Even if you don’t think you have an “artistic eye,” these must-know techniques will help you create intriguing displays that encourage shoppers to stay longer and buy more.
Humans may be primarily visual beings, but we use all our senses to make decisions. And, these days, successful retailing requires giving customers a comprehensively excellent experience. So think multi-sensory when designing displays:
Psychology — our emotional response to what our senses take in — plays a powerful role in purchasing. Customers want facts about products, but even more, they want to know how that purchase will make them feel. Will they be prettier, more relaxed, more comfortable, a more popular host, a more accomplished cook? Will their home or yard or office look and/or function better?
Speak to them with color because science has proven that different colors inspire specific emotions.
This is the underlying point of visual merchandising. But it takes more than piling items on shelves to entice customers.
Put your hot, new merchandise near the entrance to instantly grab attention. Place it toward the right, because that’s the direction most customers look first.
Customers are used to shopping online and using digital devices to live their lives. They expect the same sort of tech-enhanced experience when they shop in person. New technologies offer increasingly engaging ways to deliver that in-store experience, from digital signage and displays to interactive touch-screens that let customers browse or customize products to zap-and-go payment. Go bold with wearable technology or beacons that reach out to individual shoppers.
It’s not easy to keep up with evolving technology, but if you make an effort to incorporate relevant new options, your customers will take notice. They will appreciate the convenience and personalization, and mark your brand as an innovator.
Signage is also a visual tool that directs traffic, catches the eye, and informs customers. Keep text short and gold. Or use graphics to deliver messages even faster than words.
How likely are you to shop in a store where you’ve memorized all the displays? The same old same old shouts, “Nothing new here!” Might as well move on, right? Change up your displays regularly and move products around your store to showcase different items.
Even the most creative retailer needs inspiration. Find your visual merchandise muse in online articles, on Pinterest, in other stores. When you see a display you love, ask yourself why.
When you appeal to all five senses plus your customer’s emotional “sixth sense,” use signage to help guide them and technology to personalize their experience, you will accomplish the ultimate goal of visual merchandising: increased sales.