Arranging Merchandise By the Book Display Trends at College Stores

Having engaging displays is just as important at college stores as it is at merchandisers that are not located on a college campus. From attracting customers to moving products, college store staff members for this article discussed just what they do to get an "A" in display.

At the Seattle University Campus Store, store Manager Sione Pauu described the display philosophy of the Seattle, Wash. store as involving both thematic and mix and match approaches.

“In terms of themes, we usually go with seasonal themes, it just depends on the time of the year. Backto-school is the season that we focus on dorm related merchandise, while in the winter, we are more about sweaters and warmer clothing in our displays. We will definitely mix and match items in our displays, but usually things that would naturally go together, like sweaters with hats.” Pauu’s top display tip is to “Display whatever is in stock and place it where it is going to be seen. At our store, we have displays at both of our entrances with lots of new items.”

The lesson Pauu has learned and wants to impart about successful displays is basically all about keeping things fresh.

“The best way to display merchandise is to always change the displays, do it more often than not. You need to do that to attract more attention. Even if it’s the same season, so thematically you’re not changing the display, you want to keep it looking fresh and different.” He added, “We get a lot of the same people coming in, the same students, so you have to keep changing the look so they know there are different things in the store, things they wouldn’t see otherwise without a fresh display to show them.”

In Tucson, Ariz., Cely Portillo , clothing associate at the University of Arizona Bookstore, has created many different displays. “All of our displays really focus on the brands we offer. We carry a lot of name brands, particularly in clothing, whether it is Nike or Collesium or what have you. We also believe in doing mix and match with our merchandise, usually in themed displays. Let’s say we have a Mom-and-Dad themed display, that’s where we would really have things like decals, shirts, mugs, all of that placed together in one display, but as items that would appeal to parents.”

Portillo’s top display tip is to “keep things organized. Our merchandise is primarily displayed in the departments where the displays fit, clothing is a bit of an outlier with that, we have clothing in displays all over the

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