Balance plays a role in merchandising strategy

 

Merchandising your store walls is a balancing act. Balance, a key principle of design, can become your merchandising strategy for a harmonious and eye-pleasing presentation.

 

Following the guidelines of Judith Bell and Kate Ternus in their book, Silent Selling, Best Practices and Effective Strategies of Visual Merchandising, you can set the walls using either formal or informal balance.

Using formal balance, “draw an imaginary line down the center of the section to be merchandised, dividing this space into equal-sized sections. Use an identical merchandise treatment on either side.”  Example: Half of each section (adjacent to the left and right of the centerline) could mirror each other – graphics at the top, two rows of folded shirts on shelving, and hang a row of pants on hangrail at the bottom. The outer halves of the equal-sized sections would have two rows of folded shirts on shelving at the top, followed by two rows of hanging shirts on faceouts which project out from hangrail.

 

Setting the wall using informal balance, you need to merchandise the same amount of space on both sides of the centerline in an asymmetrical arrangement. In the example Ms. Bell and Ternus use, you again have graphics adjacent to each other on both sides of the centerline followed by the two rows of folded shirts but beneath the folded shirts the hangrail on the left of the centerline has the hanging pants on the hangrail and on the right of the centerline the pants are facing forward on two faceouts projecting from the hangrail. She continues the informal balance on the outer halves with two rows of folded shirts on shelving at the top, on the left outer side the folded shirts are followed with three rows of caps and lastly a hangrail with two faceouts with front facing shirts. On the right outer side, below the two rows of folded shirts, she placed hangrail with two faceouts with front facing shirts followed by three rows of athletic shoes on shelving that matched the caps’ shelving.

 

 

You could alternate your store between formal and informal balanced sections.

 

Bell, Judith and Kate Ternus. Silent Selling, Third Edition, Pages 42 thru 45. © 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

 

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How and when to use a Round Rack

  

A primary use of a round rack is to stock a large quantity of a basic garment such as sweatshirts or uniforms. A secondary purpose is to house clearance items during a sale.  

As with other capacity fixtures, their normal placement in a store or department would be towards the back.   

When you are deciding what to place on a round rack, there are helpful guidelines such are keeping the same style and length of garment throughout unless it is filled with clearance items. You would also follow the color wheel rainbow sequence followed by neutral colors within a size.  

A rounder adjusts in height from 48″ to 72″ and is available in both 36″ and 42″ diameters.  When hanging thin to normal weight garments on a 36″ diameter rack, you can comfortably hold 113 pieces (132 garments on a 42″ diameter rack). This is allowing 1″ per garment.  The wire hook plastic hangers used by most stores are approximately ½” thick at their widest point.  

If you are hanging winter coats on a rounder, the quantity it will hold will decrease substantially.  

Round racks have accessories available to create a lower tier for garments. This feature is best used when offering infant and toddler clothing or swimwear.  

There are metal basket toppers, accessory toppers, glass toppers and laminated wood shelf toppers as well as display forms to help increase sales from a round rack.  

Round racks are available in chrome or black powder-coated finish and are collapsible for ease in storage. Casters are an option.  

There is a variation to the round rack available known as the trilevel round rack. The hangrail portion of the rack is divided into three equal sections, which operate independently in height adjustment.  Each section of hangrail will hold approximately 37 garments. This rack works well for displaying coordinates such as the shirt in one section, jacket and pants separately on the remaining sections. Again, this rack would be placed towards the back of the store or department with the lowest adjusted rail facing towards the front. 

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Apparel Feature Racks

T-Stands two-way racks and Costumers four-way racks are considered feature fixtures because they allow you to showcase the latest trends, hottest colors, your newest coordinates and separates.  

The T-Stand feature fixture holds 12 to 24 items and is the “entry piece” into your fashion statement. The merchandise on this fixture should capture your customer’s imagination and take them into the department for a fuller look. 

Both the two-way and the four-way racks are available with straight or slanted arms or a combination of both style arms. The arms are usually 16” in length and adjust individually from 48” to 72”.  These racks are available in a variety of finishes: polished chrome, satin chrome, black, and also clear-coated raw steel. 

A four-way rack holds 24 to 48 pieces on straight or slanted arms. Place each coordinate piece (jacket, pants, shirt, skirt) on a separate arm organizing the arm by color and size within color. Presenting a manufacturer’s grouping or line with its matching and contrasting pieces in this manner creates a greater impact and helps generate sales. 

When you are looking at your store or department layout, a four-way fits best behind a mannequin or a t-stand.  Adjust the height of the arm to reflect the height of the garment on a customer keeping pants a few inches off the floor. The lowest height arm should face the front of the department.  

If you have mannequins to help in product presentation, make sure the t-stand is adjacent carrying the merchandise shown on the mannequin.  

When using t-stands and costumers in a children’s store or department, there are add-on arms available to create a lower tier for merchandise. A word of caution: some t-stands have only one center post with the two individual arms adjusting from it – this type of rack does not work with add-on arms. 

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