Visual Merchandising

A silent selling technique that can motivate your customer

Visual merchandising is the backbone of the retail industry and involves displaying goods and services to highlight their features and benefits and motivate the customer towards making a purchase. Visual Merchandising is a silent selling technique that reduces the employee mix, increases sales per metre, educates customers, strengthens brand image, and reduces marketing costs.

Visual merchandising augments the retail design of a store and sets out a store in a way customers find attractive and appealing. The elements involved in creating displays include colour, lighting, space, product information, sensory inputs (such as smell, touch, and sound), style, face and side presentation, digital displays and interactive installations.

The visual merchandising keys are:

• Window displays – These entice customers into the store. A study in 2002 (Sen et al, 2002) found that clothing retailers will have most success enticing their customers into their store by focusing on communicating current fashion trends and styles.
• Retail displays – If customers like the way your store looks and your products are made to look appealing through window, shelf and stock displays, they are likely to spend more time and money at your business.
• Shelf displays – These need to be planned so as not to be cluttered, have a striking or appealing product in plain view of your entrance, and capitalise on space at the end of shelves. In addition popular or targeted products should be between eye level and knee level with the most profitable items at eye level.
• Stock displays – Similar products should be grouped together to encourage add-on sales – for example, place crockery with cutlery.

For optimum results a professional visual merchandiser should be consulted.