The Essence of Store Visual Merchandising
Before you start thinking about color, design, props, display, or any of the other cool, artsy, fun stuff that goes along with store visual merchandising, you must sear this one important fact into your brain…
Store Visual merchandising is a marketing tool.
That’s right, visual merchandising is simply a marketing tool. It’s not fine art, it’s not personal expression, it’s not decorating.
Let me give you the definition of marketing from the Encarta World Dictionary:
“Marketing is the business activity of presenting products and services to your potential customers in such a way as to make them eager to buy.”
Store visual merchandising is nothing more, and nothing less, than the in-store presentation of your products and services to your potential customers in such a way as to make them eager to buy. In other words, it’s your in-store marketing effort.
It’s important to understand this concept and really take it to heart. It’s the essence of the question you should ask every time you make a display, create a sign, buy a new fixture, or re-do your windows…
“Does this [display, fixture, window, sign] present my merchandise to my customers in such a way as to make them eager to buy?”
Never forget that visual merchandising is not just about making something pretty or interesting, it’s about making it pretty or interesting so that your customer will be eager to buy it.
Make “The Big Switch”
Once you understand that store visual merchandising is a marketing function, the next step is to embrace a key marketing concept in your visual merchandising – make “The Big Switch.”
When you make “The Big Switch” you fall out of love with your store, your products, and your services, and you fall in love with your customers. In other words, you always put your customer’s wants, needs, and desires first.
When you make “The Big Switch,” all your business decisions suddenly revolve around what’s best for your customers, not what’s most fun for you. Your visual merchandising decisions become focused on the customer and what they need and want from your store environment.
So what DO your customers need and want from you?
Well, when it comes to visual merchandising, your customer wants visual cues to answer three basic questions:
- Does this store have the products I want to buy, and are they easy to find? (Material needs.)
- Can I easily and comfortably move around in this store? (Physical needs.)
- Is it fun to shop in this store? Or substitute words like entertaining, inspiring, exciting, or interesting for fun depending on the type of store you have. (Emotional needs.)
If your visual merchandising can help your potential customers quickly and easily answer these three questions, you’re doing a great job with your in-store marketing.
If the answer to each of the three questions is YES, your potential customer will be eager to buy!
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