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.

Merchandising Tips for Retailers

There are endless ways to merchandise your inventory. If you are looking for some fresh ideas, you’ve come to the right place. It is always good to keep things changing when it comes to retail. Customers will get bored if they see the same displays twice and stop considering shopping in your store.

The goal of any display is to grab attention. The purpose of window displays is to get customers interested in coming inside the store. Promotional displays are generally at the entrance of the store, or in a high-traffic area, like a walkway. Mannequins can be used to bring customers to certain parts of the store. Signage is a great way to communicate to your customers as well. Lighting, fully stocked garment racks, and helpful employees are also necessary. But there is still something else to consider.

Retail stores can benefit greatly from utilizing retail gridwall and retail slatwall fixtures. These commercial strength displays do something that regular clothing racks cannot. They get all of your merchandise right up in the customer’s line of sight.

Slatwall and gridwall both have detachable hooks, bars, clamps, and shelves that can easily be moved and rearranged to give you the most aesthetically pleasing display possible. Employees can simply move the fixtures left or right, up or down, to get the spacing right between merchandise.

As a retail store owner, you know the importance of keeping your racks fully stocked. Customers ignore garment racks that have only a couple of things hanging on them. People are actually turned off by a clothing rack that is near empty. They get the impression that something is wrong with the garments hanging there. They wonder why you are not restocking. Maybe these clothes have gone out of style, are being clearanced, or they think that the chances of their size being there is really slim. This is where gridwall or slatwall can save you again.

On a grid wall or a slat wall, you can easily combine like items on to one peg, bar or shelf. Combining items that you can’t restock helps to keep the racks looking full. If you don’t have anything else to fill in the hole, then simply move around some racks on the grid wall or slat wall to space them out more evenly. The next time you get new merchandise, simply move everything closer together again, making space for the new merchandise.

This technique keeps your retail store always looking full. Gridwall and slatwall keep everything directly in sight of the customers. They also clear out floor space making the store easy to navigate for customers, reducing the places for shoplifters to hide, and making room for any extra holiday or promotional items that you may have coming in.

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.

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.

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.