For effective fashion merchandising a retail store for promotion, you really have to have a creative mind.  But, it does take more than “knowing what looks good” to create display designs that are pleasing to the eye, focused on a goal, and that entice shoppers to buy.  You can make a career out of fashion merchandising.

But, for the retail store manager or boutique owner looking to give their promotions a professional fashion merchandising makeover, use these guidelines to get you started. Effective fashion merchandising begins with researching your company’s history.  Hopefully you have company records that show which promotions, fashion merchandising, display arrangements and merchandise were most effective at particular times of the year.

If you don’t have this information, then you will need to watch and carefully document your customers’ reactions to certain promotional and fashion merchandising attempts. For example, if you put a large display right inside the door of your store with big sale signs, then you probably drew in a lot of customers.  But, were the customers buying?  Large signs and “in your face” displays signal a really good deal to consumers.

Fashion merchandising should convey the promotion clearly

If they get in and realize that your clothing is not extremely cheap, then they aren’t really getting the deal that they thought – bad fashion merchandising.  They’ll probably turn and leave the store.  Over emphasizing a sale and fashion merchandising that doesn’t deliver is a good way to attract the wrong customers and inflate the expectations of your customers.

If you use smaller signs, or something as simple as a sticker price tag over the regular price, then you are not screaming that you carry cheap merchandise, but you are communicating that the items are marked-down.  When customers feel that you are giving them an honest idea of what quality and price will be before they even pick up the tag, they are more likely to buy, regardless of the price.

Another good way to make a personal impact and gently communicate a promotion through fashion merchandising is to have your sales staff direct customers towards sale areas, then let your fashion merchandising do the rest. It is up to you to determine when your heaviest shopping times are.

Fashion merchandising needs proper planning and inventory management

If you are having a big sale, if it is tax-free weekend, or you are approaching the holiday season, part of your fashion merchandising plan will include ordering enough inventory to keep your displays stocked.  Make sure that sales associates keep your store displays full, neat and clean at all times.

Fully stocked displays give shoppers the feeling that they will be able to find their size and that you are not planning on discontinuing an item anytime soon.  If it seems that you are not restocking, then customers may think that it is due to a lack of quality, or that it is the end of the season and what you have left is what no one else wanted, so why bother?

To keep the loyalty of customers, you need to always send an honest message with your promotions and fashion merchandising.  If you are promoting clearance items, you might hang them on plastic or acrylic hangers.  For pricier merchandise, you can prepare your customer by using nicer wood hangers so that they don’t get that dreaded sticker shock.

Effective fashion merchandising and promotion are all about the promise that you make to your customers.  Through your signage and displays, you can adequately prepare the customer for your prices without saying a word.

Fashion Merchandising

Related posts:

1. Effective Retail Merchandising solutions for Stores
2. Promotional Merchandising
3. Promotion in the Merchandising Environment

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