VISUAL MERCHANDISING P1&P2
WRITTEN BY THOMAS DORCELY
Thomas Dorcely P1 Visual merchandising plays a key role, especially in the retail industry and can often determine the level of a business’ success in making sales. It is important when setting up visual merchandise that there is at least something unique and different that will attract customers as if there is identical merchandise elsewhere in the market, the merchandise will struggle to sell. This selling technique has helped businesses in the past to decrease the employee mix and in return increase per square feet returns to help reduce marketing budgets. There are different techniques which I will discuss that can be used to maximise sales. Quite often businesses will put their goods and services on display in order to show customers their benefits and features. The main reason that businesses use visual merchandising is in order to attract, engage and motivate the consumers and influence their decision in making the purchase. The brand’s personality and characteristics is often determined by visual merchandising. This is why businesses will focus on the design of their stores as a major part of the retail brand strategy. This means that they invest of improving the stores environment and communications with the brand by using images and signs in-store. The combination of these different elements all contribute towards the reputation of the retail brand and helps it differentiate itself from rivals whilst also creating brand loyalty. Examples of Visual Merchandising Horizontal Stacking
Vertical Stacking
Pyramid Stacking
Thomas Dorcely Types of retail outlets Department store: department stores are defined as retail establishments that offer a wider range of products and they are found in different product categories. These are called departments. Malls: this is typically a shopping centre that represents merchandisers with walkways that allows customers walk from shop to shop. Specialty stores: these are retailing business and their main focus will be on specific products. Supermarket: this is a larger form of a grocery store and this is a self-service shop and they offer a wide range of household products and food. Hypermarket: this is a retail store that is a combination of a department store and a grocery supermarket. These are typically bigger than supermarket. They offer appliances, clothing and groceries. Franchises: this is an alternative to ‘chain stores’ and it allows companies to share their goods and services without investments and liability of a chain. Discount stores: this is a retail store and they usually sell their products for cheaper than the actual market value. They usually offer a wide variety of goods but focus more on price than service. Warehouse stores: the warehouse stores are food and grocery retailers that usually offer discounted prices. Factory outlets: factory outlets can be online or brick and mortar stores where manufacturers sell stock to the public. Cash and carry: this is a form of trade where the goods are sold from a wholesale warehouse on a self-service basis or with a computerised ordering system. Visual Merchandising Techniques Micro-merchandising: This is a form of merchandising in which retailers alter and change the arrangement of products and displays to appeal to the customer’s needs and the market. Cross merchandising is where complementary products are combined in store placement to boost sales. End-cap techniques: this when items are displayed on end caps and fixtures and the end of aisles in order to grab the attention of customers when they are in the store. Proper space and theme display: theme displays are used as a form of cross merchandising when displays are built around special events or holidays. Use of fixtures and fittings: this can be linked to use of space and themes but it is important that you create the correct theme for the store and then arrange fixtures and fittings for it. Placing of dummies: placing mannequins and dummies in store are used for the customers, especially with clothing, so that they can visually see what an item might look like on a person or a set of items. Fragrance of store: the smell of a store can often set the mood and atmosphere for the customer and normally the smell is associated with what the business is selling. For example a perfume shop would have the scent of many different perfumes. Types of furniture: it is important that the furniture used in the store actually matches the atmosphere and mood of the store. As well as this businesses also take into consideration how the furniture is set out so that it is easy to walk around the store.
Thomas Dorcely
As with Asda, visual merchandising has a big part to play in maximising sales for John Lewis. The big difference in the two is that John Lewis is a department store and they have many different stores where visual merchandising needs to be used in order to make these sales. In this image John Lewis have decided to display their clothing in the shop window. This technique is used by John Lewis because their shops are usually in areas where there is a high footfall. This means there will be a high number of potential customers walking past.
The use of colours such as red and blue give an urgent yet calming feeling to this display. The red will alert the customers and catch their attention but the blue will give them a calming feeling whilst the yellow will create a positive and happy atmosphere for the working to shop in. This particular display also seems to have a special theme to it. The fact that it has its own special space indicates to customers that this particular display is theme related. This is called micromerchandising.
The visual merchandising in this image is very effective as it gives a futuristic and technological vibe to the customers. Laying out the store like this and creating this type of atmosphere and presenting the shop like this can be effective as the customer will know what to expect in the store. Also if a store is neatly presented like this, it gives a better impression to the customer. The bright lighting in store also helps to highlight the displays within the store and this will also help attract customers looking through shop windows.
Thomas Dorcely
A lot of Poundland shops can either be found on high streets or in shopping malls. What is cleverly done by them, is that as a customer you can see a lot of the items in the store just from standing outside. As the stores are relatively small, the majority of the products on sale will be on display from the outside. As they also sell a range of different products, it is also important that they use this to their advantage in order to appeal to a wider audience.
In this image the business have used ÂŁ1 display signs over their items and have also used the colour red for the display. The use of cross merchandising is also evident as there are different items grouped together. The combination of these two techniques is very effective as the displays will be what attracts the customer, especially with the colour red. While noticing the display, they will also unconsciously be viewing different items, which will increase sales for the business.
In this image they have used horizontal merchandising and also cross-merchandising. the use of horizontal merchandising is apparent as the items are arranged in a way where the customers has to look from side-to-side but more importantly crossmerchandising is important here as the drinks section is combined with the sandwich section. This is used in order to make more sales and almost tempt the customer to buy both items.
Thomas Dorcely
As many supermarkets, Asda heavily depends on visual merchandising in order to generate a high sales volume and to attract many customers. Their visual merchandising techniques can be found in store and even before you walk in an Asda store. The big, green Asda sign already indicates that customers will be saving their money by going to Asda and is also directly linked to their slogan, ‘Every little helps’. This is an example of horizontal stacking. This technique is used by Asda as shown in this image, the video games are stacked in a horizontal way. Placing the products horizontally has the potential to present products near the customer’s line of sight, the customer is also forced to move from side-to-side to follow the display.
This is an example of pyramid stacking. What’s especially clever about this display is the fact that mannequins have been used. This is effective as it helps the customer imagine the outfit on themselves or even individual items from the outfit.
Thomas Dorcely P2 There are different types of goods that these companies have in store that are all different to each other. Goods are classified into different categories based on their different characteristics, needs and uses. These different categories of goods each contribute to the visual merchandising plan of the business Different types of goods Impulse goods: these goods are likely to be bought through impulse or with very little thought involved when choosing to buy it. Convenience goods: these good are regularly bought or are a habit. These are the easiest to obtain by customers and are not usually expensive. Specialty goods: specialty goods are items that are out of the ordinary or unique enough that people go out of their way to buy in. Search and compare lines: this type of good involves customers finding products that they are interested in either on the retailer website or comparison websites which shows the availability and pricing of that product. Complementary merchandise placement: these goods are usually used or consumed with another good which can increase sales for businesses. Seasonal goods: these type of goods are only available at certain period or seasons. Asda
This image is an example of impulse buys. The items on display here are chocolate and sweets and this is commonly done in other supermarkets, not just Asda. The visual merchandising technique used in this is horizontal merchandising. This is used here so when the customers view the sweets, their attention will be drawn to other sweets and chocolate on sale as well.
Asda’s World Foods section is an example of convenience goods which includes items such as pasta and rice which are commonly bought by customers daily. In this image signage is used, which highlights the price of the various items. The bright red signage alerts customers and will make them want to buy the product urgently.
The seasonal products on offer here are items such as baby and toddler items. The type of visual merchandising used here is also horizontal. This use of it here with seasonal items is that because these type of items only last a certain period of time, customers will be forced to buy them before the season ends.
Thomas Dorcely Poundland
Here is also an example of impulse goods used in Poundland. However these are not placed near the tills like Asda and are found in the middle aisles of the store. Both use of signage and horizontal merchandising is used here in order to catch the customers attention and tempt them into buying more than one item in order to maximise sales.
The seasonal goods on sale here are Halloween Masks. These masks will only be available before the Halloween period, where most of the sales will be made. Here vertical merchandising is used in order to make this specific display stand out from the rest. As children will mostly be interested in this type of item, vertical stacking will be more effective for them to see the items properly.
Complementary merchandise placement are used here with these smoking products. This is used as you would have to buy these items together, which would increase sales. Bright colours for the packaging is used as this will attract the attention of customers.
John Lewis
This fashion display of mannequins wearing clothes is an example of specialty items. It is set up in a pyramid which also helps the display to stand out as it is arranged in an unusual fashion. These items would only be worn by certain people that have a certain taste for these clothes.
This is an example of cross merchandising as there is a wide range of products on offer here. The type of items that John Lewis is selling here are convenience goods and this is as these items are a necessity in the household such as pots and pans used for cooking.
This is an example of micromerchandising as the ‘loved&found’ sign shows that there is a special section for this brand of items, which are also specialty goods as they aren’t favourable for everyone.
Thomas Dorcely Conclusion To conclude, it is clear to see visual merchandising has a big part to play in the success of a business. It is important that the businesses appeal to the customer’s sense of smell, sight, sound and sometimes taste. The correct management and application of all these elements will ensure that a business’ visual merchandising campaign allows them to maximise sales. Bibliography:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lewis_(department_store) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asda https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poundland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_merchandising https://www.shopify.co.uk/guides/ultimate-guide-to-pop-up-shops/visual-merchandising-101 http://smallbusiness.chron.com/visual-merchandising-techniques-10856.html