Visual merchandising at Christmas
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With Christmas already making an appearance in retail outlets, now is the time to really think about how to attract customers into your store over the festive period. Striking visual merchandising can be key to attracting customer’s attention and drawing them into and around your retail space.
There are several ways in which you can help attract custom in the run up to the holidays including:
Outside-in approach
First impressions count and very often a customer will decide whether or not to enter based on the frontage and window display alone. Just as when selling a home you must have kerb appeal, the same applies to enticing people into your shop.
To stand out, you should first consider what will appeal to your target audience and generate positive feelings towards your brand. Encourage customers to associate you with Christmas and try to evoke emotions and memories to draw them in. Be as creative as you can and see what items you already have that you can transform into a showstopping window.
Create a window with atmosphere
Once you have established what your customer base wants, you can then set about showing them how they can fit your products into their lives. If possible, display your products as they would be used by the customer, for example a fully dressed Christmas tree in a current colour palette or a Christmas dining table fully laid. Whatever you choose, try to induce a feeling of tradition and nostalgia that customers will then associate with your brand over Christmas. The window display is your opportunity to display clear messaging, signage and branding and entice shoppers to come in and see more.
Journey through store
Once they are in, you want to expose customers to the maximum amount of product. A good way to do this is to encourage them through the store by putting your most desirable items towards the back of your space, so that they have to walk past the majority of your stock and hopefully be encouraged to pick up a few things along the way.
Key focal areas
Aside from your wonderful window display, try and create some focal points inside your store that will encourage purchases.
Make your seasonal products look interesting by displaying them at different heights and in unusual ways such as in baskets or hanging from shelves or the ceiling. Use your products in a way that shouts ‘Christmas’ even if your products aren’t traditionally seasonal. For example, if you sell ties you could make a Christmas tree shape out of them or if you have an item in several colours you could build a Christmas collage out of it. You could even stack crates or bright boxes into a tree shape and use it as shelving for your products, anything to add a fun, fresh, attractive feel to your store.
Group complementary items together such as white and silver tree trim alongside its matching wreath and garland to encourage ‘theme buying’ and if you have any stand-out selling points such as sustainability, no glitter, ethically sourced etc, make sure this is clearly marked. Lastly, place smaller ‘pick me up’ items close to the till to encourage last minute impulse buys.
Finally … spread the word
Having a ‘selfie spot’ in mind when designing feature display areas can ensure that your brand gets maximum coverage. Encourage your customers to take a photo and then share with their social media followers using your hashtag that you have clearly displayed.