eye in a comfortable manner where they don’t have to put in the extra effort of looking for it or picking it up, then they’re bound to give the new beer (in this case your beer) a fair chance. 

3. Try a different tactic

Make sure that your allocated shelves are filled with your beer. However, you could try a different marketing tactic by leaving one or two empty spots your beer is supposed to be. This will make it look like your beers are moving and people are buying them. 

Brand owners say that they usually leave one or two spaces to make it look like their bottles and cans are moving - or else a lot of people can assume it’s a non-moving product. If it’s a moving product, consumers are more likely to pick it up to try it.

A little bit of a tilt in your usual marketing tactics might just work to get the consumer wondering and gravitate them towards your beer. 

5. Using shelf talkers

The reason that the name of this particular merchandising strategy is called shelf talkers is that the objective of it is to talk to the consumer. Design a shelf talker, place it right near your product by understanding the mindset of your consumer. Be very simple, and explain your beer and tell your story to the consumer via that shelf talker. This will help the consumer relate to your beer - and in turn, grab your product.

If it’s a brand new beer, you can try to write things like ‘try me, you’re going to love it’, ‘lagers picked just for you’. An advice brand owners usually give about shelf talkers is to take the casual route. Make sure your shelf talker language is very casual, and simply describe the beer how it is - in a few simple words such as strong, dark, fruity, etc. 

5. Don’t forget to do weekly rounds

Most people forget about this or don’t pay attention to it. Make sure you do weekly rounds to check where your product is. A lot of salespeople move around the products when the retailers don’t pay attention or are not looking at what is going on. So make sure your product is not moved around, and it is where you want it to be.

Check if your beers are clean, your bottles, cans, and packs are shining, and your labels are placed upright. Make sure there’s no dust on your beer. Retailers don’t have the time to sit and polish your beer so make sure your beer is clean and crystal clear when you’re doing a check. 

These are a few hacks that you can use to find the perfect spot for your beer, and make sure it remains. Using these hacks - your beer is guaranteed to move from the shelves.