Monday 26 October, 2020

Top Merchandising Display Mistakes, Part 1


It is easy to get into a habit when it comes to how you organize your merchandising display racks. But now and again it is a good idea to research merchandising display ideas and take a good, hard look at the setup you have right now. Is it really working? Is it generating sales or […]


It is easy to get into a habit when it comes to how you organize your merchandising display racks. But now and again it is a good idea to research merchandising display ideas and take a good, hard look at the setup you have right now. Is it really working? Is it generating sales or driving customers away? Here are some of the top merchandising display mistakes you may be making.

1. Thinking about storing products, rather than displaying them.

This is a mindset thing, but if you get it wrong, none of your displays are likely to do their job. It is easy to think of merchandising display systems simply as a way to put all your merchandise up. But merchandising isn’t storage! You can think like that in the stockroom, but on the sales floor, you need to think about presentation. Retail displays need to be as carefully thought out as advertisements, signage, and other sales materials. They are not just there to display your products, they are there to visually sell them.

2. Not using a variety of cases.

It is all too easy to just order the same few types of retail display cases for your entire store, but you want to introduce some visual variety. Try using several different materials and different configurations of displays. Different configurations are optimal for displaying different products, and changing up the materials helps to provide a visual breather. If all your display cases are the same, everything blends together and it’s hard to focus on any one thing. Some variety helps to break up the monotony and make your retail displays stand out.

3. Not choosing cases that reflect the ambiance of your shop.

Another mistake is to pick retail display fixtures that do not reflect the atmosphere of your shop. If you have for example a small country gift shop where you are selling old-fashioned merchandise, you hardly want to get a bunch of steel product display racks and create an industrial look inside. You can still use metal racks, but you probably want to work in some wood shelves and baskets too.

4. Using poor lighting.

No matter how beautiful your retail displays are, they are not going to be effective if they are poorly lit. There are so many different types of lighting mistakes which merchandisers make. Sometimes it is a matter of buying the wrong type of light, other times the lights are poorly positioned or angled improperly. Make sure you are purchasing high-quality lights, that the lights are the color you want (not distorting merchandise colors), and are directed in such a way as to illuminate and draw attention to your displays. Visibility is key, but so is attracting the eye.

Now you know some of the most common merchandising display mistakes! Avoiding these mistakes will help you to get more out of your display ideas in the future. Be sure to check out Part 2 to learn even more common retail display mistakes!

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