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.