In-store merchandising is a fantastic tool that is utilized by many businesses to maximize their overall aesthetic, aesthetic of the products they sell and in turn bump up sales. After all, what catches your eye first when you walk into a retail store? Chances are, it is the colours, the decor and the overall look of the environment you’re stepping into. Oftentimes, the importance and benefits of good in-store merchandising is overlooked, which it highly unfortunate as companies could be doing a disservice to their overall revenue by not focusing attention on visual merchandising. In this article, we will look into why good in-store merchandising is more important than you think, so read on to find out more!
1. Visuals Are Key To Enticing Customers
As humans, we are inherently visual creatures. We are attracted to things that look aesthetically pleasing, and anything that captures our attention to inspire us. As you walk down the high street or the floors of a shopping center, chances are, visual merchandising is what catches your eye and influences your decision to walk into a retail store. First impressions count, and this doesn’t just start inside the store, but also on the exteriors. Using the example of in-store merchandising by Sparfacts, the entrance and visual merchandising applied to it reflects the personality,message, and branding of your store which then entices a passerby to enter and have a look at the products you have to sell.
This is why in-store merchandising is to critical when trying to capture the attention of your target audience at first glance. Step 1 – people need to actually step into your retail outlet before anything else can occur!
2. Enhanced Brand Identity
Customers will be able to immerse themselves in your brand culture when you implement smart in-store merchandising. For example,a brand that sells children’s footwear would utilize bright, colourful imagery and the implementation of cartoon characters, bold signage, and child models using the footwear to convey that the brand specializes in footwear for young ones. This is something that would immediately appeal to any parent who is out and about, looking to purchase their children some new kicks.
Companies that truly excel at in-store merchandising tend to often also have a very strong brand culture that they try to impart on every customer or patron that walks through their doors. At the end of the day, subtle strategies of in store visual merchandising fortifies brand loyalty and greatly increases the chance of someone returning to your store in the future.
3. Make Sure Your Customers Linger
If you run a retail store, you know how important it is to keep your customers lingering in your outlet in a bid to increase sales. Customers are much more likely to spend longer periods of time in your store when they are vibing with your decor, music, lighting, colours and all the visual aspects of your space. In fact, many companies even devise tactics such as offering coffee to patrons in order to keep them in the premises for longer.
Using visual in-store merchandising is a fantastic way to appeal to all your customer’s five senses, giving them an opportunity to be fully immersed in your products, brand and atmosphere. This in turn tends to drive the level of sales up, and offers a win win scenario for both you and the customer who will leave feeling like they’ve left your store feeling 100% satisfied, and feeling better than when they walked in. This is a surefire way of getting repeat customers, and another reason why in-store merchandising is so incredibly beneficial to any retail store.
4. Focus On Tonality
Tonality refers to the consistency of your brand’s overall image over all various marketing platforms, whether that be on social media, your website, your ads and your emails. It is also often referred to as the consistency in marketing material, conveying a specific look or brand to your target customers that they can expect to encounter in all your various forms of marketing.
This is where in store merchandising comes into play – you will want to utilize it to create consistency and help your retail store look recognizable instantly when someone is looking from the outside in.Your visual merchandising will have to be consistent with the look of your website, social media platforms and anything else you put out into the world.This will assist in creating brand loyalty, and creates an emotional connection between your customer and your brand, thus increasing future revenue and success.
5. It Just Looks Good!
Last but not least, visual in-store merchandising is an opportunity for you to really go all out and make your retail store look absolutely amazing. Not only will you feel proud of your establishment, but customers will appreciate the amount of effort and thought that has gone into your visual merchandising, signifying how committed your business is to its success and growth!
_____________
We hope that this article has given you some vital nuggets of information when it comes to why good in-store merchandising is more important than you may think.