Transcript The Importance of Visual Merchandising

Fashion Promotion
Visual
Merchandising
Objectives:
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Explain the importance of visual
merchandising
Describe the two main areas of store layout
Summarize the aspects of merchandise
presentation
Describe the components of in-store displays
List the advantages, disadvantages, and types
of window displays
The Importance of Visual
Merchandising
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Visual merchandising is the
physical display of products
in the most attractive and
appealing ways
Purposes are to sell
products and promote store
image
Should always try to be
different, new, and creative
The Importance of Visual
Merchandising
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Provides information
Gains attention
3 dimensional & real
The extra $ spent on visual
merchandising is usually quickly
returned in additional sales.
Store Layout
interior arrangement of retail facilities
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Selling areas
(75%-80%)
– Where merchandise
is displayed and
customers interact
with salespeople
– aisles, counters,
fitting rooms,
merchandise
fixtures, displays
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Sales support
areas
– Customer services
and all other
operations
– restrooms,
cashiers, gift
wrapping
Floor Plan – drawn to show selling floor vs sales
support areas
Store Layout
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Grid layout
– One or more main aisles with secondary aisles
intersecting
– Efficient use of space, good sight, security,
uninteresting atmosphere
Maze layout
– Free-flowing, unbalanced placement of fixtures;
allows shoppers to weave through displayed
merchandise
– Interesting but selling space is lost
See handout
Merchandise Presentation
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The ways goods are
hung, placed on
shelves, or otherwise
made available to
customers
Shoulder-out
– Only one side shows
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Face-forward
– Hanging garment so full
front faces viewer
Types of Fixtures
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Showcase
Most common types of
fixtures
– Bins
– C-rack or half-circle
– Four-way, quad, or fourarm
– Rounder
– Showcase
– T-stand, two-arm, or
two-way
– Wall-standards and
brackets
– waterfall
Interior Displays
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Displays should:
– Stimulate product interest
– Provide information
– Suggest merchandise
coordination
– Generate traffic flow
– Remind customers of
planned purchases
– Create impulse sales
– Enhance the store’s
visual image
Interior Display Locations
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Should be chosen to
maximize merchandise
exposure
– Just inside store entrance
– At entrances to
departments
– Near cash/wrap counter
– Next to related items
– By elevators and
escalators
– At ends of aisles
– Open-to-mall areas
Displayed Merchandise
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Should be current
Represent styles and lines
Should be well stocked
In demand
New (inform customers of
what is available)
Encourage additional
purchases
Promote current theme
Look good on display
Grouping Displays
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One-category groupings
– Highlight a specific kind of item
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Skirts, children’s dresses, holiday sweaters, shoes
– Line-of-goods displays, “vendor statement”
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Related groupings
– Ensembles or coordinates
– Showing customers that more than the feature item is needed
– Tennis outfit + visor + racquet + balls + bag
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Theme groupings
– Particular setting, event, holiday
– What is the difference between one-category grouping & theme
grouping?? What would be in one and not the other
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Variety or assortment
– Unrelated items all sold in the store
– Lower-priced retailers
Lighting
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Overlighting – washed out
Underlighting – not effective
Floodlighting – ceiling lights to direct
light over an entire wide display area
Spotlighting – focuses on a specific
area, targeting items
Pinpointing – narrow beam on a
specific item
Props
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Functional props physically
support or hold
merchandise
– Mannequins, stands,
pedestals, screens, panels,
or forms
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Decorative and
functional prop
Decorative props
– Used for mood or attractive
setting
– Artifical flowers, bicycles,
seashells
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Structural props support
and change displays
– Boxes, cylinders (usually
hidden)
Signage
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Variety of signs may be used
to inform customers
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Counter signs
Posters
Hanging signs
Banners
Flags
Elevator cards
Easels
Might include prices, sizes,
styles, features, store logo,
etc.
Display Evaluation
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Effective sales appeal?
Coordinated with store ads?
Help to locate goods?
Signage legible and easy to
understand?
Signage gives best selling
points?
Draw customer through
store?
Clean and neat?
Changed frequently?
Window Displays
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First contact customer
has with store
Can stimulate curiosity
More opportunities to
sell merchandise
– Can be expensive to
design, set up, and
maintain; need props,
staff, and space
– Another problem can
be glare of glass
Types of Display Windows
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Enclosed
– Full background
– Ramped, elevated, or
shadowbox
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Semi-enclosed
– Partial background
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Open
– No background, open to
store interior
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Island
– 4-sided glass, often in
lobbies
Enclosed window;
full background
Do You Know . . .
PICK
ME!!!
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How might displays
in a discount store
differ from the
displays in a more
expensive apparel
store?
What criteria would
you use to select
merchandise for
display in an island
window?
Things you should know..
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Most aisles are 3 feet a part. In more
expensive stores, they may be 4 feet a
part.
The DownShift Factor
The faster you walk, the more your
peripheral vision narrows and the
longer it takes to slow down your
shopping speed
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What we know…
Humans walk like they drive.
Decompression Zone-empty area
inside the store. Never put anything
of value in that zone.
Invariant Right Theory
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Upon entering a store the shopper will
invariably and reflexively turn to the right.
What we should do…
Customer interaction with any product or
promotion displays in the Decompression
Zone will increase by at least 30% once it’s
moved to the back of this zone, and even
more if it place to the right.
Butt Brush Theory
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“Brush, bump or jostle a woman on
the behind when she stopped to look
at an item and she will bolt.” Malcom
Gladwell of Paco Underhill’s Butt-Brush
Theory.
What we should do is wide the aisles.
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Getting your Customer to Buy More..
The chances that shoppers will buy
something are directly related to how
long they spend shopping.
How long they spend shopping is
directly related to how deep they get
pulled into the store.
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What you should do…
Place destination categories in the rear
of your store. This forces the
customer to go deeper into the store.
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Tables Invite Touching which leads to
unplanned buying.
Keys to Increasing
Impulse Items Sales…
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Adjacent to register and “within reach”
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Adjacent to destination products
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Flexibility to change the mix of impulse
items frequently