Creating Visual Merchandising Displays
Creative visual merchandising displays are important to keep the attention of your most valued customers, as well as presenting your goods to new customers who may not know your brand. Most store owners already have some colorful areas and eye-catching areas to draw attention to your premium items. But are there other things you could do to improve upon this?
A study of the brain and how it works can help to understand the brain’s need for visual stimuli. Below are some great tips that appeal to the natural cravings of the brain.
1. Use visual complexity and unique textures.
Interesting, unique textures help excite the brain that craves creative looks that can also be excited by the sense of touch. If you put unique textures such as raised surfaces, soft materials, or extraordinary designs, you will be able to keep their attention longer.
2. Uniquely-Arranged Bookshelves and Tables
If you must use bookshelves and tables, make it unique. Drape yarn in all the colors of the rainbow over the shelves to imitate rain or snow, for example, if it reflects an upcoming season. Tables should have full place settings in beautiful colors and designs that will get people dreaming about the upcoming holiday. Sell something other than books in the bookcase. Do something quirky rather than what is usually expected (books in bookcases, etc)
3. Think Art; Not Neatness
Yes, people like a nice neatly-arranged shelf or table. But, rather than do what is expected, feature the items you want to move around a bevvy of colors and textures that get their attention. For example, if you are trying to sell beach items, why not surround the table or shelves with various shades of green or blue fabric that emulates waves and put the beach items inside a small boat that appears to be riding the waves.
4. Create visual items that remind people of a well-loved treat.
Louis Vuitton’s handbag display in Paris features “mounds of white flowing fabric” holding up a beautiful red leather handbag, which is the “treat” on top resembling a cherry. This becomes what is known in the fashion industry as a visual metaphor that entices people to learn more and to indulge themselves in something unique.
The visual merchandiser knows when to get real and when to get poetic. Stretch your advertising strategy to include a less direct approach sometimes and appeal to their sense of art and beauty. It’s so crazy it just might work!
5. Eye Candy
Whatever you do, remember to give your customers’ eyes a show. Don’t make it ordinary. Think outside the box and create something that looks delicious. Whether it is unique, neon colors you use, a holiday display that goes the extra mile for that dramatic flair, or other types of hype that you associate with the item, stretch your mind and I imagination and try to think of something no one has done yet.
Rather than a fish aquarium for summer swimwear, why not feature a large stuffed octopus “reaching out” to grab customers by the shoulder as they walk by? Adding a bit of comedy and unique eye candy will help them remember what a unique experience they had in your shop!
Add something more with a tag line on a sign that reads, “Reach out and grab ya’ summer shorts,” for example.
How Product Displays Advertise Your Brand
If you are working on improving your branding, what is better than being a great visual merchandiser? How about focusing on the finer details like lines and accents or accessories that really help your product stand out?
Try complementing the lines that flow naturally in your product with similar lines around the scene. For example, create straight lines with string that display a bunch of black umbrellas to serve as the backdrop for a pair of white pants with straight vertical lines in black. For sunny colors like yellow, put the items in a pail with bright yellow lines radiating out from the center to illustrate the sun.
Make a Statement
No matter what technique you choose, make a statement! If you want to beat our the competition with your in-store displays, you have to have the most interesting displays on your block!
When you go the extra mile to draw attention to your products and brand, you will do more than make a sale: you’ll win a customer. Remember to put a lot of your brand personality into it because that is what stays with people in the long run.
It’s About the Customer Journey
One final thought: When you build amazing creative visual merchandising displays full of color, texture, and artistic flair, you are not just advertising a product, you are creating a world. You are showing that world to your customer and asking them to step into it and to enjoy the journey.
You have the ability to lead your customer in any direction you wish to take them once you have their attention.
So when you build your in store displays, think about creating a world that even a baby would notice. Dramatic color blends. Wild zebra textures in black and white. A soft silky scarf outlined by colors of the ocean. Choose carefully so that the choices you make help your product stand out. Don’t be cluttered. But make it as artistic and off-the-wall as possible to appeal to your most hard-to-get-to customers.
When I was young, store clerks used to offer a free soda while they were waiting for a seamstress to come out and measure the length of a skirt or pants. Now we rarely have clerks, but customers want to experience your store and your brand as they go.
The Use of Props
If you have ever been in a play, you know how important the use of props is. The same is true of visual merchandising. Some of the items we’ve mentioned, such as scarves resembling the ocean waves, pails and shovels, and background from nature are all props that you can use to put on a show that is meaningful to the client.
Think about your brand and consider how you want it to be thought of when customers leave your store. Then try to create that effect using colors and textures, fabrics, and props.
When you create a creative visual merchandising experience, you are actually putting on a show. Make sure it’s a show that will be remembered!
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