Monday 10 September 2012

Colours: Important Tool in Visual Merchandiser's Toolset

This article is courtesy of VM Design, which provides Retail Window Dressing services.

Visual merchandising is a process of promoting the sale of goods through their special presentation in different outlets. Many elements are used by a visual merchandiser for the creation of an effective display. These include balance, harmony, rhythm, space, color, lighting, product information, sensory inputs such as sound, touch, smell, and technologies such as interactive installations and digital displays.

Color and lighting is a huge contribution in creating a first impression on customers as it makes up a store's appearance more exciting and interesting. A color wheel is a handy tool to use in developing a color scheme for a store. Several color schemes are possible by choosing different combinations. Blue is a cool color and it calms and relaxes excited people whereas green is easy for the eyes and stimulates conversation. On the other hand, red excites an individual and induces aggression. There are no absolute rules for combining colors, only flexible guidelines.

Experimentation and imagination will find color schemes according to the atmosphere that attract customers. The type of merchandise features such as jewelry, hardware, and clothing will have an effect on the type of color scheme that can be used and the ratio of each color.

There are various color schemes, which can be used according to the type of merchandise and business. There is a monochromatic scheme in which a single color is used with three to five tints. For example, several pieces of blue merchandise can be arranged together with each range consisting of a different value ranging from baby blue to navy blue.

Under analogous scheme, three or four consecutive colors are combined to make up a combination. This can be used to create a soft and subtle décor and warm or cool effect. Examples of this scheme could be yellow, yellow-green, green and blue-green or blue, blue-green and green. This scheme should be handled with care so that it does not lead to over stimulating or too much depressing atmosphere. A complementary color scheme is represented by two colors that are exactly opposite one another such as green and red or yellow and purple. This can result in a very pleasing combination of warm and cool colors. One way to learn about color is to observe some new stores and see what color combinations have been used in different departments. In the last resort, you can take the help of a visual merchandiser.

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Sunday 2 September 2012

what is visual merchandising

Visual Merchandising

is the art of presenting the store and the merchandise in the best possible way. The aim of any retail visual merchandising is to maximise profit while minimising the costs.

Visual Merchandising is a key instrument in showing off the uniqueness of the merchandise for maximising the marketing and sales.

Especially in the developed countries, such as the United Kingdom, visual merchandising has an important priority in commercial product and store planning.

Most big retail chains understand that ill presentation and bad display will have a negative impact on the sales. As a result they adopt the scientific visual merchandising techniques rather than the traditional practices of display of merchandise.

Visual merchandising spans a wide range of activities from educating the customers on the use of a new product or service to creating desire, which is all aimed at augmenting the sales process. Retail visual merchandising not only helps the shoppers’ make the right purchasing decision but will also helpestablish a long lasting impact by setting the company apart in an exclusive position. It combines the marketing, product design and most importantly marketing.

Duties of Visual Merchandiser

The retail window dressing experts possess a mixture of skills including, technical aspects, creativity as well as extensive business and product knowledge. Depending on the nature and the size of the retail shop typical work responsibilities may be slightly different but the typical work activities include (but not limited to):

Following local and national marketing trends
Tracking the competition’s point-of-sale and window display ideas
Producing new promotional activities, events and displays
Having an awareness of stock levels to restyle the activities accordingly and easily
Understanding of sales figures and data analysis for shaping future activities

Whatever you decide to do with your business, do make sure to pay extra attention to your visual merchandising.

Retail Window Dressing

Visual Merchandising and Window Dressing Services

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Monday 30 July 2012

Important Considerations When Planning Window Dressing

Retail window dressing is probably the most commonly known and used visual merchandising technique.

From the small independent shops to the multi-million high street retail chains, this technique is used for distinguishing the shop's brand from the competition.
If it is planned and executed well, it can be one of the most effective ways to increase the sales in a shop. However, if you do not implement a well thought plan, it may detract the potential shoppers.
It is very important that you present your shop's brand well to your potential customers. And, there are a number of options that one has to consider to make window dressing a success.
Here are a number of very important considerations that you should be aware of:

Colours: You have all the colours of the rainbow to choose from when setting up window dressing, but not just any colour will do. Although going with your business theme is one of the top picks, it can also suck if you have terrible colour combinations. Therefore, you need to research and find out which colours are attractive, soothing and more likely to win a customer's trust fast.

Sunlight and lighting: How does sunlight strike the display window? Can it get to a point sunlight will get in the way of visibility of the window dressing from the outside? When dressing your window, you will want to go with the right window treatments that protect what is behind the glass without negatively affecting the people in front of it.

Functions: Different window dressing types have different functionalities. This is a very important issue when selecting the type of window set-up. Some of the window dressing types are costly and take a lot of time and energy to put up while others are simple enough to put up in a few minutes. You must evaluate your needs and budget and make a decision that you will be happy with.

Size and Materials: When you are designing your shop window, you must consider the size and the material to be used. There are some materials that you can adjust to fit the display window while others cannot. You have a wide variety of materials to choose from as well but you can pick one depending on price, size, use, effectiveness, colours and form.

Please note that all these options are very important. As such, each option should be considered and planned with care in order to make the window dressing a success.

VM Design provide Visual Merchandising services.

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Tuesday 10 April 2012

Basic Window Dressing Rules to Make More Sales

Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/6985085

In today's competitive commercial world, the visual merchandising has become a very important tool in retailers' marketing toolset. All the tricks of visual merchandising are used every day for promoting the products as well as increasing the sales.

As part of this visual merchandising battle to win the "hearts and minds" of the shoopers, the shop window displays have grown to be increasingly important battle grounds and they have become very sophisticated over the years.

It has been widely published that a well coordinated combination of merchandising and eye catching display in the shop window will influence why the customers decide to shop in one store instead of the other.

Both consumers and customers in general become more and more informed about the different marketing strategies and tricks. If you are a retail shop owner who is looking for some ideas and inspiration, here are some of the top tips on setting up the window dressing in your store to attract more customers and to increase your sales:

The first thing that your window dressing approach to marketing must do is to attract the attention of passers-by, this is very important. This means that your window dressing should be appealing enough to attract people's attention and should be more cutting-edge compared to other competitors'.
Make changes, you will probably be attracting the attention of people who pass by your shop every day, you will want to make them believe there have been changes - for the better. This means you need to illuminate the display items and use relevant brand colours. Good lighting is essential especially on gloomy days and during the night.
Something else that most shop owners overlook is the importance of keeping the windows clean. This sounds straightforward but unless you remove those stickers that offered a discount last Christmas or completely wash off the remaining sticker marks from adhesives and sticking tapes, you risk chasing customers away because they will not take the display seriously.
Use your creativity, no matter how tempting it is, you should not copy your next shop just because his style of shop window dressing is working. Be creative and put your wildest ideas into action; sometimes the controversial changes you make could rake in more customers than you anticipate.
Lastly, choose the items you are going to place on the windows carefully. Wrap them properly if need be, polish them and under no circumstances should you make them look like you are desperate to sell them off.

VM Design provides Window Dressing services in all over of the United Kingdom.

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