Five Minute Friday: Merchandising That Moves Product Faster

Great visual merchandising tells a story, you guys. I love a good story. And if you guys have ever been in any of my classes or attended any of this online sessions that I do, you guys know I'm a storyteller. I love to talk in analogies. And, I don't know, things just make more sense to me that way. If I can put myself in someone else's shoes and understand it better, well, that's how I feel about merchandising. I feel like good merchandising transports me. It tells that story. It helps me provide personally see how that product or those products is going to fit into my life. So to create displays that show how products work together, like outfits or combos or seasonal decor ideas, that's actually merchandising. That is a way to sell more products faster to a confident consumer. Right, you guys, My name is Sarah Burks. I'm the director of partnerships and education here at the Boutique Hub. And there's just a few things that I get super, super excited about when it talks about when I talk about retail. I had a retail store for many years, and I'll be very honest, some of the things that I had to do as a business owner just didn't inspire me. They did not excite me. As a matter of fact, sometimes they just were very discouraging. But then there was other things, right? Like managing team. I loved managing team. Managing inventory. Once I figured out how to turn inventory faster and make more cash, I got really excited about it. And we all know people like to go buy inventory. That was never a problem for me. But when I learned the science behind why people buy you guys, that is where, like, I really took off. And those are some things that I love teaching about here at the Boutique Hub. So today I wanted to talk a little bit more about the whole art of merchandising and how you can get more out of your inventory and out of your sales staff to create more lifetime value customers. Increase your average order value, make more money, be more profitable, rinse and repeat this over and over again. So it's really important to help create that picture for your customer so they can see themselves using that product. That makes them shop more often, right? They're engaged, they're inspired. That's merchandising. So that's what I want to talk to you guys about today. A few tips to improve your current merchandise strategy. So here we go. Number one, we gotta tell that story, right? Number two, we want to help them see themselves in said product using Those products, How do we do that? Well, we're going to encourage them and inspire them through consistency. Stick to a consistent color scheme, something that matches your brand, your tone, your vibe. Right. We want to make sure that the story we're telling, especially this goes a lot for online.

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That it's consistent with your brand, that people can see this coming a mile away. Now, when it comes to in store, that's a little bit different because in store you have an overall ambiance of your store, but you may not necessarily have to stick to font colors or branding colors in your store. Now in your signage, absolutely. You don't want to create confusion. Another thing that you want to make sure you're doing is mixing heights, textures and shape to keep the eye moving. Use proper lighting to tie everything together without harsh contrast. Now, I can tell you, in my store, brick and mortar store, I had a couple different stores. Numerous times when I identified that something was not selling, odds are it had something to do with the lighting. The ability for the consumer to see the actual products and get the full effect of what they really are. So natural lighting or harsh lighting can work or against you. What this really does is help that consumer see things, feel things, make them coming back. They see it's a natural flow, that light can move them from space to space. And it, it does create more of that. Explor the discovery. In your store or on your website, you're doing this through collections and layouts and photography, photo shoots, things like that. That keeps them wondering what's on the next page or what's around the next corner. What's on the other side of that shelving unit? That's discovery.

Hey guys. One of the most important things you can do to support yourself on your retail journey is to make sure you're a member of the boutique hub. Inside of the boutique hub, we really focus on four huge things for your business. Number one, community. So no matter how big, small, how new, how experienced, or whatever niche you sell in, we want to connect you to retailers at your level who sell like products. So we're going to get you connected in one of our 14 niche Facebook groups so you can build community, ask instant questions, get answer, support and build friends literally around the world in the business. The second is education. So our on demand training modules, our training library, our Ask Ashley, AI bot, all of the weekly training we do live inside of our Facebook groups for members, our seasonal trend reports and so much more. Up to the minute helpful training built by experts just for you. The next is Wholesale. It's so important to not only get the right products from trusted vendors, but also to save a little money along the way. So as a member of the Hub, we're passing along exclusive discounts from our partners just for you when it comes to wholesale. And you can connect with those partners in our Facebook groups at market, from our showrooms on hubventory.com or anywhere else you're experiencing the Boutique Hub. Typically our wholesale brand partners are right there with us. And then finally, we're all about the data and the exclusives and all the limited information that you're going to get inside of the Hub only. So from access to personalized meetups at markets, our trend reports, our member app, our resources, our 75 plus vetted service providers and the discounts that they're going to give you as a member of the Hub, our engagement graphic library and all of up to the minute marketing tips, tools and resources loaded right on your training library or on your membership app. So I hope you'll take a second to join us. Join us as an annual member to save the most. It's literally less than a dollar a day. Plus as an annual member of the Hub, you're going to get access to our bestselling masterclasses and handbooks just for you added to your training library. So join us today, less than a dollar a day to be an annual member of the Hub. Or if you'd rather pay monthly, cancel anytime. There's an option for you to do that too. So go to theboutiquehub.com join boutique.

All right, so that leads me into the divide your space into purpose driven zones. This is such as like you have your fitting room area, you have your cozy resting area, you have your checkout area, you have your, your your collection area. Maybe it is your shoe area, your accessory area, maybe it is your impulse buy area, maybe it is your staple core foundation layer I item area, whatever that might be. But nonetheless, everything has a place and it has a purpose. So people know and can trust that. Just like on your website. Again, you're going to have colle people know how to shop in collection areas. You are a consumer of groceries, right? Grocery stores do the exact same thing. Now think about that checkout counter area. This is designed to enhance your experience. This is the last touch effort you have with your consumer. So it's very important that this, whether it's online checkout or in store, is a relaxed, exciting environment where people are still feel engaged with you. They feel like maybe there's still an impulse buy. They want to reach out and jump on and purchase.

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That frequently bought together area. But it's also a place where they can stretch out, they can put out their wallet, they can. They can engage with you, they can. They can be curious about products that are in front of them, but also hold a good conversation with you. That is a huge piece of merchandising, is the way certain areas make customers feel. All right, next, use mirrors. Use them smartly too. Place them in areas to create illusions of like a larger space. This also allows customers to, of course, see products from a different angle or see themselves using these products. Right. They actually can hold the product up to them or they can visualize it a little bit more. But using mirrors is a really awesome way to create a more visual, appealing space. Create a small space to look larger. Right. Okay, so next thing is that fitting area, that fitting room area. I mentioned this. This has to be very purpose driven, very comfortable area for people to undress. You know, get inside there and feel vulnerable, but yet they're feeling excited about the opportunity. Whether that's mirrors in the dressing room that give them the best version of themselves, pay attention to the angles, but also give them that opportunity to come out of that dressing room space and explore around in comfort. Sit down, put some shoes on, accessorize, build the whole look. Now, if you're home decor and gift, there's not going to necessarily be a dressing room area. However, there could be a staging area. This is really fun. You can do this with shelvings and stackables and different heights of displays, tall display stands, all the things incorporate creative touches into your merchandising. One thing I really like to do is even vintage props or repurposed furniture. This adds character. It keeps your displays fresh. Also, things that are typically sitting on a table, elevate them, hang them from a rope, suspend them from the ceiling, whatever that might be, but create that, like, curiosity, like, why is that hanging from the ceiling? Oh, I understand that's a pillow. You are used to seeing pillows on a couch. You're not used to seeing pillows suspended from a ceiling on a rope. That creates me to want to stand there, look at them a little bit longer and take notice. The more I stop and pause as a consumer to take notice of something, the more apt I am to think, ah, I can see that working in my house. Right. So be consistent with details like hanger color. This is a big one for me. And replenish stock properly to maintain that polished look. Look. So don't allow your shelving to get empty, don't allow your racks to get empty. If you need to consolidate things to make things look fuller, do so. But don't have too much white space or blank space. And that whole thing with consistent color hangers, you guys, that's a make or break for me. Please do not be using those white plastic hangers that the vendors ship things to you on that makes your products look less valuable. You're not the dime store, right? You want to instill value in your products and consistency and hanger color is an easy way to do so. I promise you, if you want your store, your products to bring the highest value, present them in a high value way. Consistency on rack, like the density of how a rack is stacked, right? Too few products makes it look like this is the last available. Too much products look like nobody cares, nobody wants these things. Both of those things decrease the value of your products. So. And hanger color, I add that right into the list. All right? Next, to keep your store looking its best, plan with a mood board. This is easy to help set up displays, ensuring the theme color comes together cohesively. All the things I promise you, the better you get at merchandising, you won't need the brand boards anymore. That'll all just come straight from here. But when you're getting started, don't, don't hesitate to jump in canva and create a brand board, a mood board. How do you want the consumer to feel? What are some of the props that can tie it all together? What's the overall overall story that you're telling with this display? This is where cohesiveness really comes in. And also it makes that customer feel comfortable. A comfortable customer does what they're more apt to spend more money when they're confused. They don't buy, they want to leave. When they're comfortable, they want to spend more time, they want to discover more, they want to spend more dollars. Another thing, going back to the lighting. Use spotlights under shelf lighting to highlight key products. Look at the big, the guys, I have been to stores that literally have a whole hallway looking store with one bottle of perfume that costs thousands of dollars on one pillar in the middle of the store with lights on it, right? Almost like it's a museum that creates this very high value. It's the lighting, it's the uniqueness of it. Well, you're not going to do that in your store, I suspect. But nonetheless, some lights can really help attract the customer's eye and bring extra value to your product and it also helps reduce for like harsh shadows, makes items pop and it's great for smaller spaces as well. Another thing about those small spaces is leverage your height, stack items, hanging them on different levels, maximizing that visual interest. This whole thing encourages interaction. By looking from top to bottom, left to right, your eye is constantly moving. The other thing about creating space and textual items inside your displays is giving your customer the ab to want to touch something, touch and feel it. These touch and feel stations or kind of try on areas or home decor and gift areas, these staging areas. This boosts engagement for sure, which ultimately boosts your sales. Something else when we're talking about these transition or these areas in your business is think about your transition zone. Again, a customer that is comfortable is going to spend more time. If I feel bombarded and overwhelmed and claustrophobic in my first transition zone into your store, where I just enter your store, I'm just getting comfortable and all of a sudden I still feel like I can't even breathe. First thing I'm probably going to want to do is leave. So take a little audit of your space. How does each station, each space of your store or your website make the customer feel? Is there any panic area moments? Is there any places inside your store that makes a person feel unwelcomed? Again, this is in store, brick and mortar, or online. Or for those of you that do pop ups, look and think about these areas, these nooks and crannies of your space the same way. Bottom line, regularly refresh your displays. This goes for seasonal items, collections, all the things. Make them current, keep them relevant, keep them fresh, and don't hesitate to test things. Be experimental. Experiment with different materials, layouts, themes. You're going to learn a lot about your consumer behavior by just watching them. And ask your staff to keep an eye on them as well. Again, for all of you with online stores, this is your consumer behavior patterns online, your hotspots on your website, where, where are they spending their most time? Where are they bouncing very quickly? Those are trouble spots, just like maybe dead zones in your store. So create a store that is vibrant, that's inviting, that basically reaches out to the customer and says, hey, welcome, come on in, I've been expecting you. That's what good merchandising does. It is an attraction, not a repelling feeling for consumers. Ask your customers, how's my store make you feel? How's this layout make you feel? If they're not going to verbally tell you, they're going to tell you with their dollars they're going to tell you with how much they're going to open up their wallets and spend with you, or how quickly they're going to bounce off your site or out of your store. Good merchandising keeps customers coming back. There's always that wonder of like, what's new in our store? What am I going to see next time? And they're going to tell your friends or their friends all about how they discovered this new product, this new new tool or this new trinket or whatever it might be. Something that helps make them feel better about themselves, right? Feeling accomplished, feeling fulfilled. Maybe the best version of themselves. That's your job as a small business owner, you guys. Like I said, I could talk about merchandising for days. I absolutely love it. It fills my soul. This is what we do here at the Boutique Hub. We want to provide value and insight and education for you on things that really matter in your business and can really move the needle. Some things that feel so simple but yet when done right, can make the biggest difference in the bottom line of your business. So you guys, thank you for your time together today. If you guys like this, let me know. Let me know what else you'd like us to teach on. We cover all sorts of things inside the Boutique Hub. Everything from foundation, building blocks of your business, hiring, firing, inventory, investment, sales strategy, SEO, content planning, marketing, traditional digital and beyond. You guys, we're here to help you build your business. We'll see you inside the Boutique Hub membership. Thanks guys.

That's it for five minute Friday. You guys, I hope you found some quick, actionable steps you can put into play in your business right away. As always, if you're not yet a member of the Boutique Hub, I would love to personally invite you to join us. It's where all of the daily conversations happen. The up to date what is working now in the industry conversations, the latest trainings, trend reports, discounts, resources, and of course access to thousands of wholesale brands that you also know and love. So please take a minute, follow the link in the show notes and we would love to invite you to join us inside of the Boutique Hub.