Turn window shoppers into lifelong customers with these tips for creative visual displays.
Ecommerce may be on the rise, but that’s no excuse for brick-and-mortar retailers to ignore the power of visual merchandising. By investing in your window displays and in-store layout, it’s possible to drive foot traffic to complement your existing out-of-store advertising efforts. Whatever your budget and brand aesthetic, business owners of any size can bring the shopping experience to the next level with creative merchandising.
Looking to get started? Follow these five tips to ensure that your customers have as much fun visiting your brick-and-mortar location as they do perusing your online store.
1. Play to Five Senses, Not Just One
Of course you want your store to look stunning, but don’t forget that there are other ways to appeal to customers. By paying attention to all five senses, you can create a shopping experience that makes visitors want to spend more time in your store — and with your inventory — rather than keeping the experience strictly transactional.
Depending on your brand identity, consider what sort of music would get your customers into the right state of mind to make a purchase. Try lighting candles to set the mood, and encourage customers to handle goods or try on clothes to activate their sense of touch. Whether or not you sell baked goods, consider offering tasty treats to round out the overall shopping experience.
2. Compelling Customization
Whether your customers are old or new, it’s always the right time to boost your brand profile and feature your custom logo throughout your store. From boxes and bags to labels on different products, make sure your customized branding is on display throughout the store.
3. Level Up
If your store is short on surface space, consider building your displays up rather than out. Building a display doesn’t require a carpenter and multiple trips to the hardware store: you can create a no-fuss hierarchy of products by stacking cap top gift boxes on top of one another with your products at the pinnacle. During the holidays, you can even wrap the boxes in seasonal wrapping paper to get your customers in the holiday spirit.
4. Make Your Space Social Media-Ready
In today’s social media landscape, it’s likely that your customers are looking for the next shareable experience. Do what you can to provide it!
By curating your packaging and upping the ante with your displays, you’ll encourage visitors to feature your store on their Instagram or Snapchat stories. For example, these clear soft vinyl bags are a great way to showcase your products to a younger set and make for fun take-home items. Add some ribbon and a custom label, and your products will be ready for their Instagram debut.
5. Rotate Often
If you’re spending a lot of time and effort creating eye-catching visual displays, it may be tempting to leave them up year-round. However, changing things up every now and then will keep customers on their toes and inspire repeat visits.
Take advantage of seasonal opportunities to change up your décor. Whether you deck out your store for Easter or reorganize your layout to emphasize back-to-school products, creating visual displays that speak to seasonal trends will keep customers coming back for more.
I work for a visual merchandising company that specializes in planogram systems. As much value as there is in visual merchandising, we also tell clients to think about the other senses, especially smell and sound. Good tips here, Aram.