Think Like Us! Maximize Efforts in Each VM Stage
Sharing knowledge, whether it's staff training or consulting, is a part of our ID. We always strive to help you unveil your VM ID.
This got us thinking - how do our clients go about their visual merchandising actions in between our touch points with them? Although this is a part of our 1-on-1 training sessions, here are the steps to ensure you are making maximum productivity of your own time spent merchandising:
STEP 1: ZONING
What are the different hubs that your retail space is made up of? There are certain zones that all retail spaces should have (e.g. a launch zone, a secondary feature zone, a P.O.P. area, a basics area, etc.) but also make sure you are zoning your entire zone - not just these key areas. From there, you will be able to spot if your products are in their correct "homes" or if they have gotten displaced.
STEP 2: GROUPING YOUR PRODUCTS
How do you categorize your products? You might group your products by different brands, different usages, or different end users, but it's important to give these categories and sub-categories labels to make planning easier. Consider these your product adjacencies.
STEP 3: PLACING YOUR CATEGORIES
Once you have your products grouped into categories and your store broken down into zones, the next step is to decide which categories belong in which zones of the store. This is based on the order that you would like your customers to see your product groupings, as well as creating a smooth and logical transition from one category to the next. This is your consumer journey.
STEP 4: CREATING YOUR PATH
Space planning is important, as you can manipulate a customer's walking path, invite them in, or complete deter them from exploring, all from the way you place your fixtures. When deciding the placement of your fixtures, consider both what types of fixtures you need for that particular zone and product category, as well as the impact it will have on a customer's walking path.
STEP 5: S.I.S. PLANNING
S.I.S. stands for Shop-In-Shop. So as you tend to each of the' "hubs" you've created, treat them as their own shop within your shop. Which product groupings belong on one fixture vs. the next? You can tend to these S.I.S.s the same way you planned your consumer journey - what is the order priority for customers to see your goods?
STEP 6: STRATEGIZING YOUR MERCHANDISING
Now that you have the right items in all of the right places, it's time for the fun part - merchandising! What style of merchandising will you choose for each fixture? Will it be all display, shoppable yet curated, all commodity, or a mix? Think of this before you start "playing" so you don't waste extra time and energy re-doing something over and over again.
STEP 7: EXECUTION, FINESSING, POLISHING
All of your plans are in place - time to execute all of the planning, and going over each part with finessing and polishing the finalize your presentation.
This is how we go about revamping a space from scratch. This is not something you need to do on a weekly basis, but you should be tweaking on a weekly basis so your set-up doesn't go stale. This means re-winding to a mid-way step that makes sense for the level of change that you need basic on new product deliveries and rate of returning customers.