– Do your windows tell a good “visual” story?
– Is the entrance of your store inviting for costumers?
– Are your products easily accessible to consumers?
– Does the interior of your store inspire your potential buyers so that they invest their time and money in your brand?
The key to answering those questions is visual merchandising, which is the essential marketing strategy tool that aims at optimizing products’ visibility in commercial stores, enticing the consumers to stay longer and to purchase, thus resulting in increased sales. It is especially useful for brands that want to attract customers in their stores, since the overall image of a shop often plays a more important role than the products themselves.
Visual merchandising focuses on the design and creation of an environment that enhances visual communication between the customer and the product. Through the colors, the lighting, motion, music, touch and smells it stimulates human senses and influences the final purchasing decision. Consumers mainly buy with eyes. The primacy of vision is undeniable as it is 9 times stronger than all other senses. Indeed, according to experts (Treicher) 83% of the information the human brain receives comes from the sense of sight, 11% of the hearing, 3,5% the smell, 1.5% of the touch and 1% of the taste. After all, people are naturally convinced by seeing, hence, the so called phrase “Seeing Is Believing”.
In this context, the use of digital media in the store windows and inside the store is particularly beneficial. Whether it’s a short video demonstration of a new collection of clothes or a product ad clip from a well-known star, the digital display attracts customers. This happens because the buyers unconsciously assume the role of the protagonist and identify with the information provided to them.
The idea of ​​digital display emanated from the growing need of the brands to promote their products and services in the most effective way. It is realized through the use of LED, LCD and OLED screens with high brightness and resolution and in various shapes and sizes which allow for the visual display of products such as clothing and footwear, hotels, travel packages, food and beverages. These screens are placed either in store windows and / or inside retail stores. They can also be touch screens which are found mainly at kiosks in major shopping centers. The content of these digital screens varies and is updated at a regular rate and frequency -both during shop opening and after closing hours- so as not to frustrate or cause dullness to prospective buyers. Moreover, these screens can display not only products that are available inside the retail store, but also those that are stocked in the warehouse of the company. In addition, they allow for direct interaction with users since the latter can connect to them by using smartphones or social media platforms. In this way, potential buyers have direct access to the content that the brands desire to promote. It is also worth noting that digital display is a more attractive and reliable way for a brand to promote its products and/or services compared to the printed/hard-copy promotional material that has a short life cycle and can be worn out easily.
It needs to be highlighted that the digital display has a great influence on the so called generation of millennials (those born between 1980 and 2000) who are very familiar with new technologies and place great emphasis on digital communication. This generation has considerable purchasing power which tends to increase year by year. Therefore, if the brands want to attract and gain those consumers, they need to expand the use of digital screens, so that they become more interactive and modern.
Consequently, the visual merchandising that is based on the use of modern, digital means constitutes an essential and valuable tool for the effective differentiation of the brands, as it facilitates consumers’ access to products, optimizing their visibility. At the same time it contributes to the development of a continuous interaction and communication between brands and potential buyers.
ΠΗΓΕΣ: Darrin Friskney (2016), Chris Gilder (2016),  www.marketsandmarkets.com, www.grandviewresearch.com, www.strategyr.com,  www.euroshop.de