Time for Fall Displays!

 
Fall isn't here yet - but it's time for fall displays!

We're all in a summer vacay mode, I know...
but if you haven't begun planning and installing your fall merchandise & displays yet, get to work NOW and install them as soon as you can in August. That way you'll grab the attention of shoppers who are just gettin' in the autumn mood! 

Whether you own a brick and mortar store, an online shop, or sell in a booth at shows, it's always a good idea to look ahead. Consider it the same thing as watching the weather segment on the news to see the extended forecast - we want to know what's coming up, how to plan, and what to expect... 

In retail psychology, applying this to the presentation (visual merchandising & display) of your products also creates a sense of urgency - a reason to buy NOW: 'Get this season's products before they are gone, and be ready to get the next season's hot deals as soon as they release!' Being ahead of the curve by planning and getting those new products out on display BEFORE the new season is a must.

HOW do you do that for fall? Here are some of my top tips:

Fixtures made of warm wood or painted in natural tones will set off the merchandise - and the style is up to you. A rustic wood picnic table is the perfect setting for some woodsy tableware and linens with an outdoor or camping theme, while a sleek lacquered walnut bookcase can present books, food products, candles, and glassware with contemporary flair. 


Build a seasonal look for fall by bringing in the elements from outdoors in every display... one might have a large real tree branch with crisp leaves hung overhead to bring a mood to a table set beneath it, or a rustic planter with a real grapevine 'zhooshed' up with faux leaves and grape bunches, to set off the wine theme merchandise. Try adding a small stack of split firewood or kindling in a glass jar to a display of woodland scent candles... it doesn't take a lot!


The warm tones seen in nature and food in autumn are a perfect base to build on for the season... the hues of farms, fields, produce, and landscapes aging into faded colors add warmth as the weather begins to shift. The addition of books, pillows, blankets, candles, and other similar elements to displays will create a sense of layering, coziness, and warmth that your customers will want to replicate in their rooms and on their tables.


Continue reading for links to posts filled with autumn display inspiration... 

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...

Summer Display Switch-Up!

I'd like to revisit an archived post, to show you how making a fast, simple but large-scale change

can make an incredible impact in your retail displays for the summer season...

Come with me on a lil' trip into the past!

 I created displays for Columbia Winery in Washington state for six years. Here's the 'logo' wall made of faux tumbled marble tiles in the front entry of the shop, filled with spring merchandise.When it came time to install the new summer displays one year, we had a bit of a dilemma: The summer merchandise is very contemporary, and in colors of white, silver, and blues. With that warm-tone, old-world style tile mural, we had some serious clashing going on that did nothing at all for the product.

I needed a solution.

Enter two very large mirrors that I had on hand, purchased for decor at a previous Auction of Washington Wines Winemaker Dinner. I decided to use those mirrors to cover up the tile. (IKEA, $135. each). I had my design assistant Karen help me heft them up onto the table, then I wired them to the sidewalls. There was still some tile showing, so I hung a white drapery panel on the side. In front of that went one of the two driftwood trellises that I purchased last year as summer props. On the top, to camouflage about six inches of tile, I hung white shutters at an angle - very 'Tommy Bahama'. Other shutters went beneath the table to lighten up the shadowed area a bit.

The result?

It was shockingly different from the previous look, and got a LOT of positive comments!

The mirror not only reflected the natural light coming in the windowed front doors straight across from it,

but it also bounced light from the overhead trac fixtures right down onto the glass merchandise.

Here's a shot of the entire main display, including the forward area with wine feature.

The tables are made from driftwood, and are for sale. Those driftwood trellises weren't for sale. The white chair was mine, and also was not for sale, just a prop. (That I fished out of a dumpster - really!)

It took maybe half an hour to install the mirrors, curtain, shutters, and props for that front display.

  Well worth it, wouldn't you say?

Now, think about what you might be able to do in your retail space....

with some old doors, or a section of cedar fencing, or maybe even salvaged rusty corrugated tin roofing.

The possibilities are endless, 

and the impact of a big change could be just what you need for the summer season.

Now.....where are my sunglasses? I'm heading for the beach......

this content originally appeared here on DWK visual merchandising blog in 2007.
photos mine, copyright reserved. 

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!

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...

Spring Forward!

Is your shop ready for SPRING yet?
[ I promise, it WILL get here! It always does! ]

Even if you are buried in a snow drift, the next season is what's on your customers' minds...

create interesting and inspiring displays of fresh, new product (and re-mixed old products)

to help them prepare for sunnier days!

Find all of my past posts with Spring display ideas HERE

More inspiration is on my Pinterest Retail Display Board

 

NEW 'Specialty Shop Retailing' Book

the 4th edition of the book Specialty Shop Retailing released last month,

with this revised and expanded edition offering an in-depth education for any retailer.

aimed at stores offering a specific product mix to a targeted niche demographic, 

the wealth of information within the pages will be of help to every retailer - 

from those who've grown up to take over a venerable family business 

to the entrepreneurial generation striking out to make their own mark.

whether you've been at it for years, or are just starting out, 

this book WILL help you - so get your hands on it and read it cover to cover!

I've spent a lifetime providing visual merchandising services to specialty retailers large and small - 

wineries, hotel gift shops, scrapbooking stores, local yarn shops, and finally,

the highly niche-dependent Walt Disney Corporation.

as i have learned through hands-on experience and through success and failure,

this kind of retail is not the same as 'we offer it all' department or big box stores, 

and this book provides an educational resource for attaining success in your specialty niche.

I highly recommend it!

author Carol Schroeder and I have been speakers at the same retail industry events for decades.

we have concurrently contributed to many of the same retail resources, 

including a killer visual merchandising Pinterest board ;) 

I am honored that she asked for a contribution from me for this book...

Carol included this photo of one of my displays for a winery on page 171,

in the 'Visual Merchandising: Displays That Sell' chapter:

I agree with Carol that this display works well as an example of cross-merchandising,

from the juxtaposition of products, textures, and shapes to the 'lifestyle' presentation style.

a 'vignette' of furniture and decorative accessories - linens, pottery, and floral elements - 

adds visual interest to the massed shelving of product (wine) accessible to shoppers,

and inspires customers to buy more than just wine...

which is the main reason to use this style of display:

offer more than expected to entice customers to increase their purchases.

click to see more of my winery displays in my portfolio

the book is available through major retailers - but let's go with the spirit of it,

and order/purchase from small specialty retailers!
Carol sells the book at her own store, Orange Tree Imports, 

and online at IndieBound.org and SpecialtyShopRetailing.com 

Going Green in 2017

Your Color of the Year for 2017:
Pantone 15-0343 'Greenery', 

described as a “yellow-green shade that evokes the first days of spring"

by Pantone Color Institute Director Leatrice Eiseman.

Pantone calls Greenery “Nature’s neutral”—

a hue more prominently worn during spring and summer, 

but one they encourage people to wear and use in decor as a statement color year round.

Greenery calls to mind the ‘re-’ words: 

refresh, revive, restore, renew, replenish, regenerate, rejuvenate, reinvigorate. 

It's reflective of nature, the environment, and living healthy lives.

It's fresh and crisp, denoting cleanliness and energy.

And it's a color that pairs well with almost every other shade on the color spectrum.

I've often created displays around a green palette in the past...

click here for post                          click here for post

click here for post                                 click here for post

click here for post

As shown in these photos,
I find that green can range from a neutral to a vibrant POP of color

dependent upon the way you use it in displays.

To draw in customers who have a yen for the newest trend,

create at least one window display in green hues.

To feature new merchandise inside your store, 

create a backdrop / 'set' in green tones that will draw the eye - 

and simply rotate new stock into that 'set' to make new displays simple.

find inspiration for window displays using the color green here

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?!
.

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.