Mannequins and Store Displays Blog

Heavy Duty Wall Storage

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Maier, Jr.) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:10:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Maier, Jr.) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:41:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Maier, Jr.) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 21:15:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Maier, Jr.) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:01:00 +0000

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.

Retail Displays: Getting the Most Bang for your Buck

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Maier, Jr.) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:37:00 +0000

Retail store owners are definitely interested in saving money. Whether the economy is down or not, the retail industry is always going through waves of selling a lot or not selling at all. There are certain seasons when we can expect things to be busy or things to stand still. Whatever the case, time or season, saving money on the things that you can’t avoid buying is always a good thing. Use these tips to help save money on retail space, retail merchandising, and effective advertising.

1) Make your advertising efforts more effective by sending out the right messages to the right people. Clearly define your target audience and stick to things that will only target them. Use mannequins and signage in your store windows to communicate what you offer and who you are offering it to. An effective window display will lure target audience members inside while encouraging others to stay away. You will save a lot of time and money if you are selective about who you market to.

2) Consider quality when you buy larger retail displays, like garment racks and counter displays. You can find good prices on some of these and you may be tempted to buy them. Before you do, check the quality. You may even decide to talk to other retailers about where they buy their retail displays. Check out their racks and see if they have sharp edges, shotty welding, or rickety casters. If you buy something that is not of a high quality, it may not last you very long. Even worse, it could be a liability, costing you more than you ever imagined.

3) After you’ve settled on a brand that you believe sells quality products, shop around for prices. Sometimes you can buy used items from stores that are going out of business. You can also save money by going directly to the manufacturer to purchase your retail displays. Ask about guarantees, return policies, payment plans, bulk rates, and shipping discounts. There are a number of ways to get quality products at reduced rates.

4) Another way to save money on retail displays is to bypass buying a lot of garment racks and go straight to a merchandising system. Slatwall is an excellent option for a few different reasons. One, it is inexpensive. Two, it can help you to attractively and effectively display a multitude of items all at once. Three, it is so versatile that you can always change it up, helping your store to stay ahead of the game.

Use these options to stock your store. Remember that slatwall and slatwall panels are considered the most inexpensive, quality way to save space an make your retail displays interesting.

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.

Improving Retail Displays

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Maier, Jr.) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:17:00 +0000

Sometimes a display looks nice, but for some reason it just isn’t effective. If you are dissatisfied with your retail displays, or if you’re just curious about how to make them better, then ask yourself what needs do your displays fulfill. Customers have quite a few things in mind when they shop. Some are subconscious and others are not. It is your job as the store owner, merchandiser or manager to make sure that you are making the customer feel at ease by hitting these major areas of concern.

Customers essentially have to trust a retailer before they will buy something. You are making promises to them before they even walk into the store. This is why your store should be set up to target certain shoppers and turn others away. You’re promising that if these things appeal to you, then you will find things inside that you will like.

For example, if you have a dark store front with big heavy doors, then customers can assume that you have high priced inventory inside. If you have lots of lights and huge signs, they can expect to find good deals and low prices. Mannequins can certainly help you here. Use them in your store window, not only to show customers what clothing you offer, but to help set the mood.

Mannequins are great assets when it comes to communicating to customers. If set up effectively, they can show customers how certain clothes can make them feel. They help customers to immediately imagine themselves in the clothes and how that would make them feel. This kind of prepares their minds for shopping, having them subconsciously consider things that they wouldn’t have before.

You can also use mannequins to handle the social aspect of buying clothing. If you have more than one mannequin interacting or showing some sort of emotion to each other, then customers will instantly imagine how their friends or peers will view them if they are wearing the same thing.

Once inside the store, you can continue to impact how a customer thinks. This can be difficult if you simply have garment racks filling the whole store. A more effective method of retail display is to use slatwall or gridwall to display your items.

Slatwall can be used to make all of your merchandise not only fit into a small area, but face outward so that each item gets your customers’ full attention. It also raises things up to eye level or higher so that merchandise can be easily seen from anywhere inside the store. You can use mannequin forms or mannequin torsos to display how items look when worn directly on your slatwall. Finally, slatwall panels help you to create displays in interesting areas of the store where you normally wouldn’t have room for a clothing rack.

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.

Managing Small Retail Spaces

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Maier, Jr.) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:56:00 +0000

Retail spaces can get cramped for a number of reasons. You may have decided to expand and offer more products. Maybe you are offering an entire new department. You could just be running out of storage space. Or, you might have chosen a small space to have an affordable retail space in a good location. Whatever your reasons, you need a way to deal with the small space without sacrificing sales or image.

Not having much room means that you need to get creative. Creative displays are what make boutiques so popular today. Displays need to be effective and satisfy needs for the customers. For example, when a customer enters a store and approaches a display, they have many questions going through their heads. They are wondering if they like the product. They then consider what other people will think. They imagine how the garments would make them feel. Then they check out quality, price, and the availability of their size.

Setting up your displays with these customer questions in mind will help you to overcome some of the hurdles that retailers face. You can’t necessarily only put out a few sizes of each item, or customers will assume that you probably don’t have their size and they won’t go through the process. You don’t want everything to look like clearance. If there are fully stocked displays, then customers feel like they are getting something new and popular. If the inventory is low, they might assume that you are not restocking this item for some reason. It could be quality, popularity, or some other unknown that turns them off when they look at the display.

So, this leaves you with a predicament. You need to save space. You want to offer more and more products. But, you don’t want to put out skimpy amounts of each thing. Even more important, you don’t want your store to get crowded and look like a bargain bin. The solution is to utilize retail displays designed to conquer this particular problem.

The most popular and cost effective solution is to use slatwall panels. You can install slatwall in a store and take full advantage of vertical space. You can hang and display hundreds of items on the walls of your store or boutique, even in a small amount of square footage. This can leave the floor open to creating more attractive and elaborate displays.

Using slatwall not only saves space, but it makes your store easy to shop in. All of your items can face outward toward the customer. Customers can shop without touching anything. They can see what each item looks like and also see that your inventory is stocked. If something’s running low, you can simply switch out the bar for a shorter one to make your store look continuously stocked.

Using slatwall and slatwall panels in your store will make you and your customers happier.

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.

Tips for Starting Up a Boutique

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Maier, Jr.) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:37:00 +0000

Many entrepreneurs are running their own businesses with little or no training. It seems that with a little research, many self-starters are seeing great success. Boutiques are a popular form of business to start. Most boutique owners aren’t simply looking to make some money, but have a drive and a passion to sell their unique offerings to the public. This is a good thing.

To be successful in a business, you must have desire. You have to care about what you’re doing and be willing to put in many thankless and fruitless hours of hard work. It takes stamina and determination. Do your research and you could be on your way to owning a successful boutique. Follow these tips to help you stay focused on your goal.

Try not to get swallowed up by mounds of paperwork and details swimming in your brain. Your initial goal is to get your “big picture” plans down in writing. This involves detailing what you want the store to look like. Write down the major categories of inventory that you want to offer. Add in what you want to be unique about your store. Define your competition and what you will do to be different. You really need to pinpoint a target audience. Decide who you will be marketing to, who you won’t be marketing to, and why.

Having these basic guidelines will help you to stay focused on your goals while you get other details squared away. Once you know what you want to sell, decide on your prices. You may have to visit other boutiques, check online stores, check auction sites, and make your decisions based on your competition.

Making your prices too low can make customers think that the products are of low quality. Try to stay in the range of pricing that you see when you research. If something is going to cost you too much and you aren’t going to see much profit from it, ditch it and move on to the next product. Remember that it’s not all about what you want to sell, but what the target market wants to purchase.

Once your inventory and pricing is squared away, you need to look at facilities. Choose a facility based on location, size, traffic opportunity, and price. You can afford a better location if you choose to go with a smaller space. Dealing with a small space is easy if you use the correct retail supplies and accessories. For example, you can use slatwall panels to turn small spaces into attractive displays. Slatwall is easy to install and helps you to make the most of the space that you have. Using slatwall in a boutique gives you lots of display options without breaking the bank.

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 Slatwall in a Boutique

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Maier, Jr.) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:44:00 +0000

Slatwall is one of the most versatile retail display products on the market. Boutiques are in a great position to gain the most benefit from using slatwall panels to merchandise their displays. If you own or work for a boutique, you know that space can often be limited. In a boutique atmosphere, sometimes the décor is as important as the merchandise itself. So, using slatwall systems to help you make the most of your space can be very rewarding. Read on to learn how slatwall could be helping you run your business more effectively.

1) Slatwall is installed in panels. Slatwall panels can be purchased in different sizes to fit the space that you have. You can also have slatwall panels cut to fit your space. This is useful in odd spaces, such as underneath stairs or in other areas where the ceiling slants. It can help you to utilize all of the little nooks and crannies in your boutique. This technique greatly reduces your need for more space.

2) Slatwall also helps you to accessorize. By hanging items that go together in the same area, you can easily show your customers what goes with each outfit. They may not have thought to buy that purse or hat until you put them together on your slatwall display.

3) Slatwall allows you to use more mannequin forms in a small space. Mannequins are the most effective marketing tool available to retailers. However, if you don’t have much space, full-sized mannequin displays may not have ever entered your plan. Using mannequin torso forms allows you to hang the mannequin in the space that it takes to hang a shirt or pants. Simply hang the clothes facing out, dress the mannequin, and hang it in front of the rack. A slatwall display can be very dynamic and effective.

4) Your slatwall will be your best friend when it comes to rearranging displays. The versatility is probably its number one selling point. You can quickly and easily rearrange hanging bars, shelves, hooks, and other slatwall accessories to accommodate your inventory. If you’re running out of something, you can simply space out the other things around it to take up the space. Your displays will always look full and inviting to your customers.

5) Promotions, merchandising, and changing the seasons are so easy with slatwall and slatwall panels. You can replace items and move things around really easily without tearing your store apart. Boutique owners love this because they are usually working alone or with very little staff. You can replace one thing at a time until it’s done without making it a huge undertaking.

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.

Do I Need a Shop Fitter?

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Maier, Jr.) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:19:00 +0000

Shop fitting, or shopfitting, is the business of fitting retail stores, boutiques and other types of stores with the equipment, signage, retail store displays, and even merchandise. Shop fitters generally specialize in retail, merchandising, and interior design. They can help you make the most of the space that you have available. They will also purchase your retail equipment for you.

Because shop fitters purchase equipment directly from manufacturers, sometimes they can save you money on outfitting your store. Additionally, their expertise can be invaluable when it comes to marketing the largest amount of product in the smallest space possible. This is especially helpful if you are not trained or experienced in this type of work.

If you want to do things on your own, there are a few things to keep in mind. You can purchase your retail store fixtures directly from the manufacturer on the internet. Some shop fitters charge a fee for ordering your fixtures, so you end up paying retail anyway. Ordering equipment yourself can save you from paying the middle man.

Do your research and find out which manufacturers have quality products. Buying cheap racks and counter displays that fall apart, have sharp edges, or look tacky can cost you more money in the long run. Stick with quality merchandise from a company that offers a good return policy, customer service, and guarantees their products. Quality construction is a must.

When it comes to making the most of your space, don’t forget to include storage in your designs. You will need a manageable space that has the flexibility that you need to get you through different seasons, promotions and changes in inventory. Many shop owners and retail managers choose slatwall or gridwall for this purpose.

Shop fitting, or shopfitting, is the business of fitting retail stores, boutiques and other types of stores with the equipment, signage, retail store displays, and even merchandise. Shop fitters generally specialize in retail, merchandising, and interior design. They can help you make the most of the space that you have available. They will also purchase your retail equipment for you.

Because shop fitters purchase equipment directly from manufacturers, sometimes they can save you money on outfitting your store. Additionally, their expertise can be invaluable when it comes to marketing the largest amount of product in the smallest space possible. This is especially helpful if you are not trained or experienced in this type of work.

If you want to do things on your own, there are a few things to keep in mind. You can purchase your retail store fixtures directly from the manufacturer on the internet. Some shop fitters charge a fee for ordering your fixtures, so you end up paying retail anyway. Ordering equipment yourself can save you from paying the middle man.

Do your research and find out which manufacturers have quality products. Buying cheap racks and counter displays that fall apart, have sharp edges, or look tacky can cost you more money in the long run. Stick with quality merchandise from a company that offers a good return policy, customer service, and guarantees their products. Quality construction is a must.

When it comes to making the most of your space, don’t forget to include storage in your designs. You will need a manageable space that has the flexibility that you need to get you through different seasons, promotions and changes in inventory. Many shop owners and retail managers choose slatwall or gridwall for this purpose.

Slatwall and gridwall displays give you a lot of versatility for displaying a lot of different types of products in a small space. It really utilizes the vertical space in the store and allows you to feature accessories and complimentary items around your merchandise. It keeps all of your merchandise facing out towards the middle of the store, making it easy for shoppers to see what you have to offer.

When you get everything up on the walls, you free up plenty of floor space. When you have room, you can be picky about product placement and create more elaborate and effective promotional displays.

Installing a slat wall or a grid wall can require a professional contractor, so consider that cost when you purchase. Other than that, the upkeep of the system is reasonably priced. You will want to invest in some hanging bars, hooks, shelves and other types of display accessories, and you can add to them at any time. Moving the hooks and bars around is so easy that you’ll love to rearrange your store and update your displays.

Hiring a shop fitter may still be beneficial, but you could save some money by doing part of the planning yourself. Do your research and you’ll stretch your dollar as far as you need to get your store up and running.

Shop fitting, or shopfitting, is the business of fitting retail stores, boutiques and other types of stores with the equipment, signage, retail store displays, and even merchandise. Shop fitters generally specialize in retail, merchandising, and interior design. They can help you make the most of the space that you have available. They will also purchase your retail equipment for you.

Because shop fitters purchase equipment directly from manufacturers, sometimes they can save you money on outfitting your store. Additionally, their expertise can be invaluable when it comes to marketing the largest amount of product in the smallest space possible. This is especially helpful if you are not trained or experienced in this type of work.

If you want to do things on your own, there are a few things to keep in mind. You can purchase your retail store fixtures directly from the manufacturer on the internet. Some shop fitters charge a fee for ordering your fixtures, so you end up paying retail anyway. Ordering equipment yourself can save you from paying the middle man.

Do your research and find out which manufacturers have quality products. Buying cheap racks and counter displays that fall apart, have sharp edges, or look tacky can cost you more money in the long run. Stick with quality merchandise from a company that offers a good return policy, customer service, and guarantees their products. Quality construction is a must.

When it comes to making the most of your space, don’t forget to include storage in your designs. You will need a manageable space that has the flexibility that you need to get you through different seasons, promotions and changes in inventory. Many shop owners and retail managers choose slatwall or gridwall for this purpose.

Slatwall and gridwall displays give you a lot of versatility for displaying a lot of different types of products in a small space. It really utilizes the vertical space in the store and allows you to feature accessories and complimentary items around your merchandise. It keeps all of your merchandise facing out towards the middle of the store, making it easy for shoppers to see what you have to offer.

When you get everything up on the walls, you free up plenty of floor space. When you have room, you can be picky about product placement and create more elaborate and effective promotional displays.

Installing a slat wall or a grid wall can require a professional contractor, so consider that cost when you purchase. Other than that, the upkeep of the system is reasonably priced. You will want to invest in some hanging bars, hooks, shelves and other types of display accessories, and you can add to them at any time. Moving the hooks and bars around is so easy that you’ll love to rearrange your store and update your displays.

Hiring a shop fitter may still be beneficial, but you could save some money by doing part of the planning yourself. Do your research and you’ll stretch your dollar as far as you need to get your store up and running.

Slatwall and gridwall displays give you a lot of versatility for displaying a lot of different types of products in a small space. It really utilizes the vertical space in the store and allows you to feature accessories and complimentary items around your merchandise. It keeps all of your merchandise facing out towards the middle of the store, making it easy for shoppers to see what you have to offer.

When you get everything up on the walls, you free up plenty of floor space. When you have room, you can be picky about product placement and create more elaborate and effective promotional displays.

Installing a slat wall or a grid wall can require a professional contractor, so consider that cost when you purchase. Other than that, the upkeep of the system is reasonably priced. You will want to invest in some hanging bars, hooks, shelves and other types of display accessories, and you can add to them at any time. Moving the hooks and bars around is so easy that you’ll love to rearrange your store and update your displays.

Hiring a shop fitter may still be beneficial, but you could save some money by doing part of the planning yourself. Do your research and you’ll stretch your dollar as far as you need to get your store up and running.

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.

Boutique Merchandising Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Maier, Jr.) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:25:00 +0000

Merchandising in a small boutique can be challenging, especially if you’re new to the business. You want your boutique to look fresh and inviting while maintaining its unique charms. However, problems arise when you want to carry more inventory or expand on your merchandise. You need to accomplish both to be successful.

Carrying more products can help you to bring in more money. It can bring you customers that you didn’t appeal to before. It can keep your current customers interested and coming back time and again. Keeping your product line interesting and profitable is definitely a priority. Having the inventory on hand to satisfy your customers and hold up during promotions and busy seasons is also important. So what do you do if you want to turn more profit, gain new customers, and expand if you are in a limited space?

There are a few ways that you can accomplish this. You need to make space so that your sales floor isn’t overcrowded. Too many products in one area can make your boutique look crowded and uninviting. You won’t sell more simply by squeezing more in. You can invest in garment racks that stand taller to give you more room. This helps you to take advantage of vertical space. However, if racks stand too tall, it can make it difficult to keep an eye on your store when you suspect that someone is considering shoplifting.

Another way to take advantage of vertical space is on your walls. You can use gridwall or slatwall systems to display your items vertically without sacrificing attractiveness. There are many benefits to using gridwall and slatwall.

One is the manner in which they display your products. Instead of your shirts, coats, and dresses facing each other, they can hang facing outward. This type of visibility allows customers to shop with ease. They can easily see what you have to offer without digging through crowded clothing racks.

When you’re ready to add more inventory, the versatility of the grid wall or slat wall will amaze you. You can squeeze things closer together without making them look crowded. You can make unique spaces for new inventory with very little effort, simply by moving the hooks around.

You can also display your accessories right beside the outfits that you think they look best with. By displaying your items on the wall, you can free up floor space to display ensembles on mannequins. Mannequins are the number one selling tool in the retail industry and using gridwall and slatwall will allow you to take full advantage of them.

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.

Display and Promotion Ideas for Boutiques

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Maier, Jr.) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:17:00 +0000

Boutiques are in an exclusive position to really get creative with their displays and promotions. What might seem out of place or over the top in a traditional retail store can make a boutique interesting and unique. Use this fact to your advantage when you are creating your displays. You might just find that certain merchandising tools, such as mannequins, can help you to brand your image, sell your clothing and accessories, and help you to make a lasting impression on your customers. Actually, an interesting window display can bring in a lot of new customers on its own.

To create an exceptional display utilizing mannequins, you need to first consider your store image. If you want your boutique to be recognized for its individual style and unique décor or standards, then you need to make sure that your displays communicate this message. Having an ordinary display can make your boutique appear dull and boring. This is the last thing that you want when you own a boutique.

Shoppers are interested in boutiques for many different reasons. They love the charm, the interesting decorations, the personal service, and the unique products and brands that boutiques usually offer. You can use your window display to quickly communicate to passer bys that you, in fact, offer just the things they’re looking for.

For example, you can display signs or window clings provided by the companies whose brands you carry. This tiny form of advertisement will attract people looking for those hard to find brands that you carry. You can then attract people looking for personal service by advertising your services. A small sign should be sufficient. Have it communicate the unique services that you offer, such as free alterations, personal styling, custom fittings, whatever the service may be.

Nothing in your window display is as important as the mannequin display. Mannequins communicate to customers the atmosphere and attitude of your boutique. People connect with mannequins on different levels as soon as they lay eyes on one. This marketing phenomenon has mad mannequins the number one selling tool in retail for decades.

Customers rely on their first impressions to determine if they trust the business. They need to trust you in order to decide to buy. They need to see what you’re offering, imagine themselves owning, using and wearing your products, and be able to determine how that would make them feel. If a customer does not go through this process within the first few seconds of looking at your display, then they are not likely to enter the store or buy anything.

Use this knowledge to your advantage. Set ups female mannequin displays to attract women. Use mannequins that are specifically designed for your products, for example, use a dress mannequin for dresses. Be sure to select clothing and accessories that communicate the style of boutique that you run. If you use mannequin displays and window displays to accomplish that positive first impression, your sales could really increase and your customers will stay interested and loyal.

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 Storage Solutions

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Maier, Jr.) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 06:22:00 +0000

If you own or manage a small retail store or boutique, you have probably struggled with not having enough storage space for your inventory and merchandising tools. This is so common, especially during the holiday season. You want to have enough inventory so that your supply keeps up with the demand, but you have probably had problems finding the space to run the business like you want to. Use these storage and display ideas to get the most out of the space that you have and create space where you didn’t know that you had it before.

Come up with a system for keeping the store room organized. Have garment racks handy for steaming clothing that is coming out of the box. Try installing a ceiling rack for boxes and other lightweight items that you need to keep out of your way. Roll out wrinkle free clothing on your garment racks as soon as possible to keep the store room from getting too cluttered.

You can make extra room on the sales floor so that you don’t have to store so much. Too many garment racks can clutter up the space that you have. Additionally, cramming your inventory onto the racks can turn customers away. No one wants to dig through packed racks back to back with other customers. Installing gridwall or slatwall could be the answer.

Gridwall and slatwall systems help you to utilize vertical space. You can display your clothing and other items facing forward so that customers have an easy time seeing what you have to offer. You can help to eliminate the need for extra storage by hanging your inventory on the gridwall or slatwall bars. When you need to put out more inventory than normal, like when you’re having a sale or promotion, simply swap out your normal bars for longer ones.

Grid wall panels and slat wall panels can hold a lot of weight, so you can really use them to display and store at the same time. They are extremely versatile and easy to rearrange. As certain items run out, you can simply move the bars around to fill in the space.

You can maximize the impact of your gridwall and slatwall displays by using mannequin forms. Hanging mannequin forms are lightweight and easy to use. Simply hang them on the ends of your display bars and customers can see what the items look like when they’re being worn. This eliminates the need for many customers to try on clothing. Your store stays nice and neat, and customers aren’t constantly rearranging or digging through your displays. Employees can concentrate on helping customers and take down the sizes that they need only when they need them.

When you stock your store with gridwall or slatwall, you open up your business to many new opportunities. You’ll even attract new customers as they pass your store and easily see what you have to offer.

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.

Retail Christmas Displays

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Maier, Jr.) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:11:00 +0000

Christmas is the perfect time to bring in new customers and entice your old ones to revisit. Your displays can say a lot about you. They should be the focal point of the store’s entrance and should be continually updated throughout the store and throughout the season.

Christmas displays can be a lot of fun and draw a lot of attention. Your use of lighting and decoration can be anywhere from simple to extravagant and help you to communicate a message. Customers draw their first impression within three seconds of seeing your store, so keep that in mind as you design and implement your holiday display plans.

It is important to get it right the first time. You don’t want to stray from your store’s image, but you do want to draw attention. Start with your store’s theme, feeling, and target audience. Are you going for a more sophisticated feel, a modern look, or trying to attract bargain shoppers? Make sure that your display doesn’t take away too much from your merchandise. If you have a bold display, then the merchandise should be at least as bold so that it doesn’t get drowned out.

Mannequins are perfect for window displays and for making bold statements that don’t take attention away from the merchandise. In fact, mannequin displays have proven to be the most effective merchandising tool available to retailers. They show how clothes look when they are worn, which beats out hanging on the rack any day. But, they actually do a lot more than that, which allows you to use them when trying to influence your customers’ behavior.

Mannequins have the unique ability to make customers subconsciously make a connection with the clothing. People can walk by garment racks all day and never image wearing the clothes that are hanging there. They might notice a design that they like or an interesting fabric. But, if they don’t consider how the clothing will make them feel and what other people will think of the clothing, then they are not likely to ever make a purchase. Putting a female mannequin or a dress mannequin in the window will make people passing by instantly imagine themselves wearing the clothes. That’s half the battle. Add some accessories, lighting, scenes and scenarios, and you’ve got them also imagining what it would be like to wear the clothes and what other people would think of it.

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.

Make Room in a Small Boutique

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Maier, Jr.) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:03:00 +0000

If you run a boutique, chances are space is an issue. Many boutiques are run by individual owners who simply cannot invest a lot of money on store space. Therefore, it becomes important to make the most of the space that you have available. Whether you’ve expanded your inventory, or you’ve always needed more room, you can use these tips to help you make room by following these steps.

First, you need to get rid of merchandise that just isn’t moving. Have a sidewalk sale or set up a clearance area and sell off what you can to make some room. Floor space and garment racks should not be crowded, so do what you can to consolidate, but don’t pack things together so tightly that no one is interested in digging through them. Move some things to storage if you have to.

Make use of the vertical space in your store. A popular option for retail merchandising is to have gridwall or slatwall installed. It is fairly inexpensive and can save you loads of space. Plus, there are other benefits to using it.

With a few simple accessories like hanging bars, shelves and hooks, you can turn your grid wall or slat wall into a merchandising and promotion dream. Using gridwall and slatwall systems puts your merchandise up where people can actually see what you have at a glance. Since customers often use their first impressions to determine whether or not they will buy anything, letting them know what you have when they walk in is a great idea.

When the floor is more spacious and open, you are less likely to lose merchandise to shoplifters. Gridwall and slatwall are loved by retailers everywhere because of this feature. Your employees can see shoppers from all around when there is no place to hide. Having crowded clothing racks just a few feet apart gives thieves the sense of security that they need to shoplift.

Clearing out floor space by using gridwall and slatwall makes your store look more inviting. It makes it more user-friendly, clean and organized. It also creates open spaces that you can use for more interesting displays, like mannequin displays. You can even hang mannequin torso forms on the ends of your hanging racks that protrude from your gridwall or slatwall. This is an effective way of letting your customers know what your clothing looks like when it is worn and drawing attention to your items.

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.

A Professional’s Guide to Consumer Behavior

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Maier, Jr.) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:42:00 +0000

Understanding consumer behavior is essential when you are preparing your store for the new year. Marketing and merchandising are centered around how you will make consumers feel, think, and act. The main goal of marketing is to influence the way that consumers think. Motivating them to decide to buy what you want them to buy is what must be accomplished to ensure a profitable selling season.

Customers are as influenced by experience as they are by product positioning and presentation. Training your employees to offer customer service above and beyond what the customer expected can go a long way in influencing consumer behavior. When an escalated situation is handled professionally, nicely, and effectively, an aggravated customer is likely to make a purchase and return in the future. One reason is that they now have a connection with your store and your staff.

In real life, going through an ordeal that ends with a favorable outcome draws people closer together and strengthens their relationship. The same applies for customers who have a problem. Try not to dread dealing with irate customers. Look at difficult situations as ways to bond and turn problems into favorable relationships than you could not have originally obtained.

Make sure that customers feel as if you understand and acknowledge their problem. Listen more than you speak. Solve their problem in a way that exceeds their expectation and you’ve struck gold. Not only does the customer have a stronger bond with you, but they have an incident to talk about with their friends. If they walk away feeling like you handled the situation in a professional and personal manner, then they are going to spread the word.

Product positioning is also important when your intention is to influence consumer behavior. First you must understand what type of customer you are trying to influence. Are your customers looking for deals? Are they looking for quality? Are they shopping for others? Determine which sets of customers you would like each display to appeal to and go from there. For example, a table set up with sweaters that would make great gifts may be tied with ribbon to resemble a present. You could place a sign here that informs customers about your free gift wrap services.

Position your displays in areas where customers are likely to decide to make purchases. Your big attractors should be in the front of the store to draw customers in. However, you do not want all of your best finds to be right in the door, or customers will get more disappointed as they move through and leave with a bad impression. Use mannequins and signage to draw customers back further and further into the store. Impulse buys along the aisles that receive the most traffic will help to lure the customers in. Using a mannequin, like a female mannequin or male mannequin, can help you to position your product where it can be easily seen. For example, someone standing twenty feet away may notice your dress mannequin wearing a coat that they really like and move back to that area. If the coat was simply hanging, the customer would have never gone back there.

Use mannequins, spread out your merchandise, and always treat your customers with respect. You will keep the sales going through busy and slow seasons 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, gridwall and slatwall store fixtures. For more information, please visit http://www.slstoredisplays.com.

Merchandising Tips for Retailers

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Maier, Jr.) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 02:05:00 +0000

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.

Dress Up Your Boutique

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Maier, Jr.) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:59:00 +0000

The holidays are a perfect time to get your boutique looking out of this world. You’re going to have a lot more traffic than normal and you need to make a good impression. These steps will help you to keep things fresh, impress your customers, makes sells, and showcase your merchandise.

1) Make sure that your clothing racks and displays are kept nice and neat. People’s first impressions are important. You don’t want them to feel like you don’t care about the way your boutique looks. Make an effort to constantly straighten racks and stacks of clothing so that it looks presentable. This also helps to keep the clothes wrinkle free. Use nice hangers, like wooden hangers, to keep clothing separated on the garment rack. Little touches like this will keep your store looking fabulous.

2) Keep your clothing displays stocked. People think that you are about to put something on clearance if the rack is looking lean. Studies show that people bypass racks that are not stocked because they either think that something is wrong with the clothes and you are no longer going to carry them, or they think that their size is likely not there, so they don’t want to waste their time. During the holiday season, especially, you need to keep the inventory coming. If you notice something selling quickly, make sure that you have plenty of stock on hand to keep that display full.

3) Keep it fresh. People will often visit a store more than once during the holiday season. Keep it interesting by rearranging your displays daily. An easy way to do this is to use mannequins. Your mannequins are an easy way to keep things changing while helping to make sales. They are bar none the number one most effective merchandising tool on the market. They show people, at a glance, what items look like when worn. This serves many purposes. Customers don’t have to try on something to see that they like it. It draws attention to feature displays. It personalizes outfits, making it easy for customers to imagine themselves in the outfit.

Using a dress mannequin or female mannequin designed for dresses makes a huge difference in the way that dresses are viewed. Test out the theory by putting a different dress on your dress mannequin every day and see how the one on the mannequin outsells the rest every time. Women especially imagine themselves in clothing. They want to know how it will make them feel, not just how it looks, so mannequins posed correctly help to drive that feeling right into their consideration, boosting sales and the impression of your store.

Keeping things organized and using your mannequin displays to help sell certain items is a great thing to focus on this holiday season. Stay on top of it and your boutique may have its most successful season yet!

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.

Gridwall and Slatwall Systems Can Help You Save Space

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Maier, Jr.) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 04:04:00 +0000

Boutiques and retail stores are often short on space. How many times have you said to yourself, “If I had the space, I could do so much more with my business.”? Sometimes it’s not that we actually need a bigger space, but that we need to learn to better utilize and organize the space that we have.

Gridwall and slatwall are the most popular, cost effective items on the market for utilizing vertical space in a retail setting. But, there are more benefits to using one of these systems than you may realize.

Slatwall and gridwall panels are both fairly cheap to install. It is generally recommended that you have a professional contractor do the job to be absolutely certain that the wall panels will hold up the weight that you need them to. Check with your insurance company before you attempt it yourself because they may require that a professional contractor do it and guarantee the work.

Once installed, both systems are easy to keep clean and neat. Shelves, hooks and hanging bars are easily moved about and both slatwall and gridwall can be simply wiped down with a damp cloth when needed. Slat wall panels come in a wide variety of colors and styles that are sure to match your décor. Grid wall sections also come in a few different colors and finishes that can help you to set the tone that you want in your store.

Gridwall and slatwall allow you to conveniently and easily move displays around with very little effort. This is such a useful aspect in the retail environment where needs are constantly changing. The versatility is unmatched by any other retail display. You can quickly switch from summer to winter, from sweaters to shoes, or even from jewelry to power tools. The possibilities are truly endless.

Gridwall and slatwall both allow you to put clothing and accessories on the wall instead of in your floor space. Not only does this save you from having an overcrowded sales floor, but it also allows you to coordinate your displays to make more sales. Let’s say that you are selling general apparel, like jeans, shirts, hats and jewelry. Normally these items would be hung on different racks around the store. But, with a grid wall or a slat wall, you can hang them facing outward and next to each other. You can even use torso mannequin forms to display the outfits in their entirety without using any more space.

Using your gridwall and slatwall to your advantage can save you on rent and power, but can also make your store or boutique easier to shop in. Customers appreciate being able to see what you have without digging through racks and crowded 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, gridwall and slatwall store fixtures. For more information, please visit http://www.slstoredisplays.com.

Green Your Boutique

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Maier, Jr.) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 03:39:00 +0000

Want to make a good impression on your customers and feel better about your boutique’s impact on the environment? Use these tips to get your boutique or retail store headed in the right direction.

1. Recycle and use recycled products. Let people know that you care about recycling by providing recycle bins as well as normal trash receptacles in your store.

2. Offer online offers instead of mailers. Turn your business into a paperless environment if possible. Urge customers to let you e-mail a receipt to them instead of using paper. If you can, use recycled printer paper and receipt paper.

3. Use bamboo and organic fabrics whenever possible. People are actually looking to buy more organic cotton and renewable bamboo fabrics. Not only are these fabrics safer for our skin, but they are safer for the environment as well. Pesticides and toxic fertilizers used in cotton fields contaminate our water supply and farmland. People are becoming more and more aware of the dangers of conventional farming and they don’t want to support it. Using organic fabrics when you can will get the attention of these environmentally conscious consumers.

4. Post signs about charities that you donate money to. Give customers the option to donate to organizations that help the environment by cleaning up waste, recycling or planting trees. You can put brochures or signs near your checkout letting customers know that a portion of your proceeds will go to charities that help save the Earth and our precious natural resources.

5. Make it obvious that you are helping the environment by using bamboo instead of wood all over your store. Floors, tables, hangers, desks and doors can all be made of bamboo. You can use bamboo hangers to make sure that the message is loud and clear that you care about the environment, without sacrificing the look and feel of your store’s image.

6. Utilize as much natural light as possible to save on electricity. Sky lights are cheap to install and can even be used as spot lights. Use sheer curtains so that light can always come in. Use fans instead of central cooling whenever possible.

7. Advertise to your customers the ways that you are helping the environment and be open to suggestions. You can use a male or female mannequin to help. You can come up with creative ways to use your mannequins and displays to spread the message of saving the earth. It can be something as simple as using a dress mannequin to display your organic cotton or bamboo wear. Their shirts could have positive messages about recycling and using Earth friendly products. You can even post little signs next to their mouths with messages to your customers. Using a mannequin to spread the message is an effective way to spread the word that your boutique is an environmentally friendly one.

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.

How Mannequins Influence Consumer’s Decisions to Buy

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Maier, Jr.) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:21:00 +0000

If you don’t have mannequins in your store or boutique, then you could be making a big mistake. There are so many benefits to having mannequins in the store that you probably haven’t even begun to imagine how they could help you.

Most retailers invest a little in mannequins simply to fill out their window displays. Well, they soon discover that there are so many other benefits! Mannequins can not only help you to make money, but can actually save you money, influence your customers to buy, reduce your losses, and save your employees’ time. Here we’ve listed just a few ways that mannequins can help you. Once you start getting into them you’re bound to discover new and exciting ways to use them.

Almost all sales are unplanned. This is why it is so important to influence the people that pass by your store. Consumers have a deep seeded desire to fit into a group or vision that they have of themselves. When looking to buy clothing, they go through a process of imagining themselves wearing the clothes, what they might be doing while they are wearing them, and how that might make them feel. If all areas of their decision making process are satisfied, they are likely to make a purchase.

Using a mannequin not only gives them the subconscious approval of other human beings, but also forces the image of the clothes being worn into the mind. The consumer instantly starts going through the process in their mind whether they planned to or not. Even if they would have never looked twice at the clothes on the rack, seeing them on the mannequin almost forces them to consider it. This is a powerful marketing tactic that helps boost sales.

Mannequins throughout the store can help your customers to locate items that they may be interested in. If they pass the front of the store and nothing really grabs them, they are likely to stop wasting time and leave. But mannequins offer a big visual clue as to what is in store if they keep travelling deeper in. They may see dress mannequins in the back that catch their eye. Big hats or brightly colored clothing are helpful here, too. This gives you the opportunity to have customers check out your other promotions along the way.

Mannequin displays can also help you to reduce losses. Put them in areas where shoplifters might think that they will find some cover. Mannequins, especially tall or elevated ones, give people the feeling that they are being watched. This is often enough to deter a thief. It is especially effective if you spotlight the mannequin or arrange things in a way that give the shoplifter little cover. Don’t put circular racks in a back corner, it is too easy to hide from the cameras, mirrors, employees, etc. Open bottom tables are better displays for these areas, or simply leave the floor clear and rely on spaced out gridwall or slatwall 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, gridwall and slatwall store fixtures. For more information, please visit http://www.slstoredisplays.com.

Keeping Up with Retail Appearances

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Maier, Jr.) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:41:00 +0000

Like it or not, customers constantly judge you based on your appearance. How you dress, your hair, make-up, your employees attention to service, that piece of trash on the floor, and the messy table of products that ten anxious shoppers just rummaged through. All of these things and more can help a person form an opinion about you, your store, and your products in a matter of seconds. Keeping up the appearance that you want to present can be challenging in the hectic holiday season.

Make sure that you have the basic foundation of order under your belt. Using retail displays that are designed well is a good place to start. Circular racks can easily get crowded and look a mess even if everything there is in order. Forward facing displays are not only more effective, they are easier to keep straight and show the customer what you have to offer before they touch a thing.

Using display wall units, like gridwall and slatwall, will really help you to keep the store straight. Hanging items up high means that customers can see the products way before they even enter the store. They are displayed facing outward and spotlights can showcase something even if it is high overhead. Customers will need assistance to look at items that are up high, so this keeps them from rummaging through stacks that constantly need to be refolded and fixed.

Another benefit to having things hung up high is that an associate can always be hovering in that area to help customers. This way, people can ask questions, get immediate help, and the employee can keep track of how many items are going into and coming out of the dressing room. If people can’t hide behind crowded racks, then it is much harder to shoplift. This is especially true if they know that the employee is aware of exactly what they are holding.

Another benefit to having things displayed on gridwall or slat wall is that it is so easy to display clothing on mannequin forms. These plastic or acrylic shells are torso forms that hang from the bar in front of your inventory. They take up no floor space, but allow you to showcase certain outfits and accessories almost as well as a full size mannequin. Customers can simply scan the wall and figure out which outfits would suit their needs before they ever decide to go into the dressing room.

Gridwall and slatwall satisfy a lot of your needs and keep your retail store looking great throughout the holiday season. Your displays will sell more clothing and accessories, you can cut down on shoplifting, and the time that employees spend straightening racks. Keep your store in order this holiday season and you will rake in the benefits.

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.

Mannequin Displays for the Holidays

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Maier, Jr.) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:40:00 +0000

The holiday season is the perfect time for retail stores to get back into the black. Make sure that you take advantage of the extra traffic that you’ll have passing your store. Your window displays are a perfect place to grab attention, showcase your best apparel, and draw in new business. Use this guide to make sure that you’ve considered every angle in your visual merchandising plan.

1. Create a meaningful display. When customers can identify with a scene in a window, you tap into the reason that they are shopping. People make emotional connections with visual displays that they can relate to. Mannequins are perfect for this reason. If you can create a scene that pulls at their heart-strings, then you have really accomplished establishing that connection.

2. Shoppers are generally in a hurry to get their shopping done. They want good deals and they don’t want to shop for longer than necessary. They are often stressed, so a calming display can help to soothe their nerves and not want to turn the other way when they see the commotion inside your store. Christmas lights, fluffy snow, soft music, and touching scenes will do the trick.

3. Mannequins also help to slow customers down. If they see a scene, they will take just a moment to figure out what is going on. Give your mannequins a personality and have them interact with other mannequins. This accomplishes a lot of goals. One, the customer can quickly see what you have to offer, outfits, accessories, etc. Two, they can immediately see what those items look like when they are worn, automatically saving them some time. Then, before they know it, they have slowed down, their interest has been peaked, and they can see that the items in your store will fit their needs.

4. Utilize your window and mannequin displays to save shoppers time, but also to save your employees from constantly having to manage the fitting rooms and straighten your displays. When you use a lot of mannequins or hangable mannequin forms, not only will you be showing off merchandise that is normally hidden on a rack, but you are also showing them what it will look like on. Often times this will keep customers from unfolding things and trying them on, saving your employees precious time during the busy season.

5. Use the mannequins for their intention. There are so many on the market that you can really get detailed in your display. For example, dress mannequins are designed to make tailored dresses look their best. The expression on the female mannequin face, fitting hairstyles, and posability are all things to look for when you buy a mannequin. Imagine what feeling you want to get across and then shop for the mannequin that best suits your 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.

How to Keep up with Merchandising During the Holidays

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Maier, Jr.) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:08:00 +0000

The holiday season is an exciting time in retail. But, it can also be a challenging time for retailers. The store can really get cluttered with all of the extra holiday inventory. Keeping up with organization, customer demands, inventory, and displays can make it hard to stay in the holiday spirit. Use these tips to simplify and streamline the process.

1. Give employees an updated inventory list every day. If racks start to run low, they can quickly reference if there are more products in storage or not. No more wasted time rummaging through boxes to figure out if they can find another size for a customer.

2. Prepare your inventory for presentation before you need it. You don’t need to be pulling wrinkled garments out of boxes and displaying them before they are ready. Keep a steamer or two in your back room. Fill the room with rolling garment racks and hang everything that comes in as soon as you get it. Get it steamed and ready to go out.

3. Keep a list of your hottest products next to the register. Have the cashier check off or make a mark when one of the hot items sells. Have them alert another employee when a certain item or size of an item gets up to a good number. The other employees can quickly restock sizes before you lose a sale.

4. Have employees greet customers and let them know that you have plenty of inventory in the back if they can’t find something. This will keep them from ignoring racks or stacks that are looking low.

5. Get your employees to follow a system of maintenance. Every time they help a customer, they should straighten racks and displays on their way to the next customer. Just make sure that they drop everything if a customer needs help. Also make sure that they know it is rude to straighten things when a customer is trying to look at them or immediate after they messed things up. Always be courteous and eager to assist.

6. Make sure that your items are clearly visible to customers. Showcase each item in a way the keeps customers from rummaging through stacks. Slatwall and gridwall displays are perfect for this. You can utilize wall space by hanging items on outward facing racks. Hanging mannequin forms are perfect for showing off your best outfits. Just hang them on the end of the rack and customers can easily see them, even from outside the store. If they already know what something looks like on, then they are less likely to need to rummage through the rack.

By manipulating the displays on your slatwall or grid wall, you can keep them looking full. If you run out of something, simply move the hanging bars or racks around a little to fill up the space. Keep everything organized and your holiday season can be a productive and exciting one!

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.

Creating Effective Visual Displays

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Maier, Jr.) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:34:00 +0000

Creating attractive displays can get cumbersome if you use the same ideas over and over again. No matter how wonderful a display may be, if you use it too much, customers will lose interest, employees will not be excited, and your store will begin to look boring. Use these ideas to put life back into your retail displays. Get your store organized for optimal sales. Get ready for the holiday season and have your store functioning more efficiently than ever.

It’s not just how a display looks that is important. You could build an intricate model of the Eiffel tower with purses. It would be interesting, but wouldn’t necessarily sell any purses. The style of the display should match the style of the item that you are promoting. For example, distress washed jeans and vintage t-shirts could have a rock-n-roll style of display, loosely stacked on a table or worn by a mannequin wearing a hat and a head-set. That may not work so well for a designer suit, which is better showcased on a wooden hanger or more sophisticated mannequin.

If the clothing that you sell is casual, you can get really creative. But, you shouldn’t forget that it is important to maintain your image, build customer confidence, grab attention, and keep things organized. It’s a lot to think about, but not very hard to obtain.

Start with being organized and displaying things where customers can actually see them. Crowded, jumbled racks are just an inefficient, ineffective way to go. Utilizing a system, such as gridwall or a slatwall system, can keep things really organized and give your customers unmatched views of your merchandise. These are especially effective for maximizing small retail spaces that you see in malls and boutiques.

Hang enough items facing front that your displays really communicate your style. Alternate textures and styles, or use colors to create interesting patterns. You can really use your imagination, but be careful not to take attention away from the products that you are promoting. If your red clothing all forms a star in the middle of your gridwall, it will definitely grab attention! But did it lead all of your customers straight past your promotional display? Make sure that you position displays around big attention getters so that they will be seen.

Gridwalland slatwall displays are perhaps the most useful retail displays on the market. You can cheaply and easily mix it up as often as you’d like. You can move racks, bars, hooks and shelves around throughout the day to keep all of your displays looking fresh. This helps to build customer confidence because your racks don’t look empty. It helps you to keep up with business on days like Black Friday, and make it look effortless. Use your gridwall or slat wall displays to showcase your items this year.

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.