The Art of Visual Merchandising: Creating a Stunning In-Store Experience

Most of us have a favorite lifestyle brand that we most resonate with—the brand that reflects our style and the niche brand that was created just for us. A lifestyle brand is created based on a certain demographic that is based on how people live their everyday lives.

When it comes to visual aesthetics, retail shops that are created and/or merchandised following a certain lifestyle are always cool and trendy. The goal of every lifestyle brand merchandising is to create an in-store experience that makes your niche customer feel special and as though the space was created just for them.

Additionally, given the rate at which technology is growing, it is necessary to adopt new strategies for a phygital shopping experience to stay ahead of the curve.?

Today's consumers' use of smartphones is unquestionably becoming a vital part of the global purchasing process, and this trend without a doubt will continue to heighten in the foreseeable future.

According to authors Bailey and Baker on Visual Merchandising for Fashion, “the physical shopping experience is emphasized as being one of the most important platforms to visually market products”. The customer's desire to stay in as long as possible in the store is one of visual merchandising's primary goals. Consequently, a visual merchandiser can create the client experience to attract, surprise, impress, and seduce the target consumer.

In this article, we’re going to discuss the importance of visual merchandising in creating a compelling in-store experience.

AI-Power of Visual Merchandising

Ensuring the best possible product presentation to encourage sales, visual merchandising is the creation of an exceptional environment characterized by a truly outstanding ambiance that resonates with the brand's identity. The allure of luxury lies in its seductive aura of personal indulgence, status, and sophistication. The abstract ecstasy of luxury is conceptualized with the aid of visual merchandise, which then places it in a setting that immediately catches the attention of even potential customers. By immersing people in the distinctive sense of the brand's character and maximizing the return on commercial retail space, visual merchandising drives customer engagement every time.

Fashion giants like Gucci , Zara, and ASOS.com all have quite impressive visual merchandising strategies that change with each season's collection and culture, making them an essential part of the fashion industry. These epochal, unforgettable moments are created through two strategies: creating the outside magnetism of the business and carefully planning the interior displays.

The Italian luxury fashion label Moschino is renowned for its wild and colorful designs that feature riots of colors and a love for fairies. The brand's big handbag that served as a closet and showcased the Moschino merchandise was part of the shop's space. The eye-catching design was created to entice and enchant the audience. Visual merchandising leaves a lasting impression on everyone since it's both appealing and refreshing at the same time.

“Visual Merchandising can transform a shopper into a customer who makes a purchase. It can also increase the average dollar amount per sale. Effective displays teach shoppers about using multiple basic and accessory items to enhance and extend the use of their purchases. With great merchandising, it’s not uncommon to hear a shopper say ‘I want the lot’. That's silent selling at its best. The power of Visual Merchandising,” says Debra Templar , Merchandising mavin, Owner of The Templar Group LLC

For many years, fashion brands have used QR codes to provide a digital dimension and increase customer engagement through visual merchandising. However, these codes weren't as common as they are now. In the past few years, brands like Levis’Store , Victoria’s Secret & Co. , 欧莱雅 , ZARA SA , 耐克 , and 拉尔夫·劳伦 had already integrated QR codes into their overall marketing strategies to maximize the customer experience with their brand and increase their conversion rates. Today, QR codes are influencing not only the fashion industry but also many other sectors (e.g. utility, education, business, and marketing).

These QR codes are utilized in the fashion sector and are commonly seen on clothes, posters, publications, billboards, and storefront windows. They are also used online on websites and social networking pages. When scanned with a smartphone, these QR codes will connect users to web content. Innovative startups like GardeRobo A.I. offer innovative QR codes that retailers can print and attach to their clothing collections in stores. When scanned, these labels provide complimentary products and style recommendations based on the item they intend to purchase in-store, helping shoppers to complete their look without searching endlessly around the shop floor, while adding a touch of personalization to the physical store experience.?

This way, customers are free to shop as and how they please - whether entirely online, using technology in-store, or browsing the old fashion way.

Tips on How to Use QR Codes in Retail Stores

Allow shoppers to play a small game by scanning your storefront, winning, and then entering the establishment to receive a discount. It's an ideal way to interact with customers and attract people to your store.?

Additionally, it's crucial to include a call to action. People won't scan a QR code until they see a text such as "Scan Me," "Scan to Win," or "Scan to Get a Promo."?

GardeRobo A.I. offers its customers smart QR codes for a more personalized in-store experience that shows complimentary items to purchase to complete the look. This, in turn, often results in increased customer engagement, personalized recommendations, improved sales, and reduced product returns which make shoppers happy.

Contact us today to find out more about how you can use QR codes for your fashion brands.

Best Practices and Innovative Ideas in Visual Merchandising

1. From the Store to Social Media: Visuals Adapted for the Internet

Everybody knows how crucial having a social media presence is for any brand operating in the fashion and lifestyle industry. Amazing images, captivating videos, and client call-to-action messages are all essential parts of online visual merchandising.?

The store serves as your operational hub for a curated visual merchandising experience in the real world. Blend the two worlds, and a stunning display that prompts your customer to immediately want to publish it to their social network can be created with a traffic strategy in mind. The ones that work best are those with bold colors and textures, massive structures, and interactive "Instagrammable" photo-ready.

2. Arty Displays: Elevated Visual Merchandising

You can't go wrong when you combine visual merchandising with creative references. People adore artistic expressions, paintings, architectural displays, and over-the-top window dressings. You should inspire them to manifest in your world as a brand. Some of the creative avenues to explore are those in music, theater, film, and contemporary aesthetics.??

Hire an artist to make a statement in your window or store. Ask him to create something special for your specific brand that will stand out to your target audience. Louis Vuitton’s recent partnership with the eccentric Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama has resulted in the decoration of LV flagship stores around the world with a series of extraordinary window displays: In Paris giant inflatable sculpture by Yayoi Kusama emerges from the roof of the building and paints all the upper floors of the fa?ade with the polka dot pattern; in New York, 5th Avenue in the huge window of the LV NY flagship store, a robot of the 92-year-old artist appeared, intent on painting the window with his iconic colored polka dots.

3. Upcycle Your Product Displays

Sustainability is a commitment, not merely a faded trend. Upcycling in addition to recycling your prop materials is a new method of visual merchandising. Ask your creative team to think about potential modifications and new applications for old visual merchandising items that are in storage. Make your stands, racks, and display cases more useful by repurposing items, giving them a new life, and using unusual materials.?

4. Colors as Trademark and a Back-to-Nature Approach

Some high-end clothing companies have made a specific color their hallmark—shop walls, street windows, mannequins, and fitting rooms in a color block statement.?

It is not a surprise that large plants and floral decorations have made a comeback in visual merchandising techniques. Customers longed for nature, outdoor experiences, and a more natural mood environment.

5. Customers as Props and “Chillin’” Spaces

“See and be seen” in the “right” shops and fashionable streets is a popular notion.

Turn your client into your best sales claim. Give your customers the freedom to browse your shop, chill with a cup of coffee, or blend in with furniture to unwind and socialize while shopping. The visual merchandising team must live by the maxim "it is more than a store, it is a lifestyle," because, in a retail setting, the big picture is very important.?

The guidelines for attractive visual merchandising are always changing. To keep your visual approach competitive and up-to-date, you must stay current and use your imagination.

Brands like Jacquemus, which first gained notoriety through social media, are now shifting from a genuine digital engagement with consumers - now fans- to draw people into their stores. Simon Porte Jacquemus, the company's Founder and designer of the most well-known mini-bag, Le Chiquito, loved the Cote d'Azur and wanted to capture that in its merchandise. Through social media and the art of visual merchandising, Jacquemus' strategy seeks to understand the customer, target their needs, establish a connection with the community, and ultimately resonate the brand identity with the boutique.

Final Thoughts

Everybody knows that windows are the eyes of the store. The most recognizable type of visual merchandising, window displays are incredibly creative, thought-provoking, and captivating—therefore, grabbing the attention of anyone passing by the store. Harrods , Gucci , 香奈儿 , and 卡地亚 are just a handful of luxury brands renowned for their creative and artistic window displays. With its fine craftsmanship, innovative ideas, and upscale shopping experience, visual merchandising creates strong bonds with customers' minds.

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