Just like there are universal laws of attraction regarding money, there are universal laws of attraction for store windows displays. So many retailers think that just putting different clothes on a mannequin or stacking their latest products in the window is enough to attract customers inside. NOT!
Unless you are selling the latest Apple product, which generates enough excitement on its own, most retailers have to do more to create excitement in the window. And especially now with internet shopping being so popular, brick and mortar stores have to work harder than ever to make customers want to come into your store. Grab them as they are walking or driving by with sensational window displays using the universal laws of attraction.
To explain these “laws of attraction” we used photos from the Haute World (written by a Paris based blogger) and text from The Visual Merchandising Blog (written by a blogger based in the Philippines). If you follow these laws, you will absolutely attract more customers into your store.
1 Do not limit your visual merchandising theme to the Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. Try to use at least six (6) different themes in a year. If you can use different themes in every month, even better. But Six (6) different themes a year are more flexible; this will let you change your theme every other month. You can inline your theme special events like Mothers’ Day, Fathers’ Day, Teachers’ Day, Valentine’s Day, festivals, anniversaries and other celebrations and holidays.
2 Variation will support your theme to avoid boringness of display and decoration. You can use the same theme every year but avoid using the same display and style. Also avoid using the same material for different themes consecutively. You may keep the materials you have recently used and use it again after few months or put it in other locations or other branch of your store.
3 Go unusual and big display. People love novelty, something they haven’t seen before. You can search for some visual merchandising ideas in the internet. Copy different ideas, combine them together then modify. It is copy, combine and modify – not copy and paste.
Speaking of big and unusual, how many times have you seen a life-sized zebra hold an expensive designer bag in it’s mouth? Sounds weird, but as you can see in the photo below it is quite a striking concept. I can’t imagine anyone passing by this on the street and not noticing this – which is what a good display is supposed to do, attract attention.
4 Don’t forget to apply the elements and principles of design to your projects. The elements of design are line, shape, form, size, space, color, value and texture while the principle of designs are novelty, variety, harmony, unity, balance, proportion, emphasis, contrast, rhythm and pattern. Effectively use colors, texture, shape forms and lines. Establish a focal point on your window display for easy viewing then harmonize each element of your display to maintain neatness and to direct the eyes of your viewer to each element of the display.
5 Integrate dynamic techniques in your display. Integrating printed materials, multi-media, interactive installation and sensory input in your display are known to be dynamic techniques and are becoming the visual merchandising trend, not just for 2011 but also for 2012 and the coming years because of the fast moving digital civilization.
Here is a bonus photo from Los Angeles visual merchandiser, ChadMichael. This is for a pharmacy in West Hollywood and is an excellent example of applying the Universal Laws of Attraction for a dynamic retail window display. If you are a retailer or visual merchandiser, send us your photos so we can profile them here.
In tomorrow’s blog post we will further expand on these universal laws.
This post was written by Mannequin Madness. We subscribe to visual merchandising blogs from all over the blogosphere (so you don’t have to) to bring you the best examples of eye-catching window displays from across the globe. We admit we are biased and primarily feature window displays that have a mannequin in them. But believe it or not, a lot of non-clothing related retailers use mannequins in their windows.
Mannequin Madness sells and rent a wide variety of new and used mannequins and dress forms.
