Company News • 29.09.2014

How to measure the impact of your visual merchandising

Many customers make judgements about a brand based on its window displays

Visual merchandising is a key component in a retailers sales strategy....
Visual merchandising is a key component in a retailer's sales strategy.
Source: ShopperTrak

The store window is the first opportunity the retailer has to connect with the shopper, encouraging them into the store and hopefully guiding them towards a purchase. On an increasingly competitive high street, getting visual merchandising right is crucial to differentiation, as well as being key to making a first impression with marketing campaigns or seasonal promotions.

Not only can strong visual merchandising encourage brand loyalty, but it can also define the identity of a brand. Many of us make judgements about a brand based on the quality and imagination demonstrated through its window displays – and disappointing the customer at the point of entry could have a very damaging effect on sales.

Here are three key ways to measure the impact of your visual merchandising campaigns:

1. Make visual merchandising measurable

Retailers must be able to measure the effectiveness of their visual merchandising. The effect on the bottom line needs to be an analysis of whether a store’s investment in creativity is actually paying off.

Retail analytics technologies make visual merchandising more measurable, enabling brands to assess the effectiveness of their campaigns both in their windows and in store. For example, retailers can gain insight into customer journeys in-store and track how they affect subsequent conversion rates.

Using location based analytics, retailers can also measure the impact on store performance every time they change their window or promotional displays - analysing their impact on customer draw rates, conversion rates and average transaction rates. Campaigns can be tweaked or changed entirely if they are proven to be ineffective.

2. Constantly monitor performance

In order to derive the maximum benefit, retailers should measure performance against previous months, weeks or seasons for comparative and future planning purposes. Brands can also utilise retail analytics to examine which displays work best across different territories and cultures, instead of adopting a ‘one size fits all’ approach.

One major shoe retailer for example was able to identify and resolve a significant issue by using location based analytics. While its traffic flow and hence opportunity remained consistent, analysis showed that the store’s draw rate was in continual decline. It transpired that the window display had not changed for three weeks. There was a direct correlation between refreshed window displays and an increase in the draw rate. Only through gaining accurate insight into the draw rate was the retailer able to pinpoint the problem.

3. Tie everything into your three profit pillars

Retailers must measure everything in relation to its impact on the three key profit pillars:

  • Draw them in – retailers can view the number of passers-by who stop to look at the window display, then dig deeper to see the percentage that ignored it versus those who walked in.
  • Get them to buy – brands can analyse their abandonment rate. How many people are walking into the store and then immediately leaving? What is the average time to purchase? This can be measured by the time it takes for customers to move from the entrance to the checkout. Once patterns are determined in-store, retailers can ensure that there are enough staff on duty to keep queuing times to a minimum.
  • Persuade them to buy more – The longer a customer spends in a store the more likely they are to make a purchase. Retail analytics deliver insight into average dwell times, answering questions such as do any increases correlate with the visual merchandising campaigns? Analytics also goes further to extrapolate a retailer’s Gross Shopping Hours, which takes into account specific shopper behaviour patterns such as visitor numbers and dwell times, combining them into a metric that can be produced daily or weekly. The Gross Shopping Hours metric has been verified as having a higher than 90 percent correlation to retail sales. 

Visual merchandising is a key component in a retailer’s sales strategy yet it has historically been hard to measure. Technology exists today that can make merchandising accountable – demonstrating just how much the creativity of the visual merchandising team contributes to overall sales.

Supplier
Logo: ShopperTrak

ShopperTrak

St John's Court, Easton St, High Wycombe
Buckinghamshire HP11 1JX
UK

related articles:

popular articles:

Thumbnail-Photo: Puma reimagines omnichannel shopping experience through metaverse...
21.06.2023   #omnichannel #customer experience

Puma reimagines omnichannel shopping experience through metaverse platform

Sports company expands its metaverse web destination, Black Station, with immersive digital retail experience

Sports company Puma has launched Black Station 2, a metaverse platform that bridges the digital and physical worlds, allowing users to purchase phygital footwear. Black Station 2 is an expansion to its initial Black Station debut last September as ...

Thumbnail-Photo: Toshiba launches powerful and compact TCx® 900 point-of-sale system...
22.08.2023   #brick and mortar retail #epos systems

Toshiba launches powerful and compact TCx® 900 point-of-sale system

POS system TCx 900 is designed for retail requirements and equipped with 13th generation Intel Core processors

The TCx® 900 is the newest point-of-sale (POS) system from global retail technology leader Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions. It provides advanced technology offerings through a powerful modular system in a compact design built to last and ...

Thumbnail-Photo: Help yourself!: Are self-checkouts the next big thing in retail?...
14.06.2023   #brick and mortar retail #self-checkout systems

"Help yourself!": Are self-checkouts the next big thing in retail?

Efficient everyday business, efficient shopping

In the face of the digital age (and the rush just after the end of the workday or the day right before a holiday), retailers are looking for innovative technologies to continuously improve shopping experiences. Self-service checkouts (SCOs) allow ...

Thumbnail-Photo: If you use A for Amazon, you have to adapt B – accounting...
30.05.2023   #online trading #e-commerce

If you use A for Amazon, you have to adapt B – accounting

Accounting software for Amazon retailers – is it necessary?

More and more customers are shopping online, so more and more retailers are offering their goods on e-commerce platforms - above all Amazon. Because the global mail order company promises an enormous range and simple sales. However, bookkeeping ...

Thumbnail-Photo: Toshiba opens new Retail Operations Center in Europe...
03.08.2023   #e-commerce #retail

Toshiba opens new Retail Operations Center in Europe

Facility equipped with innovative technology and a powerful inventory management system

Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions has opened a state-of-the-art Retail Operations Center in Almere, Netherlands. The strategic move will enhance operational efficiency and provide superior service to the company's valued customers and partners ...

Thumbnail-Photo: Senior Business Development Manager for ITL celebrates 20 year milestone...
01.08.2023   #Tech in Retail #cash management

Senior Business Development Manager for ITL celebrates 20 year milestone

Christian Czeskleba marks 20 years with the cash handling and biometrics solutions provider

Christian Czeskleba, Senior Business Development Manager (BDM) for Innovative Technology, marks 20 years with the cash handling and biometrics solutions provider this month. Based in ITL’s German office in Hamburg, Christian has seen the ...

Thumbnail-Photo: Iberian Sports Retail adopts Hii Retail native cloud platform...
19.06.2023   #e-commerce #retail

Iberian Sports Retail adopts Hii Retail native cloud platform

The Iberian Sports Retail Group adopts the Hii Retail native cloud platform in over 350 stores across three countries – “It enables us to scale up”

The multichannel leader in sports equipment sales in the Iberian Peninsula, Iberian Sports Retail Group (ISRG), has partnered with Extenda Retail to replace their Checkout applications. Extenda Retail’s next-generation cloud-native checkout ...

Thumbnail-Photo: Aldi and (e-)commerce in China
26.06.2023   #online trading #e-commerce

Aldi and (e-)commerce in China

How the discounter is positioning itself in East Asia and what others can learn from it

"China is a highly competitive market," says Renata Thiébaut. Nevertheless, the company, headquartered in the Ruhr region, seems to have shown elbows and is now selling successfully there. The professor of e-commerce and China expert ...

Thumbnail-Photo: Enhance inventory management and loss prevention – with Zebra...
12.06.2023   #e-commerce #brick and mortar retail

Enhance inventory management and loss prevention – with Zebra SmartCount solution

Now available in DACH, this accurate, easy-to-use solution provides time and cost savings and better inventory management

Zebra Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: ZBRA), a leading digital solution provider enabling businesses to intelligently connect data, assets, and people, will present Zebra SmartCount™,  a proven, comprehensive solution now ...

Thumbnail-Photo: Nike launches Airphoria in Fortnite
26.06.2023   #digitization #omnichannel

Nike launches Airphoria in Fortnite

Access open from June 20 at 12 pm ET through June 27 at 8 pm ET

Nike is launching “Airphoria” in Fortnite, a first-of-its-kind gaming experience. Building on a multiyear partnership with Epic Games, Airphoria brings to life the future of sport experiences at the intersection of games and culture, ...

Supplier

Innovative Technology Ltd.
Innovative Technology Ltd.
Innovative Business Park
OL1 4EQ Oldham
Zebra Technologies Germany GmbH
Zebra Technologies Germany GmbH
Franz-Rennefeld-Weg 2-6
40472 Düsseldorf
Reflexis Systems GmbH
Reflexis Systems GmbH
Kokkolastr. 5-7
40882 Ratingen