When it is OK to “toot your own horn” with Trophy, Perimeter & Aisle Showcases – Merchandising

The reason why companies and businesses have an internet presence, advertising brochures and marketing campaigns is to promote to the world “who they are” and “what they do”. But, some companies miss the boat when it comes to raise awareness of their companies in their own home such as their corporate headquarters, branch offices and plants. These are the places where employees, visiting clients and vendors need to see what the company is all about.

Visual awareness of a company’s identity is important. Guidelines for visual presentation in
non-retail spaces step in by way of a wall display case or a perimeter showcase. A great example is the way schools & colleges use trophy cases (also called a wall display cases) outside the school offices on the main traffic areas such hallways, lunchrooms, gyms, etc. to show off their school awards – academic and/or athletic.

Hospitals, large and small commercial businesses, government entities and anyone that wants to promote a cause, a message, an identity, achievements, etc. will greatly benefit from “visual awareness”. To “sell” it, you need to “showcase” it.

The selection of the right display case starts by first deciding what you want to show. Make a list of those items and their size. Are you showing an award? Think about displaying the award with the reason why you received it, pictures of the event, other related memorabilia, etc. Now things are getting exciting!

Planning where you want to place the case requires additional considerations:
- If you are thinking about a reception area, you may want it to blend with the surrounding furnishings. If it will be subject to harsh manufacturing conditions or high traffic areas you might need a dark finish. Carlson JPM can help you pick the right showcase, just call!

- The back panel of a wall case can be glass, wood, slatwall or mirror depending on its placement in your location and whether you want the back wall to hold lettering or hang items from it.

- Do you have a company poster or article about the company you want to incorporate into the display? Does it need to be resized or framed? Think of the flow of the items being displayed. Balance and color also play a role in creating a professional looking visual display. Check out the Carlson JPM blogs which discuss these aspects of visual presentation.

- A wall case can be 15”, 18” or 20” in deep. Standard widths are 48”, 60” and 70” and they are normally 72” high (78” with optional crown). Halogen, fluorescent and LED lighting options are available.

- They include four glass shelves mounted on metal brackets into wall standards in the back wall. These shelves are adjustable and 12” deep. The glass area in a trophy style case is 60” high with glass front sliding doors.

Once you have your wall case and before placing your product in it, draw a planogram of the space to get a good idea of how you want your memorabilia to be displayed. Don’t over think it at this point. All you need for now is a quick idea on what your main message is going to be and then you can adjust accordingly.

When multiple branches are being fitted with showcases, a finalized planogram and digital image of the finished display will make it easy for the other locations to replicate the effect.

So, have fun showing the world your accomplishments, who you are and what you do, all well-presented and available for anyone to see.

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

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