Visual Displays Needed to Start a Retail Store

Starting up a retail store can leave your head spinning! The “to do” lists can be overwhelming. Part of the start-up requires that you devise a plan for acquiring visual store displays. This list will hopefully help you to narrow down some of your research and get the show on the road.

First you will need to decide on wall displays. Choosing the right type of slatwall or gridwall system can save you a lot of space and money. These types of wall display systems are versatile and help you to accomplish your most basic display goal; to keep the customer interested. In order to keep your store aesthetically pleasing, you need to create an array of merchandising options that can change with your inventory, promotions and the seasons. Keep photos of your display arrangements for future reference. Make notes as to whether or not certain arrangements attracted more customers or more sales.

Floor displays need to function not only as clothing racks, but also as merchandising displays. Choose garment racks, tables and shelves that give you a variety of options when it comes to displaying clothing. Long racks of clothing all facing the same way make it difficult for customers or people passing through to see what you have to offer. Keeping the displays more interesting can result in a better brand image and higher sales. Try to choose display racks that face clothing outward. It’s also a good idea to have racks that can accommodate folded and hung clothing. Reserve less interesting display racks for clearance items.

The next step is to order your showcases. A showcase is a special display that features a certain item, brand or category of items. Showcases are often lighted glass cases that are well suited for illuminating certain areas of the store, drawing attention to high priced items, and keeping small valuables safe from shoplifters. Showcases are regularly used as countertops in the register area of the store.

The last piece of your visual display puzzle is to incorporate mannequins into your design. Mannequins can last for many years and are a great item to invest in. They have been responsible for more sales than any other display in history. They help to set the tone and environment in your retail store. They communicate your image to customers while visually enticing them to feel emotionally connected with your product.

Once you have your gridwall or slatwall system, your garment racks, showcases and mannequins, you’ll be ready to tackle some of the other details on your list. Good luck in your endeavor!

About the Author: Ron Maier is the Vice President of S & L Store Fixtures, a leading online resource for retail display cases including mannequins, mannequin forms, gridwall and slatwall store fixtures. For more information, please visit http://www.slstoredisplays.com.

Rules of Window Display

A good window display should distract customers from whatever they are doing and grab their attention. It only takes a second to make a first impression. Dress up your window displays with these rules in mind and you could be attracting new customers and encouraging return visits before you know it.

1) Make a good first impression.

Your window display is your best chance at making a good first impression. Our instinct is to rely heavily on first impressions. When meeting people, it is hard not to judge a book by its cover. But, we shouldn’t because the person may be having a bad day or something of the sort. For shopping purposes, we do judge the book by the cover, and we should. If a retailer wants our business, they need to convey to us what they have to offer and why we should be interested.

2) Communicate your purpose.

Use your window displays to show the customers why they should enter your store. Make sure that you target your audience, not only to get the shoppers that will spend money into your store, but also to show potential customers what style of clothing you sell and for what price.

3) Allude to pricing in your window display.

Giving cues to your audience about price is very important. If your clothing is very expensive or high end, then your window display should communicate that. This helps people to determine if they should go in or not. Attracting the wrong customers will have them coming in, turning their noses up, rummaging through everything, and then spreading the word to their friends that you are overpriced. Specifically targeting those that are looking for items in your pricing range will help build a quality customer base that only spreads good word-of-mouth advertising for you.

4) Give a good sampling of what your store offers.

Don’t just show your latest and greatest. Showing off what’s new is a great idea, but make sure that you don’t limit yourself to just that. Accessories can account for a huge percentage of your profits. Plus, many shoppers are not looking to spend a lot, but they might want to check out your purses, jewelry, hats or sunglasses. Use these items to draw in more customers.

5) Make people see how they want to feel.

People buy clothing and accessories not only to clothe themselves, but also to send out a message or feel a certain way. Pay attention to how your customers feel when they purchase your clothing. Do they feel elegant, hip, relaxed, friendly, edgy or sexy? Portray the feeling that people are after in your window display. The best way to have people associate feelings with purchasing your clothing is to utilize mannequins. Be creative and make sure that people are seeing something that makes them want to feel the same as the mannequin in your showcase.

About the Author: Ron Maier is the Vice President of S & L Store Fixtures, a leading online resource for retail display cases including mannequins, mannequin forms, gridwall and slatwall store fixtures. For more information, please visit http://www.slstoredisplays.com.

Boutique Visuals: Mannequins

Use mannequin displays to show customers what an outfit looks like when it’s on, but also satisfy the needs of their subconscious that control whether or not they buy. Shoppers today are bombarded by images, ads, outfits and displays that are pleasing to the eye. Aesthetics are thought to have an 85% impact on whether or not a customer buys. Think about how much time and money is spent on packaging, photography, commercials, image and branding. It doesn’t have much to do with the actual product, but with the aesthetics of the product. The goal is always to make the customer feel a certain way when they see and use the product.

Customers associate quality with visual and psychological cues. They will generally decide to purchase something if all areas of their conscious and subconscious appetites have been satisfied. For example, they may go shopping for a shirt. They are not simply looking for a piece of cloth to cover their torso. They want to get a shirt that fits them in a flattering way. They want a shirt that says something about their personality. They feel the need to wear a shirt that makes them feel a certain way, whether it be comfortable, powerful, professional, hip, lovable, cheerful, friendly, superior or any other array of emotions. They may base their decision to buy a shirt based on over one hundred conscious and subconscious factors.

Shoppers associate quality with their impression of your store or web site, but let’s talk about price. If a price is too low, then the customer will most likely automatically assume that there must be something wrong with the shirt. Either its quality is bad, or the imaginary world of peers that have looked at this shirt before have decided, for some unknown reason, to pass it by. This fear of “making a social mistake” will turn a vast majority of customers away.

The same goes for pricing items too high. Customers will be let down or put off that they cannot afford or wouldn’t pay a high price for something that they were considering buying. They will get a bad impression about your boutique. Either the store management thinks they can pull one over on people, they think that they are too good for us, or they think that the boutique is doing so poorly that they have to charge high prices to make their bills.

You never want your customers to think that you’re doing poorly. This brings them back to the feeling that their imaginary peers have overlooked you for some imaginary reason. Keep your displays, promotional displays and garment racks full. Displays that are too empty make the items look like they are being discontinued or clearanced out.

Keep your mannequin displays changing. You want them to make customers comfortable, like putting a face with the idea of wearing the clothing. Imagine that the mannequins are there to make your first impressions. They are promising your shoppers, on a subconscious level, that they would definitely wear this outfit, that it will look this good, and that it will make the customer feel like the mannequin feels. It is so important to give your mannequins feeling by using their position, location, and creating display situations.

Using your mannequins to display and satisfy the aesthetics that your customers are looking for is a very effective way of marketing your boutique and your merchandise. The more of those one hundred reasons to buy you can satisfy, the better your chances are of making a sale.

About the Author: Ron Maier is the Vice President of S & L Store Fixtures, a leading online resource for retail display cases including mannequins, mannequin forms, gridwall and slatwall store fixtures. For more information, please visit http://www.slstoredisplays.com.

Bringing Life to Retail Mannequins

Mannequins can be one of your greatest selling tools or they can sit and collect dust. Make sure that you are utilizing your mannequins and letting them bring life to your window displays.

The trick is to really give them some movement. You can dress them in your latest fashions, but if they rarely change positions then they won’t attract any attention. Mannequins have long been recognized as the number one selling tool when it comes to store displays. There are a few reasons for this.

The first reason is rather obvious, they help customers to quickly see what garments look like when worn. For flowing, delicate fabrics, using a mannequin is a must. On a hanger, some clothes just look very limp and uninteresting. But, on a mannequin or even a torso form, the clothing is suddenly given shape, depth and texture. So, instantly you’ve improved the appearance of the garment simply by displaying it differently.

Giving your mannequins movement will help to draw the eye. What we mean by movement, is to make the mannequins seem like they are in motion, or engaged in some sort of scenario. This may not be totally necessary for every mannequin in your store, but for your window displays or feature displays, it really does make a difference.

For example, if you are promoting back to school wear, then the mannequins should be doing more than just wearing a back pack. Think about what customers are looking for in back to school clothes. Parents may be looking for nicer clothing at a reasonable price, while students want to feel like they fit in. Try to anticipate all of the needs that the buyers will be looking to fulfill. Children’s mannequins in this case, may be wearing well-made clothing, but participating in a social scene, like hanging out around the lockers. Customers are subconsciously influenced by the types of feelings they get when looking at a display.

Another example is formal wear. Girls looking for prom dresses could be influenced by mannequins that are engaged in a romantic dance. Or, they may be looking to have a good time with their girlfriends, and could be more influenced by other girl mannequins admiring their dress. Come up with a theme that will help your shoppers envision what it would be like to actually wear that dress and experience what the mannequin is experiencing.

There is power in giving personality and movement to your mannequins. Most shoppers know within two seconds of looking at a garment if they are interested or not. Mannequin displays help to hold that interest and tease the thought processes that customers go through when deciding whether or not to make a purchase.

About the Author: Ron Maier is the Vice President of S & L Store Fixtures, a leading online resource for retail display cases including mannequins, mannequin forms, gridwall and slatwall store fixtures. For more information, please visit http://www.slstoredisplays.com.