IQFM is a company that has extensive experience in traditional merchandising. We help our clients to best present their products on the shelf and distinguish them from the competition. We know perfectly well what is the key to achieving satisfactory sales results. Professional merchandising is not only an area in which we constantly expand our knowledge and experience, but also a true passion and mission of our agency. Thanks to extensive marketing activities, our clients gain the opportunity to ensure the best possible presentation of their products on store shelves. As a result, the eyes of consumers will always be directed towards their offer, effectively avoiding the articles of the competition. The result will be a clear increase in sales profits.

Professional merchandising – cooperation with fashion brands

For many years we have also been developing our skills and gaining experience in visual merchandising in the fashion industry, with which we began our adventure by cooperating with a British company producing and distributing jewelry for the F&F brand. In 2017, we were trusted by another foreign client: J-Club, which was invited by one of the clothing chains to test. J-Club was one of 3 suppliers of women’s jewelry for this chain and after a few months of cooperation they were to choose one of them for all their stores in Poland. Together with J-Club we cooperated in a dozen stores for less than a year to finally win the test. Since 2018, we have been conducting regular visual merchandising for all the retail outlets to which J-Club supplies jewelry and accessories. We are now already operating in more than 200 stores of 3 popular fashion brands nationwide.

Each week, our visual merchandisers make about 400 service visits on average. Besides them, field teams occasionally deal with additional sales support. Sometimes, as a merchandising agency active in the field, we take part in special events organized by stores (such as birthdays, opening of a new outlet, opening after renovation, women’s day, etc.), during which we support chain employees – we advise customers on the selection of clothes and accessories, inform about current promotions and loyalty programs. Thanks to these activities we have a real impact on increasing sales. We also build positive relations and image of our products, store brand and employees.

Our experience in professional merchandising

You may not have heard of J-Club, but you’ve certainly seen their products many times. J-Club is the organization behind the accessories concept in a great many fashion chains (and more!). They are the market leader in Europe for private label jewelry and accessories. J-Club has a dedicated one project manager who is responsible for the contact with the fashion chain. He is responsible for information flow within the team. Our client is developing very dynamically. They started their business in 2010 and now deliver their products to over 11,000 locations in 25 countries across Europe. Initially, they offered only accessories for women, but now they have a much wider range for men and children: jewelry, hair accessories, scarves, neckerchiefs, sunglasses and reading glasses, as well as greeting cards.

The adopted business model assumes that J-Club takes full responsibility for the accessories category, ensuring production, distribution and in-store service so that the fashion chain can fully focus on its core business. In Poland, this service is provided by our visual merchandising agency. The principles of cooperation with our customers and their business partners are simple and based on a single goal: creating a group of loyal and satisfied users of various products. IQFM identifies with clients’ products, acts on their behalf and takes care of their impeccable image. With our actions we ensure the right product, in the right place, on time! Our teams of mobile visual merchandisers throughout the country make sure that the latest J-Club assortment is available to the chain’s customers every day.

What are the responsibilities of a visual merchandising agency?

For many years we have been recruiting, employing and training our mobile visual merchandisers. We carry out all current tasks related to professional merchandising service in locations entrusted to us throughout Poland. Our field regional managers and office employees coordinate all the work related to the project, while taking care of the highest level of service and support for the client and all his partners. We analyze available sales data, prepare weekly and monthly summaries of our activities, manage changes and provide comprehensive HR and payroll services.

As we mentioned earlier, we execute orders throughout the country. In order to be efficient, we have developed a simple, yet most effective structure for our operations. A well-trained mechanism allows us to communicate in the best and fastest way possible, which is an extremely important component of any project undertaken. Our employees complete information reports on the visit, confirm the completion of individual service steps and possibly additional special tasks, take stock levels into consideration and, if required, make photo documentation.

Visual merchandisers – areas of employee activity

IQFM comprehensively coordinates activities of regional managers and subordinate visual merchandisers. During everyday work we try to fulfill our tasks as quickly as possible and solve any potential difficulties. Because we operate in an international environment, we are also responsible for the translation of all instructions and documents. We try to be flexible and pay attention to the individual needs of each client. We maintain constant contact with network representatives – good communication is the key to success! This allows us to reduce errors to a minimum, strongly influences the quality of our service and builds lasting relationships between all parties.

At each stage of our activities we conduct carefully planned merchandising. What exactly is it? The duties of our specialists, who are entrusted with the brand promotion, include a wide range of activities in many sales areas – both mobile and stationary. The list of their tasks includes, among others, implementation of planograms (various products and collections for different chains), taking and checking deliveries, preparing seasonal discounts, stock adjustments (stocktaking with damage report), assembling stands and their preparation for opening new stores, taking care of tidiness and cleanliness of stands, as well as maintaining positive relations with store employees and remote reporting of all activities undertaken in the store. In performing these duties we are assisted by our IQFM reporting platform and our client’s external portal.