Visual merchandising

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Visual merchandising is the activity of promoting the sale of goods, especially by their
presentation in retail outlets.(New Oxford Dictionary of English, 1999, Oxford University
Press). This includes combining products, environments, and spaces into a stimulating and
engaging display to encourage the sale of a product or service. It has become such an important
element in retailing that a team effort involving the senior management, architects,
merchandising managers, buyers, the visual merchandising director, designers, and staff is
needed.

Contents
[hide]

 1 Facility
 2 Purpose
 3 History
 4 Variances
o 4.1 Planogram
 4.1.1 Window Displays
 4.1.2 Food Merchandising
 5 References
 6 See also

[edit] Facility
Visual merchandising starts with the store building itself. The management decides on the store
design to reflect the products the store is going to sell and how to create a warm, friendly, and
approachable atmosphere for its potential customers.
Many elements can be used by visual merchandisers in creating displays including color,
lighting, space, product information, sensory inputs (such as smell, touch, and sound), as well as
technologies such as digital displays and interactive installations.

Visual merchandising is not a science; there are no absolute rules. It is more like an art in the
sense that there are implicit rules but they may be broken for striking effects. The main principle
of visual merchandising is that it is intended to increase sales, which is not the case with a "real"
art.

Visual merchandising is one of the final stages in trying to set out a store in a way that customers
will find attractive and appealing and it should follow and reflect the principles that underpin the
store’s image. Visual merchandising is the way one displays 'goods for sale' in the most
attractive manner with the end purpose of making a sale. "If it does not sell, it is not visual
merchandising."

Especially in today’s challenging economy, people may avoid designers/ visual merchandisers
because they fear unmanageable costs. But in reality, visual merchandisers can help economise
by avoiding costly mistakes. With guidance of a professional, a retailer can eliminate errors,
saving time and money. It is important to understand that the visual merchandiser is there, not to
impose ideas, but to help clients articulate their own personal style.

Visual merchandising is the art of implementing effective design ideas to increase store traffic
and sales volume. VM is an art and science of displaying merchandise to enable maximum sale.
VM is a tool to achieve sales and targets, a tool to enhance merchandise on the floor, and a
mechanism to communicate to a customer and influence his decision to buy. VM uses season
based displays to introduce new arrivals to customers, and thus increase conversions through a
planned and systematic approach by displaying stocks available.

Recently visual merchandising has gained in importance as a quick and cost effective way to
revamp retail stores.

[edit] Purpose
Retail professionals display to make the shopping experience more comfortable, convenient and
customer friendly by:

 Making it easier for the shopper to locate the desired category and merchandise.
 Making it easier for the shopper to self-select.
 Making it possible for the shopper to co-ordinate & accessorize.
 Informing about the latest fashion trends by highlighting them at strategic locations.

Merchandise presentation refers to most basic ways of presenting merchandise in an orderly,

understandable, ’easy to shop’ and ‘find the product’ format. This easier format is especially
implemented in fast fashion retailers.

VM helps in:
  Educating the customers about the product/service in an effective and creative way.

 Establishing a creative medium to present merchandise in 3D environment, thereby

enabling long lasting impact and recall value.

 Setting the company apart in an exclusive position.

 Establishing linkage between fashion, product design and marketing by keeping the
product in prime focus.

 Combining the creative, technical and operational aspects of a product and the business.

 Drawing the attention of the customer to enable him to take purchase decision within
shortest possible time, and thus augmenting the selling process.

[edit] History
Every shopkeeper and merchant's primary objective is to sell merchandise. When the giant
nineteenth century dry goods establishments like Marshall Field & Co. shifted their business
from wholesale to retail the visual display of goods became necessary to attract the retail
customer. The store windows no longer simply allowed natural light to shine in the building or
act as storage space for stock; they became important venues to attractively display the store's
merchandise. Gradually, the design aesthetic used in window displays moved indoors and
became part of the overall interior store design, eventually displacing the importance windows
altogether in suburban malls

Museums and department stores in America have a shared history of displaying their products,
both having come of age in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Like world's fairs,
department stores and museums crowded everything together on shelves or in display cases.
Today displays in museums are referred to as exhibitions, while displays in stores are referred to
as "Visual Merchandising. Essentially, visual merchandising is the selling of a store's goods
through visual means, incorporating advertising, and window displays, and interior sales floor
design and display. Throughout the twentieth century, well-known artists such as Salvador Dalí
and Andy Warhol created window displays, while other artists who are lesser known were
commissioned to design unique objects specifically for visual merchandising purposes.

1. Sell by showing and promoting the product. 2. Create an emotional connect beween the viewer
and the display. 3. Encourage the shopper to enter the store. 4. Get the customer to pause and
“shop” the selling floor. 5. Establish, promote, and enhance the store’s visual image. 6. Entertain
customers and enhance their shopping experience. 7. Introduce and explain new products.

[edit] Variances
[edit] Planogram
A Planogram 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. It also enables a chain of stores to have the same merchandise displayed in a
coherent and similar manner across the chain.

The main purpose is to support ease of applicability to the merchandiser while also increasing
selection & enhancing the merchandise display in a neat and organized manner.

[edit] Window Displays

A retailer's window is the most controllable element in relation to image and must match their
merchandise's target demographic. Display windows may communicate style, content, and price
point. They can be seductive, exciting or based on emotional stimulus through stimulation, or
evocation of all five senses. Another direction taken by retailers who rely on volume sold is
price-based selling. These clearly emphasize value for money with easy and obvious ticketing.

The best store windows can generate great excitement and are a talking point. They contribute to
the environment by entertaining pedestrians, while simultaneously communicating the products
and services on offer.

For a retailer willing to exploit the full potential that a window gives, the image-building process
can be exciting and have enormous potential. A fashion retailer, for instance, will often change a
window weekly to show the latest items on offer. A glance into a shop's window by a passerby
establishes the time of the year and, very likely, a timely contemporary event. It might combine
seasonal and festive points of the year such as Back-to-school, Spring, Summer, Easter,
Christmas, New Year approaching, Diwali, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day etc. At other times the
propping may be based on color schemes, materials or cultural themes.

[edit] Food Merchandising

Restaurants, Grocery Stores, and C-stores are using visual merchandising as a tool to
differentiate themselves in a saturated market. With Whole Foods leading the way, many are
recognizing the impact that good food merchandising can have on sales. If a food merchandising
strategy considers the 5 senses, it will keep customers lingering in the store, and help them with
the buying decision process. Aroma, if pleasant, can be used to help sell product and visual
graphics on the boxes and packaging can make them “look” as good as they taste. Texture can be
utilized to entice customers to touch, and samples are the best form of food advertising.
Especially for large quantity items, the ability to experience the product before committing to the
purchase is critical. Food merchandising should educate customers, entice them to buy, and
create loyalty to the store.[1]

[edit] References
1. ^ http://www.faithbartrugdesign.com/
Merchandising
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and
removed. (April 2008)

Merchandising is the methods, practices, and operations used to promote and sustain certain
categories of commercial activity.[1] In the broadest sense, merchandising is any practice which
contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising
refers to the variety of products available for sale and the display of those products in such a way
that it stimulates interest and entices customers to make a purchase.

Contents
[hide]

 1 Promotional merchandising
 2 Trading industry
 3 Retail supply chain
 4 Licensing
o 4.1 Children
o 4.2 Adults
 5 Prop replicas
 6 See also
 7 References

[edit] Promotional merchandising

In retail commerce, visual display merchandising means maximizing merchandise sales using
product design, selection, packaging, pricing, and display that stimulates consumers to spend
more. This includes disciplines in pricing and discounting, physical presentation of products and
displays, and the decisions about which products should be presented to which customers at what
time.This annual cycle of merchandising differs between countries and even within them,
particularly relating to cultural customs like holidays, and seasonal issues like climate and local
sporting and recreation. In the United States for example, the basic retail cycle begins in early
January with merchandise for Valentine's Day, which is not until mid-February. Following this,
Easter is the major holiday, while springtime clothing and garden-related merchandise is already
arriving at stores, often as early as mid-winter (toward the beginning of this section, St. Patrick's
Day merchandise, including green items and products pertaining to Irish culture, is also
promoted). Mothers Day and Fathers Day are next, with graduation gifts (typically small
consumer electronics like digital cameras) often being marketed as "dads and grads" in June
(though most college semesters end in May; the grads portion usually refers to high school
graduation, which ends one to two weeks after Father's Day in many U.S. states). Summer
merchandise is next, including patriotic-themed products with the American flag, out by
Memorial Day in preparation for Independence Day (with Flag Day in between). By July, back-
to-school is on the shelves and autumn merchandise is already arriving, and at some arts and
crafts stores, Christmas decorations. (Often, a Christmas in July celebration is held around this
time.) The back-to-school market is promoted heavily in August, a time when there are no
holidays to promote. By September, particularly after Labor Day, the summer merchandise is on
final closeout and overstock of school supplies is marked-down some as well, and Halloween
(and often even more of the Christmas) merchandise is appearing. As the Halloween decorations
and costumes dwindle in October, Christmas is already being pushed on consumers, and by the
day after Halloween retailers are going full-force with advertising, even though the "official"
season doesn't start until the day after Thanksgiving. Christmas clearance sales now begin even
before Christmas at most retailers, though they usually begin on the day after Christmas and
continue on at least until New Year's Day but sometimes as far out as February.

Merchandising also varies within retail chains, where stores in places like Buffalo might carry
snowblowers, while stores in Florida and southern California might instead carry beach clothing
and barbecue grills all year. Coastal-area stores might carry water skiing equipment, while ones
near mountain ranges would likely have snow skiing and snowboarding gear if there are ski areas
nearby.

[edit] Trading industry

In Eastern Europe, particularly in Russia, the term “merchandising” is commonly used within the
trading industry and denotes all marketing and sales stimulation activities around PoS (point of
sale): design, creation, promotion, care and training of the sales staff. Basically a merchandiser is
someone who is continuously involved in business promotion by buying and selling of goods. In
Asian countries such as India, this term is more synonymous with activities right from sampling
or idea conception to dispatching of the shipment. It is a job description that involves leading and
working with different departments within the organization, suppliers and buyers to deal with
timely deadlines and accepted quality levels.
[edit] Retail supply chain

Merchandising at a Walgreens in Chicago

In the supply chain, merchandising is the practice of making products in retail outlets available to
consumers, primarily by stocking shelves and displays. While this used to be done exclusively by
the stores' employees, many retailers have found substantial savings in requiring it to be done by
the manufacturer, vendor, or wholesaler that provides the products to the retail store. In the
United Kingdom there are a number of organizations that supply merchandising services to
support retail outlets with general stock replenishment and merchandising support in new stores.
By doing this, retail stores have been able to substantially reduce the number of employees
needed to run the store.

While stocking shelves and building displays is often done when the product is delivered, it is
increasingly a separate activity from delivering the product. In grocery stores, for example,
almost all products delivered directly to the store from a manufacturer or wholesaler will be
stocked by the manufacturer's/wholesaler's employee who is a full time merchandiser. Product
categories where this is common are Beverage (all types, alcoholic and non-alcoholic), packaged
baked goods (bread and pastries), magazines and books, and health and beauty products. For
major food manufacturers in the beverage and baked goods industries, their merchandisers are
often the single largest employee group within the company. For nationwide branded goods
manufacturers such as The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo, their respective merchandiser
work forces number in the thousands.

Trading Scenario

[edit] Licensing
In marketing, one of the definitions of merchandising is the practice in which the brand or image
from one product or service is used to sell another. Trademarked brand names, logos, or
character images are licensed to manufacturers of products such as toys or clothing, which then
make items in or emblazoned with the image of the license, hoping they'll sell better than the
same item with no such image.[2] For the owners of the intellectual property in question,
merchandising is a very popular source of revenue, due to the low cost of letting a third party
manufacture the merchandise, while the IP owners simply sit back and collect the merchandising
fees.

[edit] Children

Merchandising for children is most prominently seen in connection with films and games,
usually those in current release and with television shows oriented towards children.

Merchandising, especially in connection with child-oriented films and TV shows, often consists
of toys made in the likeness of the show's characters (action figures) or items which they use.
However, sometimes it can be the other way around, with the show written to include the toys, as
advertising for the merchandise. The first major example of this was the TV show "G.I. JOE A
Real American Hero.," produced by Hasbro in the early 1980s, but this practice has been
common in children's broadcasting ever since.

Sometimes merchandising from a television show can grow far beyond the original show, even
lasting decades after the show has largely disappeared from popularity. In other cases, large
amounts of merchandise can be generated from a pitifully small amount of source material
(Mashimaro).

[edit] Adults

Example of professional sports merchandising – A Boston Celtics cap manufactured by Adidas

The most common adult-oriented merchandising is that related to professional sports teams (and
their players).

A smaller niche in merchandising is the marketing of more adult-oriented products in connection

with similarly adult-oriented films and TV shows. This is common especially with the science
fiction and horror genres. (Examples: Star Trek, McFarlane Toys) Occasionally shows which
were intended more for children find a following among adults, and you can see a bit of a
crossover, with products from that show oriented towards both adults and children. (Gundam
model kits)
Sometimes a brand of non-media products can achieve enough recognition and respect that
simply putting its name or images on a completely unrelated item can sell that item. (An example
would be Harley-Davidson branded clothing.)

[edit] Prop replicas

Yet another path official merchandising follows sometimes is the one so-called prop replica
market. Mainly focused on fan-made articles, prop replicas are becoming more and more famous
as users tend to collect those pieces of movie memorabilia that med/big companies do not mass-
produce, reaching even higher levels of quality than certain 'licensed' replicas.

[edit] See also

 Tie-in
 Shoplifting
 Merchandization
 VisualMerchandising