International VM/Display Conference Magazine from The British Display Society

In collaboration with TU Dublin, the British Display Society joined forces with international academics, VM practitioners, students, and retailers to reflect and debate the needs of both the designer and the client in the new age of phygital. A world where the fundamental physical practice of the Visual Merchandiser collides with the digital, leaving more aesthetic, real and virtual spaces. Current academics and practitioners are taking in hand the future of future practitioners by exploring and discovering alternative perspectives in the fundamental practice of visual merchandising. With sustainability always at the core, display practitioners will rename and re-situate themselves, ready for the remainder of the 21st century and beyond. The two-day conference was held in Dublin, Ireland, on June 14 & 15, 2023, at the TU Dublin East Quad campus and was a huge success. With over 65 who took time out from their busy schedule to come to Dublin, there were a further 40 joining on-line, as well as a couple of Guest Speakers joining from Spain and the US.

The conference talks included:

• Reimagining the Future for Visual Merchandising - praxis and theory

• What’s in a Name? - rebranding display

• Innovations in Visual Merchandising

• Customer and Retail Design

The two-day conference gave attendees the opportunity to network and develop new contacts within the VM industry. It was good to catch up with familiar faces who feel so passionate about the VM industry.

During the conference, we had the opportunity to see the Graduate Show exhibition by the TU Dublin students.

It was good to see the winners from the BDS Centre of Excellence

Student Competition held at the 2023 VM & Display Show

Conference Organisers

Dr. Kerry Meakin

BA (Hons), MA, PhD, Honorary Fellow of the British Display Society. Kerry is a lecturer in Visual Merchandising at TU Dublin

Iain Kimmins

Director & Chair of The British Display Society and Fellow of the British Display Society. Iain is also the owner/founder of Creative Download.

Thank you to Kerry Meakin for providing the space at TU Dublin in order to hold this conference. TU Dublin is a BDS Centre of Excellence college.

The BDS offers a ‘Centre of Excellence’ recognition to colleges and retail in-house training schemes offering courses in the field of Visual Merchandising, Display, Exhibition Design, Retail Fashion, 3-D Design, Interior Design and other related professions.

A big thank you goes to:

Michelle Lalor, Anthony O’Connor, Dr. Neville Knott, Tracey Dalton, Katriona Flynn, and Donal Lally.

Thanks to the TU Dublin School Exec for providing the Sign Language Interpreters. Thanks to the Session Chairs, Donal Lally, Ed Stammers, Katriona Flynn and Barbara Chapman.

Thanks to the speakers - Tim Radley, Barbara Chapman, Heidi Svendsen, Sue Robinson, Dr. Neville Knott, Tracey Dalton, Michelle Lalor, Pilar Escolano, Leo van der Polder, John Abbate, Erika Scharff, and our Keynote Eric Feigenbaum.

Thank you to our fantastic students for their input.

Thanks to those who attended from industry and thank you to all our online attendees.

What happens when you bring a bunch of Visual Merchandisers together? Some great discussions, insights and solutions, and a lot of fun!

Welcome

Welcome from Dr. Kerry Meakin Programme Chair BA Visual Merchandising & Display, TU Dublin School of Art + Design and Iain Kimmins - Chair of the British Display Society.

Kerry Meakin

Dr. Kerry Meakin BA (Hons), MA, PhD, Honorary Fellow of the British Display Society Hons FBDS.

Dr. Kerry Meakin has over 35 years Visual Merchandising and design experience in the retail sectors in Dublin, Ireland and London, England. She has an honours degree in Interior Design (2008), and a Master of Arts in Higher Education (2011). Kerry has been the Programme Chair of the BA Visual Merchandising & Display at the TU Dublin School of Art + Design since 2014. She has been the WorldSkills Ireland Expert since 2013, responsible for running the annual competition, and has represented Ireland as a VM Expert at WorldSkills competitions in Abu Dhabi and Kazan, Russia.

Ed Stammers

Edward Stammers MA, PG Cert Programme Director - Fashion Marketing, Branding Fashion Marketing, Branding & Visual Merchandising

British Display Society Director & Chair Visual Merchandising Consultant

Iain Kimmins FBDS

The Rationale for Conference Dr. Kerry Meakin

Kerry opened the conference and touched upon: World vision of display, VM is at risk of not being taught. VM is often linked to fashion, but VM can do much more – other products etc. AI & Metaverse are needed in both physical & digital VM skills. VM is being closed down in education. We need to encourage students they can have a career in VM. Other fields VM students can go into need to be known, e.g. Wedding Designer, Interior Designer, Buyers, Display Companies, metaverse shopping and so much more. There is a disconnect between skills and needs and also what VM needs vs what is being invested in it. VM is a more dynamic & worthwhile career.

Keynote Speaker: Eric Feigenbaum

Eric Feigenbaum is the New York Editor, VMSD Magazine; President, Embrace Design; former chair of visual merchandising, LIM College and former adjunct professor, Fashion Institute of Technology.

Cobblestones to Cyberspace is Eric’s dynamic presentation documenting the history of visual merchandising and store design as seen through the pages of VMSD Magazine. Founded in 1897, VMSD has continuously reported on the evolution of the industry as it adapted to the conditions of the day, new technologies and innovative presentation techniques.

It was founded by L. Frank Baum, the creator of The Wizard of Oz. He is credited for creating the presentation of merchandise using ‘sensory merchandising’, performance art and retail display.

Window display and mannequins reflect what is going on in the world. VM’ers are resourceful and problem-solving. We create the personality traits of a store so a customer feels at home. There is ‘fashion’ in everything.

In today’s ‘Shop of the Future’ do you spread Visual Merchandising more thinly or Indulge in its Richness?

Tim Radley

Visual Merchandising, like any function within a retail business is having to adapt in response to the paradigm shifts that are occurring in the industry, from digital rich-media, to re-purposed high streets.

But it cannot adapt and respond in isolation. This is not a matter of improving visual display itself. It must integrate.

A good place to begin is the physical shop. The bastion of visual merchandising.

The role of the physical shop is no longer just about selling product. Commercial retailers are using space and resources to create ‘retail hubs.’

The ‘Shopper Paradise’ will still be the priority for most shops, more inspirational and theatrical than ever. But it will be a smaller part of smaller shops. Less product, less options/sqm of less sqm.

The ‘Community Hub’ is growing in importance with more space set-aside to engage customers and build loyalty.

The ’Collection Crossroads’ is growing to serve the omni-channel customer. Stockrooms of unsold products replaced by paid for purchases.

This new shop has less opportunity to work with product display. But it does have exciting opportunities, because product enthusiastic visual merchandisers, are also enthusiasts of customers, of talking & demonstrating to customers the benefits & the beauty of products.

Visual merchandisers are product people, but they are also people people. You could not wish to find a more gregarious group of individuals.

Interactive workshops and customer activities, lessons in how to dress, how to coordinate, how to ‘wear your wardrobe’, teaching how to up-cycle to create new products from old. These are all well suited to visual merchandisers.

Add to this the role of spontaneous personal stylists, in the physical & digital space, the opportunity to take their skills out of the shop as brand ambassadors to work with schools, colleges, recyclers.

Would visual merchandisers be re-energised by the opportunity to interact not only with mannequins, but also with real flesh & blood and the personalities behind them?

The alternative could well be chains of shops, each with less product, each with less justification for dedicated visual merchandisers. The answer, to spread their VM resources across more stores. More hours on the road and less on the shopfloor, more remote guidance than hands-on inspiration.

Personally, visual merchandisers are worth their weight in gold, but commercial businesses will think more pragmatically.

So, the questions remains …

As visual merchandisers, would you prefer to be spread more cost-effectively across more stores? Or would you like to be embraced as a rich resource, that can bring shops, customers, and communities alive, and satisfy the new role of physical shops, and the boardrooms and managers that fund them?

Visual Merchandising and storytelling, how brands reinvent themselves in the current climate

Barbara Chapman

With over 35 years of creative experience across the luxury, high fashion and high street retail sector Barbara Chapman brings an understanding of how to deliver brands across every touch-point –windows, in store VM, Press Shows, launch parties, showrooms, TV, venue and set dressing and photographic shoots.

She believes that creativity, design and styling can achieve commercial success by inspiring brand awareness through innovative, creative and unique customer experiences. Using skills in creative conceptualisation, project management and both old school crafting and hi-tech execution, she delivers unique and motivating environments.

Barbara has worked with an extensive range of brands including Selfridges, Fendi, Nike, Burberry, Mulberry, Disney, VH1, ITV, Jo Malone, Ralph Lauren, Jaeger, Oasis and Top Shop.

She is also an Associate lecturer in VM, a guest speaker and a Director of the British Display Society.

We have experienced challenging times in retail over the last few year with world events such as the pandemic, Brexit and the current cost of living crisis all taking their toll on our industry.

With that in mind the question I get asked most by my students and when guest speaking at retail events is what is the future of VM and indeed is there one? The presentation covered my views on how now, more than ever, brands are looking to their VM teams to create exciting and immersive customer experiences. Now is the time, I believe, for us to take responsibility to re-imagine the role of VM as we knew it. We as an industry have to react now. It’s not purely just about selling a product anymore (although of course this is still paramount to the commercial success of the brand). That alone is not enough to build brand loyalty and a returning customer, but it is up to us, as visual merchandisers, to create an exciting environment through innovative windows, VM handling techniques, lighting, music, creating community, customer events and telling cohesive themes running across all channels.

The pandemic bred consumer behaviour of which we all became accustomed. We could sit at home on our bed, with our laptop, in our pyjamas and spend hundreds of pounds online without setting one foot outside the house. What we as visual merchandisers must do is now create an exciting and unique alternative to that to entice customers back into our bricks & mortar stores in a way which reflects their brand values and ethos.

Today many consumers (especially millennials and Generation Z don’t buy your products simply because you have the best product, but because of what you stand for. In fact a Harvard Business Review study found that 64% of consumers say that shared values is the primary reason they have a relationship with a brand. That was by and large the biggest driver, and only 13% cited frequent interactions as the primary reason for a relationship. That means, that while you must interact with your customers, the quality of your interactions matters more than the quantity.

The presentation looked deeply into how we can do this as visual merchandisers in a fresh new cohesive way and bringing new life to the industry and, in fact, re-evaluating the face of VM and, indeed, create a solid foundation for its future.

Using experiential

factors to engage consumers/ Gen Zs in the metaverse: The future of visual merchandising - Heidi Svendsen

Heidi Svendsen is a fashion retail expert with over fifteen years of experience, she has specialised in the future of retail with a focus on experiential retail. Heidi is the Head of the Department of Fashion Dynamics at STADIO School of Fashion in South Africa. Research in affiliation with the University of Pretoria, South Africa. In today’s experience-driven economy, visual merchandising (VM) has become a powerful tool for retailers to create immersive brand experiences. With the emergence of the metaverse, the possibilities for VM have expanded, offering a prime moment for retailers to tap into its potential.

Investigating the influence of Pine and Gilmore’s experience realms of entertainment, education, escapism and aesthetics on relevant experiential values namely social, emotional, sensory, intellectual and technological, VM can be used as a tool to engage emerging customers increasing brand loyalty - it sells a brand life that captivates customers on multiple levels. From retail theatre to immersive aesthetics, the metaverse presents an opportunity for retailers to offer virtual escapism, beauty, and a chance to feel better. Additionally, integrating educational content empowers consumers with knowledge while stimulating curiosity. Trends

• Social value: shopping within gaming. Interacting with people and friends in a store is a social activity.

• Intellectual value: How is consumer curiosity stimulated and what is the intellectual value of engagement?

• Emotional value: linking to the brand, its values and story and engaging with other people.

• Sensory value: How are the senses engaged and how, where and when do consumers value these engagements?

• Tech value: positive/negative friction of using technology. This will be an important element to test.

By embracing a customer-centric approach and focusing on experiential value, retailers can forge strong brand connections, foster loyalty, and thrive in the experience-driven economy. The future of VM is promising, and those who innovate will seize its potential and flourish in the evolving retail landscape.

‘Leché Vitrines in a Phygital World’ licking the window

of the physical and digital Sue Robinson

Sue Robinson is a Lecturer at the School of Creative Industries at RMIT University in Melbourne where she teaches Visual Merchandising Interior Design and Fashion Styling. Sue was awarded an International Practitioner Fellowship in 2022. She is also Chief Judge Visual Merchandising WorldSkills Australia. Sue’s presentation gave us an overview of the VM skill in Education in Australia from 2017 onwards with the Diploma of Visual Merchandising. From then on, the Diploma has faced challenges of restructuring the length of the qualification, dwindling student applicants, and post pandemic recovery. Despite these challenges we have successfully continued to collaborate with local stores, shopping centres, design festivals and national brands to provide students with industry network experience across retail, events and styling.

Trends

• Activations where the physical and digital are brought together, offering new areas to explore for the skill.

• Post Covid, customers are more comfortable with digital.

• Upcycling: using recycled materials.

• VM is not just retail, but also events and styling. Suggest unpicking VM from Retail. A new name for the skill could help this happen.

• Initial thoughts for a new direction in my research are ‘Experiential Design’, ‘Sensory Design, ‘Experience Design’ and ‘Multi-Sensory Design’.

• What does Phytigal look like moving forward across these 3 sectors - events, retail and styling?

• How can we incorporate this into the skill?

There is an issue and perception of VM being ‘optional’. Fashion Styling courses attract far more applicants and cover some similar skills. Brand and retail marketing are not just about products anymore. Social media and video shopping are now a part of the skill set.

Panel Q&A

The best customer experience is not letting the customer down. VM is not just glitz but makes shopping simple. Experience can happen online so it’s not the solution for the high street alone. Must be an authentic experience. Customise experience to what your customer wants and not just copy experiences from other brands. Customer service is the main experience. Everything is connected. Display has always been innovative. Interactive displays are not so successful as people want to be passive and do not consider people driving by or being further away. Metaverse will need the same skills. Link brand to the consumer in 2 or 3D. “Edutainment” = education + entertainment. VM is synonymous with change. Stay curious and informed.

Interior Makeover Programmes: Visual Merchandising Strategies Behind the Camera - Dr. Neville Knott

Where VM can expand into. How designers use VM techniques to capture an audience, anywhere, on and offline. On film or video, visual markers are used in staged imagery. Create enviable lifestyles with the use of furniture and interior decoration with the techniques of colour, proportion, and style. Use reflective materials to make a space look larger and redirect light. Other VM methods are used such as vertical and horizontal lines, contrast and framing to transform a space. Displays are realistic so customers can relate to them. Seduce an audience with the impact of visual content. VM and interior design use controlled displays that follow technical not realistic and idealised ways of living.

How to build a summer pop-up store in 15 days! - Pilar Escolano

Pilar Escolano has worked as Head of Visual Merchandising for Promod, Cortefiel, Springfield, Vitra and Gocco. Pilar also teaches for universities such as ESIC, ELLE Education, Madrid and Andalusia Chambers of Commerce, and fashion school IED.

The key to being able to turn something around quickly is through retro planning and a familiar team you are used to working with. Analog of shopping is more important now as we want to experience it. AI is important to harness the creative mind will never go away. Materials and materiality feeling of things. Where do we belong in it? It will not take over jobs but could provide another facet to our role. Will affect students’ careers so must be included in the

From Art Nouveau to Metamodernism – the changing face of display

Dr. Kerry Meakin

Dr. Kerry Meakin BA (Hons), MA, PhD, Honorary Fellow of the British Display Society

Dr. Kerry Meakin has over 35 years Visual Merchandising and design experience in the retail sectors in Dublin, Ireland and London, England. She has an honours degree in Interior Design (2008), and a Master of Arts in Higher Education (2011). Kerry has been the Programme Chair of the BA Visual Merchandising & Display at the TU Dublin School of Art + Design since 2014. She has been the WorldSkills Ireland Expert since 2013, responsible for running the annual competition, and has represented Ireland as a VM Expert at WorldSkills competitions in Abu Dhabi and Kazan, Russia. She was conferred with a Doctorate from the Modern Interiors Research Centre, Kingston School of Art, Kingston University, London in 2022. The title of her PhD thesis is The Professionalisation of Window Display in Britain, 1919-1939: modern styles, associations, and education. Kerry has presented her research at international conferences and symposia. Recent publications include ‘The Bauhaus and the Fundamentals of Window Display’ in Bauhaus Effects in Art, Architecture and Design, edited by Prof. Kathleen James-Chakraborty & Sabine T. Kriebel, 58-79 (New York: Routledge, 2022), and ‘The Bauhaus and the Business of Window Display—Moholy-Nagy’s endeavours at window display in London,’ Journal of Design History 35, no. 3 (2022): 265-280.

Display practitioners have always been innovative. Display has never been just about commerciality but rather a combination of art and commerce. Due to its close connection with the quickly changing nature of retail, display practitioners must understand what styles are in the past, those which are current, and what are in the future. Armed with this knowledge display is an inventive practice. With the fundamentals of display as a baseline, display practitioners are constantly learning to create in new ways. However, to look forward we also need to be aware of our past. This paper first considers the history of innovation in display by examining how the fundamental practices of display materialised during its inception as a profession in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Second, it explores the compelling link between modern art movements and window displays throughout the twentieth century. Display windows were often the platform

from which the general populous were introduced to new art movements in a threedimensional context. Third, it examines the current art movement Metamodernism. This is a philosophy and way of life that corresponds with a digitized, post-industrial global age. A vastly simplified explanation could be ‘how do we communicate something genuine in a culture where emotional expression is so disingenuous? How can we be earnest without the cringes.’ To summarise, Metamodernism can be thought of as the oxymoron ‘ironic sincerity.’ It is a movement that playfully mocks itself and accepts its inadequacies, there is beauty in its striving. A combination of humour and critical thinking. It is an essential movement for the problems we face today, climate crisis, war, and global pandemics. It is an essential movement for display practitioners to spread to the world.

Does Visual Merchandising as our trade/ brand name quantify the exhaustive list of Visual Merchandising attributes?

Michelle Lalor

A comprehensive review of VM through the last and present century and how it has evolved. VM is referred to and described in so many ways, it is a challenge to synthesise them down to a few words. The words ‘visual’, ‘merchandising’ and ‘display’ have many perceived meanings and we question if they represent the true nature of the role as a university offering and the career paths the skills can lead to.

The technical abilities and skills a competent VM acquires are boundless and ever-changing. At the very least we are designers in our field; the research on the term ‘display’ holds us in high regard in the past and present. Art goes hand in hand with display designers but how do we rebrand visual merchandising to encapsulate this mastery of skill? VM holds a unique quality of being able to change to suit different eventualities. From the creative design perspective, we need to celebrate uniqueness and nurture thinking outside the box. Does putting us in a visual merchandising box celebrate our ability to make the exhaustive list of skills needed to quantify VM mastery?

Names that resonate with what can define our trade: Retail, Design (domestic, commercial, retail, event, museum), Experience, Image, Creative, Display.

Curated

‘Thrown Togetherness’ Visual Merchandising in the Traditional Irish Shop Pub

Tracey Dalton

Curated “thrown togetherness” in a retail setting. A maximalist interior design style. Overcrowded displays can lead to sensory overload, but it can be done well like Avoca Ireland which uses “heritage and nostalgia”, which influences the spirit. Feels like it has been handed down through the generations. The Dirty Fabulous shop in Monaghan communicates “bespoke and unique. All these retailers are doing it for a good feeling. It can be a successful model to sustain independent retailers and give individuality.

Customer and Retail Design

Leo van der Polder of Shop!

VM is framed in retail as a professional division of a business. It must be prepared for the needs of the market, and the customer journey and put a smile on customers’ faces. Use methods like neural, behavioural sciences and heatmapping to learn from customers. It also involves visual hierarchy, sight lines and placement of media.

It is part of the retail in-store design where it brings a brand proposition and customer insight together. It uses space management for the best use of space. The store has a mix of media with VM, tech, social media, signage, pop, promotions, fixtures and others. VM knows how to use ‘hot and cold spots’ in a store.

VM process starts with the brand and proposition combined with customer insights. Then develop an objective and approach to create a concept that includes media mix tactics and touchpoints. The design is finalised, built and executed. Finally, it is evaluated.

VM requires both sides of the brain, the emotional and rational. It is ‘physual’,- physical plus visual.

in a name” Encouraging Visual Merchandising as a profession - Erika Scharff

Erika Scharff is a Visual Merchandiser, a spatial designer, and a tutor at Nimeto in Utrecht. Previously the WorldSkills Netherlands coach, Erika is currently the Visual Merchandising Skills Competition Manager for WorldSkills International. In addition to education, she also creates her own art projects.

Promotion of VM. “As long as there are goods to sell, we need people to present them. “Need to convince retail to do more display. VM is design thinking, customer engagement, problem-solving, offline and online, storytelling and styling, handling products, photography, composition, light, product presentation, diversity and versatility. It is also about creating new from old and reusing. It can make both the on and offline experience.

Educational institutions need to see students as ‘customers’. What do they want? Look at things from a different educational experience. VM can also inform. It’s more than selling, it can inspire people. Show combinations that they would not have thought of. VM has a purpose to make people think about things, give meaning and back to storytelling.

Visual Merchandising and the Retail Environment. What is the Future?

John Abbate has 30+ years of international experience in VM and store design. Currently, Special Projects Lead at SaveTheHighStreet.org and director and Fellow of the British Display Society.

The British Display Society surveyed a range of retail professionals to gain an understanding of how they view the role of a visual merchandiser and the challenges the industry faces. What is the future of this fundamental skill in the ever-changing retail landscape, be that bricks and mortar stores, online channels, or virtual environments? The findings of the survey were shared with the congress who will be participating in the questionnaire so VM Spotlight will be covering this in an upcoming edition soon.

‘What’s

International Creative Display Conference

Group Session

Discussion and Findings

• Concept & Design Visualiser

• Design, Sensory, Display, Retail

• Creative Design Artist

• Field Visual Creative

What’s in a name?

Rebranding Display

• Display Artist

• Sensory Merchandising

• Jack of all trades!

• Creative Display

• Experience Design

• Display Design

• Brand/retail & events

• Brand experience

• Creative Retail Design Experience Image Display Sensory

CED Creative Experience Designer

• Visual Marketing Designer

• Thoughts on visual merchandising - perceptions around the role, that it is more than just displays.

• Global / Modern / Universal

• Retail in the name, and connotations with this word

• Creative as part of the description, but also discussed that design might incorporate this

• Instore Marketing – but also the idea that marketing isn’t seen by everyone as creative

• Visual Presentation

• Education link, students and recruitment not understanding what visual merchandising mean

• Visual Designer

• How versatile the role is, and again people’s perceptions of it. Visual Environment / Environmental / Creative

• Retail Environments Designer, Shop Environmental Designer, Retail Creative Director, Retail Spatial Designer , Creative Display, Visual

• Presentation Designer

• Linking to a sector such as fashion, home, food, or even that ‘fashioning’ word

• Advertised alongside graphics, interiors and then a visual merchandiser, and more people would be draw towards ‘designer’

• Word ‘experience’

• Store Experience Manager

• Product Designer ‘Wizard’

• Display is a very British word, presentation might be a more global word

• ‘Experience’ as a word

International Creative Display Conference

Visual Display in Dunnes, too broad people ask what does it relate to, we need something more specific, visual display might be linked with clothing/ apparel only

What’s in a name?

Rebranding Display

Canyouuseonly thewordCreator, likeadoctor,justa creator who then has aspeciality?

VisualMarketing Designer

Linksbacktodisplay meaningdifferent thingsindifferent areas.

Arranging

Creative Display, PresentationVisual Designer

Visual and Installation Designer

International Creative Display,lookingatthe nameoftheconference

Creative Services

VisualDesigner

Styling/Stylist

VisualExperience

Responsible

InspirationalSolutions

International Creative Display Conference

What’s in a name?

Rebranding display

Regarding VM in education, which is being threatened, we must bridge the gap between what students are learning and what companies want. It is about imagination and curiosity. Must use universal words that students can use to explain what they are studying and the career that is worthy to them. They questioned the worthiness of using the name ‘retail’. If only involving this, why study it? Design is a name that has more value and is in line with other creative trades such as Graphic Design, Interior Design, etc. No one knows what VM is. The name needs to be broad. Marketing, Merchandising, and Fashion are also limiting. Styling is often used to explain VM but we do much more than that. The name should be short. Creative and Design are very similar. Visual and Experience are names that touch on everything.

Visualistheold, new,experienceisthe specialityanddesignisthe attheend

Discussion and Findings

Shortlist

Potential Titles

Reimagining the Future of VM

Discussion Notes

• The role is much more than VMLess creative and more commercial/ strategy. Train students more on commercial /strategy side of the business?

• Less about window dressing and more about display

• More involvement in retail strategy

• Possible name – Creative Retail Strategist

• VM involvement in the marketing/ retail strategy should increase

• Floor managers challenge the VM daily – train VM teams to collaborate and communicate

• Job Specification - ‘Field Visual Merchandiser’

• Needs a balance between creativity and commerciality for student learning

• Dutch educational model – 2 year – commercial with creative; 4 year –more in depth, related to running the business

Reimagining the Future of VM - Notes

• Should work experience be in a block? 6 weeks –Monday to Friday

• Umbrella projects with other courses in the university –South Africa

• Briefs could question the ability of the brand to be showcased in physical and digital format - Bigger picture; Industry led brief; Commercial/Innovative and creative solutions are necessary - not just ‘pretty pictures’

• Upskill VM’s in practice – photography, exhibition stand design, fashion, styling, marketing, television, set design

• Lack of prop makers in Ireland

• Industry placement is vital in the course

• Graduates could make contact with creative directors where possible - phone, social media, in person

• Use AI to benefit your design process – the words inputted can be key – Know your enemy! Lean in to the new technology

• 30 years from now – lifestyle orientated, sensory, experiential? Still all about retail and the bottom line?

Reimagining the Future of VM FINDINGS

Findings from Discussion

• The role is much more than VM - Less creative and more commercial/strategy. Train students more on commercial /strategy side of the business?

• More involvement in retail strategy

• Possible name – Creative Retail Strategist

• Needs a balance between creativity and commerciality for student learning

• Should work experience be in a block? 6 weeks –Monday to Friday

• Upskill VM’s in practice – photography, exhibition stand design, fashion, styling, marketing, television, set design

• Industry placement is vital in the course

• Graduates could make contact with creative directors where possible - phone, social media, in person

• Use AI to benefit your design process – the words inputted can be key – Know your enemy! Lean in to the new technology

• 130 years from now? Already happening! – lifestyle orientated, sensory, experiential? Still all about retail and the bottom line?

• Sustainability

Innovations in Visual

Merchandising

Education and Industry

Innovations: what can we do differently and what do students want from their future careers?

• “Not just about VM, we can do so much more”.

FINDINGS FROM DISCUSSION

• Teaching core principles and building on the application is key.

• People don’t know about VM –“We have to explain what we do!”

• Industry doesn’t understand the full capabilities or capabilities of a VM specialist.

• Retail needs to be perceived as a desirable profession (current stigma).

• Courses need to deliver more opportunity (Unit/module range and scope) to support awareness and application of VM innovations.

• Digital needs to be more prominent in VM and the role regarding content needs to be defined.

• Recognise Multi-channel capabilities and solutions (Omni Channel projects).

• Awareness of AI implications (Use of Images/word prompts – physical product not required and how this will affect the design process.

• Profitability of the VM Specialism is still important and needs to be quantified (ROI – Increase in revenue).

• Sustainability is now built in (embedded) and evident in VM practise.

• We keep coming back to technology – these are the Game Changers.

• Brand experience is of the highest importance.

• Immersive Brand Discovery within a physical or Digital environment

To Note :Everyone can engage with a virtual environment which can be used to support and benefit the brands within the physical space environment

Celebrations!

The event ended with a Conference Dinner held in a local restaurant, followed by some fun disco dancing! Let’s just say that the attendees from the Netherlands certainly know how to party! A great time was had by all !

What’s next?

Suggestions

• 2024 Conference at University of the Arts, London

• Wider participation

• Community of Practice –keep connections going

• Students involved

• International student project – make circle bigger

• How to stay connected? LinkedIn – Discord App?

• We put everything we do in VMSD / The BDS ‘VM Spotlight’ Magazine

next year!

VISUAL MERCHANDISING AND THE RETAIL ENVIRONMENT

What is the Future?

We are surveying a range of retail professionals to gain an understanding of how they view the role of a visual merchandiser, and the challenges the industry faces.

What is the future for this fundamental skill in the ever changing retail landscape, be that bricks and mortar stores, online channels or virtual environments?

We would love to know your thoughts, please scan the QR code below to answer the survey questions.

Many thanks for your support.

So why not check out our website, sign up for membership and help us to promote and support this great industry?