Visual merchandising (VM) is defined as the science and art of organizing and displaying products in a retail space. Visual merchandising is at the heart of all marketing strategies that retail stores should be thinking about, whether the store is a brick-and-mortar or digital store. Visual merchandising is crucial to the success of a retail store because it largely defines both the employee experience (EX) as well as the customer experience (CX), all of which have resounding effects on the overall success of the brand.
Why visual merchandising matters in employee experience
Nobody wants to work in a rugged workplace. The moment you make your employees perceive your retail store is a rugged place, they acquire a rugged perception and deliver rugged services. Maintaining a highly memorable employee experience by and large includes making sure they have the right perception of the place they work in every day. If you want your store attendants to deliver top-of-the-industry service to your customers, you must ensure you show them you value them well enough to provide them with a top-of-the-industry working place.
Your employees will at the very least radiate to your customers the same attitude you have towards them; there is no magic. I always insist to our consulting clients that one of the strongest pillars to delivering your brand promise is always remembering that happy employees are equals to happy customers.
Why visual merchandising matters in customer experience
Just like your employees, your customer experience is largely controlled by the perceptions your customers form towards your business. Now how does that affect your business and where does visual merchandising come in?
Being that perceptions are based on senses, and your store visitors interact with your store using the senses of see, feel, touch, smell and hear, what they see, feel, touch, smell and hear within your store is going to influence their perception towards your retail store, and ultimately their customer experience.
What to do then? The solution, or part of the solution is to get your visual merchandising strategy right, right from the start.
The process of buying is becoming increasingly customer-centered with an aim of improving the customer experience, whether it be through digital platforms or an in-store set up. Today it is difficult to base a business’ competitive edge on basic product qualities such as quality, quantity, price or even availability, because those are expected of every brand. Focus is now shifting towards building a mind-blowing wow effect to complement the basic expectations of the customers, thereby enticing them to buy from the business. In the backdrop of this argument, the visual appeal that a business is able to create in the mind of its customers is very important, it should be memorable.
Our team has specialized in creating highly effective, personalized visual merchandising concepts that continue to assist companies consolidate and grow their market share. Some of the basic components of visual merchandising that we have specialized in include advising on packaging and product displays, space utilization, empty space management as well as mobile technology. There has been noticeable growth emanating from our intervention to our clients’ visual merchandising strategy, which has been important in building the brand equity and market share.
What you can do to streamline your visual merchandising strategy
- Outside the store;
- have good branding/labeling to the store’s location.
- ensure you have ample and secure parking.
- ensure your window displays are attractive with less clutter.
- have safe and clean entrances that are well labeled.
- Store layout
- optimize product placement to maximize selling space.
- maintain clean walls and floors.
- arrange your shelves in a manner that encourages more time in the store and puts more products in the eyes of the visitors.
- ensure your store has adequate space with large enough aisles to facilitate movement.
- Store interior
- ensure consistency in branding inside the store, with brand colors that match your brand personality, remember, color is king.
- ensure your points of purchases and sale are well labeled and not cluttered.
- install clear and proper signage.
- Instore display
- tell stories using your displays.
- ensure product placement is artistic, attractive and strategic.
- ensure you tap into all body sense effectively like having the sweet aroma of freshly baked cakes, well lit shelves, soft playing music among others.
- place promotional areas strategically.
- Personnel capacity/employee experience
- You can never underestimate the value of welcoming employees who are well aware of the products and can serve your customers with a warm smile.
- make your employees stand out in the crowd by issuing them neat and cozy branded outfits.
- Collect customer feedback wherever and whenever you can.
wow your customers by asking for feedback about their shopping experience and taking steps to integrate such feedback into your store, where possible.
Many times, businesses have existing visual merchandising strategies which need to be tested for efficiency, and there is nothing better than getting experts to do so, and our consulting experts are always on the line waiting to collaborate with brands like yours to help you deliver your brand promise.
