Boutique Store Design

In a boutique, image is everything. Boutiques offer customers a unique shopping experience that is rich in interesting displays, decorations, and style. The theme of a boutique can be what brings customers back again and again. Creating an interesting theme is important, but making your boutique accessible, shoppable, and easy to navigate can be just as important.

Have you ever seen a store that looked really interesting, but then you go in and everything is crowded and messy? It can be a big turn-off. Unless I’m shopping a garage sale, then I expect everything to be visible when I look at a display. I want to feel like my size will be there if I like what I see. I like to get an idea of what the clothes and accessories will look like if I put them on, without having to spend all day in the dressing room. I don’t want to feel like I’m squeezed in with other customers, hunting through piles of clothes all day.

Your boutique store design should take the customer’s shopping experience into consideration. You can utilize certain rules of retail display to help you make the greatest impact. You know, being a boutique owner, that impressions are your biggest weapons. You want your customer to feel what you’re trying to convey with your store the second they lay eyes on it. This is, after all, what has made boutiques such a huge success this century.

People want to feel like they are unique, interesting, and important. This drives them to shop the smaller stores, boutiques, or handmade goods outlets. Make sure that your displays are creative and stay true to your store’s theme. Make your customers feel like they are important and like their happiness is your first priority.

Create displays using mannequins or mannequin forms to show them what unique items would look like if they are worn. Mannequins give you a unique edge when conveying a certain message. They help you to create more interesting, personal, and effective displays than you could ever create without them.

Making room for all of this interesting stuff may seem like a problem at first, but really you may have more room than you think. Utilizing vertical wall space can help you to make more room while keeping your displays nice, neat and organized. You can use something like slatwall to affordable and attractively make space on the walls of your boutique. Use slatwall panels in spaces that are oddly shaped. Use slatwall accessories to hang just about any type of item on the wall. You will love how versatile your slatwall is, and it will help you make room for all the displays that you can think up.

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.

Visual Display Tips

Creating displays can help you to nurture your crafty side. The most effective displays always have a theme and seem inspired. Inspiring displays inspire customers to feel as passionately as you about the merchandise that you’re selling. Boutiques are famous for creating memorable displays that keep customers curious about what you’ll do next. Whether you run a boutique or larger retail store, you can use these tips to make your displays more interesting and effective.

1) Do some research before you begin. Surf the web, go window shopping, and look at magazines to get your creative juices flowing. You can get ideas that help you to decide on a theme or a focus for your display. Consider the merchandise, of course, but also think about color to set the mood, the season, the promotion, or the theme of your store. Once you get an idea, the rest will quickly come together.

2) Consider running your ideas past your employees. Give them a theme and ask them for their ideas. Sometimes your employees are your best asset because they see what grabs customers’ attention every day, out on the floor. Hold a contest to inspire your staff to be more involved in the success of the store. You may be surprised at how creative some of your employees may be.

3) Once you have your idea, decide on a budget. Remember that less is often more and you don’t necessarily have to spend a fortune on a display. You may want to buy a few key pieces for the display. Try to buy things that can be reused in the future so that you can get the most bang for your buck. Tables or racks that fold, props that inflate, and decorations that lay flat are easiest to store for future use. Mannequins can be customized to fit a lot of different types of displays and can stay in good shape for many years. Investing in this proven seller is never a bad move.

4) When setting up your display, keep balance and focus in mind. Start by setting up your focal point. Too many focal points will not draw attention like a central focus will. The focus doesn’t have to be in the center of the display. Good visuals are hardly ever perfectly centered. They’re often more interesting if they’re not. A customer may pass twenty window displays with centered mannequins and hardly notice them, and then the one that tells a story and isn’t perfectly centered will be the one to turn their head.

5) Use lighting, signage, whatever you need to draw attention to your focal point. You can even use more mannequins to direct attention to the focal point. Have them looking at the main character or feature in your display.

6) Make room for interesting visual displays throughout your store or boutique. Use slatwall panels and slatwall accessories to free up space on the sales floor. You can use the slatwall itself to create interesting slatwall displays. Using vertical space can help you to better manage your merchandise so that your displays remain the center of attention.

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.

Retail Customer Service Tips

You should never underestimate the power of good customer service. What people think about you can make or break your business. Customers consider customer service the most important part of their shopping experience, and so should you. Concentrating on servicing your customers will help you to make your business better, improve the image of your store, and lead to more sales and more customers. Use these tips to make sure that you and your staff are on the right path to providing excellent customer service.

1) Learn who your regular customers are and identify them. Simply learning your customers’ names can go a long way. A personal greeting is remembered and makes the customer feel valued and special. Let your employees know that you want them to try to do this. If it’s a customer’s first time purchasing something, take a look at their check or card and thank them using their name. This will help you remember who they are if they come in again. If someone signs up for your e-mail list to receive your newsletter or special offers, then include a personal thank you in the first e-mail you send. Say something specific, like “I hope you’re enjoying your new shirt and pants!” or “Have fun at your daughter’s wedding!” so that they know you remembered them.

2) Keep in touch with your customers whenever possible. An e-mail list is a great way to keep your customers informed of sales and promotions. It’s a non-invasive way to keep in touch. Make sure that customers can easily unsubscribe without feeling embarrassed or they might be too embarrassed to come back to your store. An automatic unsubscribe is least threatening. Postcards, occasional mailings, and personal thank you notes put a special touch on your customer’s shopping experience.

3) Hire upbeat employees that are happy to work for you. The way that they treat your customers is the most important thing that you’re looking for. If someone hates being there and is simply putting on a show to get their job done, it will be obvious to your customers. If you’re having trouble finding people that go the extra mile with your customers, consider pay raises, incentives, bonuses, and extra training to get them on board. Your employees will only see customer service as importantly as you do. Model the behavior that you want to see and focus on team building and individual rewards to motivate your staff.

4) Make the shopping experience easy all around for your customers. Keeping your store displays nice and neat is the first step in creating a good customer experience. If your racks are messy or crowded, customers will be turned off and simply not want to shop there. An organized store says that you care and makes it easy for customers to navigate your merchandise. If your floor space is limited, consider installing slatwall panels to take advantage of some vertical space in your stores. Slatwall is perfect for displaying all sorts of merchandise. It’s easy to rearrange and easy to keep looking nice and neat.

Use all of these tips and come up with some of your own to make the customer service that your store provides unique.

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.

The Uses and Benefits of Slatwall

Slatwall is has been one of the most popular retail displays for many years. It has a lot of uses, versatility, sustainability, and it’s an economical choice for small and large retailers alike.

Slatwall and slatwall accessories can be used to display everything from bolts to wedding dresses. Once installed, the slatwall panels are used as anchors for hooks, shelves, hanging rods, and other display accessories. The cost of the system is considered affordable and can be offset by the extra profit from merchandise that you can carry once you have it.

Slatwall is a great way to make use of a small space, which is why it is so popular in boutiques. It comes in a variety of colors and finishes to compliment the theme of the store. It’s great for taking advantage of vertical space that may otherwise go unused.

Getting your merchandise up high makes it more visible to customers. They can easily see what you carry, whether they’re in the store, or just passing by. By hanging clothing and other items flat against the wall, customers can see what everything looks like without rummaging through crowded racks.

Displaying your clothing and other merchandise on a slatwall system helps you to keep things nice and neat. If customers aren’t unfolding, taking things off the hanger, and looking for their sizes, then your displays will stay looking nice. They will have more direct contact with your employees, because the workers won’t be so busy straightening up after everyone.

Another benefit of slatwall is inventory control. Displaying merchandise up on the wall, instead of crowded on the floor, leaves less room for shoplifters to do their dirty work. Customers have to ask for their size from an employee, so it’s less likely that they will try to steal anything.

Freeing up space on the floor of your retail store or boutique gives you more options for effective displays. You can make room for mannequins, which are proven to be the most effective merchandising tool out there. You can even use mannequin torso forms right on the slatwall.

You, your employees, and your customers will all appreciate the neatness of your slatwall displays. They create space, allow you to bring in more merchandise, and save you money in a lot of different ways. They’re so versatile that you can change them up at any time, simply by moving the hook, shelf, or bar over to a different spot. Making your boutique or store look great has never been so easy.

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.