Fashion Merchandising

Lecture threeVisual Merchandising

Learning Objectives

• Understand the use of visual merchandising as a promotional tool used by retailers to attract and entice consumers to become a customer.

COMPONENTS THAT MAKE UP THE STORE ENVIRONMENT

Store ImageAnd Productivity

Visual communicationsRetail identityGraphicsPOS signage

Store planningSpace allocationLayout Circulation

Store DesignExterior DesignAmbienceLighting

MerchandisingFixture SelectionMerchandise presentationVisual merchandising

What is visual merchandising?

• The presentation of a store and it’s merchandise in order to sell the goods and services of the store

It is their silent salesperson!

Visual Merchandising

• consumer’s final decision• vital communication

What are the benefits of good visual merchandising?

• Creates interest• Attracts customers• Ease of selection for the customer• Promotes stock• Maximises sales• Creates a desire to buy• Creates a suitable store ambience• Can reinforce corporate identity

• Projects a store image• Win confidence, to give the customer faith

in the store and product• Assist in add-on sales• Monitor stock levels• Shows how product is used• Communicates to the customer

What are the benefits of good visual merchandising?

Visual merchandising

• Is at the heart of retail design – the fine art of persuasion

• Includes window and displays but also takes in the entire in-store environment

• It may go even further into the realms of graphics, audio-visual media, point of sale (POS) material, all the way to the store as the total embodiment of the brand – the 3D brand

Floor Layout

• retailers need to identify areas that will maximise sales for the store

There are three spots:• Hot Spots• Warm Spots• Cold Spots

Floor Layout

• Merchandise in most stores can be broken down into the following components* Best sellers * Speciality goods

* High profit items * Seasonal lines

* Basic stock * Advertised lines

* Problem stock * Others

* Impulse lines

Each component can be strategically placed to enhance sales

Best sellers

• In the best position possible to give the greatest opportunity to sell

• Prime position within its classification

High profit items

• Position within their classification• Know what they are (all staff)• Position close to best sellers (consider

supermarkets and how they position generic products close to leading sellers)

Basic stock

• Position within their classification• Prime position• Readily available position• Never hidden

Problem stock

• Never give problem stock your best selling positions.

• Problem stock should be identified quickly and dealt with quickly

PROFIT BUILDERS• Profit margins are high but sales turnover is low•Adjust space allocation focusing on quality of space rather than quality in order to increase sales• Consider rationalising range of products in category

STAR PERFORMERS•Sales turnover and profit margins equal or exceed targets•Allocate large amounts of goods quality space•Consider increasing product assortment within category

SPACE• Low profit margins and low sales turnover• Reduce space or eliminate product

TRAFFIC BUILDERS • Products have a good sales turnover rates, but profit margins are small• Place close to higher profit/impulse purchase goods. Use to pull customers through store• Work on improving margins. Consider introducing own-label variation

Impulse lines

• Easily accessible and in high traffic areas (ie POS, entrance, or in major traffic aisle). Rapid turnover

Speciality goods

• More complex product requires more explanation in selling features and benefits

• Positioned away from main traffic area

Seasonal lines

• Relate to merchandise affected by season• Usually given a high traffic area as limited

time to sell

Advertised lines

• With related classifications• Highlighted• If to draw attention to other merchandise

then it should be visible but not best aisle or fixture

• Opportunity for additional sales

Other factors

• No hard and fast rules in merchandising only helpful guidelines

• Practical factors can change positioning of items such as– Size of product– Security– Constraints with fixtures and available space

Dominance displays

• Attractive displays have a centre of attention or dominance

• Without a dominant display feature, the shopper’s eye will be attracted elsewhere

• A display element (eg red) or display component (eg merchandise) is made dominant by subordinating all other elements and components

• Dominance within a display allows the retailer to emphasize a single promotional message or focus on a direct purchase incentive

The ‘classification dominance’ display allows a retailer to show that it has a very deep

assortment of merchandise within a classification or category

Proportion

• The effective arrangement of parts of displays in terms of the display elements– Colour: the extent of darker colour to lighter– Line: the layout of small object to large

objects– Texture: the area of differing surfaces– Shape: the amount of open space to closed

space

Grouping the display arrangement

• Grouping display arrangement is organising display merchandise into interesting, pleasing and stimulating patterns

• Haphazard arrangement of merchandise can substantially reduce a display’s effectiveness

• Selection displays are simple arranged in some well-organised fashion, but special merchandise is frequently presented in one of four definite arrangement patterns:– The pyramid– The zigzag– The step– The fan arrangement

Balance• a retail display should exhibit a sense of equilibrium or

balance• each part of the display has equal visual weight• Balance can be achieved in either a formal or informal

sense• Form and balance is created when both sides of a

display are exactly alike in terms of type, size, colour, shape and placement of merchandise

• Each side is a mirror image of the other side

Some tips for visual merchandisers...

• Less is more• Apples with apples• Visual cues• Change your displays• Consider lighting• Focus your display

Store layout

• Grid• Free form• Boutique

The grid layout

• Makes sure shoppers covers as much of store as possible• Easy to install and maintain• Boring and regimental• More often associated with‘pile it high, sell it cheap’discount buying

The free flow layout• Different shapes,sizes, Height of fixtures/fittings• Tries to stimulate shoppers totake their time browsing• Shoppers can browse in any order they choose• Does not use available spaceas efficiently as grid layout• Can look chaotic

The boutique layout• Perception is one of anumber of discrete, separatespaces• Typical in dept stores (lots ofdepartments/concessions)• Useful when a high level of personal selling is required, or merchandise range is limited• This layout surrounds the customer, most of which is displayed on or on wall fixturing• In larger stores, a definite walkway or ‘race track’ is incorporated

• Be wary of where you positionfixtures and the impact thismight have on traffic flow

£

The boutique layout• Be wary of where you positionfixtures and the impact thismight have on traffic flow

£

The boutique layout• Be wary of where you positionfixtures and the impact thismight have on traffic flow

£

Use of customer walkways in large stores

Store layout• Customer traffic can be directed around a

store• Most shoppers are right handed and naturally

prefer to turn to the right • Important to identify where high-density

areas are and whether they match high-turnover areas

If the goods are in the wrong place, theywon’t sell

Store layout

• Primary and secondary points are used to pull the customer around the store or to ‘shop the full shop’

• Lighting, signage, photography and even popular products (KVIs) help the customer shop the full shop

The more you see, the more you buy

Working with colour

• The reason why colour is so important is that people like colour

• It appeals to their emotions and contributes to a more attractive environment

Colour in merchandising• Causes people to buy on impulse• Improves the appearance of merchandise• Provides variety, contrast and harmonising

colours that will create interest• Has immediate and emotional impact

Colour in merchandising• Can enhance the appearance of specific

products• Helps to create sales• Improves profitability• Creates an atmosphere which appeals to

customers

Colour psychology

• by putting the same colour next to one another it makes it easier on the eye to compute what it is looking at

Working with colour• The eye tends to concentrate automatically on

the biggest object• Colour schemes should not be out of date• Need to be aware of trend colours and look to

see what other retailers are doing

Colour blocking hasalways been LeftTo Right

And Light to Dark when working with a multitude of different colours

Working with colour

• In the modern era, retailers are looking to keep their store environment varied

Colour along with displays allows us to offer thatchange in environment so customers think thatthere is always something new and exciting going on

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j5DN7VQPE2Y/SkrZCxtf_zI/AAAAAAAAD6c/46FzJqs6zIE/s1600-h/image11%5B1%5D.png

Colour blocking can also be a useful strategy…

Vertical colour blocking

Store image and atmosphere

• The image and atmosphere of a store is a sum of the physical elements of interior and exterior design, and the layout and displays that create an environment and ambience that consumers find attractive

• The store’s exterior offers an opportunity to communicate with the customer

• Clues about the store are often absorbed without our knowing it

Window displays

Window display

The senses• Sight

– the general look of the store can either lift the spirit or underwhelm the shopper

– use of colour stimulates the shopper• Sound

– soft music may relax shopper– loud music may reinforce a stimulating,

vibrant atmosphere that sets out to excite• Smell

– Perfume can help build image and prestige

Lighting

To summarise - Floor Layout

• When deciding on product placement, identify areas that will maximise sales

• Assess traffic flow – where people walk most and where they walk least

• Identify hot, warm and cold spots

Best sellers

• Best sellers– In the best position possible to give the

greatest opportunity to sell– Prime position within its classification

• High profit items– Position within their classification– Know what they are (all staff)– Position close to best sellers

Why is VM important?

• 80% of purchases are impulse• Customers make the final decision to buy

in the ‘last 3 feet’• Store layout and presentation can make

+/- to your business of 40%• Customers shop horizontally, not vertically!• Once the customer has purchased one

item, it’s easier to sell an additional item

Some final useful tips

• Keep to the motto, apples with apples• Don’t be all things to all people• Don’t clutter• Do keep it simple• Change it regularly• Link the activity inside your store