Five Ways to Increase Your Brand's Visual Impact

People always ask me how to create fabulous displays...
but the truth is, your visual impact as a business
starts BEFORE you ever put products in your store.

When I work with clients to design their retail environments and displays,

I start with this principle: ‘Tell Your Own Story’ in all visual communications.

Make your brand a consistent expression of your business’ individual mission, purpose, style, and products or services – and then leverage that brand by using it in every visual medium at your disposal. This is the main opportunity for you to show your potential customers why YOU are different than others – be proud of your individuality and build on it.

Let me explain that concept this way: Have you ever tasted a Cabernet wine?

If you were to taste one each from Walla Walla, Yakima, Horse Heaven Hills, Indian Wells – all regions in the Eastern half of Washington state – you’d find that not all Cabernets are created equally. The vineyards each have distinct variations in soil content, rainfall, sun exposure, and other conditions, which cause the vines to grow grapes that have vastly different sugar and acid levels, affecting their taste (‘palate’). When harvested and fermented, those variances result in wine that is unique to that grape varietal in that particular location – a Cabernet from Walla Walla is not like a Cabernet from Yakima, or Italy, or France, or Napa, or anywhere else. Your business is not like any other – no matter what you sell, you’re unique because of all of the distinct variations and characteristics that make up your business.

In the wine industry, this concept is called ’Terrior’ (Tehr WAH) – loosely translated, it means ‘Pride of Place’. Or, ‘I’m a proud product of where I come from’. Wineries utilize this concept in the marketing and positioning of their businesses within the industry and to the consumer, by capitalizing on the uniqueness of their terrior. They combine their location, history, resources, processes, mission, and ultimately their product, to create a brand identity that Tells Their Own Story. It’s much the same concept as selling designer jeans or mineral makeup or floral design services – your competition is selling the same basic thing, and it’s your brand image that talks. Be a proud product of ‘where you come from’!

continue reading for steps you can take to implement this information...

A Window Display is 'Painting a Picture'

Retail Visual Merchandising is an art....
and I've always described what I do as a visual stylist this way:
"I create still life paintings using dimensional objects
 instead of paint or pastels."
This window display brought that together with actual fine art...

Continue reading to find Artful Display ideas!

Use Pantone's 2025 Color of the Year 'Mocha Mousse' in Winter Displays

Is the holiday season wearing you out?

Have you got the Winter Woes?

These photos show one effective way to move forward

after the holiday shopping rush has slowed:

incorporate the 'it' color of the new year into your displays. 

The new 'color of the year' for 2025 from Pantone,

'The Color Authority' - is 'Mocha Mousse'. 

Adding this hue to a few displays isn't hard at all - 

and no, you don't have to have NEW product in this color!

continue reading for easy steps you can take...

Have 'Leftovers' for Valentine's Day!

Restyling old products to create a new look - taking something and making it look totally different by combining it with something else, using a different color to set it off, etc. - is something I really enjoy. And it's an effective way to lengthen the 'shelf life' of merchandise instead of just putting it on clearance. Keep those profit margins UP, that's the goal.

...continue reading for some of my top tips for 're-using' and re-theming merch!

Re-Style Unsold 'Holiday' Merch for Winter Profits

So, your Holiday merchandise didn't sell like you thought it would.
No problem. No, really.... there's still hope for some of it. 
(And no, I don't mean mark it all 90 percent off!)

Let's salvage all that we can and turn it into winter displays!

for example, those ornaments above.....
silver, with red felt dots. Some others in the collection say 'Love'.

So they didn't sell....well, then let's make lemons into lemonade
and create a big red Valentine's day display!
Those ornaments could be heaped into a huge heart-shaped box,
made to look like bon bons.

continue reading for more ideas and examples of re-styled merch
that transitions from holiday to winter - and makes more profit for you!

Plan NOW for Holiday Season Success!

I know, it's October... but I'm going there.

Are there boxes of Christmas merchandise stacked and waiting for floor space?

Most of you are saying yes right about now.

Relax - you've done the easy part. But you're not done yet!

Because the hard part is that you need to have a plan ready

for how, where, when, and why those boxes of product will make it to the sales floor.

And you need that plan NOW, my friends.

Before you pull an all-nighter to set it up. Before you leave a list of 'to do's' with the staff.

Before you have the invites for your big holiday decor unveiling event printed.

(You ARE having a big unveiling event, aren't you?) Before your ads hit the media.

Retailers count on the holiday season for a large percentage of their annual income,
and it makes sense to plan for it. 

But far too many businesses just roll the stuff out on carts and start stuffing it into displays. 

Don't sabotage yourselves! 

With a bit of planning, you can reap all of the benefits of a successful Holiday season.

continue reading for my top tips for planning your holiday displays...

Back To School Windows

The calendar (and the weather!) may still be saying 'summer', 

but fall is on the way....

bringing hordes of 'back to school' shoppers out of the pool and into stores.

It's time to catch their eye with some FUN window displays!

At the resale store where I created visuals with a dynamo named Debby, 

we created two distinct stories in the two front windows:

One geared toward kids, and the other toward teens.

continue reading to see the details and learn why they work...

before & after: retail display solutions

A successful retail display doesn't just happen.

it is the result of a combination of knowing the science of retail principles

and the art of composition and placement. 

Both combine to create a 3D work of art that invites customers in - 

and results in sales of product.

There are some retail display design principles that are oh-so-perfectly illustrated

by the following 'before and after shots',

and to discuss them means that I have to critique the 'befores'.

So while I point out all of the flaws in the design below,

know that I realize someone worked hard putting it together...

they just didn't know the most effective way to do so.

continue reading as i describe what was wrong -
and how easily those challenges were addressed...

Top 5 Tips for Winter Displays

Did the holiday season do you in?
Have you got the Winter Woes?
I have some previous content that can help you
to create effective displays AFTER the holiday season...

 Click on each caption below to view
my Top 5 Tips to increase your
'post-holiday' winter visual impact
and sell MORE product!

Focus on Winter In Your Windows

Fill Your Entry Zone with NEW Products

Re-Stage Some Of Your Leftover Holiday Merchandise

Re-Mix Products to Reflect a Winter Palette + Mood

Share The Love

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Containing Community & Commerce

I love watching the changing face of retail...

over my 45 years of involvement with the industry, 

I've seen many 're-inventions' and new concepts rolled out.

Some fail, some succeed.
But I am always wondering 'What's NEXT?' for retail.

I recently had the chance to see a concept that has every reason

to become a successful way to create shopping experiences all over the globe...

The Las Vegas Downtown Container Park 

is probably one of the most unique retail spaces I've seen.
Located on Fremont Street, just a few blocks away from a neon-lit tourist mecca of casinos,

 it's an open-air shopping center and entertainment venue  

that was built in 2013 from 43 re-purposed shipping containers

and 41 locally manufactured Xtreme cubes to create individual retail spaces. 

Situated on three levels,

the center offers wide open spaces along with retail and food service space:

The shops range from boutiques offering a variety of apparel, jewelry and accessories 

to art galleries, home décor and fixtures, 

and a barbershop housed in a retired boxcar and caboose. 

The park also includes restaurants and bars with indoor and outdoor seating, 

a park and raised stage for entertainment, and spots for a quick treat - 

including cupcakes, an old-fashioned candy shop, a gourmet popcorn store, and more.

In all, there are 39 retailers located within the complex.

At first glance, it's a cool industrial vibe.
On second thought, it's a brilliant way to re-purpose shipping containers - 

which too often simply rust away to nothing in salvage yards.

I wonder how many of these centers of commerce and community

could be created in areas around the globe, in virtually any economic setting,

to offer cost-effective venues for merchants, artisans, growers and makers? 

Include service providers - hair, nails, tanning, massage, urgent care, pet grooming - 

and you've another group of small businesses to serve.

We're in the midst of National Small Business Week, 

and I can imagine that this creative and economical kind of structure

could have a far-reaching effect on small businesses in communities everywhere.
What are your thoughts?
Would YOU embrace this in your community? Would YOU rent space like this?

information for this post was gathered from this source

Magnolia Silos Retail, Part Deux

Okay, Y'all.... I promised you MORE photos from my recent visit

to the Magnolia Silos in Waco, Texas...... Here they are!

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The 2-acre site was formerly an abandoned agricultural property,

then Joanna & Chip Gaines reclaimed, rehabbed, remodeled, revived, and re-branded it

into a retail village, right in the heart of downtown Waco, Texas.

They've made use of the existing structures and architecture in an appealing way...

The first thing you notice when you walk into the development is that it's BIG.
Not just the land... but everything ON it! BIG BIG BIG!

 

 As a matter of fact, it's so BIG that you need directions to find everything. 

There's a MAP for that!

Very smart, if you ask me.... you don't want to miss anything while here,

and the map (located in front of the main retail store from my last Magnolia post) makes sure that you don't.

Along with that main store, there are two other retail buildings on site
(with a third in progress - inside one of the silos!)
The Silos Bakery:

The patio area outside of the bakery is a very nice touch - and it was FULL!

I was unable to visit the inside of the bakery, 

because the line outside was two blocks long

and I wasn't going to ask my family members to wait two hours for me

to get a cupcake and snap some photos.
(but those musta' been some REALLY amazing cupcakes!)

Another building is the Garden Store:

 Signature decor touches and merchandising style reflect the aesthetic of the main store.

This area is much less busy than the main store, but has a nice selection of 

branded apparel and garden tools & accessories.
If you want to take home a Magnolia souvenir but hate waiting in long lines,
I recommend shopping in this location ;) 

Near the Garden Store, across the beds of flowers and vegetables, 

is the Garden Shed (not accessible to guests)

The garden area is decidedly less busy than the large (faux) lawn and picnic table areas,

so it's possible to sit in a willow tree chair and find a bit of silence amidst the crowds...

The facility functions as a community space, 

with room for lawn games, picnics, and stopping to smell the roses

along with - or instead of - shopping for retail treasures.
The only issue is limited parking.... on Friday & Saturday, it's gonna' be a hike.

There is ample space on the grounds for a weekly gathering of gourmet food trucks,

and the twice-yearly 'Silo-bration' event,

where the Gainses invite purveyors of handmade & vintage goods to sell to their customers.

Personally, I think that's smart - it's a way for the loyal Magnolia fans to

get their hands on authentic vintage goods along with the Silos experience - 

because the store's main offerings are 

brand new, mass-produced, home decor accessories, which are available on their website,

with a few handmade items sprinkled in.

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All in all, I was very impressed with what the Gainses have created,

how it is true to their brand and style,

and how they have brought their tv show to life so that people can experience it in a new way.
They are 'Telling Their Own Story', so to speak... 

which is something I've been advocating in seminars, articles, and blog posts 

for over two decades now.

That's just smart business.

For more about Magnolia Marketplace, the Silos, and Fixer*Upper,
visit the Magnolia website.

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Web Store Visual Success

Visual Merchandising isn't just for brick & mortar stores.
Online customers are looking for experiences, too - from web stores, 

the kind of experiences that they can't get on Amazon or Facebook. 

This is where the science of visual merchandising comes in...

If you're an online retailer - or wholesaler - check out this recent post 

How 12 Wildly Successful Online Stores Use Visual Merchandising  

on the bigcommerce blog.

Writer Tracey Wallace presents their highly effective methods and practices

along with photo examples
(including VISUAL examples in a post about VISUAL merchandising! ;) ) 

and I'm certain that you'll find useful tips that you can put into action immediately

on your own web store and social media accounts.

I can personally attest to the success of visuals on Harvey's website, shown in the images above.
Harvey bags are sold in the specialty stores that I merchandised at Disneyland, 

and their fans are literally fanatical about using their web store interface -

it's there that they find out about new product releases, prints, 

and special events like the ones we held at Disneyland...

and they turned out in droves for those events!

The visual brand image of the Harvey's website enhances the customer experience,

every bit as much as walking into a B&M boutique does.
It is immersive and experiential design, and it WORKS.

Images and Italicized verbiage used with permission from BigCommerce.com.
Thank you, Nigel, for the heads-up on your site's post on this subject!

Focus Displays on What Comes NEXT

What are you featuring in your windows and front zone displays right now?  

Have you restyled them to reflect the season and provide fresh inspiration -
or are you waiting for new merchandise to arrive?
It's very simple to refresh existing merchandise to look new and appealing to customers. 

It's important to get a fresh start immediately following the holidays! 

Your customers will be coming in with gift cards, gift certs, and money they received,
and they deserve to see fresh new ideas!
Inspiring them to buy what you offer can be as simple as taking what you already have
and combining it in a new way to reflect the season.

The tableware display shown in the photo above features white Vietri pottery,
along with luxe brown linens and whimsical dotted glassware.
A small, select group of merchandise here keeps the look clean and fresh.

Since this was during my stint creating displays for a winery, 

of course a lovely wine is a major presence. 

This look is a perfect mix for this 'bridge' season of late winter to early spring.
Simple, contemporary, classic, and warmth of color & textures draw the customer in.
Huge bare branches reflect the table legs and bring nature inside - 

you could even hang crystals (or leftover snowflake holiday ornaments) from the branches to add movement and sparkle to the display.

Most of the products shown here were in displays in the store during the Holidays:
the white Vietri was paired with red linens and snowflakes.
The brown linens were displayed with brown pottery and pinecones.
Combining them with new elements and a few fresh props creates a fabulous new look,
inspires your customers, AND saves you money. 

Go out on your sales floor and look at the components you already have - 

what possibilities exist to rethink, restyle, and sell them at full price right now?

Use leftover Christmas merch for Valentine's Day? Yep! Look HERE

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Fall Display ReSet: Play By Play

Ever heard of 'The Domino Effect'?

Hmmmn, sounds like a spy movie title, doesn't it?!

A former visual merchandising manager of mine used this term a lot. 

It refers to what happens when you undertake a retail display re-set: 

Start moving product from one area, and you have to find a place to put it. 

That means you have to change another area.....and so on, and so on, and so on. 

One thing moves, everything is affected - just like dominoes standing on end in rows. 

It can easily get completely out of control and come crashing down around you. 

A plan is essential. (Working at night after the shop is closed is helpful, too!)

When I was providing visual merchandising services to the Hogue Cellars retail shop,
I did a lot of seasonal re-sets of merchandise and fixtures.
Here's a play-by-play of one of the FALL re-sets - 

which will hopefully inspire you to make similar changes in your own stores.

Step 1: Walk in and survey the shop. Look at stock levels, placement, visual impact.
Step 2: Survey the storage area. Look at backstock quantities, types of merchandise, props, etc.
Step 3: Make a quick plan for where to start, what's new, what moves where, etc.

Of course, the shop was small, so it took no more than 15 minutes to make a plan....

at Columbia, where the retail floor space was more than five times larger, 

I'd spend at least two days drawing a floorplan and sketches of each display setup, 

plus a 'map' of the progression of displays to be changed - in order of attack. 

That helps to keep the mess to a minimum.

Step 4: Begin moving merchandise and re-styling displays.

There are several steps to THIS step, such as:
 

A. Empty one display area - merchandise on one set of fixtures - 

and place it on carts, or the counter, or the tasting bar.

B. Clean the fixtures!

C. Remove merchandise from a second display area - or unbox NEW merchandise - 

and CLEAN IT!

D. Place the second area/new merchandise into the first set of fixtures.

E.Style the display in a way that is DIFFERENT than it was styled before...

mix it up with new products and colors to make it look fresh and new again!

F. Clean the SECOND set of fixtures!

G. Repeat. Again and Again and Again. 

Note: ALWAYS clean the fixtures! ALWAYS clean the merchandise!

Here's how the summer-to-fall merchandise display progression worked at Hogue:

The back wall shelves looked like this ^

The main merchandise on them was grape motif items:

They moved across the shop to the window area, which previously looked like this:

After being loaded with the other merchandise and re-styled, it looked like this:

Close up

Can you see how the new display arrangement and the fixtures here 

make the merchandise look completely different?!
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The merchandise from this display:

...was moved onto the shelf units where the grape merchandise had been:

The warm color here was a huge visual pull from the front doors...

much more so than the subtle palette of the grape motif merchandise that was here before.
It's a more contemporary pattern, and looks great in squared placements on these shelves.

The central display that previously looked like this

was stocked with brand new merchandise, to look like this:

A rearrangement of some of the fixtures 

allowed me to place the branched candleabra up high in the display, 

accentuating both the height and theme, because it looks rather 'tree-like'. 

This product was one of my favorites that season - 

it was fun to work with, and sold like wildfire in both wineries.

In the large oak cabinet to the left of that display was all of the glassware:

In the new display, the existing logo glass stayed 

(though in lesser quantities than before)

and large format bottles of wine were added, for contrast and scale.
Wine boxes were utilized as risers, and the graphic logos on them really punched up the display!

Clear glassware is BORING and needs color and contrast to make it stand out - 

and light to make it sparkle. 

The mirrored back of this cabinet reflects the light from the windows

so it's a perfect place for the glass to be shown off: 

Sales of glassware went up IMMEDIATELY!

The bank of shelves behind the register island held various food products:

Not much changed, because keeping the 'staples' consistent makes it easier to stock them

AND it ensures that customers coming in for specific food & wine accessories

can always find them easily.

A new Halloween product display was installed on the small counter 'feature area':

Corralling the Halloween-specific merchandise in one area 

made it easy to change that up on November 1st, so the shop looked fresh.

Behind the Scenes:
I can't even TELL you how much laughter was exchanged during the night of this reset,

as we discovered boxes upon boxes upon boxes 

of HUNDREDS of orange and black neoprene wine bags in the stock room!
 I guess maybe in Prosser, kids get candy when they trick-or-treat.....and adults get WINE! 

I could get into that!

Maybe a game of dominoes, too... ;) 

.content from this post originally appeared here on my design blog in 2009.