Humans are very visual creatures. So much so that 90 percent of the information the brain receives is visual.
This makes your store fixtures and displays an essential aspect of your store’s success. It’s how your shoppers will first process their perceptions of your products.
Visual merchandising also adds a sense of personality to your store. It can even improve your brand-building efforts.
Think of the Apple store with its open spaces, clean design, and lack of clutter. The whole experience fits the Apple brand image better than a packed, noisy store would.
Your retail store fixtures can be the key to achieving this kind of branded experience.
Wondering which fixtures and displays are most effective? Read on to learn more.
Let’s Get Tactile
One advantage physical stores have over online vendors is the touch factor. Customers can feel how the weight and materials used to make the item.
This works well in clothing stores where shoppers are used to handling cloth. Styling clothes on mannequins lets them see the finished look better than clothes on rails.
It also works in non-clothing stores. People still like to know how much items weigh or how well-made they feel.
Find ways to let customers try out your products. Apple stores do this, letting shoppers use in-store laptops or iPads before they buy.
Giving customers ways to handle the products gives them more of an opportunity to picture themselves wearing or using them.
Sell the Outfit, Not the Blouse
There’s no reason to stop at a single sale. Use cross-merchandising to suggest products to the shopper that work together.
Electronic stores do this by locating headphones, webcams, or external hard drives near laptop displays. A customer who needs a new laptop is more likely to buy accessories for it.
Clothing stores use cross-merchandising by displaying the elements of an outfit together. Use mannequins to model the outfit. Then hang its constituent parts beside it.
Shoppers get a better sense of how to style each piece. They’re more likely to buy them together when they see how the outfit works.
With this type of display, you encourage them to buy the outfit, not just the blouse.
Add Plants to Store Fixtures and Displays
Plants are a fun way to improve the shopping experience as a whole. They boost air quality indoors and help to absorb sound. This can create a better ambiance within your store.
Greenery also invites customers to spend more time among the displays. Plants help lower stress and create a more relaxing environment.
You can accessorize your displays with plants that suit the products on sale. They’re an easy way to create a theme.
Don’t go over the top with plants. The more crowded a shop feels the ‘cheaper’ customers perceive the products.
This goes for all your displays. Keep it simple and relevant to what you sell.
That’s why high-end stores don’t cram their stores with products. Give your highest ticket pieces room to ‘breathe.’ This helps to draw the eye because they stand out.
Immerse Customers in an Experience With Your Store Displays
Why not theme the whole display around the items you’re selling?
Let’s say you’re selling summer clothing with a rainforest theme. You might use wall graphics to suggest a rainforest location.
Why stop there? Have a few indoor trees, and pipe the sounds of the rainforest around the display.
This creates a tangible sense of a theme and pulls the customer into the scene. Building an experience helps to create emotional connections with the products on sale.
You don’t have to go overboard for this to work well. Even using graphics, typography, and fixtures that match your theme can work well.
Use Seasonal Displays
A great way to refresh your store is to use seasonal displays. You can tap into whatever is on your customer’s mind using these. It also means that the store never feels tired or dated to repeat customers.
Obvious choices include Halloween, Christmas, the back-to-school season, and summer. Valentine’s Day can also be a popular choice.
How about less obvious choices like spring and Easter? Check for local customs in your area that you could tap into.
This is a great choice if you’re a quirky store selling unusual items. Yet it also works for larger stores because you can highlight products you might not normally choose.
Choose Movable Store Fixtures
Smaller stores don’t have the same square footage to install huge displays. This is where movable store fixtures come in handy.
You can move the displays around to highlight new or high-ticket items. Create new paths through the store, so repeat shoppers don’t get bored.
Or keep your merchandising flexible if you have a high turnover of products.
You can still style these fixtures with other tips from this post. Think hanging baskets or plushy products to handle.
Gift card displays also make excellent movable fixtures. Place them near related products to remind customers that you sell gift cards.
Don’t Neglect Point of Purchase Displays
75 percent of buying decisions are made in-store. Shoppers are used to buying things on impulse.
So once customers are at the register, it’s easier to make extra sales.
They’re already committed to buying at least one product from you. There’s less resistance to spending more.
To catch these extra sales, you need to use a good point of purchase (POP) display. These should make the products look attractive. It should also be easy to pick up the products to buy them.
Custom POP displays mean you can stick with a chosen theme or seasonal display. You can also highlight special offers in this part of the store.
Attract Customers With the Right Displays
Now you know what the most effective store fixtures and displays are. You can mix and match these types across your store for great results.
Movable displays bring flexibility to your visual merchandising. Plants turn displays into an oasis of calm. POP displays give you the chance to grab last-minute sales.
Keen to explore modern store fixtures in your visual merchandising? Get a free quote from us today, tailored to your needs.
