- Kevin Natapow
This is always a good one but VERY subjective and store specific at times. Sarah was able to create a VM photos folder that I think will be super helpful in sharing ideas for how to display products, set windows, and other creative ways to arrange shops to have effective VM displays.
One thing I often tell people is not to be cheap and conventional in your displays and display pieces. Like with a location, don’t skimp and go big. We were big fans of antiques or antique looking displays. We tried our best to avoid merchandising supply stores for our major VM pieces- tables, chests, hutches, trunks, etc all worked well to provide look that did not look cheap but was not crazy expensive. You want your store to have enough merchandise to make the sales you need to do (INVENTORY CONTROL- I will always sneak that in) but you don’t want your store to feel cluttered and overwhelming (over inventoried and too many SKU’s). Allow for a good flow around the shop and make sure you don’t create any visual blackout spots for employees as possible. Customers want to come into a shop and feel a sense of openness, not void or overwhelm. Make sure your cash wrap is NOT the first thing they see and that they have a threshold to ease themselves in so they feel safe to commit to entering. If you have not read already Paco Underhill’s “Why We Buy” I highly recommend reading it and understanding the psychology of how we consume and how setting up a store right can be a huge key to success. Use bright colors- heck, use color! Decorate, use products as part of displays, use tablecloths on tables, give a sense of what these things could look like in your home or a friends home.
Also, use forums like Pinterest to get ideas and designs. Try to do a reasonable VM move monthly or every other month. And 1-2 major VM overhauls every year- usually one after the holidays and one in the spring/summer as your change from fall/winter merch to spring/summer. Move things around and redo displays. I can’t tell you how many VM moves we did with no real new merchandise and regular customers would come in and think we got all new stuff in and would be so excited.
Redo your windows to follow seasonal themes- ski’s in winter, bikes for bike month, red and pink stars in the window for valentines, etc.
- What is a good budget for VM supplies? Is there a certain percentage of annual sales like there is with marketing? Or do you know how much you spent annual at Momentum?
- Kevin Natapow
We spent a lot on VM but it paid off. The upfront cost is always the most, but once a year we would drive up to Ft Collins which had this awesome antique row and pick up a few new pieces. It completely changes the feel of a shop and gives that Anthropologie look vs. a cheaper gift shop feel.
If you email me I can get you hard numbers on what we spent over the years and % of sales.
- Thank you! Will do.
- I agree when we move things around sometimes we move merchandise up to main counter, in which then people are asking ohhhh, new inventory. I have a hard time saying either yes or no, I usually default to isn’t this beautiful it’s from Vietnam or talk about a point on a piece, just to stay honest. Also we also seem to do a lot of sales just right out of inventory and the box.
- You could also say something like, we’ve had it for a little while, but decided it’s beauty was better showcased up here.
- Kevin Natapow
Nice move!
- “Make sure your cash wrap is NOT the first thing they see”…you mean the cash register/checkout counter? Kevin, why is that bad or not recommended?
- Kevin Natapow
Yes- it is a psychological block for many people. Paco Underhill talks a lot about it. In a perfect world you want your customers to feel “safe” coming into a shop, travel freely and end up at your cash wrap. Often if they walk in and BAM there you are behind the register it can put them off and turn them instantly into an IJL (i’m just looking) customer and it is hard to talk to them a second time after that.