<p>Despite the trend of online shopping, brick and mortar stores continue to be an essential part of the retail fashion industry.</p>.<p>In such a scenario, visual merchandising is nothing but the art of displaying products to make them attractive and appealing to the customers. Retail stores use visual merchandising to maximise the sales of a product.</p>.<p class="CrossHead Rag"><strong>Entrances and window displays</strong> </p>.<p>First impressions count, whether it is a job interview or attracting more customers to the store.</p>.<p>Fashion retail is one of the more competitive spaces in the retail business so it becomes important for businesses to make their offerings in a store stand out.</p>.<p>Good visual merchandising has the power to compel customers to buy the product. </p>.<p class="CrossHead Rag"><strong>Customer behaviour</strong> </p>.<p>New-age visual merchandising is a blend of technology and artistry. For effective visual merchandising, it is important to track customer behaviour when they enter the store: Where do they pause and take a look for a moment? Which part of the store gets the least attention? </p>.<p>Increasingly, technology is being employed to provide the answers to the above questions. Once you have a grasp on customer behaviour, it is important to appeal to their aesthetic sense, which is when artistry comes in.</p>.<p class="CrossHead Rag"><strong>Aesthetics </strong></p>.<p>While designers might come up with stunning creations, making those products appeal to the youth is an art in itself.</p>.<p>A visual merchandiser presents the product with accessories and uses other techniques, like lighting to accentuate the product. Envisioning use of the retail space and positioning the products is also important. </p>.<p>To summarise, visual merchandising needs a lot of patience, along with the willingness to understand the customer’s mindset.</p>.<p>While it is already an established field abroad, in India, it is a growing field that is slowly becoming integral to the retail and creative industry.</p>.<p>There is a glut of brands in fashion retail, with each one vying for attention from the same set of customers. So the role of visual merchandising becomes that much more important.</p>.<p>Increasingly, the job role is in demand in areas such as footwear, eyewear, jewellery etc.</p>.<p><em><span class="italic">(The author is the campus director of a creative education institute in Bengaluru)</span></em></p>
<p>Despite the trend of online shopping, brick and mortar stores continue to be an essential part of the retail fashion industry.</p>.<p>In such a scenario, visual merchandising is nothing but the art of displaying products to make them attractive and appealing to the customers. Retail stores use visual merchandising to maximise the sales of a product.</p>.<p class="CrossHead Rag"><strong>Entrances and window displays</strong> </p>.<p>First impressions count, whether it is a job interview or attracting more customers to the store.</p>.<p>Fashion retail is one of the more competitive spaces in the retail business so it becomes important for businesses to make their offerings in a store stand out.</p>.<p>Good visual merchandising has the power to compel customers to buy the product. </p>.<p class="CrossHead Rag"><strong>Customer behaviour</strong> </p>.<p>New-age visual merchandising is a blend of technology and artistry. For effective visual merchandising, it is important to track customer behaviour when they enter the store: Where do they pause and take a look for a moment? Which part of the store gets the least attention? </p>.<p>Increasingly, technology is being employed to provide the answers to the above questions. Once you have a grasp on customer behaviour, it is important to appeal to their aesthetic sense, which is when artistry comes in.</p>.<p class="CrossHead Rag"><strong>Aesthetics </strong></p>.<p>While designers might come up with stunning creations, making those products appeal to the youth is an art in itself.</p>.<p>A visual merchandiser presents the product with accessories and uses other techniques, like lighting to accentuate the product. Envisioning use of the retail space and positioning the products is also important. </p>.<p>To summarise, visual merchandising needs a lot of patience, along with the willingness to understand the customer’s mindset.</p>.<p>While it is already an established field abroad, in India, it is a growing field that is slowly becoming integral to the retail and creative industry.</p>.<p>There is a glut of brands in fashion retail, with each one vying for attention from the same set of customers. So the role of visual merchandising becomes that much more important.</p>.<p>Increasingly, the job role is in demand in areas such as footwear, eyewear, jewellery etc.</p>.<p><em><span class="italic">(The author is the campus director of a creative education institute in Bengaluru)</span></em></p>