Visual merchandising advice for newsagents who think they know northing about visual merchandising, and for blokes who always try and get out of creating a display

Everyone can do VM!

Visual merchandising is about display products in a way that attracts people to them, top look, touch and feel. Ultimately, it is about displaying products so you sell more.

Anyone can do visual merchandising.

Here is our advice.

1. Start with a clean space, a flat surface, in a good location.
2. The best display looks like a pyramid.
3. Your hero product is at the top of the pyramid.
4. If the display is for a season or some other sign-post event, the poster should be placed with the display so shoppers can see it without having to look for it.
5. Flowing from the hero product down to the base of the display are other products. But not so many that you can’t see what you want people to see.
6. The display is balanced, even.
7. A display of gifts always includes cards.
8. If the display is promoting homewares the pyramid approach is not needed. Instead, go for something that looks more natural, like in the home.
9. Use coloured paper to highlight certain products. But don’t go for a rainbow.
10. From a colour perspective, a good display has no more than two core colours as the focus.
11. A display can look untidy and that is okay in some circumstances. For example, a box of Beanie Boos exploding from a box .
12. Mistakes are okay.
13. Oh, and don’t treat this as an engineering challenge. Keep it simple and fun! :

Take your time, have fun.

Remember, the alternative is no display at all.

A note to others who may be around when someone is doing their first display – we all did our first display once … be gentle.

Now, here are some more notes about displays:

In my opinion, the best displays have a narrative relevant to the business, a story or purpose. This is code for saying I am not a fan of single product or single supplier displays. suppliers love these, of course, as they are a billboard for them. What suits them will likely not suit you.

A good display is a collection of items from multiple suppliers, categories and segments that make sense together, from which a shopper could choose several for a gift, or for themselves. Choosing the items for the display us you curating the display, making editorial choices to tell the story you want to sell.

Don’t leave the display up for long. My advice is one week, two at the absolute maximum. Having a length of time for which a display will be live helps you allocate appropriate time for the creation of the display. if you are not sure how long to spend on it, set yourself and hour tops. Get it done within that time.

Once you’ve done a display, if you are new to this, ask for opinions. Learn. Each display will be an improvement on the last.

Whole the opinions of others can be nice, what matters from any display is the sales it achieves for you. be sure to track this as that data will inform your next choices.