A planogram is a diagram of fixtures and products that illustrates how and where retail products should be displayed, usually on a store shelf in order to increase customer purchases. They may also be referred to as plano-grams, plan-o-grams, schematics (archaic) or POGs. A planogram is often received before a product reaches a store, and is useful when a retailer wants multiple store displays to have the same look and feel. Often times, a consumer packaged goods manafacturer will release a new suggested planogram with their new product, to show how it relates to existing products in said category.

Planograms differ significantly by retail sector. Fast-moving consumer goods organizations and supermarkets largely use text and box based planograms that optimise shelf space, inventory turns, and profit margins. Apparel brands and retailers are more focused on presentation and use pictorial planograms that illustrate "the look" and also identify each product.

Since the purpose of a planogram is to communicate how to set the merchandise to increase customer purchases, much research often goes into the layout of a planogram. Attention is given to adjusting the visibility, appearance and presence of products to make them look more desirable, or to ensure sufficient inventory levels on the shelf or display. There are some consulting firms which specilize in retail space layout and planogramming. Some chain stores and wholesalers also create and maintain planograms for their stores.

Planogramming is a skill developed in the fields of merchandising and retail space planning. A person with this skill can be referred to as a planogrammer. (Source: SearchCIO.com)

Planogram Software

Because the most basic planograms are little more than text-boxes stacked and sorted, basic planograms can be created in any type of painting or word processing program or even on the back of a napkin.

The use of planogram software however, enables a user to do much more advanced and detailed analysis. Most planogram programs even automaticaly add product images to products, in addition to providing dynamic shading and labling to better show opportunities in the set.

There are four main companies offering planogram creation software (Source: about.com):

mockshop

mockshop automates the production of planograms for the fashion industry.

Intactix

JDA Intactix offers a variety of space management solutions.

Logical Planning Systems

Shelf Logic?2000 planogram design software vendor.

MarketMAX

Provider of merchandise analysis, planning, and optimization solutions. Their Planogram Manager is a PC-based application for developing planograms.

Apollo

Apollo is a space management software that has been around for over 20 years. It is a product of Information Resources. the site of one of their distributor's, MEMRB, is more informative, though.

Spacemate

Ingen Spacemate is software for creating, viewing and editing planograms. Various rules can be applied to the products in order to produce an optimal planogram.