When considering a visual merchandising strategy, it's important to consider the passing of the seasons along with all of the major holidays. This can even include holidays from other countries, such as Mexico or France. People will consider a celebration of El Dia de los Muertos or Bastille Day to be clever and interesting. This is true no matter what a store sells. Just about every store could benefit from being considered culturally sophisticated, and one way of doing that is recognizing non-U.S. countries even in a small way be celebrating the appropriate holidays.
The best way to record changes in the season and recent festivities is with display props. Setting up a themed display allows a business to include display tables along with any other items that might go along with it, such as mannequins or jewelry displays. If the weather is predicted to be cold in the coming weeks, consider setting up a "winter preparedness" booth with lots of fake snow and fuzzy, warm sweaters people can buy. Natural props make great tools when it comes to celebrating changes in the season having to do with food or flowers. Consider a day when autumn comes and have a display of themed garlands celebrating the fall harvest. A celebration for spring by showing all of the different flowers that bloom is a similar approach that will work as the weather warms. Look up the month in which certain flowers bloom and display them during that time.
Generally, artificial foliage is a nice touch to stores that have a lot of polished metal or modern-looking surfaces. The naturally rough plant will juxtapose nicely with a reflective surface or a pristine, utilitarian atmosphere.
Taking advantage of backdrops
Another way to celebrate the holidays is to use curtains and backdrops. These items have many different versions, including a champagne curtain that reflects with glittering silver pieces sewn into the fabric, and an LED light curtain. There are also banners with images of nature, such as pine trees or flowers. These can all help to set the mood in a store, taking the outside and bringing it inside in a very effective way. This creates flow between the store and the outer world, which will help draw customers inside.
Someone may also wish to consider shoji screens, which can conceal parts of the store from view, forcing people to walk around in order to see everything. This effectively creates sections in an otherwise large and empty room.
