Visual Merchandising

Stephen Bishaj

Unit 30: Visual Merchandising

20/02/20

In this assignment I will be demonstrating an understanding of the visual merchandising and display techniques used in different retail outlets.

Within visual merchandising, there are different types of retail outlets that are very effective with their display techniques and are known to use a lot in contribution to their success, these will be listed below.

Department Store- A department store is a large shop which holds a wide variety of goods separated into different departments.

Malls- A mall is a large enclosed area of a variety of shops and restaurants as well as sometimes other business establishments.

Speciality store- Speciality stores are retail businesses that focus solely on a specific product category such as clothing for example and would not venture into selling different products within that store.

Supermarket- A supermarket is a self-service system in a shop offering a wide variety of food, drinks and household products sorted into organised sections. Supermarkets are large than your typical grocery store however they are more limited than a hypermarket for example.

Hypermarket- A hypermarket is similar to a supermarket, but it is on a larger scale, they essentially are a combination of a department store and a supermarket as they also sell clothes whereas a supermarket wouldn’t necessarily do so.

Franchises- Franchises are usually referred to a large and established companies chain of restaurants for example. McDonalds would be an example of a franchise as it is a large and established company that has many branches around the world.

Discount Stores- A discount store is a retail shop that sells products at a discounted price in comparison to their regular retail price.

Warehouse Store- A warehouse store in the case of groceries, is a store retailer that operates its stores to offer very discounted prices rather than operating with a regular supermarkets pricing.

Factory Outlet- A factory outlet is a shop where a factory sells damaged or out of date goods directly to customers at a reduced price.

Cash and Carry- A cash and carry is a form of trade in which goods are sold from a wholesale warehouse to a customer in full, with the purchaser then taking the item.

Different Visual Merchandising Display Techniques used: Micro-Merchandising- this technique helps draw attention to certain products within an aisle by the way it is structured in terms of what the store wants to be visible to the customer first.

End-cap techniques-cross-merchandising- the structure of display which ensures a customer is drawn to the content of that specific aisle and it is almost communicating the message of informing the customer what that aisle contains.

An example of an end cap technique would be this picture here, informing TechnologyTechnology can be customers of the content of the aisle. used within retailers as part of them displaying products, showing a product in use or many other ways. Implementing technology within Technology is used within this instance to display the product when plated up which would influence the customers decision on the purchase

Stephen Bishaj

Unit 30: Visual Merchandising

20/02/20

a retail store increases customer engagement especially if touch screens are interactive. Colourful graphics and display could also enhance the overall experience of the customer and it would be very effective in drawing the customer attention to a specific product or aisle.

Proper Space and Theme Display and Special Events- This technique is often used as a method of cross merchandising as displays would be set specifically around seasonal times or certain events such as Christmas or Valentines Day for example. As these periods can become busy, the technique also focuses heavily on utilising all the space necessary to make the experience for shoppers very efficient and enjoyable.

Use of fixtures and fittings, wall fixtures, Softline fixtures, hard-line fixtures etc- The effectives use of fixtures can be very important to the success of a retail store as it would make products visible to the customer and therefore the structure would need This picture taken in JD also shows the to very effective with the effective use of a wall fixture as the right products in order to products are in the eyeline of the see optimum levels of customer and they also have offers revenue. attached to the product which would also encourage a purchase.

Placing of dummies- Mannequins need to be placed in a visible spot for the customer almost immediately as they walk in so if there are a new range of clothes out, they can be able to identify that from the mannequin. However, mannequins can also be placed next to a pile of clothes as it gives the consumer the opportunity to see those clothes worn which would allow them to make a decision on An example of a well-placed whether to purchase or not. dummy would be this, which is a picture taken outside of JD

Types of furniture- Having a cosy and homely atmosphere within your shop as well as having a lot of colours would be very effective in attracting different audiences solely on that basis. Once luring them into your shop, then you have already increased your chances of making more sakes as they may go on to then make a purchase.

Power of three- The power of three has a very influential role in the success of a store, with symmetry for example, displaying products in a pyramid like formations influences a customer to

Stephen Bishaj

Unit 30: Visual Merchandising

20/02/20

look at all three products even if they initially only intend to look at one. Retailers should also show a range of goods available whilst considering the power of three in the sense that in those three products there should be a range of sizes for example to show a variety. Retailers would also find success in using the power of three to group different types of merchandise that work together for example, that way they can complete a whole outfit on a mannequin for example whilst also advertising the three different products.

Colourisation- This technique refers to the use of different colours and colour schemes as a tool to influence the merchandising of products. It is an effective method of visual merchandising that helps enhance the display of products within a store.

Fragrance of store- This is the smell of the interior of the store which can sometimes be smelt from outside and therefore entices customers.

Repetition/consistency- This is when an item is repeated throughout the store to create consistency and to ensure the customer does not feel as if there is a lot going on and it is instead easier for them to navigate through the store.

Vertical/horizontal- This practices displaying products in a vertical manner from top or bottom or horizontally from left to right.

This vertical and horizontal display was taken from Iceland, the offers as well are also placed vertically.

Different kinds of goods Impulse goods- Impulse goods are products people buy on impulse or without planning to do so. Retailers typically place certain items such as chocolate or chewing near the checkout in the hope that the customer picks it up and buys it on their way out.

Convenience goods- A convenience good is a product that is easily accessible and available widely without requiring a lot of effort to find. Newspapers for example would be convenience goods as you can find them on buses and in almost every local corner shop if not all.

Search and Compare lines- Consumers find products of interest by browsing through the website of a certain store or searching between different sellers through a shopping search engine that displays the same products availability and pricing at different retailers.

Speciality goods- A speciality good is a product that is quite out of the ordinary or unique enough to the point where a goal can be set towards obtaining that product, so certain cars for example could be speciality goods or designer clothes etc.

Complementary Merchandise Placement- These are products that accompany different items when being consumed so for example products such as butter, sauce and those kind of items wold be products of this category.

Seasonal goods- Seasonal goods are products that are only available during seasonal periods, for example Christmas trees in Christmas or pumpkins in Halloween.

M1

Stephen Bishaj

Unit 30: Visual Merchandising

20/02/20

In this part of the assignment I will analyse and explain the visual merchandising techniques used to present a range of goods in my two selected businesses which are JD and Iceland.

What is visual merchandising and why is it important?

Visual merchandising is a sales tactic used which displays products in an attractive or enticing manner to help drive sales up. The tactic focuses on displaying products in a way in which they become appealing to the customer such as using colourisation for example and using a certain colour scheme within a store.

Visual merchandising can be very important to the success of a store if executed correctly. It can help create awareness for the store as an aesthetically pleasing store would attract customer to that store and brand which is the main goal of the store, to attract new customers. Implementing a theme in your store around a certain event not only makes the store look nice but it also creates a sense of urgency within the customers as they are able to identify there has been an exclusive launch of products specially for that specific event, and they would not want to miss out on that.

Differences in techniques used by Iceland and JD Iceland uses technology as part of their visual merchandising to give customer a better idea of how products look outside of its packaging and when ready to eat, the picture displayed showing this, would be one of great attraction and enticement and leaving customer with the urge to buy it. The displayed image also brings light to that section of the aisle and customer can be attracted by that light as well as the overall picture. In JD however, the use of technology is less frequent and can only appear in some stores and when it is used, it is solely focused on advertising one product or a new range whereas with Iceland there would be images displayed above every product similar to ready-made meals for example.

There is also a use of vertical and horizontal displays within Iceland which allows Iceland to display a wide range of crisps and chocolates at eye level which shows their accessibility to a wide variety. It also creates colourisation as different products would have different packaging with different colours which again can be very appealing to the eye of a potential customer and especially the younger audience, which is more so who they target with chocolates, crisps etc. Vertical and horizontal displays are not really a method of visual merchandising that JD tend to typically use as they don’t necessarily fit a typical JD sports format of how clothes and shoes are structured as clothes for example are sometimes laid out on racks.

Another method of visual merchandising that is typically used is end cap techniques. Iceland use end-cap to gain the attention of customers onto the products that they want to push that for example may currently have an offer active. End caps are also kept very short and simple and usually only contain one range of item meaning you wouldn’t have varying products in an end cap. This is

Stephen Bishaj

Unit 30: Visual Merchandising

20/02/20

effective because as you are leaving an aisle you would be able to identify the product as it is the only one there rather than having to process many varying products when making short eye contact with it. As JD, however, do not have separating aisles they would not use end cap techniques as a form of visual merchandising.

Similarities in techniques used by JD and Iceland JD uses repetition and consistency in the way they format their clothing in the sense that as you walk down the shop, there are clothes on the wall as well as on a rack under that, varying from brand to brand. It shows the customer the variety of options they have available to them for purchase. In a similar way, repetition and consistency can also be created in Iceland as in aisles you will have a certain type of product, but with varying brands, again giving the option to the customers as each customer would have a certain preference.

Wall fixtures are another technique used by both JD and Iceland. Using wall fixtures allows for the store to make the products visible to the customer at eye level so in the case of JD, all shoes are part of a wall fixture which makes the also easily accessible for whenever a customer wants to try shoes on but as previously mentioned they are at eye level and therefore hard to miss.

This is similar to Iceland as they would also have products displayed on a wall fixture for the same reasons as well as having the ability to also display the variety of options they provide in that specific product type.

References: https://www.mbaskool.com/business-concepts/marketing-and-strategy-terms/12217merchandising.html https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-rule-of-three-in-visual-merchandising.html https://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/hypermarket.asp