Visual Merchandising

Visual merchandising is developing the floor plans, lighting effects, display the products to attract the customers toward making the purchase. Visual merchandising techniques were first introduced to the world in 19th century, when the big establishments like Marshall Field&Co changed their business from wholesale to retail and goods display became necessary to attract the consumers. It includes showing and promoting the products, creating an connection between the display and the viewer, getting the attention of the customers when they go pass the store, encouraging the customers coming into the store, introducing and explaining the products, enhancing their shopping experience.

Visual Merchandising looks at combining product, environment, and space into astimulating and engaging display to encourage the sale of a product or service. It has become an important element in retail, exhibitions, theatre, events and photography.Many elements can be used by visual merchandisers in creating displays, including colour, lighting, space, product information, sensory inputs such as smell, touch, andsound as well as technologies such as digital displays and interactive installations. Visual merchandising starts with the store building itself. The store design should reflect the products, how to create a warm, friendly, and approachable atmosphere for its potential customers.It is not a science; there are no absolute rules. It is more like an art in the sense that there are implicit rules but they may be broken for striking effects. The main principle of visualmerchandising is that it is intended to increase sales, which is not the case with a “real” art. Visual merchandising is the art of implementing effective design ideas to increase store traffic and sales volume. It is an art and science of displaying merchandise to enable maximum sale. It is a tool to achieve sales and targets, a tool to enhance merchandise on the floor, and a mechanism tocommunicate to a customer and influence his decision to buy.

VM uses season based displays tointroduce new arrivals to customers, and thus increase conversions through a planned and systematic approach by displaying stocks available. Merchandise presentation refers to most basic ways of presenting merchandise in an orderly,understandable, ’easy to shop’ and ‘find the product’ format. There are certain things which a retailer needs to take care while proceeding with the process of displaying hisproducts. These components when combined together in a proper ratio will make a successful outcome. The main goal of display is to showcase the products within the overall display area. Customers give three to fiveseconds of their attention to window display. The retailers visual message should be conveyed to the customer inthat short period of time. It should not be like an unsuccessful TV advertisement, where the product is forgottenaltogether and only the concept of the commercial remains in the mind of the viewer. The arrangement of window display should go with the product and should not suppress them to make it discernable to the eye. Color is one of the most powerful tools in the VisualMerchandising segment.

It is a visual perceptual property.Colors can be associated with emotions, special occasionsand gender. It attracts attention and pulls more customersinto the store. A retailer has to focus on the right choice of color that would match with the theme of display. It is notpossible to satisfy everyone all the time, but it is possible tocultivate the taste of customers gradually and purposefully.A right choice of colors in the display items can turnwalkers into stoppers and significantly convert them intocustomers. It is therefore mandatory to choose the right color for the right theme of display. A Halloween display would require black color in the display theme. Valentines theme should be ruled by red color supplemented withpink and white. A display of babys accessories should reflect light shades of pink and blue colors. A Christmasdisplay should contain colors of red, green, gold and silver. A theme is a display of sale items of similar categories e.g. adisplay of kitchen accessories. Its essential to have themesfor all retail displays.

They can be romantic, wild, orcapricious, and capture peoples imaginations. A good theme will lure the customer with a shopping mood into the store. Themes mainly depend upon the retailersimagination and creativity. Focusing on the right theme rather than creating a display with expensive raw materialsis the key to successful window display. A shoe store themecan be a group of elves buying shoes. A theme for display of casual wears can be a group of mannequins sittingcan be a group of elves buying shoes. A theme for display of casual wears can be a group of mannequins sitting casually at a get together in different poses. Related themes will tug the heartstring of the customers and will pay offThe content of the display should complement the in store environment and other marketing strategies of theretailer. If the retailer has a specific logo, the colors of the display can reflect the same color of the logo. For e.g.MacDonalds display, the clown is of the same color, red and yellow as in their logo Neat and clean arrangement is the foundation of an inviting a successful visual display. A beautiful display can beruined by a cracked sign holder or an unclean display environment.

Effective cleaning schedule of showcases anddisplay fixtures is required Changing the arrangement of the displays in regular intervals will initiate new interest about the products in theminds of the customer. By designing a plan-o-gram and activating changes frequently one can thus be a proactiveretailer. With globalization and the retail boom, visual merchandising is growing in leaps and bounds. It is not simply concerned about decorating a store beautifully; but must also symbolise the brand keeping the target audience in mind. Visual merchandising is not only art but also science. We should approach it with an open mind and change it frequently. We should keep a record of displays we have tried with a digital camera in order to know how well the merchandise sold with this display and improve it. After a while, you might start to notice a pattern: particular typesof display might work well with your customers. Obviously, use those types of displays more often.