High competition forces retailers to continually seek new ways to attract customers. One of the most successful strategies in retail has become merchandising, which harmoniously combines elements of marketing and design. Such a combination allows creating a stylish and beautiful space, effectively arranging products on shelves, which attracts buyers, prompts them to approach displays, carefully examine the goods, and also stimulates impulse purchases.

Merchandising. Creating Ideal Retail Space

Merchandising [from English "merchandising" - increasing merchandise turnover] is a set of measures for strategically placing products in a retail space for informing, promoting, selling, and stimulating the sale of goods or a particular brand. The visual factor, namely creating an attractive and convenient space in a store, is just one of the tasks of merchandising.

With the right approach, this marketing tactic encourages consumer impulse buying and increases the value of customer transactions through cross-selling related products. This is not a new tool but a strategy that has been tested for centuries and genuinely works. Beautifully displayed products and well-organized sales areas are classics from ancient fair trading. Convenient and understandable for buyers, with minimal explanations from the seller. But it was in the 20th century that the role of merchandising grew at a tremendous pace.

It all began during the Great Depression in the United States. The sharp decrease in purchasing power forced not only the search for funds but also the launch of trade campaigns aimed at increasing sales and making businesses competitive. And here, the design of retail spaces comes to the forefront — beautiful, convenient, and functional spaces in which every square centimeter of retail space should bring maximum profit. With the self-service format from the "product-salesperson-client" chain, the portion "salesperson" disappeared since the product began to "sell" itself. For successful sales, new forms of self-promotion were needed. In the 1960s, the seller's market finally turned into a buyer's market, and in the early 1970s, large supermarket chains began to develop merchandising as a marketing direction, using the placement and presentation of goods, store design for psychological influence on buyers to persuade them to make unplanned purchases immediately.

According to research by the Point of Purchase Advertising Institute, consumers make only 30% of planned purchases, 10% are alternative, and 60% are impulse purchases. Moreover, 7 out of 10 buyers make decisions about choosing a particular product directly in the store. For retailers, this means only one thing — they can increase sales through merchandising. And all this with minimal expenses!

Role of Visual Merchandising in Retail Space

Merchandising has several tasks [informing about the location of goods, providing information about the product and price, attracting the buyer's attention to specific products, branding to highlight products in a multi-brand space] and several stages of the movement of goods from the source to the end consumer:
- studying consumers, competitors, and business types;
- searching for sources for purchasing goods and further selling them;
- purchasing goods;
- placement and demonstration of products;
- management of retail space.

The last two points are visual merchandising. This is the language that retailers speak to customers. It includes creating optimal conditions for customers' orientation in the store, outlining the "customer path," organizing internal trading spaces, shopfitting placement, product layout on displays, and even music and scent. These simple things have a powerful impact on consumers who return to their preferred retail spaces.

One of the elements of visual merchandising is branded shopfitting, we want to tell you more about.

Branded Displays as a Merchandising Tool

The main task for each trademark in multi-brand stores is to focus consumers' attention on their products and distinguish them among competitors. Branded displays do an excellent job, serving as one of the most powerful merchandising tools. With them, you can increase the sales of branded products.The USTOR team, which has many original projects in its portfolio, offers several marketing moves that will help attract the attention of potential buyers:

- installing an unusual display. For example, USTOR created an original rack for the Dorco brand, the shape of which resembles a shaving machine. The shopfitting stands out among other designs and attracts consumer attention:

- branded displays for the checkout ares. Small shopfitting pushes customers to make purchases practically in the last minutes in the store:

The photo shows mini-displays made by USTOR for various brands. Thanks to the small size of the shopfitting, it doesn't take up much space, but its original design with corporate colors and logos stands out among competitors;
- containers turned into an interesting display. It's hard for customers to resist creative solutions:

- branded racks with goods for cross-selling. For example, you can place consumables [disks, etc.] on displays with construction tools:

- racks with decorated toppers. USTOR experts recommend various options for decorating the topper, including oracle stickers, PVC, or acrylic inserts, and lighting:

Branded displays, as one of the elements of visual merchandising, are a powerful tool for attracting and retaining customers. This is the shopfitting the USTOR team. manufactures for its clients. Branded displays effectively present products, attract consumers' attention, influence impulse purchases, and create competitive advantages for trademarks in a multi-brand space, helping to attract new customers. If you need unique shopfitting, contact USTOR! Our team will implement your project and help make an interesting and convenient retail space that encourages customers to purchase.