Visual Merchandising Quick Wins: 5 Retail Design Tips You Can Try Today

The adage “Don’t judge a book by its cover” doesn’t really apply to retail. The fact is, shoppers make conclusions and purchases based on the appearance of a store or its products.

That’s why visual merchandising is so important. Optimizing your shop’s look and feel can help you connect better with customers and increase conversions. And the good news is, you don’t have to do a complete store overhaul to see results from your efforts. As you’ll learn below, applying some key visual merchandising principles can make a big difference in customer engagement and sales.

Let’s take a closer look at the different retail design and layout tactics that you can try in your store:

Don’t clutter up your decompression zone

The first few feet of your shop (aka: the decompression zone) isn’t a great place to display merchandise. Shoppers who are in your decompression zone tend not to notice items in the area because they just walked in and are still adjusting to the new environment.

For this reason, avoid placing too many items or fixtures in the decompression zone. Stick with a few select products, or consider placing merchandise outside your store to help shoppers adjust to the environment when they walk inside.

Thoughtfully curate merchandise

When it comes to appealing retail displays, more isn’t always better. Rather than stocking up on additional products and filling up your shelves, strive to be more thoughtful with your merchandising efforts.

Melissa Gonzalez, CEO of The Lionesque Group, advises retailers to have a clear theme or message with their visual merchandising. “If the visual message is unclear, it remains unnoticed,” she says.

What you need to do is curate merchandise. Think of yourself as a craftsman who handpicks materials or products and then creates beautiful displays and assortments that speak to your customers.

Take a look at what subscription businesses are doing. Companies such as Try the World and Birchbox create monthly boxes filled with thoughtfully selected products for their customers. These businesses put in a lot of attention to detail and quality, and this enables them to come up with awesome boxes that their subscribers look forward to every month.  

Tell a specific, out of the box story with your window display

If you do a bit of research on creating a winning window display, you’ll likely come across tips instructing you to “tell stories”. While this is sound advice, it’s actually incomplete.

According to Gonzalez, it’s not enough to tell a story. In order to create compelling displays, retailers should tell a specific story. Let’s say the holidays are around the corner and you want to create a display that conveys a Christmas narrative. Instead of using general themes, you should think of a specific holiday story or scene that goes beyond the usual Christmas trees and snowmen.

Check out Anthropologie's holiday window displays last year. Rather than using a bunch of cliched Christmas elements, the apparel retailer focused on one holiday component — gingerbread houses — and then incorporated that theme in their window displays.

Break up long aisles

Long, uninterrupted aisles could result in shoppers tuning out of your products. Brian Dyches, chief experience officer at Ikonic Tonic told Entrepreneur that upon studying shopping patterns, they found that “up to 20 percent of the store’s merchandise is skipped over” because of these aisles.

To address this, Dyches recommends that retailers create visual breaks in the middle of long aisles. Such breaks can come in the form of an interactive display, a station where shoppers can try out your products, or even just a well-merchandised outfit.

Whatever you decide, the key is to reinvigorate your store layout to keep people intrigued.

Select the right colors

Colors can influence how shoppers perceive your products and store, so pick your palette wisely. Look around your shop and see to it that you’re using colors and themes that are in line with what you want shoppers to feel.

Here’s a list of common colors and how they’re perceived by consumers:

Black - People associate black with class, sophistication, and even exclusivity. Many retailers use it to market high-end products or exclusive events.

Blue - This color promotes trust and security, which explains why many companies in the financial space (i.e. Amex, Chase, PayPal) use a lot of blue in their branding.

Green - Nature, wealth, and growth are themes usually associated with the color green. It can also be used to sooth and calm people.

Red - Red is basically saying “look at me and take action now!” It brings up a sense of urgency and it’s commonly used in “SALE” or “CLEARANCE” signage.

Yellow - Like red, yellow can be used to grab people’s attention. In the food industry, this color is also used to arouse people’s appetites.  

Final words

Hopefully, you were able to pick up some actionable nuggets from this post. Do remember, though, that these tips aren’t set in stone. When it comes to design, some rules are meant be broken (as long as you do it with style). So let your creative juices flow, experiment with new things, and see what works.

Learn more about visual merchandising

If you’re looking for ways to improve your store’s visual merchandising strategy, attend our upcoming webinar, Visual Merchandising Secrets: How to Design Stores That Delight & Convert Shoppers.

Specifically, you’ll learn:

• How to optimize your store layout and improve the shopping experience
• Why you should tell stories with your designs and merchandise
• What other retailers are doing design‑wise to improve sales
• How to create stunning displays even if you don't know much about visual merchandising

Presented by Melissa Gonzalez, CEO of The Lionesque Group and author of The Pop-Up Paradigm, this webinar will highlight all the important aspects of designing a winning retail store. You’ll learn how to begin, and get insights into the benefits of storytelling via visual merchandising strategies.

Save your spot here. Also note that spaces are limited so please get there early.