ASB Magazine

There are several factors to gaining customer loyalty and marketing your store or products, but ranking up at the top of the list if your visual presentation...

There are several factors to gaining customer loyalty and marketing your store or products, but ranking up at the top of the list if your visual presentation.

Does your merchandise display attract and interest the customer?

Or does it overwhelm and confuse the viewer?

Is the display simply bland and unremarkable?

Here are some tips to help you create displays that will get the customers' attention:

1. Create a focal point
Don’t create displays that are too busy or too sparse. Make sure they are consistent themed throughout and have a clear focal point.
Where do you want your viewer to look? Is there one main feature you want them to notice?

Where will the eye travel through the display? Don’t leave this to chance. Plan what the customer should do when they see the display. Perhaps a new product is the main focal point, with complimentary items placed in close proximity to encourage multiple sales.
A must for any display is eye-level placement. Don’t make the mistake with your window or table displays that many store owners make and place them too low.

2. Use line and shape to plan your design
Don’t just put your products together willy-nilly. Practice drawing a quick layout to help you visualize the plan for your design.
Will your layout be horizontal or vertical? Will the products be arranged in straight or curved lines, in a pyramid or circular shape? Will the design combine a variety of elements, or just one?

Jeffery Tillmon, a store manager with The Love Shack chain in Georgia , opines, “Good store displays are marked by good visual balance. Usually we put the darker items on the bottom of the display and lighter items towards the top. That gives the display balance to the eye.”
Placing too many items, or heavy looking items on one side appears unbalanced. A grouping of many items on one side of the display can be balanced by one heavy item.

3. Keep it simple
Don’t try to do too much. The goal is to attract attention to the product. On a slat wall, often simple rows are the best way to show the merchandise. Too often I have seen displays where every row or shelf has a different arrangement.
Your goal is to make it easy for the customer to find what they are looking for and to make sense of your product arrangement. Keep your groupings logical by grouping similar products together, with complimentary products nearby.

4. Use proper lighting
Lighting is overlooked far too often. When budgeting for store fixtures and merchandising, display lighting is not an ‘extra’. Lighting your displays properly can make the difference between a display that makes people yawn, or makes them stop and look.

Tillmon chimes in, “Displays should not be lit directly from the top, or you will get unattractive shadows. Lights should be slightly off to the side, and to the front of the display. They should enhance the 3-dimensional quality of the product. Preferably the display will be lit from more than one angle. Lighting should be adjusted every time you change your display.”
If you don’t have positionable lights in your key display areas, especially windows, get some as soon as possible. A good lighting store will have some for a reasonable cost and can give you advice on installing and using them.

5. Look at the display from all angles
After you have completed your display, step back and look at it. Very few people will see it standing directly in front of it. Most displays are approached from the side and seen from an angle.

Approach your display from all possible angles and view it as a customer would.

Is your focal point still placed appropriately?
Do you need to angle the display to the customers viewpoint?
Is the signage visible and readable?

Does the arrangement still appear balanced?
Observe the direction from which most customers approach the display. Make sure that the best view of the display is the one that most of the customers will see.