Question

Visual Merchandising at Vintage Treasures

The environment in a store, the design of the store, and the presentation and location of merchandise in the store have a significant impact on shopping behavior. Store managers are responsible for implementing the design and visual merchandising developed by specialists at the retailer's corporate headquarters. Store design and visual merchandising are also elements of a retailer's communication mix and play an important role in creating and reinforcing a retailer's brand image. Brandi is the store manager of a trendy vintage store that sells clothes, gifts, and home goods. She is trying to update some of the visual merchandising and atmospherics in her store to attract more customers.

Visual merchandising is the presentation of a store and its merchandise in ways that will attract the attention of potential customers. Visual merchandising involves determining the appropriate fixtures to showcase merchandise as well as deciding what kind of presentation technique to use. However, to provide a rewarding shopping experience, retailers must go beyond just presenting appealing merchandise. Retailers also use atmospherics, like lighting, music, and scent, to create a retail environment that stimulates the five senses.

Read the case below and answer the questions that follow.

Brandi Williams just took over as store manager for Vintage Treasures. Vintage Treasures is a trendy vintage store that sells clothes, gifts, and home goods. Previously, the owner of the store, Jacqueline, had been responsible for all store management and maintenance issues, including visual merchandising. However, the store owner had started to travel more and spend more time with her family. Jacqueline hired Brandi to not only manage the store, but recreate the inside of the store to attract more customers and help drive sales. Jacqueline knows that Brandi is creative and can help make the necessary updates to the store.

Jacqueline gave Brandi a $10,000 budget to update the store and left the country for two weeks. Brandi surveyed the store and got to work.

The first thing that she changed was the fixtures. Most of the apparel merchandise in the store was on straight racks. Customers literally had to pull every piece of apparel off the hanger if they wanted to see what something looked like. Brandi ordered sleek new rounders and four-way fixtures to showcase the apparel. With these fixtures, customers can see the full garments better. She also purchased two gondolas. On one of the gondolas she created a display of some of their funky, vintage t-shirts. On the other gondola, Brandi showcased some of the store's gift items. She placed that gondola near the cash wrap to encourage last minute, or impulse purchases.

She also created a special display in the front of the store that highlighted some of the store's most recent inventory. She dressed up four different mannequins in some of the latest fashions and made it look like they were headed out for a night on the town. She bought special lighting to shine directly on this display, so even if you were outside the store, you could still see the display of new merchandise. She remembered from her retailing classes that this technique was called popping the merchandise.

Previously, the home goods in the store had been thrown in sporadically throughout the store. Brandi decided to put all the home goods together and create the effect of a living room. She was able to highlight the different accessories and furniture pieces that the store sells and give customers an idea of how an item would look in their home.

Brandi also decided that the store needed to update its atmospherics. Next door to the store was a BBQ restaurant and some of the clothing was starting to smell like charcoal. Brandi installed an updated ventilation system to circulate more fresh air through the store. She also started to light candles that were like some of the ones the store sells. In addition to changing the scent of the store, this also gives customers a chance to see what some of the candles smell like.

Finally, Brandi painted the store. She painted the back wall a deep gold color and the two side walls a bright red. She had read that these colors were seen as emotional and vibrant! To further enhance this vibrant atmosphere, Brandi replaced Jacqueline's sound system with satellite radio and set the music to the alternative and punk rock stations.

When Jacqueline returned from her trip, Vintage Treasures was hopping with customers and she knew that Brandi had done a great job in updating the visual presentation in the store!

1. One of the first things Brandi did was replace the _____________ because the current ones did not let customers fully view an item.

A. lighting options

B. channels

C. fixtures

D. door frames

E. atmospherics

2. Brandi used the ____________________ technique by focusing spotlights on the fun display of new arrivals.

A. fixture fronting

B. lighting deceit

C. mood generation

D. atmospherics

E. popping the merchandise

3. Brandi changed the music, scent, and color in the store in order to update the overall _________________ of the store and make it more appealing to customers.

A. creation

B. atmosphere

C. obligation

D. pretention

E. intention

4. Brandi used two _________________ fixtures. One was used to showcase vintage t-shirts and the other one was used to present gift items.

A. four-way

B. cabinet

C. straight rack

D. rounder

E. gondola

Answer 1

1 E) Fixtures

Brandi ordered sleek new rounders and four-way fixtures to showcase the apparel so as to give a better view of apparel to the customers

2 B) Popping the merchandise

She used this technique to display the new arrivals even to the outsiders passing by the shop

3 A) Atmosphere

Brandi painted walls with emotional and vibrant deep gold color and bright red, light some candles sold by the store to change the scent of the surrounding and updated ventilation to have more fresh air inside the store. All these changes have contributed to beter and appealing atmosphere inside the store

4 E) Gondola

Gondolas were used to display funky, vintage t-shirts and gift items. Displaying the gift items by gandola near the cash wrap is done to encourage impulse purchases.