A well merchandised retail space exerts a powerful effect on the way it’s products are perceived by potential customers. It is the point of introduction between your product and the consumer and inevitably projects an implicit message regarding the value and quality of the items you offer. Choosing the appropriate retail store fixtures to merchandise your items are as important as selecting the garments you stock for sale.
Store fixtures and merchandising within a retail environment are the key elements towards building a brand image, identifying with the customer and establishing loyalty. This is as important to the independent boutique owner as it is to the high street retail colossus.
Store fixtures are a visual and psychological tool that is the key to successful retail selling. It can be used to make a strong, positive impression and set you apart from your competition or be the unwitting cause of your downfall. You can have the best products in the world, but if you don’t communicate this fact effectively, you have nothing.
Although the apparel industry has had a rough-ride recently, there are still many independent retailers who are seeing steady sales and even the prospect of growth. Without a doubt the most effective marketing tool the retailer controls and the tool with the most measurable ROI on the revitalization of business is the retail make-over.
Today’s shopper bores easily, craves novelty and is easily blinded by familiarity. We reflect the fast pace of our information age with our attention span. You may think this over-simplifies and magnifies an inherent human weakness but this is never truer than in relation to fashion merchandising. In response to this, today’s retailer needs to regularly reinvent and re-brand themselves to maintain vitality and to remain in the costumers consciousness.
Impression is everything to today’s consumer. Before she or he will open a wallet certain (subliminal) questions need an answering. After considerations of cost and value which are variable from one customer another, is the most important question is – is this store a dependable representative of style and taste?
The answer to this question can be implied even before a customer sets foot inside a shop, it begins with the exterior. The outside aesthetics of a store, along with what is visualized within and through the window, will either attract a customer or make them a passer-by.
This is fundamental marketing – does your branding, merchandise and visual store display have the vitality and draw to bring customers into your store or are they by-passing you for your competitor?
If this is the case, where do you begin?
Firstly, your store’s image should be fresh. Perhaps it is time to redecorate. If so, be sure to select some contemporary color combination’s. Avoid unnecessary decorative distractions and, as much as you may love your pet Cocker Spaniel there is no place for its 8″ x 10″ glossy within a clothing boutique. Tasteful, and to a large degree impersonal, neutrality works best.
Next take a hard look at your store fixtures – what condition are they in? Dilapidated displays will not be sending the right messages to your customer and shows a lack of respect for the merchandise being displayed. If the retail fixtures need replacing buy quality. Cheap displays confer thrifty, if you are a discount store then it may be appropriate but if you are aiming for a different demographic – think again.
Stay current with the latest fashion trends but be sure to put your own unique stamp on your retail by the items you select to sell from within that framework.
Frequently, the best ideas for merchandising or redecorating your retail store can be found online. Also, in many large metropolitan areas there are fashion and vocational training schools where you can find eager fashion merchandising students who would be happy to visit your store and give you tips and help with merchandising your store for class credits and for building their portfolio. A fresh outlook is often all that is needed.
