When designing a visual merchandising strategy, stores need to make decisions based on all relevant information. Usually this involves taking into account a manager's goals for product promotions and available apparel fixture resources. Michigan Live suggested more small businesses will contemplate data collected from shopper activities when designing retail spaces in the future.
Managers planning shelving, mannequin tableaus and store pathways can take prior consumer behavior and customer preferences into account during the design phase. Michigan Live used the example of a garden retail store that changed displays for planter products based on shopper buying histories. Managers discovered consumers prioritized color and the store altered its visual merchandising techniques to influence their buying journey.
Stores can determine positioning, pricing and assortment of products displayed based on data from a number of consumer activities. Retail spaces can try placing different merchandise front and center and see which items showed the most success from prioritized visual focus.
Staff members should record positive reactions to displays.Forbes said the proliferation of mobile devices is a great source for stores to capture audience data. Modern shoppers are very likely to use phones in stores; so retailers should use strategies to encourage consumers to share their opinions on spaces through public online channels. In-store signage can promote photo opportunities or sharing. If shoppers use a hashtag or other online feature that is easy to follow, stores can track which displays consumers took pictures of or what type of signage actually encouraged engagement.
Small businesses must constantly be on the lookout for new ways to read their consumers. Customer Think said retail spaces should invest in technologies that help turn collected data into insights. A software solution can assist employees in recording daily shopper performance and displaying trends through spreadsheets, charts and graphs. In the future, beacon technology and facial recognition tools may help stores dig even deeper into customer behavior so they need methods for analyzing the increase in information.
