Part 2

VISUAL MERCHANDISING

Visual merchandising• Visual merchandising is the activity of promoting the sale of goods,

especially by their presentation in retail outlets.

• It is a merchandising technique which effectively uses the design of an environment via visual communications, lighting, colors, music and scent to stimulate customers’ perceptual and emotional response and ultimately to affect their purchase behavior.

• By definition, merchandising is the planning and promotion of sales by presenting a product to the right market at the proper time, by carrying out organized, skillful advertising, using attractive displays, etc. while visual merchandising is the activity of promoting the sale of goods, especially by their presentation in retail outlets.

Visual Merchandising

Fixtures

• Straight rack• Rounder• Four way

fixture• Gondolas

Presentation techniques

• Idea oriented• Style/item• Color• Price lining• Vertical• Tonnage• Frontal

Atmospherics

• Lighting• Color• Music• Scent

Straight rack

Rounder

Four way

Gondola

Presentation technique• Idea oriented:• Merchandise based on specific

idea or the image of the store.• Eg woman fashion, furniture.• Individual items are grouped to

show customers how the items could be used or combined

• Encourages customers to make complementary purchases

• Usually merchandise by same vendor is grouped together

Presentation technique

• Style/item:• common way of

organizing item or stock.

• Eg grocery,drugstore.• easy to locate the items

by this method

Presentation technique

• color:• used to display the

seasonal trends

Presentation technique

• Price lining:• offer a limited number

of predetermined price points.

• helps customers easily identify the merchandise at the price they wish to pay

Presentation technique• Vertical Merchandising:• presented using walls and

high gondolas• customers shop like from left

to right, going down each column, top to bottom

• organize merchandise to follow natural eye movement

• put national brands at eye level and store brands at lower level- scan from top to bottom

Presentation technique

• Tonnage Merchandising:• larqe qtys of

merchandise displayed together

• customers equate tonnage with low price- following retailer adage” stock it high and let it fly”

• used to enhance and reinforce stores price image

Presentation technique

• Frontal Merchandising:• retailer exposes as

much as merchandise possible to customers eye

Atmospherics

• Refers to the design of an environment through visual communications, lighting, colors, music,and scent to stimulate customers perceptual and emotional responses and ultimately to affect their purchase behavior

• All elements have to work in tandem

Atmospherics-lighting

• Used to highlight merchandise, sculpt space, and capture a mood or feeling that enhances the store image.

• Used to downplay the unattractive features of the brand• positively influences customer shopping behavior• good lighting system- helps to create excitement in the

store, should compliment the customer• must provide accurate rendition of the merchandise.• cosmetics section- requires more expensive lighting

than the grocery section

Atmospherics-lighting

• Popping the merchandise: focuses spotlight on key features and areas.

• Using lighting to focus on strategic pockets of merchandise trains shoppers eyes on merchandise and draws them strategically through stores

• Mood creation: to promote warm and cozy ambience-incandescent lighting.

• Downplay features

Atmospherics

• Color: creative use of color can enhance a reatilers image and help to create a mood

• For eg warm colors-red and yellow-excitement

• cool pastels- blue/pink- create calm

Atmospherics

• Music: can either add or retract from a retailers total experience. Can affect customers buying behavior

• Scent: Most buying decisions are based on emotions. Smell has impact on emotions such as- hunger, happiness, disgust and nostalgia. Scent with music has positive impact on impulse buying behavior and customer satisfaction. Neutral scents: produce better perceptions than no scent. Customers in scented stores think that they spend less time than those in unsecented stores. Improve customers shopping experience

Art store display

Selfridges- power of words