The role of visual merchandising should be to surprise and inspire customers at the same time. Various display themes, groupings, and colour science are well-knownbasics related to visualmerchandising, however, in order for it to be truly successful, it needs to raise the shopping experience on a brand new level. Theimportance of visualmerchandising cannot be stressed enough, as it’s essential for presenting your retails pace in a way that maximises the sales. Here are a few successful strategies.
Empower your customers
Instead of simply being an attractive way of distributing the products,visualmerchandising has gained a more strategic role, in which the sales metrics related to the distribution of product allows you to define the customers’ behaviour and opinion about the product and its presentation in the retail space. Stores shouldn’t be simply designed as selling locations, but places of experience. Great visual merchandising tells a story, taking a consumer on a journey through places, times, and new experiences. Basically, the more you achieve at engaging the shopper, the more they’ll discover in your store.
Product presentation
There’s more to product presentation thangrouping or arranging mannequins and productsby the rule of three. By presenting your products strategically, you’ll be able to change the consumers’ mindset from ‘want’ to ‘need’. It’s important to create something visually engaging that can take the consumer from a person standing in the store to having an emotional connection with who they are and who they want to be. It’s often small details that make the largest impact – a stack of crisply folded shirts talks to the consumer much less than a leisurely folded shirt with rolled up sleeves, presented with a pair of fashion sneakers and sunglasses.
Use technology for leverage
Technology is revolutionising the way visual merchandising takes place, by allowing retail spaces to change the contents of their displays any time they want. To stay relevant and engaging to theirincreasingly connected audience, retailers must keep with the new trends of digital technology, usingmedia displays, interactive floor models, and eye-catching canvas prints. These prints can effortlessly lend your retail space an aesthetic pop of colour, while the motif provides valuable imagery for the journey of the mind that is to take place. In these times, consumers like to take charge of their shopping experience, often using their chosen devices and channels to become informed even before they engage the retailers.
Exploit windows
Although there are several channels for engaging the customer before they set foot into your store, in the world when people walk the streets scrolling up and down their phones, you only have a short time gap to attract customers to your store window. The purpose of windows nowadays is to stop customers in their tracks. The window is a sort of silent host with a smiling face that greets the passer-by’s, something that is about to change their mood. However, an engaging window doesn’t require a big budget. In many cases the imagination and creativity are is more important than financial terms.
Stimulate impulse purchases
According to an article published at Science Direct, almost 80 percent of all purchases are accounted to impulse buying, and retailers often employ merchandising strategies that encourage consumers to make more unplanned purchases. Apart from increasing basket size, impulse purchasing draws from exposing customers to various merchandise the store has to offer using smart clustering. By grouping several items into a scene, arrangement, or showing consumers how to wear certain items, you’re educating shoppers and at the same time creating the need. If done correctly, visual merchandising can transform a shopper into a buyer, as well as increase the final tab per sale.
The brand is in the eye of the shopper
Meeting and overwhelming customer expectations is essential in any retail environment. Unless they see something new every time they return to your store, they might give advantage to your competition. It’s compelling for retailers to constantly come up with creative and innovative ideas of displaying products, as maintaining the same visual display for weeks might lead to discouraging repeat customers. Fresh visual merchandising, on the other hand, lets you experiment with identifying what makes your brand pop in the eyes of the shopper.
Find fresh sources of inspiration
For a creative mind, inspiration can come from all directions, and instead of just visiting your competitor’s stores from time to time to see what inspiration you can ‘borrow’ and more importantly improve, keep in mind that the customers’ world includes many other venues, such as art galleries, restaurants, coffee shops, independent fashion stores on the waterfront, and much more. Keep your eyes open and you never know from where your next big visual merchandising idea might strike.
The main purpose of visual marketing in retail business is to engage and inspire buyers and motivate them to buy more products, which increases your sales, and return of investment. By following these tips, retail businesses and brands can engage the customer, elevate brand awareness, and increase their sales.
