Retail Spring Cleaning
By The Mann Group
Follow these four visual merchandising tips to set your shop up for a strong season of sales.
The birds are chirping, the buds are blooming—and your store is a disaster. As spring showers begin to turn trees and trails green, our outdoorsy community will flock outside, but not before they flock to your store. A store that, after a long winter of slow sales and a lighter payroll, is probably looking a little shabby.
It’s time to shake off the season’s dust and polish up your store; it’s time for spring cleaning, just like ma used to do. The tenets of specialty retail’s spring cleaning are a little different, but the intention is the same: breathe fresh air into your stale space and set a physical intention for the successful season ahead.
Welcome spring’s eager shoppers with a store that’s ready for them—here’s how:
- Actually Spring Clean.
The first step for excellent visual merchandising is a clean slate, literally. If you’re an outdoor retailer based in summer sports, you probably decreased your payroll this winter to account for the slow season, which means the more minute tasks of your business, like cleaning, probably fell by the wayside. Now that the new seasonal hires are rolling in, it’s time to put them to work, and their first task should be making your store spick-and-span. Dismantle fixtures and polish them to a shine, get in the nooks and crannies of corners and floors with a duster or broom, and wash every mirror till it sparkles. Hire professionals for the big jobs like floor polishing and window washing. It may seem like an unnecessary expense of time, money, and energy, especially in an industry that likes to get dirty, but it’s worth it. Whether consciously or subconsciously, both your employees and customers will better enjoy the experience of working and shopping in a space that’s polished; it shows that their time in your space is valued and that you’ve intentionally made it better for them.
- New Season, New Visual Merchandising.
Replicating the same visual merchandising structure season after season isn’t consistent or dependable, it’s boring, it’s stale, and it’s lazy. Customers—particularly your regulars—don’t come into your store in the hopes of having the exact same experience every time; they return again and again because they want a new experience. They don’t just want new products (if that was they case, they’d buy online). These customers want to experience your store, so make it interesting, engaging, and new. The onset of spring marks the perfect time to shake up your visual merchandising since you’ll already be switching out product. Start small, like swapping your camp gear and hiking wear placement, and continue to rotate product throughout the season. If you’re feeling ambitious, consider larger shifts like moving your shoe wall—you’ll be surprised by how excited customers are by the change!
- Switch Out Signage.
As you update your visual merchandising and displays, it’s integral that you update your signage along with it. Your store’s signage is your customer’s roadmap and initial marketing. As you constantly move product around, you’ll need clear signage to direct customers toward their shopping needs, so hang them high and make sure they’re clearly visible. The other side of signage serves as informative marketing for your customers. Make sure product features and benefits, as well as sale prices, are clearly marked on signs affixed to product fixtures. If there’s not an employee nearby or if your customers prefer to shop independently, this signage will make the sale your staff can’t. All signage should be professional, on-brand, and informative. If your signage is stained or dusty (or even if it’s just from a few seasons back), this spring is the season to switch it up.
- Make it Instagram Worthy.
Effective visual merchandising has a host of in-store benefits: It encourages customers to stay longer, to experience the product, and ultimately to buy more. It also has benefits outside the store. The most effective form of marketing is word-of-mouth, and social media is the new conversation. If your displays, both inside your store and in your windows, are truly engaging, your customers will be more likely to snap pics and share them with the world. Consider creating an incentive for sharing store or product photos on social media, or create your own #hashtag. With a clean storefront, rotating displays, and clear signage, the time to promote your store online (and for free) has never been better.
About The Mann Group: We are The Mann Group, a charmingly incongruous and blatantly genuine group of big thinkers and list makers. Get us together, and our ideas bloom into vibrant, sky-high projects; take us apart, and we work methodically and assiduously to accomplish the goals we created together. We create and implement practical courses and curriculum to help businesses and individuals grow.