Strong visual merchandising has a huge impact on customer experience in your store. Whether you’re revamping your retail displays or pocket this year. Whether you are revamping new ones or creating new ones, use these five strategies to help you achieve more impactful and memorable visual merchandising. And put more money in your pocket this year. 

Remember that Color Is King:

Color is powerful, and it can make or break your visual display. Create an erratic display, but if the colors coordinate well, the display can still be success. Consider using contrasting colors, like black and white, and monochromatic colors-but create intriguing, eye-catching displays.

Too many times, we lose sight of the power of color and its ability to attract the eye. Consider your home. You probably have a solid grey or brown couch, but there is a “pop” of color from the throw pillows you place on the edges. It is the same principle. Wherever the eyes go, the feet will follow. So use color to catch the eyes of your customers and draw them to your displays.

Create a Visual Marketing Focal Point:

Where does the viewer’s eye focus on your display? Do their eyes move toward a specific location on the display? Or are they confused about where to look. Create a hotspot–or focal point. Why? Because hotspots can increase sales by 229 percent.

Examine your display from the customer’s point of view the top, the floor, and both sides. Often the focal point is positioned too high for the customer to see. Always check your displays to ensure customers can easily view the hotspots and merchandise. The hotspot is the product, not a visual element you use to add to the story. For example, if you put sand and seashells on the table as part of your shoe collection, make sure the shoes are the focal point and not the sand.

Merchandising Tells a Story:

What’s in it for customers? Tell them. Use powerful, sales-enabling signage to display the advantages ages of buying the product. Present three bullet points that tell customers why they need the product or how their life will become easier because of the product. Remember, you’re not writing an essay but rather a headline, powerful bullet points, and possibly a price proposition. By telling a story, you help the customer better understand the product and enable the buying decision. A display may lack a worded sign or an educational sign. That’s perfectly fine; as long as there’s still a story, the sign can speak for itself. For example, lifestyle graphics are very popular in telling the story. No words, but the image speaks volumes.

Expose Customers to the Maximum Amount of Merchandise:

A well-designed, impactful display exposes the customer to as much merchandise as more products customers see, the more they buy. possible while avoiding a sloppy mess. Do consider using a circular store layout, which many retailers use, it’s powerful because it exposes the products. Consider using are merchandise shelves than traditional aisles. When look at the produce aisles, place a display in the dead center, so customers are forced to stop by aisles. But keep displays, Have a place possible clean and sharp, aisles to prevent deterring customers from products. displays as possible, and present as much merchandise and ensuring tables create a visual impact.

 Use Empty Space Wisely:

There’s a space that we need to start using it. It’s in the retail stores that is the most underutilized. You can use this space for many different things, like signature products or providing information about products or brands. You can also display customer testimonials with the customer’s name and a picture or profile a designer or supplier. You could also display lifestyle graphics that help customers make associations with your products. For example, a furniture store could display an image of a family cozied up on a couch, emitting those warm, fuzzy feelings that put shoppers in a good mood. A jewelry store could display a woman at a fine dining restaurant wearing a bracelet, creating an association between the store’s jewelry and a luxurious lifestyle.

Visual merchandising is multifaceted, and retailers can choose from hundreds of ideas when designing displays. But these tips return the biggest bang for your buck. Use them to make your store as memorable as possible.

A visual merchandiser has to work with various elements of VM to bring about the desired action (purchase) and reaction (satisfaction, to return for another purchase at a future date) from the customers. These elements are as follow:

(a) Store front

(b) Store layout

(c) Store interior

(d) Interior display (Indeed,2023)

Let us learn them in detail.

(a) Store Front: The exterior of a business comprises the following:

• Marquee: It is a sign that is used to display the store name.

• Entrances: These are designed with customer convenience and store security in mind. There are several types of entrances each portraying a certain image Revolving upscale stores. Push-Pull- full service stores often with fancy handles Electronic – Self-serve stores, with carts such as Wal-Mart, Kroger etc. 

•  Window Display:

           Window displays acts as an introduction of what will be found inside the store. Given the fact that a pedestrian takes only a few seconds to consider a store window, a window display should be well planned to make the most impact. Main intension should be to capture the attention of the passersby. It begins with the selling process even before the customer enters the store and suggests the type of merchandise carried in the store b) Store Layout: Store layout describes the overall look and feel of the interior of a retail store, including the placement of fixtures and products within the store. It is an important part of implementing retail store strategy. Effective layouts are designed to expose customers to the most products possible given the amount of floor space available. It refers to the way the floor space is allocated. It is of four types.

Selling Space: It includes: Interior displays, Sales demonstration areas, Sales transaction areas (wrap desk)

Merchandise Space: It is allocated to items that are kept in inventory, Selling floor, and Stock room area.

Personnel Space: It refers to space for employees, break rooms, lockers and restrooms.

Customer Space: It refers the space meant for comfort and convenience of customers. It includes: Restaurants, Dressing rooms, Lounges, Restrooms, and Recreation area for children.

• Store Interior: In-store displays should be in line with the window display in terms of theme and props. In-store displays can be further categorized into:

i) High points: When a display is placed above the eye level to be viewed from a distance is called a high point. They are usually on the top shelf of the walls fixtures featuring the merchandise stacked/hung on that wall. They are used to demonstrate the use of this merchandise and inspire the fashion trends. They can also be used to cross merchandise.

ii) Focal points: Focal points are dedicated areas within the store for displays. They display the merchandise stacked around that area which may be from different departments. They are good source to encourage cross merchandising. It affects the store’s image and includes the items such as: Floor & wall coverings, Lighting, Colors, and Fixtures. It is important to create a relaxing, comfortable place for customers to shop.

• Interior Display: These are the part of general store interior. It helps the customer to make a selection without personal assistance. Interior displays use fixtures and props to showcase merchandise. Props are generally classified as decorative or functional. Functional Props refers to practical items for holding merchandise such as mannequins and shirt forms whereas the purpose of Decorative Props is to enhance merchandise items such as trees, tables, cars.
• Introduction to Visual Merchandising Interior display may be of different types.

-Closed display: Examples are Look but don’t touch, require sales person assistance, Examples are to handle merchandise without a salesperson, Self-service, Expensive or fragile merchandise, and Jewelry cases.

-Open Display:  Examples are: Actual room setting and Furniture Store Decorations: It refers to decorations for holidays such as Christmas, Halloween. You have already learnt about trends, objectives, importance and elements of visual merchandising. Let us now discuss different ways through which one can make visual merchandising more effective of retail merchandising. Customers entering is a huge component influenced by the visual information they gather. Visual impact in the first split a store can use. One simple visual element such as color, can catch a shopper’s attention and also greatly affect their mood. In today’s competitive market place it is merchandising of paramount importance that retailers understand the basic products for shoppers, and magically puts products in their sight. Once a product has captured a customer’s attention the odds are increased that a purchase is at hand. This visual merchandising tip will impact your customers’ impression of their shopping experience and your profits.

-Change displays weekly: This visual merchandising tip reminds us that customer want to see new and different products. There is an aspect of entertainment and education. Customers appreciate when stores change their displays. Stores that don’t change their displays well will have customers simply walking past displays that are no longer fresh. If the customers have seen the same end cap for the last six weeks, the displays are no longer relevant to them. These stores will not reap the potential rewards of incremental or add-on sales and can lose out to their competition. If the competitor down the street is constantly and creative changing their visuals, there is a good chance shoppers will gravitate to that store.

-Color matters: Color can demand a shopper’s attention, evoke emotion and influence purchase. Your merchandising plan should include bright colors not only for displays or end caps, but also the middle of aisle runs. Visually painting your store with colorful focal points will help draw shopper attention. 

-Themes: Theme merchandising is a fun way to communicate seasonal activities to those key areas. Merchandising other information. If your store is a hardware store, use garden gloves, flower bulbs, decorative hand gardening tools, and potting soil to get your sales started for spring. The easiest way to have exciting displays that really help to sell frames is to hire a dispensary benefits from good visual merchandising. For a fee, they will bring their own props, and sometimes create special ones just for you. Purchase the service to come in and change your window and showcase displays once every month . A great window display can be a real traffic-stopper and enough to have someone on your staff with an artistic bent who has a natural knack for creativity.  However, not every practice can afford the luxury of professional help in this area. You may be lucky enough to have someone on your staff with an artistic bent who has a natural knack for putting together displays. Even if you don’t, that doesn’t mean you can’t have good looking displays.

If you follow these five basic principles of visual merchandising, you or a staff member can put together effective optical displays whether you have innate talent or not.

Visual Merchandising and Store Management 

(1) Less Is More: Keep your displays

Simple. Keep them uncluttered. Leave some space around them. The most common mistake is trying to show too much at the same time. Props should be simple in shape, preferably something that provides a large mass of color or texture, such as blocks, covered boxes or risers. Stay away from things with busy details. such as printed scarves.

(2) The Pyramid Principle: If you place one frame at the top of the display and let all the other elements “step down” from that point, you’ll have a very effective design. It’s that top focal point that attracts attention and makes the display interesting to look at. This principle always works you really can’t construct a bad pyramid display.

(3) Odd Rather Than Even: An odd number of elements is always more attractive to the eye than an even number. That’s because an asymmetrical arrangement is slightly off balance and keeps the eye moving around to look at each frame. That provides a built-in visual dynamic. On the other hand, a symmetrical, perfectly balanced arrangement stops the eye in its tracks. That’s dull.

(4) Repetition: Using identical elements and repeating them over and over again creates a very powerful display. This simple idea can have a lot of punch. For example, line up a series of frames that are all the same style, but different colors. It really doesn’t matter how you support them. Just make sure they’re all positioned in exactly the same way or the display will lose impact. There’s an additional benefit to this type of display: It reinforces the idea that you have a wide selection of frames.

(5) Texture: Consider carefully the background material for your display. Texture can complement or contrast with the frames placed on it or around it. For example, never put metal frames on a mirror or other glossy surface. The frames simply get lost in all those reflections. Metal frames need a rich surface like velvet or suede to bring out their jewelry- like quality. However, frames made with special materials such as leather can be emphasized effectively by using a prop made of similar materials. Leather gloves or a leather briefcase can complement a pair of leather-accented frames.

Good visual merchandising is a mix of art, inspiration and science. While great visual merchandising can sell lousy product, poor visuals can do nothing for great merchandise. what We Buy Get comfortable with having some empty space in your high fashion displays. Expensive frames must never be crowded together because it reduces their value. They need space around them so they can be seen as something special. Your lowest priced frames should be crowded together so consumer will perceive them as lower priced. Keep your use of props and brand display items like logo plaques and show cards to a minimum. Optical industry trade journals and trade shows are an excellent place to find both display ideas and resources for props and display accessories. (Contra vision)

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/what-is-visual-merchandising (Read on January 2024)

https://www.contravision.com/visual-merchandising-importance/ (Read on January 2024)