Tips On Visual Merchandising
By Pam Levine

Luxury branding specialist, Pam Levine, offers tips on how to refresh your store and attract more customers without breaking the budget

Today, visual merchandising is about much more than presentation and rearranging merchandise. It’s about adapting the appropriate mindset and developing a process to propel your brand into the mind of your consumer.

Conduct Your Own Assessment

Understand your customer experience. What is most compelling about your store? Is it design, price, assortment, customer service or delivery?

Study your store from your customer’s perspective by engaging your customers in the process. Ask one or two to join you in a walk-through. Create a dialogue that allows for honest critique. Consider offering them a discount or gift certificate for their time and advice.

Before you make changes, internally revisit your brand positioning to be sure all is in sync. This essential exercise will serve as a guide in ensuring your retail image is distinctive, on brand and sending the proper message to your target audience.

Visual Merchandising Techniques

The goal is to help customers imagine the goods in their own homes. Use engaging and dynamic photos and lifestyle images. Style merchandise by color and texture. Develop clever signage to apprise customers of product features. Create dynamic banners to shed new light on tried-and-true best sellers.

Refresh the space by moving merchandise to new locations. Highlight new items by using colored fixtures or multiple risers for multi-dimensional presentations that draw attention.

When it comes to “green” products, integrating surfaces with environment-related colors shows that you care about that issue. Incorporate natural woods, textural surfaces and paint colors that suggest an appreciation for recycled materials and the environment. Select palettes that complement the products you want to highlight.

Wall-hung mirrors reinforce the colors and patterns in your store through reflection. The style of the mirror or its frame is also a way to extend the style of goods you offer, be it traditional or contemporary.

Work From Outside In Boldly place intriguing quotes on and inside your windows. Select engaging and inspirational words to convey messages that resonate with your customers. Remember different age groups respond to different language. Retailers using language effectively: West Elm and Kenneth Cole.

Reduce the type size for interior store signage. Use type or well-designed signage on display surfaces. Look at fashion and design magazines for titles and inspiring phrases.

In high-end venues, refined typefaces that complement the logo are used to reinforce the overall brand message.

Stay Brand-Focused

Staying focused on your branding is always essential in the best and most challenging times. Establishing your image and distinct positioning is the key to making the right decisions for everything in your business, from the store interior to its web presence and advertising.

The retail brand image is the impression your customers have about your store. Neatness and store presentation project an attitude of respect for your staff and customers. This costs little money and goes a long way in terms of lasting impression.

When you pay attention and keep displays engaging, customers will react positively. Customer service is also part of the store design equation as well as creating a store layout that is easy to navigate. All these elements set the tone for customers to easily engage with offerings.

If you create an enjoyable environment, people will want to come in and shop.

Resources

• Levine Design Group, 212-995-0100, levinedesigngroup.com