Visual Merchandising attracts a lot of attention and brings many attractive benefits to businesses. Visual Merchandising's role is to deliver great customer experiences. So what is visual merchandising? How to maximize the effectiveness of visual merchandising in promoting sales and increasing brand value?

What is Visual Merchandising? The Importance of Brand Enhancement

1. What Is Visual Merchandising?

Visual Merchandising is a concept used to refer to the work of arranging stores and arranging products to attract customers' attention. Therefore, it increases sales, enhances revenue, and expands the brand.

Stores often use visual merchandising to attract customers from the first visit and entice them to return for the next purchase. To do that, the store must provide consumers with a continuous and constant experience, giving customers different values, so they have a good impression and are loyal to your product.

To perform visual merchandising successfully, you must arrange, decorate, and display products inside and outside the shopping space according to a specific, beautiful, impressive, and creative concept to attract target customers to visit.

2. Brand Enhancement’s Importance

When walking down a street or visiting a mall, have you ever had to visit a certain store because of the impressive display of products?

visual merchandising

Visual merchandising is the practice of designing and organizing retail stores

A fashion store with unique, beautiful, and suitable products is so eye-catching that you will decide to stop and take a look. It is how visual merchandising works.

A beautifully decorated store that conveys personality. Products and services' messages excite customers and lead them to the buying decision. In other words, visual merchandising has worked. Your brand has been remembered by customers and has left a certain impression.

The product and brand will be upgraded when the store is impressively decorated. For example, in a fashion store, new clothes are neatly hung in an attractive position. The store is decorated with led lights, fresh flowers, and luxurious, bright designs that will keep customers staying to experience longer.

The products on display need to change constantly. Between the booths, there is an arrangement and rotation to create a feeling of scarcity and novelty, motivating customers to spend money to own.

nice goods arrangement attract customers

Smart and nice goods arrangement attract customers

The store's Mix & Match method helps businesses position and upgrade their brands the way they want.

Besides, a nice display also helps to stimulate the mind, creating an interesting shopping experience for customers. Beautiful products displayed side by side will stimulate customers to observe and shop more.

In addition, it prolongs the viewing time and stimulates consumers to own another product besides the one they have chosen. It is an extremely skillful "psychological blow" in marketing and brand promotion.

Visual Merchandising Potential In Context Of E-Commerce Development 

Amid the growing e-commerce wave, is visual merchandise an opportunity or "out of time"? This question is not difficult to answer because visual merchandising is still a trend in the 21st century.

This form of Marketing still exerts its power in attracting customers, driving sales, and enhancing brand awareness in physical stores.

For e-commerce platforms, visual merchandising is on the throne. It has a close relationship with visual merchandising offline. They support each other to make businesses grow stronger and more sustainable.

Specifically, the application of visual merchandising in e-commerce must meet seven principles, including:

  • Window Display: This is the first thing customers see when visiting an online store. It is a place for customers to update new collections, promotions, events, or best sellers.
  • Shop Layout: Like applying Visual Merchandising in retail stores. The arrangement of the website layout is a decisive factor in customers' shopping behavior.

products display for online shopping

A product display for online shopping

  • Site Navigation: The customer experience journey is researched based on: Menu bar, product category, and search bar.
  • Imagery and Video: Dynamic product images and sharp videos at many angles of the product allow customers to have the most authentic experience.
  • Online Social Proof: Including the number of likes, shares, reviews, and followers of the store.
  • Product Recommendations: Recommend best-selling products to stimulate customers' shopping needs.

Although visual merchandising online is a trend at the moment. But the traditional one is still an important factor that businesses need to pay attention to give customers the most authentic and impressive experience.

Building Effective Visual Merchandising Strategy

To build an effective visual merchandise strategy for your retail store, you can refer to some of the "secrets" below.

1. Change Every Month

The factor that attracts loyal customers is the novelty of the store. It will be boring when customers visit your stores unchanged. Customers don't just find the products they need at shopping malls.

The factor that attracts them is the buying experience. Therefore, you should highlight new products in the display area besides stimulating promotions. Also, it is necessary to change the concept regularly according to seasons and events.

2. Highlight What Customers Want, Not What They Need

Buying what they need is the customer's duty when visiting the shopping mall. However, to increase sales, you need to understand their psychology. 

It is advisable to highlight the products they want to own, such as accessories that come with the dress, toothbrushes and toothpaste, laundry detergent and fabric softener, and more.

3. Create A Product Group

Another way is to create product combos or arrange related goods side by side, helping to increase retail efficiency. For example, you can arrange the tray on the side when a customer buys tea utensils. You can order more hats, glasses, or shoes for clothing products.

4. Pay Attention To Storefronts

Place beautiful, high-value products in the storefront. Arrange artistic and eye-catching products to attract passersby. Besides, it would help if you made sure the product is always clean; customers can easily need to see it when interested.

outside a vegetable store

What displayed outside a store is very important

5. Create Attraction and Curiosity

Store managers can decorate the store creatively according to the shopping behavior of the target customers. This action will create interest and stimulate their curiosity. It is possible to use decorations that are not related to the product but are eye-catching to attract potential customers.

6. Add Light To Highlight Merchandise

Lighting is important when setting up a retail store, especially with fashion, jewelry, or products that need meticulous attention. White light makes the store look clean and professional. Yellow light creates a warm, artistic feeling.

7. Add Signage

Signboards make it easier for customers to shop. Thanks to the signage, they will find the product they need to buy quickly. Design signage with simple but impressive fonts to help customers understand and remember it longer.

visual merchandising

An interesting signage

8. Change Display Location And Do Not Change Fixed Layout

  • Flexibly change the position of goods in the exhibition space. 
  • Prioritize highlighting new products or best sellers within their stalls.
  • Do not misplace or change too much to avoid difficulty controlling the number of products and affecting users' shopping experience.

9. Track Sales By SKUs

Store managers should regularly monitor SKUs (storage units) to help management know the status of goods in detail. There is also a need to sort the best-selling products until they are out of stock and change to another product. They can put up signs or change the location to less attractive locations.

10. Make Sure Each Product Has Price

Product price is the second most important customer concern after quality. Therefore, ensure the products on display are properly priced and labeled to increase professionalism and reliability.

11. Appeal More Than One Sense

Music and fragrance have a positive impact on the customer's senses. It is also a factor that stimulates them to shop more. Besides, it keeps customers from staying longer so they can find the product they like.

12. Add Motion Elements

Store managers can use moving elements such as LED lights and LCD screens in the store to enhance the experience and make a positive impression on consumers.

visual merchandising

Lights and colors are factors that impress customers

FieldCheck - A Technology Platform for Comprehensive Management of Visual Merchandising 

Besides traditional store management methods, businesses should apply technology software in the operation process. FieldCheck software is considered the most effective technology platform to support the comprehensive management of visual merchandise in the digital transformation process.

visual merchandising management

Visual merchandise management is one of FieldCheck features

The software application possesses many preeminent features, such as:

  • Manage marketing staff and display products on electronic devices at the point of sale.
  • Update data is not limited to time and place. All images, information about employees, booths, inventory, and sales performance are quickly updated on the system.

visual merchandising

FieldCheck supports in making reports

Staff can check in/out at the point of sale or take photos of the booth and update the system for the manager to grasp and adjust when necessary.

The software supports market trend analysis, helping retail store owners conduct marketing campaigns and research products with more competitive advantages.

In addition, the application allows employees to update reports continuously. Managers assign tasks directly on mobile devices. In addition, it is better to track inventory so it can be replenished promptly.