Tweak #084: Hope for the Bottom Shelves

After seeing many great stores with some hungry-looking bottom shelves, Lisa brings attention to this valuable space with proven strategies that bring hope (and sales!) to the bottom. The key is visibility and connected content that sizzles. For visibility: if you've got Franklin Fixtures, you've likely got a the superpower of a tipped bottom shelf, or even a flared or tapered case, all designed for visibility and sales. Let's use them!

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
There's hope for the bottom shelf really hope for
the bottom shelf hi i'm lisa uric and this is your
two-minute tweak a small idea with big results for this
week in a recent workshop for the professional book selling
association i noticed a trend in the pictures
that the group was sending as part of their field work about 10 of these really
great stores had pictures with completely empty bottom shelves it was so profound

(00:26):
that i wanted to talk about that today you know So bottom shelves don't have
to be reserved for overstock or as a collection place for random things.
But often they are because we don't believe in those bottom shelves.
I like to think of shelves as a sort of silent sales staff.
And it makes me sad for the bottom shelves. Like we don't believe in them because
we don't think people are going to bend down to get what's on them.

(00:49):
And, you know, it takes a lot to get people to bend down. In the snack world,
Snickers and M&M's are often placed on the bottom shelves because people will
bend for those chocolates.
And amazingly, Snickers lose no sales down there.
I've seen some really inspiring examples and evidence from other booksellers
that the bottom is also not a hopeless space.

(01:10):
And in fact, it moves just like the rest of the shelves when it has the right strategies.
This is the thing. The bottom either needs to have something that is as good
as the top-performing candy bar, or it needs to be connected to the rest of the display.
One great display I saw this week came from Melissa at The Well-Read Moose.
They have a lot of benchmarkable displays.

(01:32):
By the way, I'm going to feature some more in the upcoming tweaks.
But in one of them, they sell from the bottom because they have this shelf about escaping.
There's a big sign on the left-hand side of each shelf, top to bottom.
The top says, escape to Nantucket.
The next shelf says, escape into cozy fantasy.
The next, escape into cozy mystery. The next, escape to the past.

(01:55):
Then escape to the woods. And finally, at the very bottom, escape to the shore.
The face-outs on each shelf do so very well.
And the bottom is as effective as the top because it's connected and comprehensible.
It's easy to see. What can you do with your neglected bottom shelves,
that valuable sales space.

(02:15):
How can you make it sexy and interesting, scintillated and connected to the top?
If you have Franklin fixtures, you likely have tilted bottoms or even flared
or tapered bottoms, getting them into the light designed to work for you and creating visibility.
So let's give that bottom shelf some attention and hope this week.
I hope your results are more delicious than any candy bar.