Among the many challenges of a store owner is finding consistency in your overall store communication. While it’s easy to use tags, labels, marketing and other collateral provided by vendors, it’s also important to create your own branding here. For example, when pricing your products, consider using your own labels to help establish a strong brand for yourself. Collectively, your logo and visual image at large help shape your store brand and reputation. Each component of this should work together to establish a strong, cohesive message.

Beyond labels and branding, consider the colors you are using in your stoer. Do they make sense? Do they blend with your logo and total store image? From wall colors to store signage to business cards, how does your store look when overlapped together? Your design choices impact your customer experience, plain and simple. Don’t let anything be an afterthought and if it was, take the time to fix it. Sure, this may sound easier said then done. But work towards this in an effort to create a powerful store experience for your customer.

Possibly some of your store challenges lie in the assortment of displays and  fixtures throughout your store. Mismatched hangers never look good, and sloppy merchandising is a quick fix with the right supplies. Specialty Store Services offers everything you need to polish your visual appeal, allowing your products to stand out.

As an indie store owner, we know budget is an issue. And that’s okay. We get it. Luckily, many of the visual impacts you can make are free or affordable.Wall paint, cleaner merchandising, less clutter and cohesive design. If you don’t trust yourself to make all these decisions, don’t be afraid to ask questions or advice from others. Friends, other business owners or even paid experts. The idea is to be aware this is necessary though and make your own efforts to make it work for you.

Have your own quick visual tips? Let us know! Please comment below.

Retail Minded wants to support all your visual merchandising needs! Our recently launched Visual Merchandising Workshop is a downloadable presentation that teaches the vast dynamics of visual merchandising specific to independent, retail businesses. Our Visual Merchandising Workshop makes the perfect presentation for indie stores, Chambers, Mainstreets, business organizations and more to learn from and gain leading advice specific to visual merchandising. It’s packed tight with applicable tools, valuable examples and a step-by-step presentation that makes presenting this workshop as easy as 1-2-3… even if you know nothing about visual merchandising! Affordable and convenient, this is the perfect solution for individual store owners and business groups to gain quality insight on merchandising tips for their stores.  Click here for a preview. Purchase here! 

Used as an educational tool to help retailers succeed, the Visual Merchandising Workshop is packed tight with applicable tools, valuable examples and a step-by-step presentation that makes presenting this workshop as easy as 1-2-3… even if you know nothing about visual merchandising! Retail Minded provides you with all necessary tools you need to share this workshop in a seminar style, workshop or even just for yourself. Talking points, questions to provoke creative thoughts, visual aids and an entire power point are done for you – making your only job to learn from Retail Minded. Gain an RM workshop without having our RM team on site! Affordable and convenient, this is the perfect solution for individual store owners and business groups to gain quality insight on merchandising tips for their stores.

Ready to motivate and train your retail team on the best tips for real life merchandising? Visit the Retail Minded Store for our downloadable workshop and other educational tools to help your business thrive!

In addition to capturing consumer attention, featured walls have the chance to communicate your store message and overall feel. If you don’t think you have a featured wall already, you likely do – even if you don’t know it or simply are not maximizing it. Some basic retail rules to help create a strong featured wall are below.

1. Create merchandising sections on your wall that easily allow consumers to “shop” and “understand” the purpose of the wall. This purpose includes highlighting product, creating a store brand, capturing a  feeling you want customers to experience and telling a story based on the season or product.

2. Odd numbers, such as 3 or 5 or 7, offer a more balanced merchandising presentation. For example, you could have three large, 12-foot shelves on top of one another versus two. Likewise, grouping products together in three versus two looks better, such as three choices of an apparel top versus just two.

3. Depending on your store space and total merchandising availability, make sure to use your featured wall as the  strongest visual statement in your store.  This does not mean all of your top sellers have to be here, but it should capture customer’s attention upon arrival into your store.

4. Try to have a center, focal spot on your featured wall that balances the entire wall. This center spot could show a large graphic print, a highlighted wall faceout with product, a huge mirror or even your store name in large font. The idea is to create a center point in the middle of your featured wall that draws the consumer in visually.

5. The secondary walls of your store are just as valuable, but their immediate impression to customers walking into your store simply aren’t as strong. Remember that the featured wall is meant to give an immediate statement. All other walls, tables and other merchandising displays should complement the statement you have made here.

Closeouts are available in many product categories, including clothing, home decor, footwear, accessories, toys and more. They are essentially divided into two categories – salvage items and job-outs. The first category we look at is salvage product. Salvage merchandise consists of customer returns, floor damages and samples. Due to this mixed assortment, some items may be damaged – however damageable does not always mean unsellable. This will depend on the product and the damage. That said – the majority will not be damaged.

The second category of closeout merchandise is job-outs. This category identifies items that were already on a retail floor somewhere and did not sell. As a result, their cost has been reduced for a quick sell to another retailer and ultimately, to a new consumer audience. Like salvaged products, there is a chance for damaged goods. But the percentage is much less – often less than 5%, though as high as 10% has been reported from retailers we’ve spoke with.

One thing to understand among most closeout purchases is that you typically buy in bulk. For example, you may buy 100 total units versus four 6-packs of a specific item. The bulk buy you make is almost always assorted with a variety of items. For example, you could buy a 100 assorted buy of t-shirts from at least ten different total vendors. Or you could buy 100 total units of mixed accessories such as headbands, barrettes, bracelets, rings and more. A closeout dealer will be able to identify a lot of what each bulk, assorted buy has to offer – but there will always be a bit of a surprise when buying closeouts. For many, that is part of the fun! For others, this may be where they get stuck in the buying process. Luckily, there are great resources for this that alleviate a lot of the questions about buying closeouts. One site to look at is Merchandize Liquidators, who do a good job at delivering quality closeout products.

Many indie and small retailers shy away from closeouts simply due to their lack of understanding or even the “bad rap” that closeouts sometimes have. Our advice? Consider what is best for you. Closeout liquidators exist because it has proven to be successful for many retailers to buy from.  Among these include a lot of small, independent retailers that blend closeout buys into their total store inventory – without customers or even staff knowing any different. It’s very possible you shop a boutique that sells closeouts and you don’t know any different, as well.

Have we made you think twice about your buys or where you shop? Let us know!

From creating impressionable window displays to offering festive gift wrap to planning for extra staff, the list is long. Let’s not forget stocking your store with this season’s must have gifts! Trusting your orders are already placed (we hope), here’s a look at some operational musts to ensure your holiday season is a success.

1. Create and start promoting extended hours to support the holiday season. If you are in a zoned area or shopping mall, these hours may already be determined for you. Either way, start marketing these hours so that your customers know you are there for them beyond your normal hours.

2. Plan for special marketing initiatives. These will vary based on your store and customer, but are likely to include (but not limited to) email marketing, a holiday open house, special shopping deals, customer appreciation days, a visit from Santa in your store, a shopping guide for customers, e-commerce only specials and more.

3. Identify your return and exchange policies on all receipts and near your cash wrap. If you are planning for altered policies specifically for the holiday season, make sure you also identify time frames they are specific to. It’s always a good idea to have customers initial receipts after you have explained your policy, as well.

4. Use social media as a marketing tool to post daily deals, special event details and more. If you aren’t already using social media, it’s not too late to get started. If you already are, you are a million steps ahead already! Identify how you can leverage your social media audience to not just hear you, but buy from you this holiday season.

5. Cross promote with like minded businesses. Create packages that overlap your products or services with other businesses in a “bundle package”, allowing you to gain new customers from their mailing list and customer outreach – and vice versa. Addiitonally, it’s a fun way to introduce new gifts to your local marketplace.

6. Get the media involved in your holiday plans. Radio stations, newspapers, local television stations, magazines and other local media outlets are crave great information to share with their readers. Let your store holiday plans be among what they share! Get on the ball now, though… The holidays are only ten weeks away.

7. Plan for additional staff. Possibly this means additional hours for current employees. Maybe this means holiday only help. Whatever works for you, it’s time to get it all identified so when the rush of customers keeps you busy, you won’t be stressing about extra help supporting you. Remember to train new hires, as well, on all your store policies!

8. Plan for Plan B. Extra help means extra people to worry about. If someone calls in sick, do you have a back up plan? Life happens – so you may as well have a plan of attack for when it does.

9. Have your holiday window and store displays ready to go. This means knowing what products and extra display accessories you need to support a dynamic display are ready to go for you to simply install. Don’t wait till the last minute to buy your own display extras at the store, either… Just like your store, they are likely busy and maybe sold out. Plus, you want your displays to be impactful and memorable, so don’t wait till the last minute to plan for them.

10. Offer above the top gift wrapping. Sure, everyone offers free gift wrapping this time of year. But does everyone offer beautifully wrapped presents that make a statement all on their own? While we can’t all get the same response a Tiffany blue box does, we can certainly try! The real challenge is to simply go above and beyond the expected.

Bonus Tip: Stay cheerful. The holidays are suppose to be a happy, beautiful time of year. Unfortunately, this isn’t only the case. If it happens to be stressful at home or in your store or both (hey, it happens to the best of us), try not to let your customers see this stress. By acting… dare we say… Christmas”y”, you help set the mood that then impacts your customers.

Finally, try to enjoy the season! From Cyber Monday to Black Friday to Christmas Eve, there is a lot to get ready… and to get excited… for. Have more tips to share? Let us know!

Accent Lighting 

Accent lighting should be used according to your overall store assortment. If your store sells higher-end luxury items, it is ideal for you to use accent lighting to showcase these  items. More basic stores that sell a variety of products with less luxury items should use accent items to showcase sale items, new items or items that you believe need to be called out with special attention. The goal of accent lighting is to call attention to a few products versus everything in the store. Use only as necessary yet enough to make an impact on the products you believe deserve this attention.

High Activity Lighting

Have a store that gets a ton of traffic and sells a ton of different stuff? Using light to bring attention to areas versus one specific product should be considered. Think about a back corner that may not get the right lighting with simple overhead fixtures but deserves just as much attention as the rest of your store. Stage your lighting to focus on these entire areas. Don’t forget about tall shelves, back corners, entire display fixtures and all other areas that matter here.

Ambient Lighting

Ambient lighting refers to your overall store lighting, allowing for customers to get a general store overview through the lighting used in your store. An example of this would be one prominent light fixture hanging in the center of the store, such as a large chandelier. This lighting makes the largest overall impact, so make sure it doesn’t change the color of your product or make the store appear offset in store layout.

Case & Shelve Lighting

Have you ever shopped somewhere and had to struggle to see inside a case to view a product? This is what you want to avoid in your own store. All products should be visible, so consider using shelve and case lighting as necessary. Make sure that you do not have this lighting exposed in a place that customers may lean against it or tough it accidently, as it can get very hot.

There is no single store lighting formula that you can follow as a retailer to ensure you are using your lighting correctly, but the points above allow you to think about the lighting decisions you have made or need to make. Additionally, whatever lighting plans you decide on for your store, make sure to change them as your merchandise and floor plan changes. Just like all other necessary steps in retail (merchandising, marketing, budgeting, etc.), lighting should be reviewed routinely and updated as necessary.

There’s no time to waste – start clicking some on and off switches. Let your lights do the rest of the work!

Create Excitement Through New Displays

Have you ever been to a store that you know exactly where to find your item?  Grocery stores to apparel retailers to discount supercenters thrive in having certain products always in the same place. Their customers know exactly where to get what they need. For showrooms, however, this is not the case. When retailers are placing orders, often they have no idea what they need. It’s your job as a showroom to create an atmosphere that makes them want to learn more about all that you sell, not just some of what you sell or what they may have come specifically to your showroom for. Keeping your showroom fresh with interesting displays will encourage your customers to take the time to learn about all that you offer. A great display shouldn’t last forever, though. Prior to each new trade show or even more routinely, it should be on your to-do list to create new displays that will encourage new shopping direction. Often what wasn’t seen on a previous visit by a customer can be re-introduced through a new display on their next visit. Taking the time to re-invent your showroom floor with engaging displays will communicate to your customers that you have new things to offer, even if you know your “new” things are actually old things. Make sure to keep this up after each show or depending on your showroom traffic, more frequently. The idea is to constantly re-invent your space so that customers believe you are offering new things to them each time they visit. The savviest of customers may catch onto your merchandising strategy, but allowing them to see old product in a new light often is the push they need for you to make an additional sale.

Showcase Products In Unexpected Ways

It’s easy to merchandise product with what it is expected to be merchandised with, but taking the time to create displays with unexpected merchandising strategies often leads to new customer interest. Using products that aren’t for sale but help showcase what is for sale is a great way to highlight product that you want to move. In addition, displaying product in untraditional ways that scream for attention is an effective way of catching your customer’s eyes. Your goal should be to create conversation through your unique displays that will lead to the opportunity for sales. Getting your customers to talk about product they wouldn’t typically be drawn to is a great way to get orders written. Use the opportunity of surprise in your displays to help capture these conversations and ultimately, sales.

While displays may be great in opening up the opportunity for conversation, the product within that specific display may not always be what your customer will want. If this is the case, help direct your customer to what it is they are looking for by leaning on your display as your conversation opener. Sometimes getting your customers to talk can be a challenge in itself, so having something that captivates their attention and opens them up for conversation can serve as your chance to get inside their heads. With your guidance, let the conversation lead to what it is they are looking for or how it is you may be able to help them. Encourage them to view other products, tour your showroom and learn from you regarding what it is you have for sale. The display may not get that specific product within it sold to each new customer, but it can still serve as a selling tool to help with other sales.

Combine The Old And The New

Don’t let old inventory get stale with the excitement of new inventory taking over your showroom. Intertwining the old and the new can be effective in selling both. Cross merchandising these products will definitely help with sales. Old pillows? New couch? Combine the two! Using your showroom space as a floor plan that blends both old product and new product rather than separating them will keep your customers engaged in all of your merchandise – not just what recently arrived into your showroom. While it may be enticing to have a sale area, avoid putting products into this space unless absolutely necessary – if at all. Instead, concentrate on combining your product so that it seamlessly blends together within your showroom. If you do this effectively, you may just fool yourself into seeing old product in a new light as well.

In addition to merchandising, offering an incentive for a combined purchase of the old and new can be very effective in moving older goods. For example, you can offer regular price on all the newest pieces for sale, but promote a discount for older product with the purchase of something “just arrived”. Make sure to keep the value – in price, quality and style – of each product just as exciting, though. You don’t want them to think just because something is old to you means it will be old to their customers, too. Use signage that compliments your merchandising strategies as a way to communicate this exciting offer. A clean, professional sign in a frame on an end table is a polished way of sharing this incentive. It also helps to directly communicate this valuable promotion to your clients as they are planning their store buys.

Keep Timeframes To Yourself

When you walk through your own home, you instinctively are aware of how your home came together over time with the addition of new furniture, photos, collectibles and more. Similar to your home, your showroom evolves at a pace only you and those working in the showroom often are truly aware of. Let the arrival times of your product be your secret and rather than announce what’s new or just arrived, let your product speak for itself. By combining some of the previously mentioned strategies and eliminating the need to communicate the age of your inventory, you don’t have to worry about your products being viewed as “stale” or even the need for them to be “on sale”. With your help, the product within your showroom should sell itself for what it is – not for how long you have had it. Lean on this as a selling tool and encourage your customers to think the same should timeframe come up in conversation. Looking at this from a new perspective allows both you and your customers to engage in new shopping and selling strategies that will hopefully help in your inventory sell through, as well.

Each showroom and each assortment of product will be different. Determining how to move all your inventory – old and new – within each individual showroom should be based on your individual goals, clients and more. Introducing a variety of strategies may be effective in supporting your business needs, however leaning on one versus another may work best, too. There is no sure proof way of how to get rid of excess, old inventory, but recognizing that it exists and needs to be moved in new ways is a great first step. Consider which strategies are best for your business and execute a plan to help get things moving rather than sitting still. If you find out that some product simply isn’t selling despite all merchandising and selling efforts, offer a warehouse sale to help push this product out of your showroom while also allowing for you to open up showroom space and spending dollars. This should be among your last efforts since your return on your investment will not be as profitable, but sitting on too much inventory isn’t profitable, either.

Finally, in an effort to keep old inventory moving, make sure to determine what old means to your business. Does one season or two seasons in stock equal old?  Maybe more, maybe less. Whatever old is to your showroom, keep up with your inventory so you can respond accordingly to necessary merchandising and selling strategies to get things moving and sold. After all, that’s the goal – right?

1. Distinguish immediate deadlines that must be met to ensure a functioning retail space. This includes getting electricity, internet, cable, gas and so forth all set up as well as tracking when product shipments are schedule to arrive (assuming orders have been placed). If you can, set up online paying so that fixed bills are paid on time and without hassle so that can spend your time focusing on more important retail issues.
2. Define a designated inventory area. Whether this is behind the scenes in a backroom or within storage space of floor displays, make sure you have an organized inventory plan so that you can put things away as you go. Think about how your customers may shop when doing this so that if you need to pull extra sizes or extra inventory you can easily do this while still monitoring your retail space.
3. Decide on where the largest fixtures and displays will be. Your cash wrap is a focal point, so this may be the first thing you should decide on. Consider where you will be when customers aren’t in the store, such as at your computer, and make sure you can see the front door if possible at all times. This is both safe and allows for you to greet your customers with a friendly, prompt hello.
4. Determine what your merchandising strategy will be. Make sure to focus on product and price points when planning this, allowing for featured items to be easily seen by customers while also considering what products will be first viewed by potential consumers. Depending on your store, price points will matter (particularly in this economy) so balancing the front of your store with a variety of price points may attract more customers.
5. Decorate as you go with both style and purpose. Need a dressing room? Make it roomy yet cozy while adding some extra touches to help bring style to this necessary space. Want to offer a lounge area for guests of customers to relax? Great idea, just make sure it’s not out of place with your overall store layout. Need some mirrors? Must retail stores do, so think about where they will make sense for your customers to use them.

This is an exciting time and what you do now will help shape the overall foundation of your retail success. Remember to be flexible with your plans and accept changes as you go. Your customers will help make your store what it will become, so embrace this! And of course, enjoy!

Written by Nicole Leinbach Reyhle, this article was first published on www.Nolcha.com.

When merchandising pop up shops, consider how your customers will experience the environment from a consumer perspective. Keeping this in mind, then design a floor place similar to how you would an actual storefront space. Remember to plan for a check out station, a fitting room if necessary, and easy walk ways to keep customers moving throughout the pop up. Your front entrance will likely be your exit, as well, so keep this space airy enough for a small crowd to get through.

Working all angles of your pop up will be essential in maximizing your pop up space. Consider the space from the floor all the way to the ceiling. Are you outside and on grass? Consider bringing in a carpet. Are you inside and have bad lighting? Consider bringing in some lighting fixtures. Now don’t get scared. The price tag of a pop up is up to you. Be creative and use visual fixtures from your home, your store or other participating vendors. Since it’s temporary, your other spaces can likely do without them for a short while.

Now the next merchandising details to consider are the actual merchandising fixtures that will display your product. Can you use walk shelves? If you can, it will certainly help you create more space for more product! What about a great focus point, such as a large round table in the center of the pop up? It can hold a dynamic display while also centering your space. Floor shelves also add to this. Be creative so that you can truly maximize your space and your product exposure.

Don’t forget the extra touches that makes a store a stand out store. Design decor, such as mirrors or vases with flowers, add appeal to an overall store layout. A pop up shop needs this, as well.

Finally, use a color scheme. If you want a crisp white pop up, go for it. But just throwing some hodge podge displays together without any rhyme or reason will not do the trick. Pretend your pop up is permanent, and you’re likely to be more successful at planning it. Then again, remember to stay on a budget. This is only temporary.

Whether you are a new store or have been around for twenty years, there is always something to be learned about creating effective window displays. Below are a few ideas that are not your typical tips for creating exciting window displays.

1. Work with your vendors. It’s likely vendors that sell into your store want nothing more than you do – which is to sell, sell, sell. Pitch them the opportunity of having a whole window dedicated to their product. No sooner than you pitch this they will be on board. The catch? Let them participate in creating a great display. Ask for vendor signage that really makes an impact, have them offer products for display purposes only, introduce creative additions to the display that helps spotlight their unique goods. Together you are bound to bring a window display more alive than on your own. Your budget and your (lack of) time will thank you.
2. Work with others from your community. And don’t be afraid to think outside the box! An interior designer could create a window display for you using your store product. In exchange, you could promote this “featured” window and highlight his or her contact details. Working with charities or other good will organizations to highlight their work combined with your store product is also a great way to gain customer attention while also bring light to great cause and great product. Local artists are also great contributors for window displays.
3. Make frequent changes. If your window display has started to collect dust, it’s long overdue for a change. To keep your window displays looking fresh and constantly grabbing new attention for passerbyers, change it often. Every two weeks or so is ideal. At the minimum, once month. That’s only 12 times a year out of 365 days. You can do this, promise. It may sound intimidating for both time and creative resources, but your business needs this to help it really stand out.
4. Use lighting as a focal feature. It’s amazing what a great spotlight on even a so-so product can do. Consider how your product looks in shadows or lack of them. Your goal should be to use lighting to optimize your products visibility.
5. Have a window contest. Open up the chance for young designers or merchandisers to display your window. Get your local media involved and make a big to-do about it. Not only will this generate a buzz for your business, you will gain a (hopefully fabulous) window display for free. Creating this around a holiday can add extra appeal, but it could just be any time of the year. Be creative and have fun with it!

Finally, remember to keep the energy of your store and its products vibrant. People who already shop with you should still enjoy the merchandising of your store, and those you have yet to gain as customers should be drawn to your store by your displays and product combined.

Have ideas on window displays you want to share? Please comment below! Thank you.