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Merchandising - The Visual Way

“Let’s connect the roots”

The roots of visual merchandising date to the mid-1800s when Aristide Boucant opened the world’s first departmental store ‘Le Bon Marche’ in Paris with his innovative distribution of goods. From displaying the wares on the table in the front of the stores to having small front windows to innovative and attractive Visual Merchandising (including mannequins, planograms, doodle designs) we have come a long way. In the past times, the approach was simple but it was profitable (according to times) as it was a new thing and people were absorbing it well.

‘The most attractive on the front was the initial thought those days because of carting products on stalls and displaying on the streets. The ‘put-out’ factor was the most emphasized. For real, if we are discussing the history of visual merchandising, we just can’t miss out on the book ‘Visual Merchandising’ by Tony Morgan, which changed the retail to how we see it now, as it explains the production of large panes of glass and the industrial technology. Harrods, Mitsukoshi, Le Bon Marche, and many more were discussed in Morgan’s book in detail.

Bridging the times -

Though the purpose hasn’t changed much till now, the approach and style have been influenced by consumer’s mindsets. Advanced technologies are being integrated while designing new retail stores. The capture of e-commerce over the market has taken the culture of retail to new levels. Pop-Up stores are like new ‘toys’ in the retail industry and many of them are being executed in large volumes.

●       Role of a Visual Merchandiser

Diving from the 1800s to the 1900s to today’s time, visual storytelling has seen a drifting change due to the increased creativity of visual merchandisers. They are into designing creative window displays and glass displays to enhance the store decoration and yet the visual retailing. The intellect they get is right from the basics/fundamentals they learn from their alma mater.

●       How it’s done? For Real!

To summarize the modus operandi (of execution) of visual merchandising, the elements a merchandiser amalgamates are -

●       The importance of COLOR is in quotations

●       A focal point

●       “THE STORY”

●       Exposure to THE MAX of merchandise

●       The Usage - of Empty Space

Running in the competition, every brand (literally) wants their products to be visible enough to reach the customer’s eye (which reflects in the improvement of sales). Planograms play their bit in giving that EYE to them. The most CREATIVE is the most REACTIVE in booming ROIs like the BIG BANG. The theory revolves around the best story visible in the due course of visual retailing.

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