How To Utilise Visual Merchandising To Increase Sales

Although online shopping is popular, there are still a lot of sales and profit to be made from physical retail stores. Visual merchandising is a well-established form of marketing, but with the dominance of online brands and digital platforms, brands need to work harder to make their physical outlets successful.

Creating a visual merchandising strategy that will help boost footfall and conversions at your shop. Visual merchandising is all about creating a shop floor that delivers an engaging and exciting customer experience that will help boost sales. However, don’t think this is all about making the shop floor simply ‘look pretty’. There’s a science behind why particular presentations offer better experiences — plus a strong visual display can boost turnover, fortify your brand, and even inspire customer loyalty.

Your visual marketing strategy relies heavily on how you choose to group products. Offering a wide variety of products to a shopper is good to boost sales, but when organising your visual merchandising campaigns, avoid making your displays look crowded. Make the most of mannequins, shelves, bookcases and other items to help show off your merchandise. Using stackable cubes, roller banners and flyers can also help inject colour and vibrancy to your displays to ensure they grab a passer-by’s gaze, too.

Concentrate on what your customer desires, not things that they simply need. We use emotions when deciding what to buy — hence the advantage of focusing on want over need. For the best conversion rate, go for the luxury items that people may want to treat themselves to — and forget about the everyday products that don’t evoke a feeling of excitement.

Never stop and stand still when it comes to visual merchandising. Loyal customers will soon tire of any visual merchandising display, regardless of how good it is. Rotate your presentations around the floor to keep it looking new and interesting and ensure that your windows and decompression zones aren’t filled with the same items that they were last month — otherwise, your business may come across as lazy or lacking in new, innovative products.

Use the power of visual merchandising — including banners, posters and a-frames — to engage with your customers and keep them coming back.