How to Bridge the Gap Between Head Office Strategy and Store Reality How to Bridge the Gap Between Head Office Strategy and Store Reality - why great strategy still fails without strong in-store execution. At head office, everything looks aligned: The range review is a... Feb 19, 2026 VSS News
10 Most Common Merchandising Mistakes We See In-Store At Plum Agencies , our national merchandising team works in retail stores across New Zealand every single day. From pharmacy and beauty to big-box and specialty retail, we support brands with professi... Feb 15, 2026 VSS News
Execution in Motion: No two days in merchandising are ever the same. That’s part of the appeal, and also part of the challenge. Our field team is the face of Plum Agencies in store. They’re the ones navigating planograms,... Feb 11, 2026 VSS News
Great Brands Don’t Struggle With Strategy, They Struggle With Execution In retail, execution is everything. You can have the best product, a strong brand story and a solid strategy, but if the people representing you in-store aren’t reliable, results will slip fast. At Pl... Feb 8, 2026 VSS News
How Planograms Drive Sales Walk into any well-performing store and you’ll notice something straight away. It feels easy to shop. Products are where you expect them to be. Categories make sense. Best sellers are visible. New lau... Feb 5, 2026 Our blog
Cross-Merchandising Case Studies That Actually Work Cross-merchandising gets talked about a lot in retail. In practice, it often ends up in the “nice idea” basket rather than something that consistently drives sales. When it works well, it feels effort... Feb 2, 2026 VSS News
Why Gold-Standard Retail Support Matters in High-Volume NZ Channels Why Gold-Standard Retail Support Matters in High-Volume NZ Channels New Zealand retail punches well above its weight. While the market may be smaller geographically, many NZ retail channels deliver si... Jan 28, 2026 VSS News
Merchandising Lessons Not all retail categories perform equally. Some consistently outperform, even in tighter economic conditions, while others struggle to maintain momentum. When you look closely at the categories showin... Jan 21, 2026 Our blog
Tech in the Store Retail technology continues to evolve, with new tools promising faster execution, better engagement and stronger sales. From digital shelf labels to QR codes and interactive displays, the challenge fo... Jan 15, 2026 VSS News
Why Cosmetics Is One of the Hardest Categories to Merchandise Well At a glance, cosmetics can look straightforward. Small products, high margins, strong brand recognition. But anyone who has worked in-store or managed a beauty category nationally knows the reality is... Jan 12, 2026 VSS News
How consumer behaviour is changing in NZ retail in 2026 New Zealand retail has always been fast moving, but the pace of change over the last few years has been something else. By 2026, shoppers are more informed, more selective, and far less patient than t... Jan 7, 2026 VSS News
Nationwide Retail Execution No matter how strong your strategy looks on paper, retail success is decided in one place: the shop floor. Nationwide retail execution is where planning meets reality. It’s the difference between a ca... Jan 4, 2026 VSS News