Are your customers bored? If your store is full of new product, but your sales are in a rut, they might be. Your sales floor is a living, breathing entity that needs to change – frequently – to flourish. Shoppers come to your store to buy, but they also come for ideas and inspiration, but it’s the experience that brings them back. Here are five hot display strategies you can put to work right now:
Tip 1: Create Winning Windows
Customers should be able to take in your window displays in eight seconds or less. Make sure your displays capture the eye quickly and hold enough attention for the passerby to absorb it and be enticed into your store. Intricate displays are hard to set up and have small, easy-to-miss details. Instead, use larger props and products that will be noticed in those critical eight seconds. Add vinyl lettering that highlights what you sell and consider filling the space with vibrant photo graphics if your window size or shape is less than ideal.
Tip 2: Win the 10-Second First Impression
Stand just inside the front door and look around. What would you think if you were a customer? In the first 10 seconds shoppers make value judgements about what they see, thinking, should I grab what I need here or head to another store to browse at my leisure? View your sales floor from just inside the door each day, checking to ensure you are giving shoppers the impression you intended.
Tip 3: Check Your Sight Line
While you’re still at the front of the store, check the sight line — can shoppers see into and through the sales floor? Get rid of tall fixtures near the front that block product. Instead, place shorter fixtures up front and taller fixtures toward the rear of the store. Remember, the more shoppers see, the more they’ll buy. (Bonus tip: Displays work best when they vary in height — when everything is the same, nothing stands out. But fixtures should never be the focal point; good fixtures let the merchandise stand out.)
Tip 4: Choose the Right Layout
As much as 50% of your sales floor is never seen by shoppers, so a big part of your job is to map how people move through the sales floor. You can control how customers shop your store just by where you place your fixtures. While there are many layouts to choose from, grid, loop and free-flow layouts are the most popular:
• Grocery stores use a grid layout, with fixtures parallel to the walls. Shoppers have been trained to pick up a cart at the front door and walk up and down every aisle. In a grid layout, end features are stacked with promotional goods to increase the average sale.
• Best Buy, Target and Macy’s rely on a loop layout to move shoppers through the store. Loop layouts utilize a clearly defined main aisle that circles through the store like a racetrack, offering maximum product exposure. In a loop layout the perimeter walls and gondola valleys are just as important as the end features. Loops generally work best in a larger footprint.
• Boutique and specialty retailers benefit from a free-flow layout. Customers shop the sales floor according to how and where you place the fixtures, making them fully flexible and easy to set and change.
Tip 5: Follow the Signs
A study by FedEx Office found that 68% of American Consumers made a purchase simply because a sign caught their eye. Here’s another statistic: 74% of all purchase decisions are made in-store, so signs really are silent salespeople. Imagine what it could mean to your sales if you decided no display was finished until the fixture was properly signed? Your signs
simple and immediately understood — think quick phrases and short sentences. Pro-tip: To choose your font size, take the average age of your oldest customers and divide it in half; this is the smallest font size you can use. Don’t go below 30-point font to ensure legibility for shoppers with and without reading glasses.
Well thought out displays allow you to express your creativity while optimizing the square footage on your sales floor. Give these visual merchandising tricks of the trade a try in your store and watch what happens!
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