Making your product merchandising both beautiful and functional is one of the most common challenges stores face when on the Path to WPN Premium. While we've previously shared principles to use for general merchandising techniques, today we'll focus entirely around the sealed Magic: The Gathering product positioned at your point of sale.

Here's what we suggest for improving your merchandising strategy.

Know Your Product Types: Primary vs. Ancillary

You can think of all Magic product as being separated into two general pools: primary product lines and ancillary product lines. Primary product covers each core release for the year—the sets that are part of Standard. There are a few additional products that fall under this category, as well, such as Commander Legends sets.

Ancillary product, on the other hand, covers smaller set releases that are specialized and are marketed toward a specific audience—Jumpstart, Arena Starter Kits, and every Un-set falls under the ancillary category.

Organize Based on Set Release

As you organize each product type, prioritize their placement—you have limited space at eye-level behind your point of sale, so consider placing new player product there, where customers are most likely to see it.

Additionally, having the latest set releases closer to the register may make it easier for customers to find the most relevant sets at a glance. From there, it's best to work backward in chronological order as you move away from your point of sale.

Many stores in North America order their sets chronologically from top to bottom, left to right, as it follows the natural way local languages are read.

Keep in mind that the higher product sits on a shelf, the more valuable it will appear to some customers. You may consider merchandising product with a higher perceived value inside of display cases, using appropriate lighting to draw customers' eye to what you want to highlight most.

Separate Product Using Shapes

Understanding each type of product will help you design your product layout to best capture your customers' attention. We also suggest using design principles to help create an easy-to-understand layout for customers. Below are two different techniques you can try in your store.

Falling Layout

A falling layout organizes main product on the left and associated products on the right. For example, you may try placing booster displays on the left and relevant Commander decks or Theme Boosters on the right.

This layout guides your customers' eyes across straight lines, and organizing these sections using similar product shapes will help players easily identify what each product is.

Column Layout

A column layout breaks shelves up with a linear arrangement of similarly shaped products. This may be an ideal way to organize binders containing your singles inventory, especially if you have a uniform labeling system.

Add Deliberate Section Signage

Regardless of your organization, signage that is designed to match the branding of your store will help make any product layout clear to a customer. Newer players might not know the difference between a product intended for Standard and one intended for Commander—but a good sign will guide them to the right place.

Try different methods of merchandising until you find the organizational structure that works best for your store and customers. Small changes can have massive impact on your customers' experience—and continually improving on your customer experience is what achieving WPN Premium is all about.

Your Retail Development Specialist is here to help you with any questions you have along your Path to WPN Premium, and if you haven't started your journey yet, it's never too late to learn more and begin your application today.