Retail Display Ideas to Try in Your Store

 Retail displays and visual merchandising are — and will always be — essential in driving attention and conversions in brick-and-mortar retail. Studies have shown that much of the information that human beings process come through the sense of sight.

According to researchers Dr. L.D. Rosenblum, Dr. Harold Stolovitch and Dr. Erica Keeps, here is the breakdown of how our five sense processes information:

83.0% – Sight

11.0% – Hearing

03.5% – Smell

01.5% – Touch

01.0% – Taste

Clearly, human beings are highly visual in nature, and this is a fact that is particularly important when you’re running a physical store. One of the main reasons why people decide to shop offline is to see merchandise in person, and this is all the more reason to design winning retail displays.

Read on for tips and examples of visual merchandising done right. Our hope is the following pointers would inspire your retail shop display ideas 

1. Create immersive retail displays

The best way to make a lasting impression is to immerse your customers in a particular environment or setting. Check out the example below. The displays themselves are simple, and the retailer only makes use of a few simple racks and fixtures.

But because all the other elements of the store (i.e., the color of the walls, the cold-weather items, and the text “it’s cold outside”) follow a unifying theme, the overall effect is quite powerful. It engulfs customers into the “cool” theme of the store, creating an immersive experience

Keep this example in mind for your next display. Recognize that you don’t necessarily have to build something fancy. If you have a strong theme and ensure that all the components of your shop are in line with the story you want to tell, you can create a compelling and immersive experience using just a few simple products and fixtures.

2. Encourage people to touch and feel your products

In a survey by Ripen eCommerce, they found that the top reason people shop in brick and mortar stores instead of ecommerce is that physical retail enables shoppers to touch and feel items in person.

The key takeaway here? Create displays that encourage people to touch and feel for you products. If your items are sitting on a shelf or a table while still inside their respective boxes, you could be missing the chance to connect with your customers.

So, take your products out of their packaging and get shoppers to really experience your merchandise. Ulta Beauty, for example, does this with their hairdryers. While other stores keep the products in their boxes, Ulta has their hairdryers out for people to touch and feel them.

  

3.Use plants in your shop displays

Need an easy and affordable way to breathe life into your visual merchandising? Use plants. Doing so doesn’t just make your displays more attractive, they can also create healthier and more pleasant shopping experiences.

In an interview with Retail Focus, Joey-Michelle Hutchinson, associate vice president at CallisonRTKL, said that having more greeneries in retail environments “makes them feel more inviting, which in turn decreases customer stress levels and increases their dwell time.”

He added, that “plants also help purify the air and increase indoor air quality, and they act as sound absorbers, reducing noise pollution. 

Having more “green” displays clearly has some benefits, so consider incorporating plants into your designs. For inspiration, look no further than homeware retailer Harper & Grey House. Plants are a staple in their displays and the greens do a tremendous job in accentuating their merchandise 

4 . Don’t forget about cross-merchandising

Cross-merchandising is a subtle but effective way to increase basket sizes and average order values. The practice promotes product discovery and entices shoppers to look at items that complement what they’re already buying.

There are a number of ways to implement cross-merchanding. One is to merchandise items that go together. You could, for example, create a display with a blouse, jacket, and matching purse.

That’ exactly what Gymboree did in their display below

5.Have something for the kids

Speaking of little ones, have you considered creating kid-friendly displays? The practice can be quite effective particularly if you cater to Gen X and Millennial consumers.

6. keep your retail displays well-lit

even the most creative displays will fall flat when they’re not well-lit. so invest, in the equipment to make sure that your products are displays in the best possible light

in this example, the folks at nulty lighting  are showing the power of accent lighting for showcasing individual products 

Keep ‘em portable

Is your store on the small side? Consider using portable displays so you can make better use of your space. Such displays are easier to move so you can quickly re-merchandise your shop or make room for other things if necessary.

Portable displays can also help in keeping your visual merchandising focused and on-point. Since you have limited space, you’re forced to only display the most important and most high-impact product'. 

Use signage and displays to educate people about your products

If your products need a bit of explaining, then it could be a good idea to use your displays to educate shoppers about your items.

The following cookware display at Crate & Barrel does exactly that. The top part of the display has images of the items for sale along with a quick description of what each product is and what it 

Be festive with your shop displays

If you’re celebrating a special holiday or occasion in your store, use your shop displays to show your festive side. Materials like balloons, tassels, garlands and other party supplies could help your displays pop.

Check out this example from Retailers Market 

Be witty with your visuals

Got a bunch of quotable quotes up your sleeve? See if you can incorporate them into your retail displays. When done right, a bit of text can complement your products and encourage shoppers to take a closer look