Call it merchandising or point of purchase display, nothing can be more natural than the finger bananas display in the local fruit or vegetable shop. The bananas grow from the stem and each cluster is known as the ‘hand’. Each stem has six to nine ‘hands’. Each ‘hand’ has ten to twenty bananas called ‘fingers’. Each stem with its hands and fingers of bananas are the most natural point of purchase display, hung as I saw and clicked this morning.
Consumers buy what they see and also engage with the physical product. The physical positioning of the product also increases visibility. Products at eye level also get more attention. “Eye level is buy level”. Customers who enter the shop with a buying list of vegetables only land up buying finger bananas too.
American Marketing Association defines merchandising as marketing the right merchandise or service at the right place, at the right time, in the right quantities and at the right price. The right quantity for most of the consumers is a ‘hand-full’.
Display of a stem of finger bananas from each hand is our natural desi example of merchandising.