Product Knowledge and Merchandising
This section tests whether you can turn product facts into selling points and explain why a display is laid out as it is.
Features versus benefits
A feature is a fact about the product (400 ml, stainless steel, SPF 30). A benefit is what that fact does for the user (lasts a full shift, will not rust, safe in strong sun). Use FAB: Feature → Advantage → Benefit. Product knowledge also covers ingredients or materials, sizing, care instructions, warranty, allergens, country of origin, price per unit and competing alternatives.
Merchandising basics
- Range is the total offer; breadth is categories; depth is choice within a category.
- A planogram is the scaled diagram showing exactly where each line sits. Stock is merchandised to it so that layout, facings and shelf-edge labels agree.
- The golden zone is roughly waist to eye height: the highest-selling positions, easiest to reach and see.
- Power aisle / decompression zone at the entrance: low units, promotional impact, room to slow down.
- Face up, pull stock forward, keep labels aligned with products, and rotate so the shortest date is at the front.
- Cross-merchandise complements (batteries beside torches) and use colour blocking and the rule of three for visual impact. Heavy or bulky items go low, never above head height.
Worked example
Cereal fixture, 1.6 m high. Reasoning: own-brand matching the brand leader at eye level invites comparison and lifts margin; children's cereal in the 1.1–1.3 m band is seen by children and easily reached by parents; large family packs go on the bottom shelf; short-dated stock is faced first. Each choice has a stated reason - that is what earns marks.
Traps that cost marks
Listing features without benefits; muddling breadth with depth; putting heavy items high; leaving a shelf-edge label above the wrong product (a legal price-display issue); and designing a display without linking placement to customer type or stock rotation.