Merchandising Display Tips that Increase Sales
Visual merchandising is an effective method for increasing sales and enhancing customer engagement. It is what attracts potential and existing customers to engage with your products, and without it, even excellent products may go unsold. So what can you do to ensure your displays are aesthetically appealing?
One of the leading solutions for strengthening customer engagement is creating a cohesive display for your merchandise. The objective is to create a display that attracts consumers to explore its contents, in hopes of finding items that they are interested in purchasing. Sales of your products will increase when consumers are visually, emotionally, and physically engaged with your displays.
Our top priority at Storflex is manufacturing ideal displays for your business. If you want to learn more about how to enhance your merchandising display, this guide will review our top tips for increasing sales.
How Do You Make Good Visual Merchandising for Retailers?
When planning compelling visual merchandising for your business, we encourage focusing on your target audience, brand, and marketing strategy.
What Is Successful Visual Merchandising?
Successful visual merchandising strengthens your customer engagement by incorporating new, inventive ideas for marketing your products.
When implementing visual merchandising, you are not just showcasing your products, you are creating a physical road map for your consumers to explore your products that will either increase or decrease your sales. This is achieved in many ways, including the well known concept of product placement and product advertising. A simple example of this is grouping complementary items together, which is called “bundling”, so that the consumer is more likely to buy all of them. In grocery stores all summer long, you’ve likely seen chocolate bars alongside marshmallows and graham crackers, to encourage customers to indulge in a s’mores treat. It is less likely that you’ll see this particular combination in, say, the middle of February. As such, it is essential to keep your displays fresh and up to date.
How Effective Is Visual Merchandising?
The aesthetic environment of your business impacts new and recurring customers. When it comes to utilizing visual merchandising, tailoring towards your target audience is paramount. For example: if your primary consumer is children and families, ensure displays are the appropriate heights for little ones to see your products. Placing low priced, smaller items near the check out, as you’ve likely seen in all types of stores is another easy way to encourage purchasing while customers wait in line.
What Are Four Useful Types of Displays?
We recommend being intentional about the physical way you display your products if you want to create visually stunning displays.
Display Cases
This option is tried and true. Display cases are usually used to advertise high-end, fragile products for your business while keeping your inventory safe. A perk of using display cases is that if your customer is interested in the product, they can seek help from an employee, giving employees an excellent opportunity to build rapport and trust with consumers, and increase the consumer’s engagement with the product.
Gondola Displays
Gondola displays cater to our sense of touch and desire to see products up close. Most gondola displays come in a variety of options: single-sided, double-sided, or wrap around. This way, you can customize how you place your products in a way that fits well in your space.
Window Displays
Window displays are crucial as they create the first impression for passersby. You can use window displays for various products including things as large as furniture or as small as jewelry. A well-organized and balanced window display sets the tone for what people can expect when they come inside. Using shelving is an excellent way to highlight your favorite products and entice commuters to come into your store and buy your products.
Table Displays
Table displays are a staple in advertising your products. Depending on your store’s floor space and setup, you can place this display option anywhere. If you want to increase customer engagement, try to put a table of products in the center of your business. This can be to advertise newly added or popular products. Sale tables are often most effective when placed in the back of a store, to help customers combat shopping fatigue.
What Are the Three Steps Involved in Creating a Display?
It can be exciting to plan a visual merchandise display, especially if you have a creative palette for advertising and marketing. However, before you break out the tools and colorful decorations, it’s essential to know your display’s layout and overall design.
Here, we will go over the three steps in creating a display for your products.
- Determine Where Your Display Will Be Placed
It’s essential to map out exactly where you would like your display to be located in your business. Sometimes you can determine where to place this by analyzing the sections of your store that have more foot traffic.
There are a few different styles of display layouts typically used in retail stores. They are: grid, free form and racetrack.
- Grid layouts guide customers through rows of isles.
- A Racetrack layout guides consumers around the perimeter of the store, with occasional displays in the middle of the space as well.
- Freeform stores do not adhere to a specific flow and instead have multiple pathways throughout for customers to self select.
After you select a type of display and product to advertise, the next step is measuring out your space. Ensure that your display can easily fit without obstructing other products or floor space for your customers to walk. Also ensure you’re complying with fire codes for the amount of space needed for walking.
- Creative Yet Organized Displays
Customers in brick and mortar stores engage with inventory more when it is displayed in different ways throughout the space. This can include installing both vertical and horizontal shelving, utilizing cases and doors for customers to open and close, and having mobile displays.
We encourage mixing in different styles of displays so that customers can view products at different heights and in different areas of your store.
While creativity with using multiple types of displays is excellent for engagement, ensure that above all, your merchandise is organized well. Restocking shelves so they are full and robust, aligning items by color and category, and tidying up the inevitable messes that come with heavy foot traffic are key.
- Embracing Aesthetic Themes
Visual merchandising includes creating patterns and designs with products to optimize how they look. Therefore, we encourage store designers to lean into themes that will evoke an emotional response for customers, and therefore increase sales. Themes can include colors, lighting, textures, shapes and more. A common approach to integrating themes is playing off of the current season, or decorating to complement an upcoming Holiday. Finally, implementing additional elements like appropriate lighting, music, and scent will create an environment that customers want to shop in.
Takeaway
When customers choose to venture into a brick and mortar store, they are expecting a sensory experience that differs from online shopping. Creating displays that are inviting, organized and thoughtful will directly correlate to increased sales. Are you looking for unique and reliable retail displays? Check out Storflex displays or contact our team today.