Retail success requires selling great merchandise people need or want. But that’s not enough. How you present products and how your store looks overall determine whether shoppers enter your door, browse your aisles, and actually buy. No matter what you sell, or to whom, there are certain visual merchandising guidelines you should keep in mind as you’re arranging your store and creating specific displays.

Eye appeal

Simpler displays are easier to take in. Focus on a single item, or a few related items, so shoppers can quickly get the “story.”

It is easier for customers to spot and reach for items that are upright rather than lying down on a shelf or table. Wall displays have obvious value here.

Use the “rule of three” to give displays (and your entire store) a sense of height and depth. Asymmetry is visually interesting, so use three items or fixtures of different heights, or the same item in three colors. If something comes in many colors or sizes, show three prominently, but, of course, show all the options.

Suggestive layout

You want customers to make a complete tour of your store, so arrange your layout to lead them around to different sections. Hot, new featured items up front, clearance items in the back. The fixtures you choose should establish your layout, complement your merchandise, and play to the psychology that underlies visual merchandising guidelines.  

Aside from “suggesting” new areas for customers to browse, effective visual merchandising should:

• Create excitement about your store as a “destination” to shop.
• Appeal to multiple senses, through subtle scents or music or tasty samples. Above all, make your displays touchable, because shoppers who physically interact with merchandise are much more likely to buy.
• Offer a sense of newness for repeat customers. Be on the lookout for display ideas you can adapt to your store.

Signage that informs

Sometimes you have to put it in words. Or images. Signage tells customers:

• Who you are — with outdoor signs.
• Where things are — with directional wayfinding signs to departments, dressing rooms, etc.
• What things are — with lists of product features or specs.
• Why to buy — with lists of product benefits or photos or video of merchandise in action.

Lighting that creates stars

Just like great merchandise needs the right display, your beautifully-crafted displays need the right lighting to stand out and sparkle. Light is about more than illumination. It’s about creating a mood and a comfort zone that entices customers to linger and look.

Your retail store will be most successful if you create a brand and an atmosphere and a total shopping experience that are uniquely yours. Keeping these visual merchandising guidelines in mind will help you do that.