Rhythm as a merchandising strategy – Merchandising

Drifting in a “sea” of store fixtures is what occurs when you forget about the design principle of rhythm. Utilizing the various components of rhythm – namely, heights, lines, forms, shapes and color, you can create a flow or rhythm to your store moving a customer from item to item, grouping to grouping or from a single display to a department.

How do you create this rhythm? In her book Silent Selling, Best Practices and Effective Strategies in Visual Merchandising, Fourth Edition, Pg. 70, Judy Bell suggests:

“To create visual rhythm, heights of fixtures can be varied. An even stronger sense of rhythm can be created by adding displays or graphics to the tops of key fixtures in a department or shop. If you drew an imaginary dot-to-dot line connecting low to high points looking at a store layout that effectively conveyed a sense of rhythm, you would see a zigzag pattern.

Examples of repetitive or sequential rhythm include:

- A grouping of three mannequins dressed in jackets of the same style and color with different accessories to give each basic jacket a unique look.

- A series of signs or banners suspended from the ceiling or angled out from columns lining the main aisle of the store.”

When entering a store or a department within a store, fixturing should graduate in height from front to back and if square footage allows from mid-front to sidewalls. Tables, followed by two-way racks, followed by four-way racks or rectangular racks with a basket topper would create a height and form variance.

The tables could have neatly folded same color stacks of shirts. If you are selling giftware on the table, you can vary heights with acrylic risers and cubes. The table itself could have a wooden riser for a second tier of merchandise or a display form.

If you are making a presentation of a new product, make sure your customer can see where it is…allowing him/her at least five to ten feet of space from entry of the store or department to adjust and get into the “buying” frame of mind.

Signage or graphics is not only informative for a customer but can create rhythm. Graphics can be as simple as colorful arrows or dot-line-dot as long as the graphic is in keeping with your store image.

A display on a diagonal, creating steps up the wall, also provides rhythm in motion. You can use body forms on staggered shelving to get this effect.

Curved lines added to counters and custom fixtures work well in lingerie, high-end jewelry, bridal or women’s apparel stores. Remember, repeating elements throughout an area create rhythm. Your eyes travel with the element quietly selling the products featured. 

Happy rhythm making!

Bell, Judith and Kate Ternus. Silent Selling, Fourth Edition, Page 70. © 2012 by Fairchild Books, a Division of Condé Nast Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Fairchild Books, a division of Condé Nast Publications, Inc. www.fairchildbooks.com

 

About the author of this article: Visit Carlson JPM Store Fixtures/Shop Our Catalog, to find the retail solution perfect for you.

7 Ways To Transform Your Store in 2012 – Merchandising

NEW YEAR. NEW LOOK. NEW BUSINESS. These quick tips can help your store recover from the Holidays & bring new business:

- Get your Clearance merchandise ready for year-end activities with signage, pricing and

   tagging systems, dump bins, display tables, slatwall and wire merchandisers.

- Replace old or damaged racks, fixtures and hangers.

- Replace missing slatwall or wire hooks and damaged shelving.

- Update your cashwrap flow lines with retractable belt posts.

- How effective is your loss prevention system? Do you have security mirrors or cameras,

  door chimes, rack security devices or locks for your cases?

- Clean your carpets and floors.

- Go behind the scenes. Sort and organize your paperwork and backstock.

SHOP OUR CATALOG & GET YOUR STORE READY FOR 2012! >>

 

 

Christmas & Holiday Décor for your store – Merchandising

Entry and window “Christmas Magic” time is here and to celebrate with you we introduced a group of traditional style Christmas trees as well as pre-lit palm trees, potted trees, topiary trees and blossom trees. The line also includes holiday wreaths and garlands. 

To help your customers get into the spirit of shopping to celebrate the holiday season, it is always effective to sprinkle a little Christmas spirit around your store by creating the right atmosphere. 

We offer trees in various styles and sizes to meet your specific space requirements. The contemporary nature of the Blossom Trees and Palm Trees fit the tongue-in-cheek approach to the holidays or your no-snow climate. 

Placement of Potted Trees outside your store entrance, a tree with wrapped half-open boxes showing your merchandise could be in your store window, a tree with ornaments for sale strategically placed int the store, wreaths for the door and windows . . . do can create ” Christmas Magic” your way, always remembering to make your merchandise the star of your production. 

About the Author: Visit Carlson JPM Store Fixtures, your Ultimate Retail Resource, to find the retail solution perfect for you.

4 Strategies For Seasonal Selling – Planning For Retail Cycles

Every product has a natural life cycle and a season where it sells best: some early buyers come at the beginning, and then the mass of buyers come. Prices peak and retailers begin running out of stock. Sales slow, and trickle down to a few last-minute shoppers.

 As an online seller, it’s critical you prepare for the natural retail cycles throughout the year. With some simple strategies, you can make the most of the opportunities presented by the changing seasons:

1. Keep the Flow Going

The way to maintain sales volume is to be ready for the next selling season. Phase in your new seasonal items for early shoppers while your other product line sales are winding down. You can keep the momentum going in your store and your income if you plan accordingly.

2. Make Advance Preparations

Don’t wait until the holiday is upon you to get your products lined up and ready to go. You should begin pushing your promotions two to three months ahead of time, according to Lisa Suttora of http://WhatDoISell.com. Says Suttora, “The advantage to having your products ready several months before a holiday season is you capture the early bird buyers…you’d be amazed how many people shop months in advance of a holiday.”

Another benefit of early marketing is it provides lead time for the search engines to pick up the pages for your holiday specials. Include the season or holiday name in your titles, because people are searching for those terms.

3. Use What You’ve Got

You don’t necessarily have to change your entire product line every season. Evaluate your current product line and see what can be promoted as a seasonal item. Use your imagination—create unique gift baskets and kits. Shoppers are pressed for time and are looking for solutions, so put together product bundles to solve their holiday needs.

4. Adjust Your Website

Your web store should reflect the season—feature items that work well for the approaching holiday. Put a seasonal spin on your ads and listings. “Your sales don’t have to drop,” advises Suttora. “Evaluate what you’re selling and how you want to position it – freshen up the look of your site. You’ve got a whole new group of buyers coming in [with each new season], so you want to be ready for them.”

Article by Chris Malta and Robin Cowie of WorldwideBrands.com are the Writers and Hosts of The Entrepreneur Magazine EBiz and Product Sourcing Radio Shows.

Wire Grid Merchandisers for Back To School Sales

Back To School shopping brings excitement for everyone and generates sales opportunities for all types of retailers. With Back To School season in mind, we at Carlson JPM just introduced our Three Way, Four Way and Gondola Wire Grid Units in chrome, black and white finishes.  

Our Wire Merchandiser kits are inexpensive floor fixtures, simple to put together, to help make merchandising easier; they include shelves, shelf brackets and 25 FREE hooks!

Do you carry special merchandise targeted to sell in a limited period of time? Perhaps for Back To School you added a line of backpacks, lunchboxes, water bottles or gadgets in a theme that goes with a line of kids’ or teens’ apparel that you feature. These wire grid units are the perfect fixtures to showcase your specialty products.

Our wire grid units also blend well with other store fixtures because of their classic finish and versatile style. Size-wise, the different configurations allow you to place them near the door, by fitting rooms, or use them as window displays to attract customers.

Now that we’ve done the hard work for you by creating the basic units with components, you can easily add other fixture accessories such as baskets, faceouts, hangrails or more shelves and hooks to customize them and make them unique.

I was intrigued by a merchandise presentation idea I saw today – a retailer had laid a small stack of folded t-shirts in different colors standing on their side in a small grid basket, all you could see from the top was the folded rims of the tees –it reminded me of the old bicycle basket. I thought, wouldn’t that look great on the three-way fixture facing the door or a store window? I was attracted to those t-shirts!

So, what is the best thing about these fixtures – even after Back to School is done? You can use them over and over again to get your merchandise ready for the Holidays, you know, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year specials, and anything else you can think about! =)

Create Retail Display Wall Planograms – Merchandising

Planned display walls sell – we all know that! It’s the planning that can stump us. Judith Bell and Kate Ternus in their book Silent Selling: Best Practices and Effective Strategies in Visual Merchandising, offer 10 simple steps to creating great display walls utilizing wall planograms. 

If you are a novice at creating and setting wall displays you probably need to go through every step for the first few times. Once you’ve grasped the concept and “know” your walls, you’ll be able to draw planograms without doing a mockup on the wall initially.

1. Choose a fashion grouping with the same end use, fabrication, style, and color story. Do not send mixed messages by trying to show for example casual wear and business dress together.
2. Clear the wall section of all merchandise, display hardware and props.
3. Take one piece of each item in the grouping you are going to display to the wall, you might pull on hanger with each blouse, knot top, skirt, pant, sweater, vest, or jacket from the coordinate group. Remember to bring one of each color if there are multiple colors.
4. You don’t need to put hardware on the wall just yet. Simply attach the hangers temporarily onto your wall standards, slatwall, or gridwall in a balanced sequence.  Following the rainbow color guidelines mentioned in our blog posting Color as a Merchandising Strategy, June 2010 , as you work out the composition, or use a warm-cool color technique. For example, arrange colors in a cool, warm, cool or warm, cool warm configuration. See image below.
5. Add props, graphics, signs or mannequin alternatives to your configuration. Remember that these additions need to enhance the merchandise. Strive for balanced optical weight, good proportions, interesting lines, and so on. See image below, click to enlarge.
    
6. Step back and evaluate the composition of the new wall section and decide if it is a “seller”.  Ms. Bell and Ms. Ternus present the following planogram examples to help. As you can see these planograms tell effective “fashion stories” that would pull your customer to the merchandise. Click images to enlarge.
7. Once you are satisfied with your composition plan, sketch a planogram that shows placement for each item.
8. Now you can remove the preliminary single garments from the wall and install the correct fixtures in their places. 
9. Replace the initial coordinate pieces and fill in behind them with the remaining stock in that style and color. Arrange from smallest size in front to the largest in back of the straight arm or waterfall. Make sure the hangers hook from the right. Hang the stock of pants on the hangrail first by color and then sized within color.
10. Make note on your planogram of any special signing, graphics or props for this presentation on the planogram form. This becomes your historical record. Your wall planogram can then be easily replicated when needed, or prevent you from duplicating a layout that did not work as well. File your planograms so you have a reference for future walls. 

Safety Concern! As a safe measure, when you set up a wall presentation, you will be using a variety of wall fixtures, like straight arms, garment rods, brackets, and shelves. It is good practice to place all fixtures in a cart rather than on the floor where shoppers or store associates may trip over them. If a cart is not available, lay fixtures on the floor as close to the wall as possible, so that they are out of traffic aisles. 

A Retail Reality. Wall planograms look best when face-outs and shoulder hangings are combined. As product sells down, shoulder-hung areas may be temporarily converted to face-outs until more product arrives or there is time to reset the entire wall.

Bell, Judith and Kate Ternus. Silent Selling, Third Edition, Pages 126-129 including Figures 5.22 through 5.27. © 2006 by Fairchild Books, a division of Condé Nast Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Fairchild Books, a division of Condé Nast Publications, Inc. www.fairchildbooks.com

How To Set Up A Bridal Shop – Store Fixtures

If you love weddings, have an eye for fashion, and are willing to work hard, learning how to set up a bridal shop might just be the business for you. 

What better way to spend each day than by helping brides, bridegrooms and their families plan their weddings? Wedding and bridesmaid dresses, suits, tuxedos, and other wedding items such as shoes and jewelry, can make a bridal shop a one-stop shopping venue for engaged couples.

Planning your Bridal Shop
One of the best ways to learn how to set up a bridal shop is by visiting the shops of your competitors. You can learn everything from store layouts to pricing structures. Investigate the services that are already being offered in your area. Find a way to make your bridal shop unique by either strategic pricing or offering new or different services.

Selecting the right location for the bridal boutique is essential to the success of your business. Your location should be a few miles from other bridal shops, but close to shopping areas.

Contact an attorney to help you choose the best legal structure for your business. Apply for your business license, design your store, purchase inventory and prepare for your store’s Grand Opening.

Store Fixtures and Displays
Now that you have a business plan and have selected your store location and square footage, it is time to organize your inventory and display your products. Some basic, must have store fixtures and displays include:

Showcases & Counters | Counter Displays | Perimeter Hardware & Shelving
Slatwall Panels & Accessories | Clothing Racks | Hangers & Accessories 
Mannequins | Floor merchandisers | Bridal Garment Bags | Backroom Racks

   Bridal Store Fixtures

Click on the image to see examples of some of these fixtures in use at a bridal store:

Owning a Successful Bridal Shop
Understanding how to set up a bridal shop involves more than just logistics. Staying on top of the latest trends is imperative. Subscribe to bridal and fashion magazines. Learn about fabric, cuts, materials, and patterns of wedding dresses as well as accessories, like veils, gloves, shoes, and jewelry.

Marketing will be key. Your marketing should emphasize the reasons a bride and bridegroom should purchase their wedding attire from you instead of your competition. Is it lower pricing? Is it the fantastic customer service? Is it the widest selection? Give people a reason to choose you.

Customer service and a willingness to give your customers more than they ask for is essential in a bridal shop business. Weddings are personal. Planning a wedding can be an emotional time and for many people, making decisions about the wedding dress, bridesmaid dress colors and styles, and other wedding party details, is difficult. Gentle guidance on your part will be required.

With each bridal party purchase, add something extra. It is often the little touches that people remember. People expect you to provide beautiful, high quality wedding dresses. It’s your job. They won’t expect that bouquet of roses, though. Give them something to remember.

Build portfolios of previous customers in various gowns and dresses. An album showing real people in different dresses often makes it easier for customers to see themselves wearing the same item. Organize portfolios by price, designer and style.

Expanding Your Bridal Shop
Learning how to set up a bridal shop and taking it a step further, into expansion, is a way to give your customers added value and provide you with more income. Some ideas for expansion include:

- Team with travel agents to offer honeymoon packages at bargain prices
- Partner with caterers, florists and limousine operators to ensure customer referrals
- Add complete wedding planning services.

Remember . . .
- A Bridal Shop is more than just a store, a bride expects this place to be
  elegant, classy, inviting and even luxurious with outstanding service.
- Make sure your staff is well trained in customer service and has
  full knowledge of your inventory so they can better understand the bride’s style needs.
- A successful bridal store meets and even exceeds the highest quality standards.
- Besides your inventory, maintain your store fixtures, displays, mannequins, hangers, walls, 
  tables, fitting rooms, mirrors, etc. in top shape. Make sure you and your staff replace any
  broken fixtures immediately, so your customers don’t think their gowns are handled like the
  broken displays they see.

Pictures feature The Wedding Chapel Bridal Store in Crystal, MN.
This article is courtesy of “Small Business Ideas”, your online source for small business ideas.
About the Carlson JPM Store Fixtures: Visit www.carlson-store-fixtures.com, your ultimate retail resource, to find the retail solution perfect for you.

Clearance Merchandise – Merchandising

Every year, right on the heels of a busy Holiday Season, inventory time looms ahead filling storeowners with the urgency to “get rid of as much merchandise as possible”. 

The most common selling activity we do to get ready for inventory time is to mark down seasonal and older merchandise and label it as “Clearance” hoping our customers will still be in search for sales.

According to Judith Bell and Kate Ternus in their book, Silent Selling, Best Practices and Effective Strategies of Visual Merchandising, clearance merchandise consists of products that have been permanently marked down for quick sale and these items may be handled in several ways:

= Clearance items may be pulled together at the rear of each department. For example, clearance suits may be positioned on one or more fixtures at the rear of the career department.

= Clearance merchandise from all departments may be pulled into one area of the store to form a permanent clearance department. This catch-all clearance department should be positioned in the rear of the store. Think about Gap and Banana Republic. Customers will routinely check the clearance department for bargains as they shop. Retailers like Saks and Neiman Marcus take this process a step further – moving their clearance collections to separate “clearance floors”.

= Clearance merchandise in specialty stores may be pulled to the front of the store for traditional major clearance events in January or early July.

= Some chain retailers consolidate clearance merchandise into a few larger stores (with high traffic of ideal bargain shopping demographics), send it to a company-owned outlet store, or remove their own tags and sell the lot to an outlet store.

 

Clearance Presentation Guidelines

While clearance merchandise no longer merits major promotional effort, it remains a company asset until sold. The visual merchandiser’s role is to present clearance goods effectively enough to sell them at their highest possible clearance price so that the company can reinvest the dollars in newer, more appealing merchandise. The following guidelines ensure that optimum presentation is achieved:

1. Present clearance merchandise on floor fixtures only. Clearance product with broken styles and color assortment cannot result in a fresh, exciting wall presentation; wall space is best use for new stock. The exception is when clearance merchandise is presented on an entirely separate clearance floor. There, you may utilize the entire space – walls and floor.

2. Never feature clearance merchandise on mannequins or in displays. These are your premium silent selling tools and must be reserved for only the newest products. In addition, clearance merchandise must be immediately available to shoppers, never out of reach on display.

3. Present clearance goods on large fixtures, such as round racks, superquads (extra large four-way racks with arms that may be extended) or rolling rack fixtures. Clearance tables for foldable goods are very effective because there is a general perception among shoppers that clearance tables hold the best bargains.

4. Sort clearance garments by size (with sizing rings or hangers with built-in size tabs) and then by color within each size range so that shoppers can readily see what is available. Example, Size 5 (red shirts, yellow shirts, and blue shirts) followed by size 7 (red shirts, yellow shirts, green shirts, and blue shirts).

5. Always clearly sign clearance merchandise with price points, percentages-off or at least a clearance sign.

6. Make selling floor maintenance a routine aspect of any clearance presentation. Clearance merchandise gets handled (and mishandled) continuously as shoppers look for bargains. Store staff must check clearance areas frequently, straightening sale racks, refolding table goods, checking for damaged goods and lost tickets, etc. These are aesthetic as well as security issues that tell customers how your company feels about its image, its merchandise, and its atmosphere. Customers should see clearance merchandise as an added benefit to doing business with your store. Even when merchandise is marked down, you should be adding value to it through your presentation.

Following these guidelines will make it easy for you and your staff to get ready for inventory season. The key is to plan ahead and work towards it stress free.

About the author of this article: Visit www.carlson-store-fixtures.com/Shop Our Store, to find the retail solution perfect for you.

Bell, Judith and Kate Ternus. Silent Selling, Third Edition, Pages 73 and 74. © 2006 by Fairchild Books, a division of Condé Nast Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Fairchild Books, a division of Condé Nast Publications, Inc. www.fairchildbooks.com

 

Pop-Up Stores, the latest trend in retail

Pop-up retail, also known as pop-up stores is the trend of opening short-term sales spaces. Retailers use Pop-up stores to create a unique environment to showcase and sell products to their customers in an interactive environment. It can also be for the duration of a peak in demand anticipated to be short.

This concept is most often used, but not exclusive, by apparel stores and intended to generate profits through promoting demand for certain products at targeted times, locations and markets.

Retailers use Pop-up stores to promote seasonal products such decorations, gifts and general merchandise for Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, 4th of July fireworks, etc; or to promote movies, heath trends & more.

This trend also touches the real estate industry helping landlords offer temporary lease options to retailers. Often, Pop-up stores become permanent stores.

What do I need to start a Pop-up Store?

To start, you need store fixtures that you can take apart, mount, move around, put away, and adapt to any location or space. Here are examples of your basic – must have – store fixtures and displays.

Wire Grid Panels & Accessories

 1. Wire grid panels are great to merchandise walls. They are versatile, light, easy to mount and put away. You can also transform them into floor fixtures to maximize your floor space.

2. Wire Grid Accessories include hooks, faceouts, waterfalls, shelf brackets, shelving, baskets, acrylic displays, signage and more.

Clothing Racks

3. Clothing Racks. You can use 2-way racks, 3-way racks, 4-way racks, round racks, double bar racks, spiral racks, z-racks & more, to display products. Some racks are collapsible, include casters and they are perfect as temporary display fixtures.You can also use rolling racks as a quick and easy storage option. 

Plastic Hangers

4. Hangers are a must have for any store. For apparel, remember to include a sizing system to organize your garments. Even if you don’t offer apparel products, hangers work great to display arts & crafts, linens and fabrics.

Signage

5. Sign Holders & Signs. First impressions are key to get customers to your store. Attract potential customers by placing a great, attractive sign, right at the front door of your store, that expresses loud and clear what products you have for them. If you don’t have a front door (kiosks) use countertop signage and hanging signage to grab customers’ attention as they walk several feet away from your retail space.

Mannequins

6. Mannequins are a must for apparel stores, that’s a no-brainer. For an apparel pop-up store, portable mannequins such as body forms (half round or full round), flexible displays, body part forms and soft torso mannequins are ideal, they are easy to dress, move around and put away.

Crowd Control

7. Crowd control. Having a crowd control option such as retractable posts helps you keep your register lines and dressing room areas controlled, specially on those busiest times of the day. A minimum of 2 to 4 posts for your register area or dressing room areas are suggested to make a statement.

Bags and Boxes

8. Bags & Boxes. Paper bags, plastic bags, boxes, totes and decorative tissue are key to make a great “last impression” with your customers. Remember that along with your merchandise, your bags and boxes are also a reflection of your store. Garment bags are also important to keep handy for special items.

9. Store Supplies. More often than not, store supplies are the last thing we think about when setting up our retail spaces. Essential store supplies include tagging systems, pricing guns & labels, shopping carts & shopping baskets, cleaning supplies, a floor sweeper, mirrors, and specialty supplies depending on your store (shoe supplies, dressing room supplies, jewelry supplies, specialty hangers, hanger accessories & clips, etc.)

Pop-up stores are temporary, exciting, fun, interactive, entertaining and people don’t get a chance to get tired of them. It is also a great way to test products in different markets to see how they do.

About the Author: Visit Carlson JPM Store Fixtures, your Ultimate Retail Resource, to find the retail solution perfect for you.

Wire grid, an inexpensive wall / floor display system – Store Fixtures

Gridwall or wire grid is another great way to maximize vertical display space. Grid panels are available in a variety of sizes and can be used to create both wall and floor standing displays. It is a versatile, economical and durable alternative that can give your retail space an industrial and modern feel.

Standard wire grid is made of ¼” diameter wire constructed in 3” squares. The vertical sides are reinforced with double ¼” wire uprights for extra rigidity. The panels are finished in polished chrome, white or black powder coat and raw clear coat. Panel sizes range from 12” x 60” to 24” x 96”.

Since wire grid is relatively inexpensive and easy to install, it is often used in Pop-Up stores, seasonal shops, mall kiosks (see image below), souvenir shops, dollar stores and klutz type displays. It is easy to take down, put away and put back up when needed.

Mall Kiosk

Grid panels attach to the walls with 3” wall brackets. If there are standards installed on the walls, there is a wall standard bracket version available that fits into the standards. For example, a 48” x 48” panel can be hung with “skyhooks” (two-sided hooks that range in length from 6” to 48”) to metal ceiling hooks, which are in turn attached to the ceiling grid frames.

Wire Grid Wall

Wire grid offers many types of accessories such as hooks, faceouts, waterfalls, wire baskets, shelving, shelf brackets plus many acrylic displayers as well as lighting.

There is another pattern of wire placement for the grid panels – it is known as “slatgrid”.  Slatgrid panels accept both, gridwall and slatwall accessories. Slatgrid is also available in polished chrome and white or black powder coat finishes. The wire placement is 3” x 6” on center and ¾” x 6” on center.

Slatgrid Panels

And of course, you can use gridwall or slatgrid as floor fixtures! There is a variety of grid merchandising bases available in several configurations. You can create H-shaped, L-shaped, T-shaped, triangle or  4-way pinwheel fixtures using the right grid bases and joining clamps or grid connectors. You can also turn any grid panel into a floor standing fixture using a set of grid legs; and when you add hooks, brackets and shelves and some signage, you’ve put together an attractive and versatile displayer. You can personalize these fixtures with wood molding trim or by dropping form core panels behind the grid for color.

You can also make floor fixtures without bases by using panels and connectors and forming a stable zigzag fixture.

Good planning is key when thinking about maximizing your floor space and getting the best value with wire grid or slatgrid fixtures. Visualizing the fixture placement in the store and product placement on the fixture can inspire many shapes and configurations. Remember to also keep your customers’ safety in mind when designing your wall or free standing grid fixture. We want to help you showcase your products beautifully and safely. 

About the author of this article: Visit Carlson JPM Store Fixtures/Shop Our Store, to find the retail solution perfect for you.