The recession certainly has diminished consumers’ willingness to purchase both things-they-do-need and things-they-don’t-need. So, visual merchandising is becoming more and more vital in affecting store choice and product buying decisions, as well as the tendency to return for more.

Visual merchandising is used to maintain buyers’ interest, reduce their psychological defenses, encourage spending extra time on shopping and facilitate impulsive purchasing decisions. For instance, a little change in your store’s design can make customers think that every item is being sold like hot cakes.

Merchandising hints help develop an inviting environment by focusing on the desires and motivation of the potential customers. It is essential to avoid sameness and boredom in the merchandising strategy, as only a special approach to the target consumer group can grab the attention and make the sales grow.

These merchandising tools don’t require considerable resources, but appear to be truly effective. Let’s consider the following tips and make use of them:

1. Successful stores always have a particular theme, a special mood indicating a corresponding lifestyle. Use background music, pleasing fragrance, interesting lighting accents and always keep your shop extremely clean.
2. Show creativity in displaying the items, organize product layouts by type or feature, maintain hot spots for sales and good visibility areas for the key products.
3. Take advantage of designing the store’s entrance and windows for promotion and image building. Inform customers about new arrivals, specials and the benefits of high demand items.
4. Use proper signage to identify everything to help your customers find the items they seek. Always remember to show directions to each of the departments and let them know about sale events.
5. Demonstrate the usage of the products to get the consumers familiarized with them. Incidentally, testers and “try-me” stations are indeed great solutions.
6. And last, take care of introducing “add-on” items, especially near the check-out area.

Photo © 2KoP

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