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1 1 Chapter One Why Do We Display?
1.1 AFTER YOU HAVE READ THIS CHAPTER, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO DISCUSS
♦ the definition of visual merchandising
♦ the concept of store image and its relationship to visual merchandising and display
♦ the purposes of visual merchandising 1
We show in order to sell. Display or visual merchandising is showing merchandise and concepts at their very best, with the 2 end purpose of making a sale. We may not actually sell the object displayed or the idea promoted, but we do attempt to convince the viewer of the value of the object, the store promoting the object, or the organization behind the concept. Although a cash register may not ring because of a particular display, that display should make an impression on the viewer that will affect future sales.
The display person used to be the purveyor of dreams and fantasies, presenting merchandise in settings that stirred the imagination and promoted fantastic flights to unattainable heights. Today's display person, however, sells a “reality.” Today's shopper can be whatever he or she wants to be by simply wearing garments with certain labels that have a built-in status. The display person dresses a mannequin (possessing a perfect figure) in skin-tight jeans, flashes the lights, adds the adoring males or females, and reinforces the image of sexuality and devastating attractiveness that is part of the prominent name on the label. Wearing Brand X jeans, whether size 8 or 18, makes the wearer feel special. She imagines herself to be that slim, sensuous femme fatale she has seen on television, surrounded by throngs of admirers. She feels special when she is wearing her television-advertised slim-fitting jeans.
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Today's mannequin often resembles the shopper on the other side of the glass; it may have a flawless figure, but far from perfect features. This prompts the customer to think, “If that mannequin can look so great, why not me?” That's reality; that's selling! The visual merchandiser, therefore, presents more than the merchandise. He or she presents the image of who or what the shopper can be when using the merchandise displayed.
It has been said by presidents and vice presidents of large retail operations, and it has been uttered by experienced shoppers and consumers: There is very little difference between the merchandise sold in one store and that sold in another. Many department and specialty stores carry the same name brands—the same nationally advertised lines seen on television and in Vogue magazine. Often, the real difference is in the price of the merchandise being offered for sale.
Figure 1.1 Bergdorf Goodman's windows are always shopper stoppers. Filled with numerous things that all beg to be seen and understood, the windows create mind-teasing eye feasts for the passersby on New York's Fifth Avenue and gain attention for the featured one-of-a-kind designer wear.
Bergdorf Goodman, Fifth Avenue, New York.
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Why, then, does an individual shop in Store A and pay more for the same item selling for less in Store B? Why does a shopper tote the shopping bag from Store C rather than an equally attractive bag from Store D? Why do shoppers cover themselves with garments branded with a store's name on pockets, patches, shoulders, and hips? It has to do with the store's image! If everyone believes that people who shop in Store A are young, smart, sophisticated, amusing, clever, trendy, and fun to be with, then a shopper who buys clothes at that store can also be young, smart, sophisticated, and so on. The display person reinforces that belief with merchandise displays, the types of mannequins shown, and the manner in which the mannequins are dressed, positioned, and lit. In this way, the display person promotes the store's image and fashion trendiness. Often, the visual merchandiser is not selling any one piece of merchandise, but rather the idea that any purchase from that 2 store will guarantee social success and the stamp of the “right” taste level. However, visual merchandising is still selling. We 3 will return often in later chapters to the concept of image and image projection in merchandise presentation. (See Figure 1.1.)
In addition to selling actual merchandise, displays can be used to introduce a new product, a fashion trend, and a new look or idea. The display may be the first three-dimensional representation of something the consumer has thus far seen only in sketches or photos. Displays can be used to educate the consumer concerning what the new item is, how it can be worn or used, and how it can be accessorized. Displays may also supply pertinent information, the price, and other special features.
The visual merchandiser may create a display that stimulates, tantalizes, or arouses the shopper's curiosity to such a degree that he or she is “challenged” to enter the store and wander through it, even though the shopper is not motivated by the displayed product itself. This is still a victory. It gives the display person and the merchant many more opportunities to sell that shopper once he or she is inside the store. To make a shopper a stopper and a “walk-in” rather than a “walk-by” is a commercial achievement. And always, as mentioned earlier, the purpose of visual merchandising is to promote the store image—to let people know what the store is, where it stands on fashion trends, what one can expect inside it, to whom it appeals, its price range, and the caliber of its merchandise and merchandising.
The visual merchandiser always puts the store's best “face” forward. His or her duty is to bring shoppers into the store, while at the same time ensuring that the interior presentation is in keeping with what has been promised on the outside. (See Figure 1.2.)
It is important to remember that visual merchandising and display has always been a hands-on career. Whereas some jobs may be desk- or table-bound, visual display and merchandising has always been out on the floor, in the window, up a ladder, 3 or down in the shop getting ready for the aforementioned activities. It has always been creative and interactive and has 4 involved the person's hands, body, and brain to create something special or memorable. What did the display persons of decades ago do before staple guns, Velcro, and Elmer's glue? Pins, tacks, tape, and small nails worked—maybe not as well, but the display person managed. There have been lots of advances in the tools used today.
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Figure 1.2 Barneys New York makes strong individual statements in its Madison Avenue windows. The displays are unique and suggest the Barneys attitude —something that sets Barneys, and its merchandise, apart from other retailers.
Barneys, Madison Avenue, New York.
Today's display people are totally and completely immersed in the computer age and digitalization of every form. To hear some display persons talk, there was no visual merchandising/display before the computer. They wonder how the “old- timers” ever managed before all the wonderful new programs became available that are now used to draw, conceptualize, and make schematics, floor plans, and three-dimensional visualizations of a space. They managed! Of course, after mastering the computer and the available programs, work becomes much simpler, and the opportunities and results that can be wrought are much more spectacular. Now, it is possible to plan a window, draw that window, and even create the graphics that will fill the back wall of the window with the use of the computer and special programs, attachments, accessories, and such that have become vital tools for visual merchandisers, display persons, and store planners. But, they are still tools! They are the means and not the end. It must still all begin with the human mind—the brain—with the creative talent of the individual who can now, working with these great innovations, bring even more exciting and novel effects into the displays in the windows and on the sales floor.
For one thing (and this is a very important thing), access to the Internet means that designers can now surf the Web for ideas, inspiration, and information. Going retro? Search for “retro,” and actually see what it is all about. The Internet has answers, but the designer must know the right questions to ask and then have the creative spark to take those answers and turn them into the basis for a brand image–making display. The computer and the Internet cannot do that for you. They can provide a starting point and the basic information, but it is always the human element—the display person—that must finish it off.
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Aside from the creative end of the display person's job, computers and the Internet serve as a means of communication among the people in the store, display persons and vendors, and designers and display installers in New York City, New Orleans, Dallas, and places in between. They can serve up directives, help display persons see the new merchandise before it actually arrives, and coordinate store promotions by accessing all the concerned areas in the store. E-mail has replaced phone messaging and faxing. In the display department, or for the freelancer, the computer can keep records, handle budgets, keep one aware of expenditures, inventory, stock, and so on. With computer programs, sign-making and graphics have been revolutionized. Directional signage, point-of-sale information, posters and promotional materials, banners and headers—there are graphics programs that can handle it all. It is now possible, with digitalized printing and the new printers that have evolved, to create graphic panels that can fill a background or to make a printed design on vinyl or paper that can be applied to glass, walls, or even the floors. Custom decoratives and props can also be produced.
Some of the programs that are now available to the display person and store planner include Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Quark Xpress, InDesign (which is rapidly replacing Quark Xpress), 3D Studio Max, and Vectorworks for rendering and model making. However, new programs are being introduced all the time that either replace existing programs or make them obsolete.
In this text much of what is written is still about the old-fashioned way, which is still the essential way: It is about thinking, planning, creating new concepts, or revitalizing existing ones; it is about the human element in visual merchandising and display. The execution of an idea, in many cases, can be effectively materialized with the use of computers, computer programs, and the vast improvements and availability of digital camera software. So, in the text, we may refer to a hand- operated tool or some electrified gizmo as the means for accomplishing a task, but if the display person is comfortable with the new technologies, by all means let that be the method used to obtain the desired end result. We hope readers will realize that none of these modern electronic wonders take the place of the human mind, the thinking process, the internal search, and the hand-drawn scribbles, squiggles, and doodles that will eventually morph into ideas that can be realized with an assist from technology. 4 5 1.2 Go Green 1.1
Every few years, a new word, phrase, or concept appears in retail design, and whether inspiration or irritant, it becomes the new buzzword. It appears in all our literature in ads—in descriptions of completed projects, and as the design objective, or goal. “Image” was the “branding” of the 1970s. “Nichemanship” was the in word of the 1980s. Today, the word we are hearing more than any other is “greening,” along with its adjuncts “sustainable,” “ecofriendly,” “energy- saving,” and “recyclable.”
There is hardly a single home or business publication in the United States today that does not have an article or two about greening and sustainability. Those two words are ubiquitous—seen, heard, and talked about everywhere. More American consumers are looking for green products, especially those sold in green environments. For architects, the goal is to create and build structures that will coexist with nature, using fewer new materials while making use of recycled/reused/repurposed materials—products that are kinder and gentler to the world we live in. There are all sorts of codes that must be followed, and more codes are being enacted daily that will ensure greener buildings. However, when it comes to store designers, visual merchandisers, and display persons, it is a different matter.
With our growing concern for the world we know, and the world our children and our children's children will inherit, architects and designers are learning and applying new concepts to their design solutions. Recently, several new organizations have appeared on the scene, with recommendations for acceptable materials and practices. These organizations also award seals of approval to completed projects, based on how well the designer/architect has fulfilled the design obligations in accordance with their practices. We are seeing this phenomenon more and more in the United States, and to varying degrees there is the same growing interest everywhere in the world for ecofriendly, green, sustainable design.
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Currently, in the United States the main arbiter of greening in design is LEED—Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a commercial interiors pilot program developed specifically for retailers by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED has a rating system that “deals with the nature of the retail environment and the different types of spaces that retailers need for their specific product lines. LEED scores are based on the LEED Green Building Rating System, the nationally accepted standard for developing environmentally responsible buildings.
One problem with going green seems to be the cost—or at least the perceived cost. Designers lament that their clients see green as red, believing that cost will sink the project before it even rises off the drawing board. The client may not understand that retrofitting or installing an energy-saving/energy-efficient lighting system will often more than pay for itself in a year or two. They seem unconcerned with reducing the carbon footprint—the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses that are emitted into the atmosphere and that are harmful to people and the earth. Harvesting and reusing rainwater can be a plus for the retailers, as well as for the community, but they do not see that or the impact that this greening can have on their business. Statistics are showing that more consumers want their green/sustainable products sold in green/sustainable shops and stores.
However, the main problems in terms of greening are the fixtures and shop fittings that are used in green settings, yet even here we are seeing light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. Some fixture manufacturers are using woods approved by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) (a green organization involved with forest conservation) for their units and either hand rubbing or waxing or using stains or lacquers for finishing that have low levels of volatile organic 5 compounds (VOCs). Some are using logs that have fallen in the forest and that have been rescued and recovered for use. 6 The metals are also carefully selected and finished to be more ecofriendly. For retailers, finding a fixture manufacturer/ supplier close to the store site is also a plus because that cuts down on the energy and carbon dioxide emission of transporting fixtures from manufacturer to customer.
More and more designers are finding inspiration in reuse and repurposing when it comes to fixtures and decoratives in store design. So many items already exist, and so many pieces of furniture are discarded—tossed out, destroyed—that are still usable and that can still function effectively. Often, all they need are a new purpose, a new use, and a new finish. With the numerous ecofriendly paints, stains, and finishes mentioned earlier, old becomes new—and reusable—and often adds a delightful accent to the surroundings. An old armoire, wardrobe, or chest of drawers given a new coat of acrylic, water-based paint and lined with colorful wallpapers can become a focal feature in a retail space or when used as a window displayer. Worn-out seats from a now long-gone theater can provide novelty seating in a youth-oriented shoe store. A chandelier from the 1930s adds a unique look as it hangs over a rustic oak country-style table that had a previous existence in a farm and that now serves as a conference table in a designer showroom. Mixing old with new is not a recent concept; it has been around since the time when the old was actually new. However, today it means something new: It means greening. It means reuse, recycling, and being responsible. It means making new use of old, worn things and keeping things that might otherwise be discarded and added to landfills. All this takes is the desire to reuse what is available and the imagination to make whatever it is seem new and different. Existing items in an existing operation can be refurbished, refinished, and refashioned and then reused. A visit to a secondhand shop, a salvage depot, or an estate sale can turn up treasures for the creative, far-seeing, and green designer. He or she will see possibilities and a future life in items unwanted by others.
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Figure 1.3 Although the colors are neutral, this display is “green.” An old weathered door, some scraps of tired lumber, and a shredded lace curtain—all reused and recycled here by Harvey Nichols, of London— create an offbeat, unexpected, and illusory setting for the featured garment.
Harvey Nichols Knightsbridge, London.
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Display persons are probably the greenest of the green. They have practiced reuse, repurposing, recycling, and reclaiming practically since the beginning of time; when the most colorful of rugs—even old and torn ones—became the background for the display of products in the ancient bazaars. Over the last century, display departments and freelance display people have had to depend upon ingenuity, creativity, and lots of discarded—or previously used—material to create new and exciting display presentations. Sometimes, it was the reuse of a familiar product used in a totally new 6 and unexpected way that made the display so noteworthy. Real display persons are by nature scavengers. They are 7 always on the lookout for something that they can breathe new life into, turning it into something new and wonderful and eventually saving it to reuse another time in another way. Other people's trash are display people's finds and treasures. A three-legged chair can be an eye-stopper in a window display when carefully balanced with a stack of books. The rickety and scarred table becomes a café-in-Paris setting when covered with a checkered tablecloth, a Perrier bottle with a single flower perched on top. Shoppers, on the other side of the glass, are ready to believe the unbelievable, accept the unacceptable, and admire the unexpected ways the rediscovered elements are presented. (See Figure 1.3.)
Going green means different things in different countries. In some European countries going green means energy efficiency, rainwater harvesting, solar panels, and a greater use of daylight. However, as consumers become more aware of what it means to be green, for them and for future generations, they will start demanding that retailers carry green merchandise in green settings.
Throughout the text you will find suggestions and recommendations—or sometimes just thoughts and ideas—to consider for achieving a greener and more sustainable world. Some of these thoughts may seem obvious; however, it is hoped that they and others will start you thinking of all the other possibilities you may never have considered. If the world is to go on as we know it, there are many things that we as individuals can do, whether it be using paints and adhesives that are low VOC, or more energy-efficient lamps to light our spaces or maybe even thinking about how to include the use of daylight in our retail store interiors.
Good design is good design! Moreover, good design, along with proper care and attention to detail and consideration for the future—and for the materials and practices that will be sustainable—can make good design even better. In today's market it may initially seem more costly to reuse, repurpose, recycle, and retrofit, but, in the long run, it is less expensive and more kind to the world in general and to future generations in particular. The discussion of green materials, techniques, and practices will show how greening is not only fun and challenging but also good for the world around us. We hope you will find the green ideas presented in this text stimulating and even inspirational. 7 8 1.3Why Do We Display?: Trade Talk
store image
visual merchandising
1.4Why Do We Display?: A Recap
♦ Sell by showing and promoting.
♦ Encourage the shopper to enter the store.
♦ Get the customer to pause and “shop” the selling floor.
♦ Establish, promote, and enhance the store's visual image.
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♦ Entertain customers and enhance their shopping experience.
♦ Introduce and explain new products.
♦ Educate customers by answering questions on the use and accessorizing of a product or fashion trend.
1.5Questions for Review and Discussion
1. Describe the role of visual merchandising in retailing today.
2. Compare and contrast the store images of Kmart and JC Penney. How does each store promote the individual image through visual merchandising and display? Relate specific examples.
3. List five purposes of visual merchandising and describe a display that would fulfill each of these purposes.
4. What are some of the challenges designers must face when going “green?”
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