Can You Hear Me Now?
By Wanda Jankowski, Editor-in-Chief

On my way home from work one evening, a young woman walking about seven feet in front of me was chatting on her cellphone. Suddenly, she stooped down to pick up a pair of black gloves that the gentleman walking in front of her had accidentally dropped.

The gentleman had turned left, since it was a corner, and the cell phone girl ran after him, tapped him on the shoulder and handed him the gloves. She then turned away and sprinted across the street, keeping up her conversation on the cell phone the whole time.

What she didn’t see was that after the gentleman took the gloves, he moved a few steps toward her to try to get her attention as she quickly turned and stepped away, so he could thank her for the kind deed. But his efforts weren’t enough and because she was distracted, she missed out on receiving her verbal reward.

Often we hear that consumers need to be “educated” about one product feature or another. Consumers, however, have access to and are bombarded by so many visual and auditory distractions, even when they shop, that the challenge is often not in crafting the message, but in fashioning its delivery. They’d get the point, if only they would see or hear it.

In this issue, we have the benefit, in our “For Retailers Only” column, of merchandising strategist Pam Levine’s expertise in suggesting ways in which you can improve the visual merchandising in your store.
It’s not enough to offer a sea of product. Shoppers need some direction to see quickly where the new merchandise and the special deals are. They need to be calmed and refreshed by the decor and layout around them into a mindset that allows them to focus, explore, react positively to an item and purchase.
Levine even suggests a visual way to attact customers into the store using your windows, just in case your next customer has ears occupied as he or she passes your store, like the cell phone girl, but eyes free to be enticed visually to enter and reap the reward of the pleasant shopping experience you’ve created.

The feature articles in this issue present you with options in sleep comfort, fashion bedding, fabric and trim products that deliver value and “bang for the buck.” There is also a discussion of the state of the hospitality sector, offering guidance on where the hotel look might be going.

A full package to help you break through customers’ sensory overload and present them with benefit-laden products you offer worthy of being seen and heard about.