Strategic Window Dressing // Teach to Sell

Escaparatismo Estratégico // Enseñar para vender

The Showcase is the visual part of the brands' commercial strategy.

The term Fast Fashion (FF) that is now experienced in fashion, has forced us to react quickly but it must be effective, the media, the shopping experience, etc ... and the rapid handling of fashion trend information force the manufacturer and marketer to have what the customer is looking for at the exact moment and in the necessary quantities, that is a global movement that must be kept in mind today. Therefore, within the marketing strategies of retailers is the visual marketing of the merchandise (visual merchandising) that makes the product look appetizing inside the store and above all focused on the target that is intended to reach and be a bearer of the brand.

It's the cherry on the cake, it's the glamorous part of the brand, like a window into the store's interior, where we must reflect everything that was planned in the marketing strategy.

The window display has the expensive objective of selling, in accordance with the brand's guidelines and its technical design and commercial specifications. The window display was born from the need to convey to the outside of the point of sale the arrival of new products, seasonal changes, or an event worthy of enveloping the product to make it appealing to the customer. It must be provocative, inciting, and above all, invite the viewer to come in and see what's happening inside the store.

The brand promise must be lived
from outside to inside the stores,

That's where the showcase does its job,
when congruence exists on both sides.

 
What are the shop windows like? The display cabinets (also known by that name) must meet certain aspects to be considered an optimal space for the exhibition, which are:

ADAPTABLE: That all types of merchandise can be displayed.
OPEN: That the content, garments and information can be appreciated in detail.
CHANGING: They should always show different displays; a static window display does not sell or invite you into the store.
CLEARS: As for your message, avoid confusion, since we communicate with our customers through our shop windows.

Don't expect a surge in sales by always presenting your product in the same way. Communication with customers must be creative and different, showing them something new they might be interested in.

THE LOCATION OF THE SHOWCASE IS OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE IN THE DESIGN OF THE POINT OF SALE.
Since it begins to communicate the purchasing experience, this will be the customer's first contact with the brand and its products.

What isn't a window?
– It’s not just an extra space in the store’s design; it should be part of the store’s design.
– It is not a catalog to list all the items the store sells.
– It's not a space to be overloaded with multiple messages at once; remember that customers have very little time to pay attention to multiple messages at once.
– It is not a place where mannequins will be placed alone, on the contrary, creative concepts must be generated to wrap the product that will be the protagonist.
– It's not a counter, but rather a silent salesperson who should guide the customer through the latest products we have in the store.
– It doesn’t work alone; there must be a strategy behind it, supported by the product.

How does a window display help us increase sales?
As we described above, the window display should be fresh and treat the merchandise as perishable, as something that will spoil the longer it spends on display in the store. This gives us a guideline for knowing the expiration date of an in-store message. How often do you change a window display? It should be so. Every time your customer returns to the store, they should have an excuse to come in and see how everything is different from their previous visit.

80% of the messages that we humans receive are through the visual sense and the other 20% is through the other senses, so why not pay attention to the visual aspect of the windows or the store? Having this reason in between, it challenges us to keep the store always presentable and tidy according to our target customer. Once the customer takes the trouble to enter the store, it forces us to treat them well and satisfy the needs that they have at that moment, since many times: THE CUSTOMER DOES NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR, HOWEVER, WHEN THEY SEES IT THEY IDENTIFY IT AND WANTS IT. 

If we bring together all the above aspects, which make up our customer's shopping experience, with a window display and a sales floor aligned to a specific action, it can mean a considerable increase in sales, especially because we will increase visitors and encourage unplanned purchases. THE WINDOW DISPLAY DOES NOT WORK ALONE, IT IS PART OF AN ALIGNMENT OF THE BRAND'S COMMERCIAL ACTIONS.

The Mannequin: A brand storytelling

El Maniquí: Un storytelling de la marca

Many years have passed since the first mannequin in history emerged, replicating the silhouette and making everything it wears appealing. Now we can see that it's relatively easy for a store to find an affordable mannequin, but it's difficult to create a striking silhouette. Many mistakes are made when handling them. Here we list the five most important points when setting up a display with mannequins.

1. LOVE ME TENDERMost mannequins are made of fiberglass, which is very resistant to the passage of time, but it's also a delicate material. You have to be careful when dressing a figure. The first thing to do is clean the place where the assembly will take place, and of course, keep your hands clean. Never undress a mannequin if you don't know where you're going to put its pieces.

2. ASSEMBLY AND DISASSEMBLYAlways ensure that the people who handle the mannequins know how to dress and undress them, not just those specialized in visual merchandising, as this is where the pieces can become damaged. It's also important to plan the clothing options for dressing them with a defined and effective concept.

3. WITHOUT STRATEGY THERE IS NO PARADISETo attribute a percentage of sales to mannequins, it's necessary to understand the sales strategy you're trying to capture, and this metric is essential for understanding the lifespan of the mannequin. It's important to keep in mind that mannequins help drive what we want to sell, but we can't attribute sales success or failure to a mannequin alone.

4. COMPOSITION, COMPOSITION & COMPOSITION. Sometimes the budget for display is limited, and brands choose to present only two or three window displays per year. Others are more dynamic, making more than 15 or 20 changes per year, experiencing spikes in traffic, sales, etc. What truly enriches window displays in any strategy is the position of the mannequins in the space. If you have a limited budget, you should rely on different compositions throughout the life of the display, as well as different outfits. The window design should allow for varied positioning of the mannequins.

5. FITTING IS A MUST HAVE, If the garment doesn't look good on a mannequin, we can't expect the customer to like it. We have to consider the silhouette we should choose; sometimes the arms or legs are too long for the garment, or the torso has a high waist. It's important to test garments before purchasing our mannequins. The sizes of the garments they should wear are just as important. Remember that the difference is in the details, so observe the silhouette to know which wrinkles need to be framed and which garments need to be molded to make it look as realistic as possible.

We can list more aspects that the mannequin's composition should have, taking them into account in detail, keeping in mind that the more detailed the setup, the more impactful the message. Be consistent with what you display and the environment, and you'll have a doubly powerful and memorable display.

Experiencia de compra // Un wow en cada visita

Experiencia de compra // Un wow en cada visita
IM Magazine 10 // Experiencia de compra

When the product is the memory of an incredible experience, making a whole of small details leads us to know the essence of a brand

The dynamics at the point of sale have changed. In traditional sales, the product was placed in front of the customer, and if they had a latent need at that moment, a purchase was triggered, in a linear fashion with no return.

Now the process is circular, experiencing the new stage of "inspiration," then triggering the "offer/sale" to continue with the "post-sale" service, allowing the latter to feed the "inspiration" service to continue the process constantly, always in motion.

INSPIRATION. At this stage, we must provide all the necessary means for the customer to acquire the necessary information about our product, such as blogs, social media, video blogs, landing pages, etc., so that when the customer searches for inspiration, they find a favorable environment to continue to the next stage.

OFFER/SALE. Once a customer has a specific product in mind and confirms that we're the right choice for their purchase, they head to our store. That's why it must be dressed to the nines to attract attention and confirm that we're what they need.

POST- VENTA. In this section, we can differentiate ourselves from the competition. Many brands neglect this stage, worrying more about the initial stage and the purchase than about knowing what happened to the product we sold in the long term, whether it met expectations and was what was expected.

Closing this loop helps us build customer loyalty and encourage return visits.

EXCEED CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS,
NOT JUST SELL

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