The Art of Retail Displays

Besides your employees themselves, store displays are the main selling tool in your retail clothing business. The contents of 15 ft circle at the front of you store is what most shoppers will base the decision to continue shopping or move on to the next store. Elegant, fun, beautiful, and creative store displays are the best ways to engage customers with your stores products.


It is a fact that cleverly displayed products whether shoppers need them or not sell much quicker than something they need simply placed on a table or hung on a clothes hanger. This is where the art of the store display comes in.


Keep it clean. Start out by cleaning up and breaking down a previous display. Clean everything. All parts of your new display should be clean and dust free. Clothing items should be free from wrinkles as well. Gather a few central items you want to show case and any background items and tools necessary to complete setup.


You can then begin building your displays around these items. Backgrounds should stick to one or two colors. Cluster just a few items or accessories together. You want to avoid trying to display too many things. This will weaken the display overall by diluting focus. A good example would be to pair up a single shirt with a few different pants, skirts or accessories. This shows a customer a few different looks and gets them thinking about how that shirt might look on them.


Employees may be great at selling, but they also need to understand the laws of store display. Make sure they know how to use the different display items, such as wall rack display boards, adjustable show cases, and display hangers to fully express their creativity. Supply rough drawings or blueprints for new employees or if you have a specific concept you want to portray. Setting up store displays is also another great way to get some productivity from workers when no customers are in the store.


Update store displays often. They should be changed out every couple of weeks to keep your store feeling fresh for your customers. Give different employees a chance to try their hand at store display setup and find out which ones have the knack for it. Adjust the display throughout the days if someone comes up with a great new idea.


Quality store displays are directly linked to product sales. Store display is something best learned hands on. As you sales force matures your displays will get better and better and you will notice your sales numbers increasing.

About the Author: Ron Maier is the President of the Closet Hanger Factory, a leading online provider of clothes hangers. For more information, please visit http://www.closethangerfactory.com.

Do You Have What It Takes To Succeed In Retail?

Starting any kind of entrepreneurial endeavor is a risky business and it is not guaranteed to succeed. It is absolutely critical that you make the right decision on what kind of business you want to be in. If you follow your passion you may not love every minute of it, but at least you will be working with something you enjoy will be more likely to succeed. Starting a retail clothing store poses some unique challenges. Here are some questions you should be able to answer.


Do you love people? In retail it is all about building relationships and networking. You need to understand how to communicate with people in a positive way to build these bridges. If customers feel you care about them they are more likely to return to your store when they need something or even just to visit. It is just as important when working with suppliers. You will relate differently with customers than the guy who supplies your clothes hangers. You also need to be able to attract, train, motivate, and lead a top notch sales force.


Do you have what it takes to deal with the long work hours? Most retail businesses are open 12 or more hours each day. With other duties such as inventory and accounting retail business can keep you on your feet morning to night. Especially in the beginning or during a crunch time you may find you are working 14 or even 16 hours each day just to stay on top of it. You also need to be willing to do whatever is necessary at the moment even if it is something simple like putting clothes back on the hangers. This takes enormous amounts of energy and the ability to push through fatigue when it is required.


Can you stay organized? You will be responsible for day to day operations, pay roll, hiring and firing, training, accounting, inventory, and a plethora of other aspects. This mostly comes down to time management. With so many pressures on your time you need to be spending your time on those things that matter the most. Just being busy is not enough. If you find you are spending all your time putting clothes back on hangers than you are likely to fall behind on those duties that will really affect your success. A general rule is the bigger your business gets the less involved you become in the details. If you are disorganized you store is likely to mirror that fact. No one is going to shop at a messy store with wrinkled garments and clothes hangers scatted every where.


If at all possible find a mentor. This should be someone who has a proven track record in related industry that you can trust. Drawing on this person’s experience you can learn things about retail not found in textbooks or school classrooms.
About the Author: Ron Maier is the President of the Closet Hanger Factory, a leading online provider of clothes hangers. For more information, please visit http://www.closethangerfactory.com.