Visual Merchandising

As you can imagine, every shopkeeper and retailer's main goal is to sell as much service or merchandise as possible. And, recently the visual merchandising has become an invaluable tool in assisting this objective.

Even though display for retail is so well known and used today, not many people would know the history of visual merchandising. This article will provide you a brief overview.

Most historians agree that the concept of Visual Merchandising started in 19th Century. And, many accept a dry goods establishments as the frontiers of the Visual Merchandising movement. Marshall Field & Co. would be a good example.  These companies moved their operations from wholesale into retail. As a result, the visual display of their merchandise became necessary to entice the retail shoppers.

The shop windows evolved from simply allowing natural light to shine into the store or acting as storage space for the products. The store windows gained a lot more importance as a way to attractively display the shop's products or services. Can you imagine the lightbulb going off over someone's head when they slowly realised the impact of this shift? Obviously the other retail store owners followed suit.

Over time, the look and feel of the retail window displays migrated indoors and they became part of the overall interior design as well. Eventually the whole flow from the shop window to the inside of the shop merged together as a single entity.

Like world's fairs, the museums and department stores cramped everything together on shelves or in display cases at the beginning without much thought about the shopping experience. However, both came of age towards the end of the 19th Century. In this context, both the museums and the department stores in the United States of America tend to share a similar history of displaying their products.

Today museums organise their displays into exhibitions, which are usually bound by a common theme, whether it is the Ottoman Turks or Ancient Greece. On the other hand, the displays in the retail shops are referred to as "Visual Merchandising.

In actual fact, the notion of visual merchandising is the selling of a store's goods. It includes visual means, incorporating

  • advertising, 
  • window displays,
  • interior space and flow design,
  • interior floor display.

Throughout the 20th Century, the retail businesses even commissioned a lot artists (both lesser known and world-renowned) to create window displays as well as design unique objects specifically for visual merchandising purposes. Both Salvador Dalí and Andy Warhol's involvement in visual merchandising is well documented.

Even though some argue that visual merchandising is one of the final stages in trying to set out a store in a way that customers will find attractive and appealing, many would disagree. They assert that the visual merchandising should be incorporated into the business even before conception. They even argue that visual merchandising should follow and reflect the principles that underpin the store’s image. Visual merchandising is the way a shop would display 'products for sale' in the most enticing way with the end aim of making a sale.

"If it does not sell, it is not visual merchandising."

Especially in today’s challenging times, most small business retailers may try and avoid visual merchandisers as they are wary of increasing costs. However, in reality, visual merchandisers can help minimise costs by avoiding costly mistakes while increasing sales.

Remember! with guidance of a professional, retailer can

  • save time,
  • save money,
  • and eliminate errors.

It is crucial to visualise that the professional designer is there, not to impose ideas, but to help the business owners articulate their and their business's own personal style.