ADVANCED FASHION: STANDARD 9 VISUAL MERCHANDISING

ADVANCED FASHION: STANDARD 9 VISUAL MERCHANDISING

VISUAL MERCHANDISING Visual Merchandising: The physical display of goods in the most attractive and appealing ways. Store Layout: the interior arrangement of retail facilities. Selling areas: where merchandise is displayed and customers interact with sales personnel. (75-80% of the total space) Sales support areas: devoted to customer services, merchandise receiving and distribution, management offices and staff activities.

VISUAL MERCHANDISING Floor Plan: A drawing showing arrangement of physical space, such as showing the positioning of merchandise groups and customer services for a retail store. Grid Layout: A retail floor plan that has one of ore primary (main) aisles running through the store, with secondary (smaller) aisles intersecting with them at right angles. Maze Layout: A free-flowing retail floor plan arrangement with informal balance. Fixtures: Shelves, tables, rods, counters, stands, easels, forms, and platforms on which merchandise is stocked and displayed for sale.

MERCHANDISE PRESENTATION Merchandise presentation includes the ways that goods are hung, placed on shelves, or otherwise made available for sale in retail stores. Shoulder-out presentation: The way most garments are hung in home closets with only one side showing from shoulder to bottom. Face-forward presentation (face-out presentation): Hanging of clothing with the front fully facing the viewer. This should always be done at entrances and aisles.

RETAIL FIXTURES Carousels: Circular racks that turn.

RETAIL FIXTURES Dump tables/bins: A rimmed table or bin used to hold sale or special merchandise on the sales floor, especially in discount operations; it has no formal arrangement.

RETAIL FIXTURES Four-way rack: A fixture with four extended arms, that permits accessibility to hanging merchandise all the way around

RETAIL FIXTURES Rounders: Circular racks on which garments are hung around the entire circumference

RETAIL FIXTURES T-stand: Freestanding, two-way stand in the shape of a T, that holds clothes on hangers, sometimes with one straight arm and one waterfall.

RETAIL FIXTURES Waterfall: A fixtures with an arm that slants downward, that contains knobs to hole faceforward hangers with clothing at various levels.

DISPLAYS Displays: individual and notable physical presentation of merchandise. Displays are intended to: Stimulate product interest Provide information Suggest merchandise coordination Generate traffic flow Remind customers of planned purchases Create additional sales of impulse items Enhance the store’s visual image

INTERIOR DISPLAYS Locations for interior displays: Just in the entrance Entrance to department Near cash/wrap Next to related items Across from elevators and escalators Ends of aisles

COMPONENTS OF DISPLAYS Merchandise Lighting Props Signage

MERCHANDISE More interesting if in odd numbers Groups: One-category, or line-of-goods Related groupings: go together or reinforce each other Theme groupings: event, holiday, etc. Variety or assortment groupings: collection of unrelated items all sold at the same store.

LIGHTING Used to direct customer’s attention to the display Use more light for dark colors, less light for light colors Beamspread; the diameter of the circle of light Beamspread techniques: Floodlighting: recessed ceiling lights to direct light over an entire wide display area Spotlighting: focuses attention on specific areas or targeted items of merchandise Pinpointing: focuses a narrow beam of light on a specific item

PROPS Objects added that support the theme of the display. Functional Props: used to physically support the merchandise. (mannequins, stands, panels, screens, etc) Decorative Props: used to establish a mood or an attractive setting for the merchandise being featured (ex: mirrors, flowers, seashells, surfboards, etc) Structural Props: used to support functional and decorative props and change the physical makeup of displays. (boxes, rods, stands, stairways, etc)

SIGNAGE Includes individual letters and complete signs. Often on some kind of holder. Can tell a story about the goods. Should try to answer customers questions. Should be informative and concise. Can include prices, sizes, department location.

WINDOW DISPLAYS Seen from outside of the store. First contact with the customer. Can have a series of windows. Advantages of Window Displays: Establish and maintain an image Arouse curiosity Disadvantages of Window Displays: Expensive to design and maintain Requires space Merchandise can get ruined (sun ,etc) Glare

TYPES OF WINDOW DISPLAYS Enclosed windows: have a full background and sides that completely separate the interior of the store from the display window. Ramped windows: floor is higher in back than in front Elevated windows: from 1 to 3 feet higher than sidewalk Shadowbox windows: small, boxlike display windows

TYPES OF WINDOW DISPLAYS Semi-closed windows: have a partial background that shuts out some of the store interior from those viewing the window Open Windows: have no background panel and the entire store is visible to people walking by Island windows: four-sided display windows that stand alone, often in lobbies.