5 Visual Merchandising Objectives You Need to Have

A visual merchandiser’s role involves different responsibilities. As an aesthetic curator for retailers, they need to assure that the store’s overall appearance is captivating enough to encourage sales. They need to execute visual harmony. And above all, they need to build an environment that cultivates experience through different visual components. 

With all the responsibilities and everyday work, it is easy to get lost and forget the purpose of visual merchandising. We go on autopilot, forgetting to improve and reminding ourselves why to do what we do. So here, as a reminder, we give you five visual merchandising objectives you need to remember as you practice your work.

1.  Increase sales

Like all aspects of a business, one of the primary goals of visual merchandising is to increase sales. It might sound common knowledge but, as a visual merchandiser, your ultimate goal is to make a sale. It will validate your efforts and creativity.

Increase in sales measures the effectiveness of your visual merchandising displays. It is not enough to make it look attractive. It needs to be engaging and innovative enough to impact a customer’s purchase decision. It should be powerful enough to drive more sales that will contribute to the success of your business.

At the end of the day, business is business. Visual merchandising is an investment. A high return on investment defines your visual merchandising’s performance.

2. Express your brand identity

Visual merchandising is not just a powerful marketing tool. It has the power to express your brand identity. As a retailer, you must utilize all the tools you have to communicate your identity as a brand. Knowing how to do branding on all types of visual merchandising helps you to stand out from your competitors, attract customers, and expand your success.

The secret to building a strong branding is in the detail. Think of Apple. From packaging to store display to the product, they manage every detail with consistency and innovation. And visual merchandising is a detail you should never miss.

Consider all types of visual merchandising as brand touchpoints. Think of visual merchandising as an important interaction with your customers or a platform to express your brand attributes that can have a powerful impact on the overall success of your brand.

3. Create a recall value

It is not enough you do all visual merchandising techniques that you can find in the rule book. You need to know how to break them to create a long-lasting impact and recall value.

Have you ever saw visual merchandising displays that made you stop, look, and then you entered the shop? Or a window display that you once saw and until now you can still remember what brand it is? That’s the goal. You want your visual merchandising displays to make an emotional impact. And the best way to do it is by challenging the rules and your creativity. Then only, you can reap all the benefits of visual merchandising.

4. Give your products a story

Visual merchandising is not simply about assorting your products to be visually recognizable. Like any visual marketing, it is storytelling. Stories shape how we think; it affects our decisions. Hence, your products should be displayed with stories to have an emotional impact on your customers that will affect their purchase decisions.

Compare a window display that simply has a mannequin with clothes on or the famous holiday windows of Bergdorf Goodman. The later gives their products a story that compels passersby to stop, look, and enter their department store. Your visual merchandising techniques shouldn’t be as grand as Bergdorf Goodman’s to tell a story. Simply think outside the box and ask yourself: how you can tell a story with this product and what I have?

5.  Attract customers with innovative and creative displays

The primary objective of visual merchandising is to attract customers. You want to lure them inside the stores with innovative and creative visual merchandising displays, then define their purchasing decisions with how engaging and captivating your in-store visuals.

So how do you make impressionable and impulsive shoppers buy from you with visual merchandising? You utilize all types of visual merchandising. Use all elements—from colors, windows, to lighting—to create an environment that is entertaining for your customers. The ultimate goal is to create a positive and emotional impact on them that will motivate them to spend more and be advocates of your brand. 

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