Merchandise Presentation

Merchandise Presentation- Apparel

What is planogram ?
It is retailer’s drawing (blueprint), which visually communicates how merchandise and props physically fit
onto a store fixture or window to allow for proper visibility and price point options. The retailer can plan
to mix the new products with current items or initiate entirely new displays. If you have more than one
store this is an excellent way to communicate to your staff how you would like displays executed.
It allows planning of the arrangement of merchandise on a given fixture configuration to support sales
through proper placement of merchandise by style, Option, Size, Price points etc. The main purpose is to
support ease of selection and enhance the merchandise in a neat, organized manner.

Wall Planograms
Illustrated layout of products, is a chain store’s best method of Visual quality assurance. Created and
distributed from company headquarters, well-drawn planograms guide merchandisers to present fashion
uniformly. They facilitate consistent fashion messages in all of the company’s stores no matter where
they are located. Planograms are important for neat merchandise presentation. Working a planogram
and creating a planogram are two kinds of applied, or hands-on, experience.

By following the simple steps listed in below, one can formulate his/her own planograms for any
fashion merchandise wall :

Choose a fashion grouping with the same end use, fabrication, style, and color story.
Start your composition with a blank wall section. Remove all previous fixtures such as straight arms and
flat bars from the wall section.

Gather one piece of each item from the merchandise you have selected. If you are going to set up a
manufacturer’s coordinate grouping, you might pull one hanger with each blouse, knit top, skirt, pant,
sweater, vest, or jacket from the coordinate group.
Rather than installing hardware at this stage, make temporary arrangement for presentation.

Add props, graphics, signs, or mannequin alternatives if they are appropriate enhancements to the
merchandise. Strive for balance optical weight, good proportions, interesting lines, and so on.
Once you are satisfied with your composition plan, sketch a planogram that shows placement of each
item.

Make note of any signing, graphics, or props specifications for this presentation on the planogram form.
This becomes your historical record. Wall planogram can then be easily replicated if HO sends it to other
stores. This record will also prevent you from duplicating something you have done before, or it will help
you do it again if you choose to repeat a successful presentation.

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Wall Planograms (fixtures)

Priority Wall Areas

In addition to presenting masses of appealing merchandise on a variety of wall fixtures, priority walls are
the perfect place to employ communication devices like neon signs, video monitors, and interactive
kiosks.
Example – A retailer geared to the youth market to discover how influential an entire wall featuring
monitors playing musical videos can be. Priority walls have the potential to become virtual magnets,
attracting shoppers to enter and move throughout the store.

Core Design & Color Strategies on Wall & Floor

DESIGN STRATEGIES
Balance
Rhythm
Repetition
Proportion
Texture
Harmony
Emphasis

Core Design & Color Strategies on Wall & Floor

Balance – Formal & Informal Balance

What you choose to emphasize will depend on what you want to communicate to the customer. If it is
the importance of a new fashion color, then you would need to use more of that color than any other in
composing your presentation. You can also emphasize merchandise by dramatic use of lighting, by
effective use of signing and graphics, and by strategic placement of merchandise on fixtures.

Color Strategies -
Complementary
Split Complementary
Double Complementary
Triadic
Analogous
Monochromatic

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Selecting merchandising for Displays

Wall
Selecting Merchandise for Wall Presentations,First step will be to survey the entire selection of stock
within the department. Sort merchandise by end use, fabrication, style, and color.Choose a single end
use, or “ story”, for the section you are merchandising.
DO NOT COMBINE DIFFERENT END-USE ITEMS ON ONE WALL SECTION.

Example – If the department’s stock consists of a new fashion career story of jackets and skirts with a
menswear fabrication, choose only one of these stories for the section.

This effective practice makes selection easier for shoppers because it provides a variety of pieces to mix
and match.

If the product you have chosen to highlight on the wall is available in colors from several different
groups, choose only one color group per wall section.

If you are setting up a major wall presentation of branded golf clothing that comes in several colors (also
called colorways), you might want to select the bright colors for the first section of the wall. If you
couldn’t fit all the bright fashions in the wall section, you could present them on a floor fixture directly in
front of the wall.

Any remaining golf-related items or accessories that didn’t fit into the color-keyed sections could be
pulled together on floor fixtures nearby.
Adv- This wall strategy provides a silent salesperson to help golfing enthusiasts find a variety of easily
coordinated clothing items for their favorite sport.

Another way to create a dramatic wall presentation with color is to use repetition.

This technique requires large quantities of a single style of merchandise but has high visual impact.
Selecting Merchandise for Wall Presentations (Using Balance)

When you set up a wall section, the arrangement of merchandise and fixtures must be artfully balanced
to create a pleasing composition and a natural sense of order while offering ease of selection to
shoppers.
Balance (Formal & Informal).Choose just one type of balance for each wall section.

Signing and Graphics in Wall Presentations

3D Branding
High Point Visual
Shelf Talkers
A4 Signage
Shelf Talker

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Mannequins & Mannequin Alternatives in Wall Presentations

Choose mannequins or mannequin alternatives that best fit the image of the merchandise selected for
the wall section.If you plan to feature junior fashions on a wall, a mannequin alternative that appeals to
the junior customer might be a wire form with neck, shoulders, waist, and hips that can wear a top and
bottom. Or it could be a neon colored plastic form for swimsuits.

All materials used should be consistent.

For example, traditional wooden display hangers should not be combined with brushed metal
mannequin alternatives. A brushed metal display hanger would be a better choice here.
Full-scale junior mannequin on a floor platform against a wall, or you might place a seated mannequin
on a large shelf unit bracketed to a merchandised wall section.
Since the figure would wear the same styles that are shown in depth on the wall, shopper would see for
themselves how the coordinated garments look on a figure

Guidelines for Wall Setups

Merchandise tops above bottoms- Exception in case of children’s or young junior fashions where you
can achieve a playful look by hanging bottoms over tops.
It is also useful when bottoms have trimmings, oversized pockets, or other special features.
Guidelines for Wall Setups

Hang pants so that the pant leg hem is about 3 inches from the floor - Merchandise should never be
allowed to touch the floor . This is not an appealing look from a housekeeping point of view and can also
result in shopworn items . At the same time, if pants are hung too high on a wall, you will eliminate the
opportunity to merchandise a top above it . Effective displays of tops and bottoms result in multiple
sales for retailers and offer value-added purchases to customers.

Position waterfalls, straight arms, and garment rods so you can see at least 5 inches of space between
tops and bottoms – Too much space between garments will make the wall look understocked . It may
also mean that garments are positioned higher on the wall, out of shoppers’ reach.

Feature coordinated tops and bottoms on every wall section – A wall section featuring only T-Shirts
does not encourage multiple sales. Since the goal of presentation is increased sales, visual
merchandisers must take every opportunity to show customers complete outfits . Adding related
accessories like hats, scarves, handbags, and shoes will further enhance wall presentations and support
even greater sales opportunities. In an occasional exceptional, a wall may be used to feature all tops, if
large quantities of product are available.

Hanging garments with similar sleeve lengths together on garment rods results in a cleaner and more
appealing presentation – Varying sleeve lengths can be presented together on less visible floor fixtures if
necessary.

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Keep bottom styles separated – Do not mix pant, skirt, or shorts styles on the same garment rod. Mixing
styles confuses shoppers who are looking for their sizes within a particular style. For example, mixing
pants with cuffs and pants without cuffs on the same garment rod is not a good practice – nor is mixing
pants with and without belts.
Guidelines for Wall Setups

Present just one style and one color of an item per face-out – Featuring a single color per face-out
results in a clean, easy-to-shop presentation.
Guidelines for Wall Setups

Keep the average customer’s height in mind when positioning menswear items on a wall – Don’t
assume that men are taller than women or that they will be able to reach merchandise hung higher on
walls. Hanging a shirt or sweater above hanging pants will put the shirt out of comfortable reach for
either gender. Unless there are selling associates available to assist shoppers, a better strategy would be
shelving folded shirts or sweaters over the hanging pants.
Guidelines for Wall Setups

Do not size products on garment rods in walls with sizing rings – Sizing products mixes colors and
patterns together, and merchandise looks as if it has been marked down for clearance. Since products
stocked on store walls are viewed from distances, items should be merchandised for maximum visual
impact – first arranged by style, colorized within each style, and then sized, without sizing rings.

An exception to this guideline is when there are large quantities of the same style and color of product –
a 4 foot section of khaki pants, for example. Then sizing rings may be used, working from lef to right,
and from small to large.

Hangers should be hooked over bars and rods in the direction that makes them easiest for shoppers to
remove – Since most people are right-handed, hangers should be hung so that they can be removed
from the right, or lifed toward the shopper.