Retail Holiday Displays

Retail stores are stocking up for the holiday season. If you’re looking for ways to ensure that all of your merchandise moves, consider your mannequin displays. They can have more of an impact on customers than you might imagine.

Mannequins have always been effective merchandising tools because of the way that they make people feel. There are a lot of emotional decisions that are made in a customer’s mind before they decide to purchase. Customers rely a lot on their first impressions and also their gut instinct. There are a few things to consider when attempting to satisfy all that a customer might be looking for.

People shopping for gifts want to feel like they have found something special, something unique, and something that makes them feel a certain way. If they don’t get that feeling, then they are unlikely to purchase anything. They don’t want to settle on something unless they will evoke the same emotional tie to the item that they felt when they were shopping for it.

Understanding the psychology of gift giving can help you to arrange your mannequin displays in a way that will make people imagine the heartfelt emotions that come with giving a really thoughtful gift. Don’t dress lifeless mannequins in your most expensive holiday wear, stick them in the window and be done with it. People will stroll by and pay little attention. Sure, they might notice the purse that you put out, but they won’t feel anything.

People develop complex emotional attachments to family and friends that are strengthened by the act of giving something that is emotionally significant. The giver generally receives much more satisfaction than the receiver when it comes to giving. Giving helps people feel closer to the ones that they are giving to. Think about what scenarios might evoke a giver to feel like your store will offer them the type of emotional satisfaction that they are searching for while holiday shopping.

Simply displaying products may make weary shoppers focus on the materialistic side of giving gifts for the holidays. People aren’t interested in spending money and getting nothing in return. What they are looking for is that emotional connection. Show them that the merchandise in your store will help them to achieve that goal.

The trick is to do it quickly and make it obvious. Human beings make snap decisions about people and places within five seconds of seeing them. Use your window displays to make your first impression an emotionally significant one. Mannequins can be positioned to show a child discovering a treasured teddy bear. You can elaborate on the scene by including the parents, touched by the child’s happiness, looking on from the stairs. Include a male and female mannequin whenever possible so that men and women can relate to the display.

The possibilities are really endless. A mannequin helps a person to instantly relate to the scene. Dress mannequins in a way that not only displays your product, but also adds feeling to the scenario. For example, touching scenes need soft, fluffy, natural fiber clothing. The display, if done with thought and detail, can evoke those feelings that will reel them into your store with the mindset that they will find something meaningful here.

Remember that you are selling more than clothes and accessories. You are selling relationship building gifts that bring people closer together and make them feel emotionally attached to each other. Treat your displays with that in mind and your showcase holiday mannequin displays will be your best ever.

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

Functional Slatwall

Slatwall is one of the top display picks of retail store owners. Slatwall makes it easy to turn a store wall into a complex merchandising system. You can choose slatwall in a variety of finishes and colors to compliment your store displays. Additionally, you can quickly and easily move around racks, shelves, hanging bars, and hooks to fit in as much or as little inventory as you need.

Slatwall is made of medium-density fiberboard and is sturdy enough to last for many years of use. Check with your manufacturer about how much weight you can put on your wall. You may choose to add aluminum inserts when you place your order. These make it possible to hold 50% more weight than a standard slatwall.

How much weight you can put on a slatwall display also depends on the quality of installation. It is recommended that you have a contractor install your slatwall to ensure that it is anchored well enough to hold a lot of weight. Because of the possible liability of a wall falling, your insurance company may require that you have your slatwall professionally installed, so be sure that you check with them before you decide to do it yourself.

Slatwall has a clean look and is a versatile option for merchandising a wall. But, you can also use sections of slatwall to create merchandising racks. These displays can be free standing. They are very useful for floor displays, accessory displays, impulse item displays, brochure displays and more. You can place them near your retail showcase so that customers get a good look at smaller or impulse items while they wait in line. You can use slat wall to create your own shelving, or custom fitted displays that go into oddly sized areas.

Slatwall has sturdy construction and finish that can last through many years of use. Their versatility is equivalent to that of grid wall with many accessories to choose from. You can use hooks, shelving, acrylic pieces, and more to make your merchandise look good. Not only that, it keeps everything facing out towards the customer. No more unsold inventory that was simply looked over because it was crammed on a regular rack. With slatwall, you can rearrange items to bring attention to the ones that aren’t selling. You can hang mannequin torso forms to bring even more attention to your clothing.

You may be set with your slatwall, but you may also consider grid wall for your display needs. Both styles of wall merchandisers are sturdy, versatile and make the most of vertical wall space. You can save so much space, time and effort with either gridwall gridwall or slatwall.


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

Gridwall for Retail

Gridwall is a versatile, sturdy, cost efficient choice for many types of retail stores. Gridwall is comprised of metal grids that can be attached to the wall or each other to create unique store displays. They can be configured into display areas that fit almost anywhere. You can be creative in the way that you use your gridwall, changing up your displays to match the space that you have, the season, or the amount of inventory that you are displaying.

Versatility is the number one reason that retail stores choose gridwall. Sturdy tabs connect the metal grids together. You can create shelving, tables, wall displays and more with different sized sections of gridwall. When it is installed on the wall, you can use accessories, such as hanging bars, hooks, shelves, racks and more to display your products in ways where they will be easily seen by your customers or people passing by.

Space utilization is another reason that gridwall is so popular. You can display, carry, stock and sell more items on gridwall than you can on garment racks. You can have clothing facing outward where it is easily seen. Customers won’t have to sift through racks to see what you offer. You can utilize the vertical space that your store has to offer, instead of just the floor.

Gridwall is also a cost effective choice in retail display. It is inexpensive compared to other forms of displays and is incredibly strong. Gridwall can hold a lot of weight, which makes it popular for displaying heavier items, like power tools. Simply zip-tie the products directly to the gridwall, or use one of the many gridwall accessories that there are on the market. You can also showcase your items by displaying them on mannequins or mannequin forms that hang from the gridwall. Or, if you’ve saved floor space, you will have more room for interesting mannequin displays that can help you to sell smaller items as well as your main attractions.

Longevity is an important thing to consider when you’re purchasing retail displays. Gridwall has sturdy construction and can last for many, many years. The accessories are often solid metal without small parts that can break off or require maintenance. Grid wall pieces are standard sizes that you can add to or take away from for years. You don’t have to worry about needing new accessories and then finding out that nothing fits your gridwall anymore.

If you rent, consider the space that you will save by using gridwall. You can rent out a smaller space for your store, saving you money every month on rent and utilities. You may also save money by protecting your merchandise from theft.

Stores with racks placed closely together give thieves easy access to your items. By spreading out your floor displays and hanging items, you increase visibility. You may even choose to display more expensive items up higher so that customers need help from an associate to handle the merchandise. People are a lot less likely to steal if the employees know that they have the item in their hand.

If you love all of the advantages of gridwall but would like something else to showcase your store, check out slatwall slatwall. Slat wall sections look like painted wall when installed and covered in merchandise. No matter which way you decide to showcase your store, you will still enjoy all of the benefits of using vertical wall space.

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

Retail Impressions with Mannequins

Designing a retail merchandising display takes a lot of thought and preparation. Use this guide to gain an understanding of the presentation process and how mannequins can make a difference in your sales. Here we will discuss mannequins as they relate to product presentation, showcase and customer impression. Mannequins, in particular, are effective, time-tested mediums for delivery of several marketing messages.

The first step is to analyze the marketing data as it relates to your target market. Meticulous planning will help you to zero in on the buying rationale of specific customers. You may even decide to survey your current customers to gain insight into their buying patterns, reasons for buying, their overall impression of your store, and more. Learning what turned a customer from considering a purchase to making one can be very valuable. Furthermore, you want to find out what draws them to your store in the first place.

Take a look at your competitors, particularly ones that are more successful than you. The store displays, store layout, showcases, and merchandising displays are probably crucial to getting customers and keeping them. You need to lure specific customers inside, and then deliver on the promise that you made them.

Making the first impression is, in general, telling the customer what they can expect when they enter. Gaining the customer’s trust is how you gain loyalty and business. Make sure that you keep the trust building at all times. For example, if they see fluorescent lights, big signs, and garment racks outside of the door, then they are being promised some good deals.

Once they enter, the “big sale” theme should continue and your prices should meet their expectations. They will probably be expecting mediocre customer service, low inventory, and very little personal attention as well as low prices. If you are having a big sale and are advertising it with big signs and bright lights, then this is your chance to exceed the customer’s expectations by treating them really well while they are in your store.

If you have really nice window displays with mannequins dressed in exciting new fashions, then that better not be all that you offer. Make sure that you continue to show the customer that you are on top of things once they enter. Mannequin displays and showcases should be throughout your store. They communicate more than you could tell a customer with words. Their position, expression, location and situation can say as much as the outfit that they are wearing.

If a customer is going to buy, they will need to somehow identify themselves with your store. This is why mannequins are so effective. People can identify with the human form, recognizing its attitude and place in society with a single glance. The more your customers identify with you, the more they will trust you and bring you business. When you position a dress mannequin, make sure that you are considering the attitude and social scene that your target market identifies with.

Using your mannequins to convey a message to your customers is a good way to gain their trust. Not only will you be luring people into the store, but you’ll be continually bombarding them with three dimensional impressions of how they wish they looked and felt. This technique of building customer trust can make a world of difference in your retail sales.

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

Retail Showcase and Display Ideas

Use these display ideas to make the most of your slatwall, gridwall and showcase displays. Learn what benefits these store displays have over other forms of product merchandising.

Using slatwall in a retail setting can be really beneficial. Once the slatwall panels are installed, you can quickly and easily change up your displays. There are just about endless accessories that can help you to be creative and grab attention with your arrangements. You can feature higher priced or new merchandise at eye level to grab the attention of customers that may only be passing by your store.

Slatwall can hold a lot of weight and is the choice of retailers that sell power tools and other heavy products. It is also very popular for making the most of a retail space that is insufficient. You can use circular garment racks and other floor displays along with your slatwall set-up and fit a large inventory into a small space. You can accomplish this without cluttering or cramping the space.

Gridwall is useful in a lot of the same ways that slatwall is. You can easily move around hooks, shelves and display bars to accommodate changing seasons and inventory. You can also buy sections of grid wall that clip together to create custom retail floor displays. You can make a wall of cubes that fit in odd spaces. For example, underneath a staircase. This unique feature helps you to utilize what would have otherwise been wasted space.

Gridwall and slatwall both help customers see what you have to offer. You can hang mannequin torso forms at the front of your inventory to show customers what clothing looks like when worn. You can use gridwall and slatwall in your retail window displays to showcase accessories like shoes, hats and bags.

In addition to your gridwall or slatwall displays, you will need garment racks and glass showcases. Your retail showcases can help you to control the flow of traffic through your store. Showcases that are lighted attract customers to areas where you want them to shop. They also help to control what customers are allowed to handle and touch. Most showcases have plunger locks that require key entry. This will allow you and your employees to monitor merchandise while customers are looking at them. You can keep a nightly inventory to prevent employee theft as well.

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

Best Uses of Gridwall and Slatwall

Gridwall and slatwall are popular with retail store owners for good reason. You can use your creativity to make either one fit your needs. Here we will discuss some of the best ways that you can utilize gridwall or slatwall to make the most of your investment.

Gridwall is very inexpensive, sturdy, and can be reconfigured to build just about any type of display or showcase. Furthermore, it breaks down into flat sections. These can be easily stashed in your storeroom, hung on a wall or stashed in a ceiling bracket for storage. You can change up your displays often and store unused pieces very easily, without taking up much space.

Gridwall is great for creating different wall configurations for merchandising your inventory. It is easy to install. You can purchase all kinds of accessories that hang from each grid. There are hanging rods, hat displays, baskets, shelves, hooks, tubing and more that can be used to display clothing and accessories. There are also acrylic accessories for displaying signage, brochures, flyers, magazines and shoes.

Another thing you can do with gridwall is to build merchandisers or showcase accessories. With a rolling or stationary base, legs and clips, you can create a custom rack for displaying clothing or accessories. These are really versatile and help satisfy all of your display and showcase needs through changing seasons, promotions and changing inventory.

You can also create free-standing displays, such as t-shirt cubes, towers, department dividers, or shelving. Simply clip together the pieces that are the size that you need. Clips hold pieces securely together, so you don’t have to worry about the things that you create being flimsy or weak. Gridwall is so versatile and so sturdy that many retail stores only need gridwall to stock their entire store.

Another option is slatwall. Slatwall is installed as a permanent wall fixture and should be done by a professional to ensure that it is securely anchored and will not later fall down. The grooves on slatwall will hold more weight if you get the metal inserts to go in them. You can easily hang all different kinds of slatwall accessories. Much like gridwall, you can hang bars, hooks, shelves and more. There are so many accessories for slatwall that you are sure to find something to display just about anything.

Some retailers prefer the clean look of slatwall. It looks more like a painted wall than gridwall, but really it just depends on your personal preference. Gridwall and slatwall are both very versatile display options and are sure to help you meet your display needs.

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

Boutique Mannequins Used for Networking

Boutiques have a lot of creative freedom when it comes to creating a showcase in their store. Mannequins make wonderful additions to a unique boutique’s displays and can be used to encourage customers to participate in networking for your business. You can use them in so many ways that the possibilities are truly endless. Here are a few creative ideas for you to make the most of the showcase mannequins in your boutique while encouraging customers to network with you and other people on social web sites.

A showcase display that uses mannequins is more of an attention-grabbing focal point than just a way to show how clothing looks when it is worn. To showcase something, you need to consider location, lighting and other creative elements. Many stores and boutiques create this kind of display in their entrance or in their window displays. But, you can use them all over your store to grab attention and keep it. This can be useful for drawing customers into areas of the boutique that get less traffic.

One idea is to have mannequins lounging around the store wearing your merchandise. If you have the space, you can place couches, chairs, tables or other furniture in different areas. Position mannequins on the couches, as if they’re just hanging out there. You can have female mannequins on the phone or powdering their noses, sitting on the couch. People will stop and look in surprise because they will initially think that they are real people. This kind of positioning will get more attention than a mannequin simply standing in front of a garment rack!

Another couch idea is to have the mannequin sitting and smiling with one arm on the back of the couch. When you see customers laughing at the cheesy grin on the mannequin’s face, you can ask them if they would like for you to take their picture posing with the mannequin. You can get the e-mail addresses of the customers and send them the funny pictures with your logo on the photo. The customer will then, most likely, post the photos to social networking sites and give you good exposure and free advertising.

Another idea is to use your mannequins as decorations. Dress forms (or dress mannequins) are sometimes produced in a vintage style. These are a lot like human shaped cages. You can use them to display clothing, but you can also use them in more creative ways. You can stuff the hollow inside with flowers, colored paper, packing peanuts, whatever you think is interesting. We saw an idea at blisstree.com for using a dress mannequin as a place card holder at a dinner party. You could do something similar, encouraging your customers to place their business cards on the dress mannequin for a chance to win something.

Coming up with interesting ways to create a showcase or to network with your customers will keep them interested in coming back to your store. People want to be inspired when they shop in boutiques, so make sure that you do not disappoint!

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