There are many types of retail store fixtures and even more types of merchandise, but that doesn’t mean every fixture is well-suited to sell every product. It’s a matching process, like assembling the perfect outfit. The more thought you give to how you “dress” your store, the more merchandise you will sell.

Happily, there are so many options when it comes to store fixtures. It’s not hard to find attractive combinations – as long as you observe some basic principles.

Start with the big picture.

Fixtures sell your store as well as specific products. They are part of your overall design. So as you choose display furnishings to sell specific products, remember they should also enhance your store’s décor and ambiance, encouraging potential customers to venture inside.

Color, finish, layout and other details speak to customers in intangible but important ways. When you understand the retail psychology of floor and wall fixtures, you can display products more alluringly, building sales from the time a shopper steps in until the moment they check out.

The right fixtures and arrangement add to your customer’s shopping experience, by making it easy to locate items and convenient to touch and feel products up close, and by temptingly presenting must-have impulse buys. If there’s one thing retailers know, it’s that shoppers who are comfortable browsing spend more time and money in your store.

Although you may associate custom design with big-budget retailers, the truth is that custom-tailored fixtures can make your single small store – and your merchandise -- stand out smartly from competitors.

Let’s get specific.

Stocking fixtures are typically bins or round racks designed to hold a sizeable quantity of a single item, such as a basket of soaps or candy bars. Display fixtures are designed to show off multiple items in a single grouping -- stacks of sweaters in various sizes and colors or several related items that tell a composite “story.”

Think of them as a framework – one you can reconfigure from time to time to accommodate variations in merchandise and keep your displays looking fresh:

• Perimeter walls offer room for lots of merchandise, and greater display height without blocking your customer’s view. Use stocking or display fixtures as attached shelving or tall showcases. Or choose a slatwall that permits product-friendly attachments from shelves to hooks to hanger rods.
• Position free-standing fixtures to divide and define interior space. Vary display heights for visual interest, but keep your customer’s vista clear. Use two- or four-sided gondolas with shelves, cabinets or glass showcases, towers and countertop units you can mix and match to create interesting displays.
• Use tables near the front -- individual tables for larger items or merchandise stacks (add risers or props to vary height), smaller nested groupings for bins of essentials.

If store fixtures didn’t matter, you could simply set up some banquet tables and set everything out flea-market style. But that’s not your style. The time you invest matching merchandise and fixtures will be repaid many times over at your cash register.

Palmer Retail Solutions strives to offer our clients the absolute best combination of innovation, quality, service, and value for our diversified custom store fixtures and merchandising displays. For more information about our designs, retail fixtures, cash wraps, kiosks, or point of purchase displays, visit our website at: http://www.palmerretailsolutions.com.