What is Visual Merchandising and Why Are Retail Displays Important?
In today’s retail environment, there are a variety of digital ways to promote a product — influencers, search engine marketing, social media, video — but one of the most effective and critical parts of retail marketing remains in-store point-of-purchase (POP) displays.
In fact, the global POP display market is expected to reach an astounding $16.3 billion by 2030. And while shoppers can buy everything from cookies to couches online, it’s projected that 72% of retail sales will happen in brick-and-mortar stores in 2024, and 72% of consumers still shop in-store every week.
That means how you visually merchandise your product is more important than ever.
What is visual merchandising?
Visual merchandising is using in-store displays to help a brand stand out among their competitors, drawing in customers through the use of color, space, materials, design, and creativity. With so many purchasing options available, effective retail displays and fixtures offer a variety of benefits that simply can’t be replicated through a digital experience.
Here are five key advantages that a high-quality retail display can provide.
Attracts customer attention
Think about the last time you were in a store, surrounded by hundreds — if not thousands — of different products. When you look around, what did you notice first? Chances are it wasn’t something simply set on a shelf. It was likely an eye-catching POP display that captured your attention and stood out in the sea of options. In fact, a survey found that almost 70% of shoppers remember seeing in-store product ads, and 61% of them went on to buy that product.
For example, the innovative design and engineering of this nostalgic four-shelf display helped capture consumer attention and drive a stronger sense of brand awareness.
Enhances product — and sales — presentation
A retail display is more than just a place to store a product. When used effectively, it can show off all the benefits and highlight a product’s features in an exciting way. Without that display to entice shoppers with the benefits, chances are they’ll default to whatever product they normally buy. And for those shoppers who might be undecided, they’ll likely be more influenced by displays that present them with a great option.
This is especially true if you want to promote certain items on sale or a new product. The deal or features can be advertised with different language and graphics to focus the shopper’s eye on just what you want them to see, when you want them to see it — making their decision a little bit easier.
Encourages impulse buys
Speaking of making decisions, 73% of people shared that most of their purchases were impulse buys, and 8 out of 10 impulse buys are made in brick-and-mortar stores. This means that when shoppers enter a retail store without a specific product in mind, a well-designed, well-placed POP display can attract them to certain items and entice them to buy them on the spot.
This is where Franklin Display Group can help brands create POP displays and retail fixtures that encourage in-the-moment buying decisions to drive product turns in retail.
Educates customers
For customers who are unfamiliar with certain brands or products, they might wonder how something works, looks, or feels — and why it’s better than anything else — before making a buying decision.
An effective POP display can essentially serve as a sales rep, providing information on what a product does, how it solves a problem, and why it's worth their money. When choosing a display design, keep those questions in mind. What do you want the customer to know? To see? To read? It’s a way to educate customers without actually saying a word.
Provides a versatile branding solution
Not every brand has a huge merchandising budget, but dollar-for-dollar, POP displays provide a great return on your investment. Retail displays and fixtures that are designed with flexibility and versatility in mind can be moved around a store based on need or space constraints. Designing retail displays and fixtures that prioritize flexibility and mobility helps enhance your ability to impact potential customers no matter where they are in your retail space.
It can be difficult to know where to start when it comes to producing POP displays that can adapt to changing retail landscapes while still attracting and retaining customers. There’s no golden ticket, but there are some guiding principles that can offer brands creative, effective solutions to help optimize time, effort, and budget. Franklin Display Group has a field-proven history of helping brands leverage these guiding principles.
Contact us to learn more about how we can help you create custom retail displays and fixtures to take your visual merchandising to the next level.