FIVE POWERFUL DISPLAY TOOLS

It’s difficult to stop busy people in their tracks. You’re lucky if they even notice your store in their daily travels. As a destination store, people come when they need new surface materials. To help people remember your store when they are in the market for your products you need to have an eye-catching window or exterior display. The five most important design tools to get people to stop and really see your store are: Color, Angles, Movement, Simplicity/ Repetition and of course, Imagination. Use a combination of any two of these and you will have a successful window, exterior or interior display.

Color is the first element that attracts attention in a store window. Yellow is the first color the retina of the eye perceives and it says “stop and think.” That’s why the caution light on traffic signals is yellow. Look at your store window (if you have one) and see if the see-through into your store is bright and light or dark. If it’s dark, whatever you put into the window has to be bright and light in order to show up. Don’t worry about what’s “in” or chic right now – your intention is to attract attention. Use the hot, new merchandise in your focal areas inside your store. Your window needs bright colors that can be seen by cars speeding by.

Angles lead a customer’s eye to wherever you want them to look.  An angle in your window or outside your store can be made from a slab or several slabs of marble, an angled row of bright colored rolls of carpet remnants or for a fresh idea - a metal or wood tree with hanging carpet samples.

Make sure that whenever you use an angle in a presentation, the angle leads the eye to something you want to sell!  In your window or outside, the angle should lead the eye to your front door.

Humans respond visually to movement just like cats and dogs.  When movement is used in a window, we look at that window: we can’t not look!  It’s an inbred response.  Movement comes in many forms.  A fan blowing a lightweight fabric is easy and inexpensive. A small motor suspended from the ceiling can make snowflakes twirl around.

Movement can be created by blinking lights but be aware that depending on the lights and the blinks, this idea can be either great or really tacky! 

Simplicity is the key to sophisticated window and interior display.  If your store caters to an upscale market, keep your displays simple and elegant.  The more merchandise that is packed into a window or on a shelf, the less it seems to cost.  Space equals cost.  Think the old, traditional Woolworth’s windows compared to a Saks Fifth Avenue. 

Repetition is another way to attract attention.  By visually repeating an image or product, you state, “we believe in this.”  The courage of a repetitive idea has a strong influence on the customer.  If this store believes in this sealer enough to show 5 in the window or on a shelf, this must be an important, hot item!  Have fun with repetition.  Allow one of the repeated props or items to be slightly askew or offset with an unusual prop or accessory.  Remember, when putting a number of items in a window, odd numbers are always more dynamic and interesting than evens. Imagination is what sets apart the good from the great.  Look around at displays you think are interesting and imaginative at stores not related to surface materials.  See what other people have come up with to express their ideas. Check out Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters for inspiration.

If you don’t have a window and doing a display in front of your store or building won’t work, think about a changeable sign. I’ve seen some funny, memorable and clever signs outside of all sorts of retailers over the years. They change their message every week or two and I guarantee drivers will be looking for the new message each and every time they drive by. This is an excellent way to garner positive attention for your store. If you choose to do something fun in your windows please make sure to change them monthly – even if it’s just a color change of merchandise. If it doesn’t change, it becomes wallpaper to the passersby. Retail thrives on change and so does the buying public.

Sessions Linda is leading at SURFACES 2012
WE01A: Top 10 Things to Freshen Your Look Affordably
Wednesday, January 25, 2012, 8:00am – 9:30am

WE24A: Going Green Gradually and Gorgeously
Wednesday, January 25, 2012, 4:00pm – 5:30pm

Linda Cahan, Retail Visual Design Consultant, Cahan & Company, West Linn, OR

Linda Cahan is an internationally known retail design expert specializing in visual merchandising and store design. Her 40 years in retail design includes extensive experience with large and small retailers and with all types of merchandise.

Linda consults, designs, gives seminars, trains retailers is a columnist for several retail magazines, writes custom visual standards manuals and is the author of "Feng Shui for Retailers" and "100 Displays Under $100." Linda also taught at Parsons School of Design in NYC for 12 years and currently teaches 2 classes at The Art Institute of Portland. Linda now lives in West Linn, OR.