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

 

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