Five Minute Friday: The Secret to Merchandising Like a Pro

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Business can be a lonely game, but it doesn't have to be. Welcome to Boutique Chat where we explore community over competition and how to scale your company with the balance and the happiness that we all seek. We'll hear from product based businesses of all types, retailers, E commerce and wholesale brands, along with industry experts shaping the future of our industry. I'm your host Ashley Alderson from the Boutique Hub and I can't wait to chat.

Today we are talking about visual merchandising strategies. How to create stunning displays in your store that are guaranteed to drive sales. So a common mistake that we see in the boutique industry is you have all this amazing product and you do not know how to effectively merchandise it and market it to your customer. So we are going to give you three strategies today that you can implement into your store and use as guidelines when you are visual merchandising to make sure that you are not missing this opportunity to highlight, showcase your product, drive those sales and market it effectively to your customer. Our first strategy we want to dive into is color blocking. Now color blocking is what will create that beautiful aesthetic in your store that is drawing your customers in to shop your displays. We do not want to have mixed colors all throughout your store because this creates a very overwhelming and unorganized feeling that your customer is not drawn to shop. When you do create color stories and color blocking, you are creating this aesthetic calm, organized feeling to your customer and that is what draws them in to shop your sections. So how you can implement this into your store is when you are merchandising a section, choose one to two feature colors that you want to feature within that and then add in neutral buffer colors in between. So here's a great example. We it was summer and we had lots of vibrant colors so we chose the red and the pink to feature as they are complementary and then we added our neutral buffer colors in between. This breaks your color story up so that your feature colors are very visible and featured. When they are all placed back to back, you get it gets lost and it gets meshed together. When you add the buffer colors in between your feature colors, you not only create a beautiful flow but you also allow the the feature colors to really pop and be visible to your customer. So oftentimes when you're buying from brands they already have a color story within their collection. So use that as a gu. And if you don't, you can also pick a pattern piece like say you have a patterned green and blue dress. Use that to pull the green and blue from to Create your color story. Pop that dress on a mannequin on your upper display, and you have just created the most beautiful aesthetic and display that your customer is going to want to shop. The next strategy we want to dive into is outfitting. This is super important when you are visual merchandising because this is your silent sales associate that is going to help assist your customer while they are shopping. So, so when you are merchandising your sections in your stores, you want to keep a specific category in mind so that all of the product being placed within that section makes sense. Creating an outfit together. So this means if you are doing a dressier section, actually we can put up an example over here. So we chose new holiday arrivals in the section and within that section you can, it's your one stop shop. Your customer knows that whatever items they pick within there, they're going to be able to build a very cute, chic holiday outfit. You have tops, you have bottoms, you have layering pieces, you have dresses, you have coats, dress coats that would go with it. You have everything within that section that will build a beautiful outfit for your customer. This takes the guesswork out for them. And even if you cannot assist them while they are shopping, you might be busy. They will still feel guided and know that whatever they pull in that section will pair together nicely. So this also means for an example, if you were to put a very dressy blouse, maybe a dressy silk blouse in an area, and then you have a pair of sweatpants right after, and then you have a leather jacket. This is super confusing to your customer. So again, keep a category in mind, split that up, do a dressier section and then do an athleisure section. And that really makes sense to your customer. So always keep outfitting in mind. You want to have tops, bottoms, layering pieces, but ensuring that they are within the same category. The last strategy that we want to talk about is styling. Now styling is super important because your customers are oftentimes looking to you for inspiration on how they can style the items that you're carried or style items that they may have at home with the pieces that you're offering in your store. So you always want to make sure that you are styling your face outs that you are styling your mannequins. Here's an example of a face out. So we have it layered and you have an accessory on it. So this is showing your customer how they compare these pieces together and also add an accessory. Not only is that inspiring them on how they can put it on themselves, but it is also driving multiple item sales. Say they just love that look of the face out and it takes the guesswork out for them. They're going to buy all of those pieces to take home and then you are upping your price per transaction. So not only is it a great opportunity to inspire your customers, but it is also a great selling strategy as well. When you have a styled outfit on your mannequin, that is another opportunity to showcase like five plus items to your customer and also showcase them how to style these items on themselves so you can highlight your new arrivals on your mannequins. And then also a great opportunity is to actually highlight possibly some of your slower moving products. So sometimes customers honestly need to see a piece on and how they can and how to style it themselves and then they are more likely to be buying that piece or trying it on. So utilize your mannequins to style and highlight new arrivals. Always make sure you have a top, a layering piece, a bottom, some accessor on it because again that will drive a multiple item sale. And also just showcase your customer how they can style it, maybe with pieces at home or the pieces that you have in. So we are going to do a quick recap of everything we've learned today. So when you are merchandising in your store, remember to include these three strategies because they are going to set you up for success. They're going to create a beautifully aesthetic store and they're going to drive those sales. So you want to merchandise with color blocking and color stories in mind. Choose one to two feature colors and add in your buffer colors in between to create that beautiful flow and story. The second thing you want to always do is outfit within your section. So make sure you have a category while you are merchandising that section and make sure that all of the pieces that you are merchandising into there are cohesive with that category and would build an effective outfit for your customer to shop. The last thing you want to do is make sure you are styling your face outs and your mannequins throughout your store and updating them as often as you can to showcase new arrivals and slow movers. This will help market the product to your customer and also drive those multiple item sales which we all want. So yeah, we hope that you found this video very helpful and we cannot wait to see the beautiful merchandising that you do within your store. I am Joelle and I am part of JR Visual Design and we are your hub vetted resource for all things visual. Merchandising and retail design. Have a great day.

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 or 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.