- What is merchandise display?
- What does merchandise display serve?
- Merchandising techniques and tips
What is Merchandise Display?
Visual merchandising displays are a popular retail display practice in which merchandisers create floor plans and three-dimensional product displays to organize and showcase products and increase in-store sales. Merchandisers will typically group similar products together and use signage to communicate their features and benefits. Merchandisers in larger companies collaborate with retail marketing teams to create effective merchandise display consistent with the brand's image and guidelines. On the other hand, independent retailers have more creative freedom and control over their displays.
What is the Significance of Merchandise Display?
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An effective merchandise display is intended to attract and engage customers while also motivating them to buy. A window display that draws customers into the store is the first type of merchandising display that comes to mind. However, merchandising displays are essential throughout the store to keep customers moving and can even assist them in finding what they are looking for. All successful merchandise displays have two components:
1. Effective product placement: Arrange the merchandise in a way that highlights it.
2. Placement and layout: Include all available merchandise styles, sizes, and colors so customers can see what they want.
If there aren't enough styles or sizes displayed, a merchandise display will appear unprofessional. A professional merchandise display is an organized yet appealing representation of your merchandise that is intended to pique the interest of customers.
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- Draw customer attention to merchandise by using lighting, color, and other visual merchandise presentation techniques in an effective merchandise display.
- Display specific merchandise in an appealing and well-organized manner (i.e., draws customer interest).
- Create curiosity about the merchandise so that customers can't help but want to learn more or try it.
Tips and Techniques for Visual Merchandise Display
You don't have to spend a lot of money to create an effective merchandise display that converts more people in research mode into paying customers. Simply follow these ten visual merchandising tips and tricks:
1. Create a Visually Consistent Experience by Making Use of Color
A consistent color palette will aid in the creation of a cohesive visual experience in your shop and will make it easier to draw attention to specific elements of your space. Picking out a palette is the first step. To create a unified visual experience for your customers, keep the number of colors you use to a minimum. Generally, you should work with three to four colors at a time, with variation within each color. The palette you select should complement both your brand and your sales goals. Assume you own a pet supply store and want your brand to be family-friendly and evoke images of animals and nature. Stick to earth tones and greens, as these colors evoke associations with nature and comfort.
2. Product Placement Can be Used to Increase Sales
Product placement is a visual merchandise display technique in which products are thoughtfully placed throughout the store to draw attention to them and, as a result, make customers more likely to purchase them. Larger companies that use the same merchandising plan for multiple locations may use a planogram to plan product placement. A planogram is a two-dimensional drawing of your store's layout that shows all of the products on display and where they should be placed. Product placement can range from the elaborate to the simple, such as placing key items on eye-level shelves rather than knee-level ones. Among the most crucial product placement strategies are:
- Cross-Merchandise Complementary Products: Putting frequently used items in the same area increases customers' likelihood of buying multiple items.
- Display more expensive items at eye level: Encourage more expensive purchases by displaying more expensive items at eye level and less expensive options below or above people's line of sight.
- Place impulse-buy items near your cash wrap: Place small, inexpensive items near your cash wrap that customers are likely to grab without thinking. This will keep people shopping and encourage them to buy more units per transaction.
- Combine slow sellers with best sellers: Use best sellers to entice customers, then place slower sellers nearby to increase visibility.
- Place best-selling items near the front and back of your store: In merchandise display, entice customers to enter your store by placing key products near the entrance, and then force them to move through your entire space and see everything you have to offer by placing additional best-selling items toward the back.
3. Use Signage to Direct and Inform Customers
Signage that is effective can highlight products or features, direct customers to specific items, and share information with your customers. It significantly impacts what your customers see and interact with, as well as how they perceive your store and products. The most important aspect of selecting the right signage for your business is determining the goals of your signs. Are you using them to promote sales? To highlight specific product features? To give your store character? Before you begin printing, consider what you want your signs to accomplish and how you want them to look. This will save you time and money. Additionally, you need signage for your store's exterior. Outdoor signs are a great way to advertise specials, tell people about your company, or even share a piece of art, setting the tone before anyone enters.
4. Use Point-of-Purchase (POP) Displays to Highlight Products
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POP merchandise display is a temporary digital or physical display placed around products to attract attention or advertise. They can be used to highlight product features, highlight deals, break up clutter, or draw attention to an exciting item. Consider your POP displays to be one-dimensional employees—while they are limited to one product category, they are the expert and key salesperson for that product. They can assist you in selling it faster and easier.
When deciding on the best POP displays for your company, you should first determine which products you want to target. These could be personal favorites, best sellers, or slow sellers you want to push through. This is entirely up to you and what products you believe will benefit the most from POP displays. Consider how you want your POP displays to look. The possibilities are endless, but the POP design you choose should be eye-catching, draw customers in, speak to your brand voice, and fit in with the rest of your store, just like the rest of your visual merchandising.
5. Use Focal Points to Guide Customers Through the Store
Creating focal points is an excellent way to divide your store and guide customers through it. These specific visual cues will pique your customers' interest and direct them toward the items you want them to see.
While POP merchandise display is a type of focal point, focal points do not have to be obvious advertisements. They can also be design elements that help to brand your store and tell a story to your customers. A group of mannequins, a piece of wall art, or a table display can all serve as focal points, generating visual interest and encouraging customer interaction without needing a new shoppable space. When deciding where to place your focal points and what they should be, you should consider three major factors:
- Traffic flow: Focal points draw customers in and encourage them to interact with the area of your store where they are located. Consider which areas of your store you want customers to interact with, avoiding areas that can't handle high traffic or those that direct customers out of your store.
- Functionality: When choosing your focal points, consider the type you want. Will they be advertisements or purely aesthetic? Will they be shoppable or simply visual merchandise display? This will largely depend on how much space you have to devote to non-shoppable or aesthetic areas, as well as whether you want to create a more obvious advertisement or a display focused solely on visual appeal.
- Placement and design: Consider how your focal points will fit into the rest of your store and your overall brand. Does this display enhance the shopping experience or take up too much space? Overall, you'll want to consider the utility of your display and how it will integrate with the rest of your merchandising displays and branding.
Conclusion
Every customer-facing aspect of your business is affected by visual merchandise display. Visual merchandising displays are much more than just arranging products in an aesthetically pleasing manner; it includes everything from your brand voice to customer experience to sales. Keeping in mind all of the techniques and tricks discussed in this article will allow you to create a storefront that is not only beautiful but also in line with what your company stands for and the experience you want to provide for your customers.
Strikingly is a website builder that supports merchandising displays to increase online sales. We offer our customers an efficient order management system that allows them to keep track of all transactions in their retail store. We also provide our customers with relevant product information before they purchase from an online store. So, rely on Strikingly, create the best online store possible using our platform, and begin implementing visual merchandise display tips.
