Guide
10 Steps to Improve Visual Merchandising Execution

Improving visual merchandising should be a top priority for retailers, as we live in a world where decisions are made in seconds. Effective and improved visual merchandising execution ensures that a customer likes the products on display and is ready to purchase, or it allures the customer to step into your store and explore for more.
Have you ever entered a store and liked any outfit on a mannequin or a product on display? Well, this was no coincidence. The products were meticulously curated and positioned in the right place with perfect lighting to attract passersby to enter the store and start shopping. This marketing strategy is called visual merchandising. The ultimate aim of visual merchandising is to increase sales with pleasing aesthetics and enhanced displays.
Following the best practices of visual merchandising can drive your business to the top. Do you want to know how to use visual merchandising to level up your retail space? Here is a detailed guide on steps to improve visual merchandising execution.
What is Visual Merchandising?
Visual merchandising is a marketing strategy to catch the customer’s eye through carefully arranged products, displays, floor plans, lighting, and other elements. It is used to convey the brand message through the retail space. For instance, a luxury brand has elevated lighting, broad space, and fancy interiors. Shopping at that store gives you a premium experience, while products at a discount sale will be arranged closely to create a sense of rush.
Visual Merchandising primarily uses retail space and transition zones to attract customers and convert sales. Creativity and innovation are important in turning any retail space into an attractive brand outlet. A visual merchandiser or a similar software spins their magic in creating outlets that speak the brand language, ultimately raising sales.
What are the 10 Steps of the Visual Merchandising Execution Process?
Successful visual merchandising relies on creativity and innovation. With the right techniques, professional visual merchandisers weave their magic in transforming your retail space into a successful brand outlet.
1. Plan Your Space Effectively.
Visual merchandising equips a retail space to sell the products itself. The key is to create an outlet that guides the customer flow to various sections effortlessly, from entry to billing.
A professional visual merchandiser would create a layout to impact sales in every corner. Retail space must be planned to communicate the idea the brand is trying to promote through a product. For instance, to market an exclusive product, there should be a lot of space around the piece to emphasize the product is peculiar.
Brands like Decathlon and IKEA are perfect examples of influential space planning. These brands created a layout that gives the customer an experience of what they could have with their products. The aim is to push the consumer to purchase from the moment they enter the store without marketing gimmicks.
2. Create Engaging Window Displays
Window displays must be planned to entice passersby to enter the store. They should be eye-catching and communicate the brand’s mood. The displays should be placed at eye level with dramatic lighting and a theme to draw the customer’s attention.
Clothing brands like H&M display collections based on the season. In summer, the mannequins are styled in shorts and linens, switching to sweatshirts and woolens in winter. This is executed after understanding their target customers and their behavior.
3. Leverage Lighting to Enhance Product Appeal
Lighting sets a space’s mood. Restaurants and coffee shops use warm-toned lights to create a cozy, secure ambiance. Shops like Apple or Zara, which sell clothing or electronics, use cool lights to bring out the vibrance of their products.
There are different types of lighting used to convey different messages around a retail store.
- Ambiance Lighting
This is the base lighting used to set the tone of the brand. Retail stores use lighting with CRI 90+ to render a product’s true colors.
- Accent Lighting
This type of lighting is used to accentuate the exclusivity of the product and draw attention to its key areas. It is used behind the shelves and in similar areas to highlight the products.
4. Use Color Psychology to Influence Purchasing Decisions
Color is the most important element in Visual Merchandising. The human brain associates every color with different emotions. For instance, red and yellow imply urgency, Blue and green give a calming vibe, white shows purity, and black is elegance. The combination of colors in a retail store tells a story to the customer.
For instance, luxury brands use a white and black combo to embrace elegance and power. A candy store will be decorated in eye-poppy colors to create excitement and grab the attention of the children who are drawn to vibrant colors. Choosing the color should align with your brand value and impress the target audience.
5. Organize Products to Encourage Discovery
Product discovery involves aiding customers in finding what they are looking for and exploring items they might buy. Products must be arranged so that customers can easily access what they are looking for.
Product grouping is a technique that boosts sales by arranging a set of products together. For instance, sugar and tea can be placed in adjacent aisles, so people coming to buy tea will also buy sugar.
6. Incorporate Technology and Interactive Elements
Experiential retailing is the buzzword in visual merchandising. Incorporating interactive technologies, like a self-help kiosk at McDonald’s or scanning a QR code for the restaurant menu, offers customers ease of access.
Top Brands like Ralph Lauren have incorporated an Augmented Reality tool in changing rooms. Customers can try on a dress without wearing it by selecting it on the smart mirrors of the store. Interactive elements increase customer curiosity and engagement. They create a unique experience that brings customers back to the store.
7. Implement Signage for Effective Communication
Quirky signage will capture the eye immediately, as customers’ attention is much less in this case. Signage should be short and interesting for the customer to engage with. They should be on point, triggering the viewer to make the move. Choose a legible font with attractive colors to inform the customers of your message.
8. Refresh Displays Regularly to Maintain Interest
The same product or posture on display does not excite the customer. After one purchase, the customer loses interest in coming to the store. To attract recurring customers, refresh the displays regularly and keep the buzz alive by rotating the products on the window display every fortnight or monthly.
Keep up with the season and plan your displays accordingly. Develop a theme owing to the occasion in the locality. For example, display green attire for Peter Pan’s Day or decorate your store with a Valentine’s theme for the 14th of February. This will kindle the interest of the customers.
9. Train Staff on Visual Merchandising Principles
Store employees are an essential part of the business. Train your employees on visual merchandising principles to follow the theme of your brand. Store employees must be able to guide customers across the store, aligning with the brand value. They should be aware of product placement strategies to update the displays and arrange the products based on visual merchandising principles.
10. Measure and Adapt Based on Performance
Visual merchandising strategies curated for customers should drive sales. The strategies should evolve with time. To understand if the methods you use are working, brand performance must be measured. Just review the store’s performance from time to time through its real-time gallery and request changes if needed.
Keep the Key Elements of Visual Merchandising in Mind!
Building a visual merchandising strategy or improving an existing one can be simplified if you know the key elements of visual merchandising. Let’s look at some of the key elements that can help create a simplified but impactful visual merchandising plan.
- Color Combination
Color is a critical and powerful element that can drive sales. It has the power to make or break your sales because a soothing, well-balanced, and aesthetic color theme can attract customers to the store, while a dull color theme may not give the store an attractive look.
- Maximum Items on Display
Try to put your maximum number of items on display. This way, customers can see the variety of items available in the store and have the option to choose and buy a selected piece. This visual merchandising strategy can increase sales if you put your best-selling items on display.
- Light
Correct lighting and illumination bring the retail store’s colors to life and help highlight the product’s good features. They can also improve the store’s ambience and create spotlights to highlight certain items that drive sales.
- Decor
Furnishing and decoration also matter in a retail store’s visual merchandising strategy. Remember, good decor improves the overall display theme without creating a distraction.
- Empty Space
Many retailers ignore empty or underutilized space in a retail store. Rather than keeping it empty or unattended, it is best to use it for creative minds to display information about specific products or brands.
Besides, you can even use that space to display customer testimonials with their names and their picture. However, ensure to get permission from the customer before adding their image.
Wrapping up,
Every aspect of a retail store is an element of visual merchandising. From storefronts to carry bags, everything in a business should scream your brand and its value. Optimizing the principles of Visual merchandising execution will pull customers into your store, but maintaining consistency creates recurring customers. Find the right balance in making your space.
Professionals with immense knowledge in visual merchandising will analyze your brand and travel with you throughout to amend and optimize the visual merchandising. Choosing the right partner is important for traveling with them in the long run. Taqtics, an all-in-one retail operation management platform, provides a visual merchandizing tool that helps retailers with multi-location stores create an aesthetic, consistent, and appealing display. Schedule a demo today and see the difference that Taqtics can make.