User Manual

Merchandising 101

How do youDrive Full Price Sales

DRAW-inFIRST IMPRESSIONPRESENTATIONSTRUCTURE

1. DRAW-INIs the exterior of the store magnetic enough to draw customers in?

Street Appeal• Sandwich board• Plants• Lighting• Awnings • Clean sidewalk

Window Display• Interesting, captivating and up-to-date • Clean • Well lit

Branding/Marketing• Name of store can be found and in good shape• Up-to-date advertising/event marketing

What does this mean? Street Appeal-Creating a welcoming store front is key to

drawing customers in. Objects outside the store need to be in good shape, any

fixtures that are dirty, broken or old should be replaced or repaired

Get rid of clutter Plants should be healthy and taken care of. Plants are

also a cheap and easy way to create a nice entry-especially around the door

If your outdoors then the street needs to be clean as well. Maybe time for a power washing

Window Display-Needs to be up-to-date, well lit, clean and thoughtful. It should be changed often to entice frequent shoppers The other windows in the store should also be examined

Branding/Marketing-Your brand needs to be expressed with care Marketing should be placed with thought and take old

stuff down.

Draw in

SANDWICH BOARDS

BRANDING

WINDOW DISPLAYS

2. First ImpressionIs the atmosphere when you walk into the store appealing to your audience??

Senses-who is your audience and what would they like?• Sight-What is the first, second and third thing you see

• Sound-What music is playing-is it right for the audience? Is too loud or not on?

• Smell-A bad smelling store is not good. Cleanliness

• Dust bunnies• dirty floors• dirty walls• fingerprints on mirrors

First Impression: what does this mean?

You regularly need to put on your “customer hat” and objectively and critically look at what kind of a “first impression” you are

giving your customers.  In that process, you must separate out all of the reasons that

might have caused the poor impression, (i.e. a staff member was sick, the weather was bad, we were busier than expected, etc.)

none of which your customers cares about, and focus on making that important “first

Impression”.

3. PRESENTATIONAre the displays inside the store compelling you to purchase and come back for the next new thing??

Seasonally appropriate• Clothing is displayed when consumers want it.• These displays are rotated and remerchandised to reflect new product or give old product another chance.

Fixtures• Are they the same fixture style or different?• Are they at a similar height or different?• Are they in good condition?

Mannequins• Are they dressed to represent the customer they are trying to attract?

• Are they up-to-date with the product offerings?• Do they get regularly changed to represent these product offerings?

Presentation

Presentation

What does this mean?

You either need to develop this talent through training and

finding examples for inspiration-or you need to hire someone interested in visual

merchandising.

4. STRUCTUREIs the store shopable??

What does this meanToo Much or Too Little -are the bars and tables too full or not full enough?Organization-Items are hung nice, tables are folded.Location-Is your merchandise located in a logical location for the customer to find.

The structure of your store has to be maintained everyday so this involves

training.

MERCHANDISING USER MANUAL