It’s important to impress consumers as soon as they enter your shop.
Consumers often form their first impression on the basis of what they see, hear, smell or even feel or taste. When you walk into a shop, all your senses are involved.
This is what we call Visual Merchandising 😍
This key element of operational marketing plays a crucial role in creating charm, enhancing the atmosphere and sublimating the customer experience inside the shop.
In this article we’ll show you how to transform a physical or digital environment into a genuine extension of the brand image.
In this article, you can read 👇
- What is Visual Merchandising?
- How Visual Merchandising enhances the customer experience
- The golden rules of Visual Merchandising
- Organise an unforgettable customer experience
- Showcase your products in departments, universes and themes
- Highlight your products with quality lighting
- Use colours to create an atmosphere and a visual identity
- Take advantage of techniques for organising products in an attractive way
- Remember to display prices cleverly
- 3 examples of Visual Merchandising
What is Visual Merchandising?
First of all, what is Visual Merchandising or “VM”?
Visual merchandising can be defined as the practice of creating attractive and coherent visual presentations of products in sales areas 🛍
Widely used in retail, it captures customers’ attention, stimulates their emotions and therefore influences their purchasing decisions.
It’s much more than simply arranging products on shelves.
It encompasses shop layout, product arrangement, visual presentation and the use of visual techniques to create a memorable shopping experience 🧠
By combining art, design and marketing, visual merchandising has become an essential tool for retailers who want to stand out in an increasingly competitive market.
How Visual Merchandising enhances the customer experience
Visual Merchandising and the customer experience are closely linked.
By creating an attractive ambience, facilitating navigation, highlighting products, ensuring brand image consistency and generating emotional engagement, Visual Merchandising helps to provide customers with a memorable and positive shopping experience.
Use digital to tap into retail trends 💻
Encourage customers to touch and handle products.
Set up trial areas or interactive zones where customers can experiment with products.
This creates a tactile and engaging experience that makes customers feel more connected to the products.
Ensure that your customer relations staff are trained to deliver an immersive and engaging customer experience.
Your sales advisors need to be able to explain products, answer questions and guide customers through their shopping experience.
Find out more about our training courses in visual merchandising and sales techniques 🥳
Play with lights, sounds, senses as explained next.
By combining these elements, you can create an immersive experience that stimulates consumers’ senses and encourages them to engage more with your products and your brand.
This can lead to increased customer engagement, sales and loyalty.
Large boutiques or flagship stores are lucky enough to have visual merchandising managers working in their teams on a full-time or part-time basis. The salary of a visual merchandiser can range from €18k to €40k, according to studyrama.
▷ Lire l’article Comment améliorer l’expérience client grâce à la formation
The golden rules of Visual Merchandising
Organise an unforgettable customer experience
Your visual merchandising must be organised around the shopping experience you want your customers to have.
As soon as they walk through the door, visitors’ senses are awakened and they’re ready to be surprised and won over. From then on, every detail counts.
What is your shop’s décor – floor, wall, ceiling? How are the products displayed? Are the products accessible from the entrance?
The choice of all the elements that will set the scene for your products determines the impression you leave with the customer. The customer is about to enjoy a brand experience, so make sure it lives up to your commercial promise.
Showcase your products in departments, universes and themes
To enhance the customer’s experience and understanding, your products need to be presented by theme.
Examples of visual merchandising: men’s, women’s, children’s and baby’s sections for clothing / baby, children’s and adult sections for games shops / make-up, perfume, skincare or by brand universe in beauty shops.
Each of these universes is quickly identifiable for customers in a hurry, who know what they want.
They are also an opportunity to tell a story within each theme, to liven them up according to the commercial periods: back-to-school, Christmas, holidays, Valentine’s Day, Father’s Day and Mother’s Day.
Highlight your products with quality lighting
Lighting plays a crucial role in highlighting products 💡
Well-designed lighting helps to highlight certain products or specific areas of the shop.
By using spotlights or accent lighting, you can direct customers’ attention to the items you want to highlight, creating attractive focal points 🎯
Lighting helps to direct attention, create moods, highlight product features and improve legibility.
Good lighting helps to make the shopping experience more pleasant and helps customers to fully appreciate the products on offer.
Abercrombie has clearly understood the importance of an experiential strategy, adopting an atmosphere of subdued lighting with music and the scent of the perfumes on sale.
Use colours to create an atmosphere and a visual identity
The strategic use of colour in a shop can play a key role in creating a consistent ambience and visual identity.
Understanding the psychology of colour 🌈
Each colour evokes different emotions and associations in individuals.
For example, blue is often associated with confidence and serenity, while red can evoke energy and passion.
It’s important to understand the meanings and connotations of colours so you can choose the ones that match the atmosphere you want to create.
The colours used in your shop should be consistent with your company’s brand image.
If you already have an established visual identity, make sure that the colours you choose for your shop are in line with that identity.
This helps to reinforce brand recognition and create a consistent brand experience for customers.
Generation Z loves ‘Instagrammable’ places 🌸
This is the best way to encourage young customers to break out of the “e-shopping from the sofa” pattern so that they visit and take photos of themselves in front of or in your outlet.
Take advantage of techniques for organising products in an attractive way
In visual merchandising, there are tried and tested visual techniques.
Use visual hierarchy techniques to direct customers’ attention towards the products you want to highlight.
The Pyramid technique springs to mind.
This consists of organising products into a triangle.
This technique follows the reading direction of most customers. The products that take up the most space are in the centre, with smaller products and accessories around them.
This technique gives a dynamic to the products, which seem to come alive.
Another technique: the rule of three 🙌
This well-known rule can be applied in several ways: position 3 same products but with a different attribute (colours, size), present 3 products from different ranges to offer 3 prices accessible to different wallets, etc.
Whatever the case, use contrasts in size, colour or lighting to create focal points that catch the eye.
For example, highlight new products or special offers with brighter lighting or by placing them in strategic locations.
Rotate products regularly to avoid customers seeing the same items over and over again.
This creates a sense of novelty and excitement, encouraging customers to explore further.
Make sure you leave enough space between products and aisles so customers can move around easily 🛍
Open space and free-flowing traffic make the shopping experience more enjoyable and invite customers to explore further.
Remember to display prices cleverly
There’s nothing more irritating than having to look up the price of a product you’re ready to buy.
Think about your visual merchandising: display product prices in a well thought-out way.
The display unit on the display tables, the labels on each product, the POS advertising exceptional prices: all the elements of price presentation are important.
All the more so as the consumer may have the impression that a product without a price is an expensive product. The information must be clear to your customer.
Finally, don’t hesitate to try out different displays or ways of displaying prices. Direct feedback from your customers will be a goldmine for your teams.
▷ Explore our training programmes to develop the commercial performance of your teams
3 examples of Visual Merchandising
Discover these 3 retailers who place a premium on Visual Merchandising to create immersive and engaging shopping experiences.
Each has developed a unique visual identity and uses creative techniques to showcase their products and engage customers.
Apple, pure and elegant visual merchandising
The American company Apple is renowned for its minimalist and elegant use of Visual Merchandising.
The opening of an Apple Store is always an event, and the shops are located in mythical, central districts of major cities: the Champs-Elysées and Opéra in Paris, Grand Central and Fifth Avenue in New York, Ginza and Shibuya in Tokyo, and so on.
Some, like Mac G, speak of art when they describe the Apple brand’s visual merchandising techniques.
Their shops are modern, showcasing products on uncluttered tables, with careful lighting and screens displaying attractive visuals 📲
Whatever city in the world you visit an Apple Retail Store, the experience and presentation of the products is the same.
Apple Stores offer an immersive experience where customers can interact with the products and discover the world of the brand.
Another important aspect of visual merchandising at Apple is interaction with the staff.
Employees, also known as “Geniuses”, are trained to offer exceptional customer service and personalised assistance.
They are present in the shop to answer questions, provide advice and guide customers through the purchasing process.
The first contact is calculated to the nearest millimetre … 📐
The laptop screens are all angled at 76 degrees.
This angle is no accident: visitors have to manipulate the screen to adjust it to their view.
Nike, a VM focused on immersive experiences
Nike shops use Visual Merchandising techniques to create dynamic and inspiring spaces in their shops.
They present their products in an eye-catching way using creative displays, art installations and interactive trial areas 👟
Nike shops offer an immersive experience that reflects the energy and spirit of the brand.
Visual displays capture attention immediately, with picture walls featuring the brand’s iconic athletes and striking visual installations reflecting the essence of movement and sport.
An important part of the customer experience at Nike is employee involvement.
Staff are trained to provide quality customer service, offer expert advice and help customers find the products that best suit their needs and sporting goals.
Employees are often passionate about sport and share this enthusiasm with customers, creating an authentic connection.
By creating a dynamic visual environment, using interactive technologies and providing quality customer service, Nike offers a complete experience that goes beyond the purchase of products.
This approach helps build brand loyalty and positions Nike as a leader in the sports and lifestyle industry.
Sephora, how to arouse curiosity through visual merchandising
Sephora is renowned for its attractive Visual Merchandising in their beauty shops.
They use well-organised displays, flattering lighting and elegant staging to showcase their products 💄
When you enter a Sephora shop, you are immediately immersed in a world of beauty and cosmetics 🧴
The interior is designed to stimulate the senses and arouse curiosity. The use of black replicates the codes of luxury visual merchandising.
Customers are encouraged to try the products and receive personalised advice from the beauty experts.
Wall shelves, display units and display tables are used to showcase the latest trends, leading brands and seasonal collections.
The products are arranged in a logical and user-friendly way.
The various make-up, skincare, fragrance and other beauty products are grouped by category, making it easy for customers to navigate 🚶♀️.
Samples and testers are available to allow customers to try products before they buy, increasing customer interaction and engagement.
Sephora also places great importance on the sensory experience 👃✋👀👂👅
Interactive screens and mirrors are used to provide advice, tutorials and additional product information, helping customers to make informed purchasing decisions.
A key aspect of the customer experience at Sephora is the interaction with beauty advisors.
Sephora staff are trained to provide personalised customer service, give expert advice and help customers find the right products for their needs and preferences.
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By using these techniques, you can organise and present your products in an attractive way, which encourages customer engagement and can increase sales.
Remember to always consider your target audience and your company’s brand image to create a coherent and impactful presentation.
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Would you like to find out more about visual merchandising training and the impact it can have on your shop’s sales? Contact us!
