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Advertising Express Magazine:
Visual Merchandising
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The ultimate aim of any marketer is to enhance sales volume and thus the profit. Visual merchandising is one promotional strategy that helps the marketer to successfully increase the sales volume of his product. It is all about organizing the retail store such that the visual impact thus created is capable of attracting customers and making their shopping experience a real pleasure. It prompts the buyers to go for quick comparative analysis of the products and make immediate decisions regarding their purchases. This article discusses some aspects of visual merchandising which play a vital role in attracting customers to the store.

 
 
 

In today's highly competitive era of marketing, it is becoming increasingly difficult for marketers to market their goods. The marketers are forced to resort to various promotional strategies in order to lure customers to increase their overall sales volume. Visual merchandising is one such promotional strategy that aims at maximum utilization of store space for the purpose of effective display of the merchandise to create an ambience conducive to enhancing the total sales of the store. This strategy advocates convenient marketing. The customers are not supposed to bother about remembering the list of purchase. Rather they can move around the racks kept in the store and pick the products they wish to purchase. Customers also have the ease of doing comparative analysis of various products. They further have the freedom of making purchase decisions with least influence of the salesperson. Stores like Spencer's, more. for you, Reliance Fresh, etc. adopted the promotional technique of visual merchandising and now even the cornerstores are espousing it in order to compete with emerging branded retail stores.

Visual Merchandising - The Concept Visual merchandising, in simple terms, is the art of displaying merchandise in a store. It is the sales promoting activity by the way of effective presentation in a retail store. The environment of the retail store is made conducive to enhance sales. It is aimed at creating an ambience that will prompt the customers to purchase the product. Visual merchandising is aimed at making the shopping experience a happier and a comfortable one. Visual merchandising makes the store look attractive and appealing to customers. It also helps in routing the store traffic. The sole objective of visual merchandising is to make the shopping experience a pleasure by inculcating the feeling of self-accomplishment in the buyers. The buyer himself chooses the product and this self-decision making formulates the base for the feeling of content in his mind. Visual merchandising also eases the marketing pressure of the seller by making the communication with customers more effective. Moreover, it relieves the pressures on inventories, as most of the items are stacked on the racks or in showcases being displayed. Purpose of Visual Merchandising is pursued by retail stores with certain objectives. The first and foremost purpose of visual merchandising is sales promotion and like all other sales promotional strategies, it is aimed at increasing the overall sales of the store. Since visual merchandising is the display of all products available in the store, it becomes convenient for the buyer to pick up goods of his choice. Convenient buying also makes the shopping experience enjoyable to the customers. As customers are not required to remember the list of purchase they are more relieved while shopping. Visual merchandising also fulfils the purpose of effective display.

 
 
 

Visual Merchandising, Traditional merchandising, Inventory management techniques, Era of marketing, Promotional strategies, Decision-making process, Retail design, Retail stores, Sales promoting activities, Customer satisfaction.