The Importance Of Visual Merchandising

Introduction:

No other variable in the retailing mix influences the consumer’s initial perceptions of a bricks & mortar retailer as much as the store itself.

Thus, this quote effectively highlights the importance of visual merchandising in order to attract the customers.

But in order to understand the importance of visual merchandising, it is important to know what visual merchandising actually means!

Meaning :

Visual merchandising is the activity of promoting the sale of goods, especially by their presentation in retail outlets. It is a merchandising technique which effectively uses the design of an environment via visual communications, lighting, colours, music and scent to stimulate customers’ perceptual and emotional response and ultimately

Difference between Merchandising and Visual Merchandising

By definition, merchandising is the planning and promotion of sales by presenting a product to the right market at the proper time, by carrying out organized, skilful advertising, using attractive displays, etc. while visual merchandising is the activity of promoting the sale of goods, especially by their presentation in retail outlets.

Merchandisers are responsible for ensuring that products appear in the right store at the appropriate time and in the correct quantities and merchandisers also set prices to maximize profits and manage the performance of ranges, planning promotions and markdowns as necessary while visual merchandisers create window and in-store displays in shops and department stores, taking responsibility for ‘the look’ of the store, with the aim of promoting goods in order to maximize

Visual Merchandising is an important support for fashion retail operations. It gives the business an edge over competition. Strategically used, visual merchandising can even create a brand identity. It establishes a connection between merchandise and fashion.

The right kind of Visual Merchandising boosts the sales graph rise upwards. This is achieved by creating an environment not only to attract a customer but also to retain his/her interest, create desire and finally augment the selling process. Generally, the store makes use of a publication generated by them called the VM guidelines. These guidelines discuss in detail how the store is set up ranging from what type of fixtures to use in each area, use of store logo to distance of shelves from each other and many more.

These guidelines are based on a Visual Plan. The visual plan is an actual photograph, a hand drawn illustration or graphic presentation of a display. It is also known as a plan-o-gram.

A plan-o-gram is nothing more than a picture of how various fixtures, shelves and walls will present your merchandise. It is a simple but a very powerful concept because it takes into consideration research on buying habits of