Be beach ready

The call of the ocean is year-round, but when summer rolls in, it’s all about fun in the sun! Creating a shopping experience that’s as fun as a day on the beach is key when it comes to beach gear.

Seaside retailers can nail the perfect beach gear merchandising by keeping things both playful and customer friendly.

The essentials

There are some good strategies for organizing your beach essentials, such as sunscreen, sunglasses, beach hats and water shoes.

Display your sunscreens by SPF from left to right to make it easy for customers to find the perfect option. Stock a couple of each SPF level, about three per product.

Offering cool shades is also a must! Showcase your shades on a spinner near the entrance or POS for impulse buys. A spinner is also a great way to display beach hats.

"Nail the perfect beach gear merchandising by keeping things both playful and customer friendly."

Finally, organize your water shoes or sandals by style and then by size. Display your smallest sizes in the front, bigger sizes in the back.

The extras

You will also want to have “the extras” that customers want to splurge on for their day at the beach, such as games, toys, chairs and more.

You can try using a hammock or net to hold a bunch of inflated beach balls — it’s playful and organized! Beach chairs and umbrellas can be stacked neatly on the floor or displayed along a wall with sturdy pegs.
With games and toys, group similar items together for easy browsing.

Promote the fun

Help your customers understand how to have fun with the beach products in your shop. For example, you can use coolers to merchandise koozies or put out beach games and accessories in oversized buckets.
Focus on easy organization and playful displays so that your seaside store will be the go-to destination for beach gear.

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Michael Hale, CEO of Retail Rehab, transforms retail spaces and helps drive up profits. michael@retail-rehab.com, www.retail-rehab.com