Have you ever entered a shop and felt uncomfortable?
There’s something you can’t place your finger on – the atmosphere is wrong. You valiantly try to skim through the merchandise, but as the sales clerk advances towards you, it all becomes too much. You leave and don’t make any plans to return.
If you have many people visiting your shop, browsing for a while and then leaving without making a purchase, it’s highly likely they are having a similar experience. However you can change this – here are 6 mistakes retailers often make in merchandising their products, and how to avoid them:
Unusual Lighting
In some environments, a blue tinged or orange tinged light is eye-catching and atmospheric. Your shop is not this environment. People want to view what they are purchasing in a true-to-life setting. There is no joy in taking home an item only to find it is a totally different colour than you thought. Aim to have your lighting as close to daylight colouring as possible, and you will have happier customers.
Intense colour over a large area
There’s nothing wrong with fire engine red, or chartreuse green. But an entire wall of product in that colour is overwhelming. It will alter the lighting in the shop and put off any customer who doesn’t particularly like that colour. It will be hard to maintain as colours go in and out of fashion in the blink of an eye, so you’ll be changing whole walls all the time, to avoid looking dated. Instead, opt for a majority of neutral tones, with just some standout garments in an on-trend colour.
Changing Displays in opening hours
Window displays attract customers into a shop. So partially dismantled mannequins and packaging everywhere will probably do the opposite. If you’re thinking of changing displays during operating hours, don’t do it. Even after hours, when changing displays, try to avoid being visible through the windows.
Displays changing too rarely
Even your loveliest display, the one that attracted hordes of attention when it was first installed, must be changed. The world of retail is ephemeral – everything moves on and your customers are easily bored. Don’t change your window displays once a season – monthly changes (or even more often) will do wonders to keep your customers interested!
Signage Lettering too small
For maximum readability, every 10 metres further away your readers are viewing the sign from, you should allow a further 8 centimetres on the height of the lettering.
Therefore, if your reader is standing 40 metres from the sign, the lettering should be at least 32 centimetres high. Any less than this and you’re missing the point of having a sign.
Ignoring your store’s exterior
75% of first time customers will remember what the entrance to your shop looks like*. You have only a matter of seconds to attract a person passing by into your shop, so the exterior is extremely important. Keep it clean, free of clutter and if your shop is on the street, pay attention to landscaping.
You will lose sales if people are put off by the appearance of your store, or if they don’t find it easy to shop there. The retailer often overlooks these six mistakes, although they are easy to fix. Now that you know, though, you don’t have any excuses.
Happy Selling!
