

The purpose of visual merchandising is to draw in and engage customers, so that they might make purchases.įor the visual merchandiser, the job is very much a matter of starting with the architecture of the entire retail space, whether it’s a store, a website, or a mobile app. It’s simpler for them to keep their heads down and quickly locate the product they came in for. When there are so many products shouting “Look at me!”, it’s easy for shoppers to feel overwhelmed and overlook the majority of them. In brick-and-mortar stores and online storefronts, consumers are barraged with visual and text-based advertising.

Visual merchandising is a powerful way to cut through the noise. The Importance of Strong Visual Merchandising Visual merchandising is the practice of designing and displaying merchandise in a retail setting with the goal of engaging shoppers and boosting sales. That’s certainly true, but with the rise of omnichannel retail, strong visual merchandising must also extend to online channels.

We tend to think about visual merchandising in terms of how products are displayed in a store via window displays, mannequins, signage, interactive experiences, etc. It’s about presenting them in a way that drives tangible increases in revenue. The key point is that visual merchandising isn’t just about making products look good. Independent retailers have control over their own displays and can create them without the constraints of a brand’s guidelines. Generally speaking, larger companies have merchandisers that are able to work closely with retail marketing teams to create displays that fit in with brand’s overall image and goals. This is done by creating displays that accentuate a product’s appearance, features, benefits, and uses in a visually compelling way. This is where visual merchandising comes into play. You might have the best products or prices on the market, but if your stores are bland or the products are poorly displayed, people will look elsewhere. Retailers and brands are facing the same challenges. That means that even if the food is cooked perfectly and is delicious, a bad presentation can put someone off before they even try it. In the restaurant business, they say that “People eat with their eyes first.”
