VISUAL MERCHANDISING "You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

" Definition Visual merchandising is the activity and profession of developing floor plans and three-dimensional displays in order to maximise sales. [Visual Merchandising (VM) is the art of presentation, which puts the merchandise in focus. It educates the customers, creates desire and finally augments the selling process. This is an area where the Indian textile and clothing industry, particularly, the SMEs lack adequate knowledge and expertise. This inadequacy is best reflected in poor presentation/display and communication in various national and international exhibitions. Therefore this Programme has been conceived to fill this gap.] Both goods or services can be displayed to highlight their features and benefits. The purpose of such visual merchandising is to attract, engage and motivate the customer towards making a purchase. Visual merchandising commonly occurs in retail spaces such as retail stores and trade shows.

Principles The purpose of visual merchandising is to: Make it easier for the customer to locate the desired category and merchandise. Make it easier for the customer to self-select. Make it possible for the shopper to co-ordinate and accessorise. Recommend, highlight and demonstrate particular products at strategic locations. Objectives Apply the basic elements and principle of design and display. Demonstrate how lighting can enhance produces presentation or stimulate visual awareness. Responsibilities of Visual Merchandiser are responsible for the total

merchandise or service presentation, the overall business image, and even the building and placement of the design element.

Techniques Visual merchandising builds upon or augments the retail design of a store. It is one of the final stages in setting out a store in a way customers find attractive and appealing. Many elements can be used by visual merchandisers in creating displays including color, lighting, space, product information, sensory inputs (such as smell, touch, and sound), as well as technologies such as digital displays and interactive installations. VM helps in: educating the customers about the product/service in an effective and creative way. establishing a creative medium to present merchandise in 3D environment, thereby enabling long lasting impact and recall value. setting the company apart in an exclusive position. establishing linkage between fashion, product design and marketing by keeping the product in prime focus. combining the creative, technical and operational aspects of a product and the business. drawing the attention of the customer to enable him to take purchase decision within shortest possible time, and thus augmenting the selling process. STATUS OF VM IN INDIA: Unlike the western countries, where VM receives highest priority in commercial planning of a product, the Indian industrys understanding and practice of the concept of VM is inadequate. With phasing out of quantitative restrictions after the year 2004, the textile industry will have to compete purely on the competitive edge of the products and VM will be a helpful tool in projecting the uniqueness of the products and thereby increasing the market access and sales. It is high time that the Indian textile and clothing industry, therefore, understands and adopts the scientific and professional system of VM rather than the traditional practices of display of products and

communication. Components of Visual Merchandising: There are certain things which a retailer needs to take care while proceeding with the process of displaying his products. These components when combined together in a proper ratio will make a successful outcome. Make merchandise the focal point: The main goal of display is to showcase the products within the overall display area. Customers give three to five seconds of their attention to window display. The retailers visual message should be conveyed to the customer in that short period of time. It should not be like an unsuccessful TV advertisement, where the product is forgotten altogether and only the concept of the commercial remains in the mind of the viewer. The arrangement of window display should go with the product and should not suppress them to make it discernable to the eye. Right choice of colors is vital: Color is one of the most powerful tools in the Visual Merchandising segment. It is a visual perceptual property. Colors can be associated with emotions, special occasions and gender. It attracts attention and pulls more customers into the store. A retailer has to focus on the right choice of color that would match with the theme of display. It is not possible to satisfy everyone all the time, but it is possible to cultivate the taste of customers gradually and purposefully. A right choice of colors in the display items can turn walkers into stoppers and significantly convert them into customers. It is therefore mandatory to choose the right color for the right theme of display. A Halloween display would require black color in the display theme. Valentines theme should be ruled by red color supplemented with pink and white. A display of babys accessories should reflect light shades of pink and blue colors. A Christmas display should contain colors of red, green, gold and silver. Display themes to appropriately support the product: A theme is a display of sale items of similar categories e.g. a display of kitchen accessories. Its essential to have themes for all retail displays. They can be romantic, wild, or capricious, and capture peoples imaginations. A good theme will lure the customer with a shopping mood into the store. Themes mainly depend upon the retailers imagination and creativity. Focusing on the right theme rather than creating a display with expensive raw materials is the key to successful window display. A shoe store theme can be a group of elves buying shoes. A theme for display of casual wears

can be a group of mannequins sitting casually at a get together in different poses. Related themes will tug the heartstring of the customers and will pay off. Elements of Visual Merchandising Store front the total exterior of a business. It includes the following Signs, Marquees, Entrances, Window displays. Store Interior the approach for the store interior. It includes the following Floor & wall covers, Lighting, Colors, Store fixtures. Store Layout it refers tot the lay store floor space used to facilitate and promote sales and to best serve the customer. Typical layout it refers to the space consist of different kinds of the space are been selling space, merchandising space, personal space, customer space. Interior Display use fixtures and props to show cover merchandise. This display generates on one out of every four. There are five types of interior displays closed display, open display, architectural display, store location, point-of-purchase display. Visual merchandising trends are constantly fluctuating because retail is always changing. The challenge for retailers is to react to the evolving needs and wants of their customers. Visual elements in a retail store have always been very important in attracting and keeping consumers. But in the past, visual merchandising trends dictated that featured merchandising be used primarily to promote sale prices. End caps were and still are, used for this purpose. However, twenty years ago the visual merchandising trend was to bulk stack end caps promoting prices on single items. Today retailers often use end caps to promote new items and to inform customers of those items specific purposes or benefits. Tools for VM All the elements of the store can play a role when it comes to creating a visual impact on the consumer. Apart from using the products to make a visual impact on the consumer some of the commonly used ones are: 1) Colors & Textures 2) Fixtures and merchandisers presentation 3) Signages 4) Windows

5) Props 6) Lighting 7) Mannequins 8) Planogram Two of the main tools, viz., colors and mannequins are covered in this section. Colors & Textures Color increase brand recognition by up to 80 per cent. Color improves readership as much as 40 per cent. Color accelerates learning from 55 to 78 percent. Color increases comprehension by 73 per cent. Color advertisements are read up to 42 percent more than similar ones in black and white. Color can be up to 85 per cent of the reason people decide to buy. in the 1920s Itten, who is affiliated with the German Bauhus movement, developed the color star that included 12 colors, which include 3 primary Colors, 3 secondary Colors and 6 Tertiary Colors. Texture deals with the look and feel of materials. Visual texture is the result of light refracted from any surface. Tactile texture can be rough smooth, thick, thin, sandy, soft, hard warty, coarse, fine regular or irregular. The combination of visual and tactile texture provides a definite interpretation of all items and materials encountered. Fixtures and merchandisers presentation Let people know what you are selling Invite people to come into your shop Get people to notice your merchandise by making them walk around them Put your merchandise at eye level so that people will notice them Signages Signage is any kind of visual graphics created to display information to a particular audience. This is typically manifested in the form of wayfinding information in places such as streets or inside/outside of buildings. Mannequins The word mannequin comes from the Dutch word Manneken, literally meaning little man. Mannequin is the French form. Mannequins are typically

used in a retail store environment to display the merchandise. There are many types of mannequins available, the most common type is the life size mannequin. These mannequins are the same size as a real person and have arms, legs, hands, feet and a head. Mannequins can look like males, females or children. Other mannequins consist of only a torso on a stand. The Planogram A planogram is a tool used by the retailer that helps determine the location of merchandise within a department. It is a diagram that visually communicates how merchandise and props physically fit onto a store fixture or window to allow for proper visibility and price point options. A planogram is created after taking into account factors like products sales, the movement of the products within the product category and the space required for various products. They usually list the exact number of square feet used for various products and the exact number of product to be displayed in a particular area. Methods of Display Color dominance Size and style Co-ordinated presentation Presentation by price Errors in creating the display Clutter Dirty floor poor lighting lack of theme knowledge