Pins? No thank you

As a Visual Merchandiser or Retailer do you pin clothes on mannequins?

Visual merchandising is about silently selling clothes suggested and proposed through styling of mannequins and displays.

What is NOT is a technique to trick customers faking something they will never be able to buy.

I believe pinning clothes on mannequins on display belongs to the NON-GOOD techniques.

I have 3 relevant reasons why this practice can make you lose sales and customers:

 1.IT CHANGE SHAPES OF CLOTHES

Quite often pins are used to make appear more fitted or alter the shape of clothes cut on mannequins, this practice is kind of ticking customers.

Instead styling should be used to give customer a good reason to buy that item.

 2. IT CHANGE THE SIZE OF CLOTHES

An other purpose of pinning is to make a too-big-size item fit the mannequin, this means clearly that Visual Merchandising purpose -selling- is missed.

If there's not enough stock to cover all the size and support the sales, there is no point to dress up a mannequin with a bigger size and pretending - by using pin - is smaller.

In this way you suggest to customers a product that is not available to buy.

If the customer find out you can either lose the sale or losing their trust in you.

A way better to act is to pick a different item with enough stock in sizes.

 3.ADAPT TO THE WRONG MANNEQUIN SHAPE

I also saw the use of pins to adapt clothes when mannequin shape don't fit the clothes selection available in store.

As a brand or store having a target to refer is the very base of your trade, so your stock of product and mannequins should reflect that buying persona.

In this era are finally available so many mannequins shape, pose, posture custom made of every kind that is impossible not to find the right one matching your target and clothes selection. You have to chose wisely.

These said, you can find the full post on my blog and also I have filmed this video to go deeper into this topic.