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Visual merchandising is more important than ever

dubai - There is need to make product displays appealing to customers

Visual merchandising plays an increasingly important role in the retail industry on many levels.

In the world of bricks-and-mortar retail, visual merchandising is now more important than ever. Why is that?

Visual merchandising is described as the art, technique and science of making retail merchandise (or services displayed) to highlight their features to look as appealing as possible to the customers who you are selling to, according to the Economic Times.

The primary purpose of visual merchandising is to attract, engage and motivate customers towards making a purchase through the visual merchandiser's knowledge of understanding the customer's lifestyle. The purchases can be made in the store, online or in catalogues. All aspects of the sales cycle must be contemplated and included at every decision point in the visual merchandiser's daily routine.

Various skills are mastered by visual merchandising professionals. Creativity, artistic knowledge, innovation, use of colours, psychographics and a thorough understanding of the products you are displaying are some of the important aspects to be considered in the art of visual merchandising. Visual merchandising must impact all five senses, creating a multi-sensory experience which is known in the industry as sensory branding.

Sense of smell, sound
Visual merchandising is much more than just sight. Many people are tactile, meaning that their touch of products will prompt a purchase. For apparel, leather goods, furniture and shoe retailers, the customers can touch and hold the products, which enables the customer to envision the products on themselves which will hasten the sales.

The sense of smell is important and many companies focus on creating unique signature smells in each store as a touch point in the sales cycle. The sense of smell does not translate well in the online world, making it very important in the real world of retail.

The sense of sound often sets the stage for the sales cycle to proceed, especially when matched with the customer's lifestyle. Trendy fashion stores may often have the most recently-created music playing as a key driver of footfall into the store.

Creative lighting will help dictate the mood, emotions, attention and relevance of the products on display. Creative lighting is also vital to ensure the photography of the products evokes in the digital world the same emotions as real-life products.

Visual merchandisers live by several rules. One of these rules is the 'rule of three'. Our eyes and attention are attracted to groupings of three. If we have only one product on display, our eyes lock on this one example. If the product does not match our expectations, then our eyes move on. With three products displayed, a much greater chance exists that our eyes and mind will be more engaged in the displays.

Product groupings
Groupings of similar products together enhances sales. For example, placing peanut butter beside jams on the shelves of grocery stores has been proven to increase the sales of both products. Similarly, when you have similar colours of clothing grouped together, the chances of the customer choosing more than one article of clothing increases dramatically.

Let us look at several real-life examples on the impact of visual merchandising. The most successful furniture stores are continually circulating new styles of furniture, new fabrics, new seasons, new accessories, new colours and so on. Visual merchandising professionals must be engaged daily, making the most of the product display in various settings.

One of the main objectives of the furniture store visual merchandisers is to create several scenarios where the customer will see the furniture layout as it will be in their home. New room set-ups, new lighting, new backdrops, new ceiling display all require creativity and innovation to assemble a new look and feel. These displays are then often photographed and uploaded to the website or other social media sites to promote the furnishings.

Shoes, handbags and leatherwear are another category of merchandise which require constant display adjustment and refinement in the visual merchandising business. New styles, new designer brands, new colours, new products, new accessories, seasonality and other factors all need to be addressed by the visual merchandising team. You need to have a keen sense of fashion style, colour and creativity to display the very best for the product array.

Visual merchandising will play an even larger role in the physical world of retailing in the future.

The writer is chief executive of Middle East Council of Shopping Centres. Views expressed are his own and do not reflect the newspaper's policies.