Heavy Duty Wall Storage

There are many uses for a retail slatwall system. You can use them at home or in business. Use these ideas to make the most of your slatwall and get your life organized.

1) Use slatwall panels around the home to get things in order. They offer a quality storage space for everything from craft room supplies to heavy duty tools and equipment in the garage. Some people use slatwall panels inside of their cabinet doors, pantry doors, closets and bathrooms. Where ever you need versatile storage, you can use slatwall panels.

2) Slatwall is great in the garage. It can hold up so much weight, especially if you add the metal inserts to the slats. Chrome on black or gold one red looks really sharp and gives you a permanent place to store your tools. You can use slatwall accessories like shelving, hooks, bins, bars, and more to make a place for every little thing in your garage. This can be incredibly useful for hanging everything from gardening tools, to nuts and bolts. You’ll be excited to show off your professional looking garage.

3) You can even use slatwall panels to create a rolling easel for art, craft supply station, or tool cart. Simply mount two slatwall panels on casters or a rolling cart and you’re set. You can take bins of screws and washers off the wall and hang them on the cart. Collect the hammer, power drill, level, and chalk line, and hang them on the cart. You can stock it up with everything you’ll need for a project and roll it right along with you. No more multiple trips to the work station or searching for that drill bit that you know you laid down right beside you.

4) Using slatwall in retail is really popular, too. You can hang anything and everything from the wall, freeing up floor space with ease. Slatwall not only looks professional, but is the number one way to make more space in a store. Merchandising and creating interesting retail displays is really easy on slatwall. You can rearrange things so easily that you won’t even feel like you did any work. Keeping track of inventory is easy, and customers will appreciate having everything hanging where they can easily see it.

5) Using slatwall in retail has other benefits besides saving space. It puts everything where you can see it. Customers may have to ask to get something down from up high, which gives your employees a chance to make contact without being pushy. You can reduce theft and increase sales at the same time. Not only that, but slatwall is so easy to keep organized that your employees will spend less time straightening the store and more time helping your customers.


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 slatwall panels. For more information, please visit http://www.slstoredisplays.com.

How to Use Retail Promotional Tools

Using the right store fixtures, signage, and retail displays, you can make your products really stand out. Effectively merchandising your inventory can lead to higher sales and can help to communicate your store image to customers. Use these tips to bring your merchandising knowledge to the next level. Each display should be a well thought out endeavor, hitting the mark in all major business planning areas.

1) You decided to carry this product for a reason. Whether it was customer demand, uniqueness, or profit margin, you need to consider what caught your eye when you made your decision. Use these features to convince customers that they want to buy it.

2) Create a display that emphasizes the attractive features about the product. If you’re selling a sweater that is really soft, use signs that bring this to the customer’s attention. Something as simple as a sign that says, “Feel It!” can be a really effective promotional tool. Other features can be pointed out as well. Things like organic cotton, vibrant colors, sturdy construction, or latest trend can be pointed out to customers while they shop, influencing their interest in the product.

3) Use this opportunity to drive home your store or boutique’s brand image. The retail fixtures that you use to display your promotions are almost as important as the products themselves. Fixtures have an impact on what customer’s think of your store; think about this when you are purchasing and using them. If you want to sell something like hiking or camping equipment, you might feel like wood displays make people think of the outside. Make sure that each display and product matches your store image.

4) Consider your target audience when you’re setting up a display. Are your customer’s high end boutique shoppers? Are they looking for a bargain? These things have a great impact on how you position items on display. People shop in boutiques to find unique items or brands. Stuffing a rack or piling a table high with items doesn’t make them feel like they are finding something unique. This is a situation where less is more. You do want to make sure that your store looks stocked and has all sizes available, but you do want your customers to feel like they are getting something that most other people cannot.

5) Make sure that the promotional display stands out, but is not overbearing. You don’t want people to come in and only see the one display. Cleverly position your other merchandise around the promotion so that the customer’s attention is subtly taken in another direction. It could be something simple, like a necklace on a table or an accessory rack near the display. It doesn’t take sales away from the promotional item, but draws attention to other parts of the store.

6) Visibility is the most important factor in your store or boutique. Besides your promotional displays, the rest of your displays should also be easily seen. Use systems like slatwall to display items outward, facing your customers. Slatwall panels, slatwall accessories, and slatwall display additions can be used in a lot of unique ways that help you to put your products out there. Systems like these are versatile and leave floor space available for your more dominant displays.

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 slatwall panels. For more information, please visit http://www.slstoredisplays.com.

Keeping a Retail Space Organized

It can be difficult to keep smaller boutiques and retail stores orderly and neat. As merchandise comes in an out, seasons change, and promotions come and go, things can get messy and cluttered. You need to come up with an effective and efficient way to manage your store or boutique so that you don’t let it get out of control. Use these tips to keep things running smoothly.

Start with the basics. Your retail display systems should be versatile enough to accommodate changes that are bound to happen. Moveable shelves, adjustable rods, rolling garment racks, and shelving that can be reconfigured are must-haves in a retail environment; especially ones that need to conserve space.

One cost effective solution is slatwall. Slatwall panels can be joined to create unique free-standing displays that are extremely versatile. Slatwall panels are also useful for creating displays in areas that are normally wasted, such as underneath stairs, or where the ceiling comes in low.

You can use slatwall panels to create division between the departments or sections of your boutique or store. They don’t just create dividers, but provide you with places to hang bars, shelves, hooks, or other things that turn your dividers into useful displays. You can even use slatwall in your storage areas to create a room that is extremely versatile and can go with the flow year-round.

Slatwall as a wall display is the most popular way to keep retail spaces organized. It utilizes the vertical space in the store, which frees up a lot of floor space for creating more dramatic, less cluttered displays out on the sales floor. Keeping the sales floor decluttered helps you to watch for shoplifting, and makes the store more inviting to your customers.

Another benefit is the way that slatwall keeps your displays more visible. Instead of having your clothes crammed together in small racks, you can have them facing out towards the center of the floor. You can easily display clothing and accessories together, making it easier to merchandise smaller items.

You will also need garment racks for the sales floor. You can choose boutique garment racks to help add to the décor of your business. Remember that the store fixtures you choose can impact how the customers view you. A cheap, rickety garment rack can translate into a customer thinking that your merchandise is of a low quality and not worth the price that you’re asking.

If your store is organized and neat, you can more efficiently run it. Boutiques especially need to keep things organized so that each unique item can get the full attention that it deserves. The appearance of your merchandise can have a big impact on customers and their decisions to buy. Keep your garment racks neat and stocked with each size. Choose a garment rack or organizational system like slatwall, to keep your store organized year-round.


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 slatwall panels. For more information, please visit http://www.slstoredisplays.com.

Defining Your Target Market

Retailers running their own business, like boutique owners, need to define their target markets in order to effectively and efficiently focus their advertising, merchandising, and promotion efforts. If you don’t you could waste a lot of time and money, and even hurt your business.

First you need to determine what makes you unique. Why did you decide to go into retail in the first place? What inspires you? What does the competition sell? Who still has a need that is not being fulfilled in the marketplace?

Next you should determine which market segment is most likely to want to buy your product. This group of people should have a need or a strong desire to buy your products. Once you have a general target group in mind, it is time to start fine-tuning who you really want to market to. For example, you may decide that you want to market to parents. Then you may narrow down the group by deciding to focus on parents of babies and toddlers.

Another thing to consider is socio-economic status. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you will target rich people or a certain class of people, but more specifically, are you targeting mothers who are looking to save money, or mothers who are looking for high-end specialty boutique merchandise? Mothers who like to shop downtown, or mothers who prefer to stay on the outskirts of the city?

Narrowing down your target market can have an impact on what products you decide to sell, the prices that you charge, and even the perceived environment in your store. Let’s say for example, that you research your competition and notice that there are plenty of consignment boutiques in town. There are also lots of second hand, thrift style stores. The only high-end boutiques that sell children’s clothes you can find are all targeted towards girls with lots of frilly accessories and monogramming. While it may be true that parents trend towards buying more boutique merchandise for little girls, you may notice that there is a need in the market for little boys’ boutique clothing, toys and accessories.

Once your target market is defined, you can stock your inventory. Don’t be afraid of stocking too many items as long as they go along with your theme. People like to have choices, so make sure that you don’t get so specified that you barely have anything to offer. If you are in a small space, you can make the most of it by displaying your merchandise on slatwall. Slatwall panels are an easy and versatile alternative to shelving and make the most of vertical space. When you have your target market pin pointed and the merchandise that they need, you’ll be on your way to success.

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 slatwall panels. For more information, please visit http://www.slstoredisplays.com.