THE IMPORTANCE OF WINDOW DISPLAYS

Online, we shop using websites. If the site is appealing and attractive, we go in and look around. Much like in real life, if we see a store that draws us in, we will venture in to see more.

As a retail store, your window displays are the most important marketing tool you have at your disposal. They will make someone a passer-by, enter your store and become a customer or ignore you entirely.

These days, retailers are under a lot of pressure to attract and keep customers coming into their stores when shopping from home has become so convenient and price competitive.

Redefining everything we ever thought about window shopping, these creative window displays will stop anyone in their tracks. As a mix of art, fashion, design and marketing, they not only have to quickly grab our attention they must compel us to enter a store. By giving people an experience, these displays also have the important duty of helping define a brand’s image.

This is important for the visual merchandiser because you are given the task of communicating the store’s image through your displays.

We have come a long way from stock piling a table in front of the store with goods, to having live models posing in windows. Creativity and innovation continue to push the boundaries in our field.

 

Here are some things you might see today at a retailer:

• Sofas and comfortable seating
• Selfie photo location
• Café or bistro as part of the store
• Lounge areas for perusing look books and sipping champagne
• Plasma TVs showing latest fashion shows
• Large, glossy photographs from their Instagram account

Improvements in technology and with major fashion houses having unlimited budgets, window dressing has grown into massive productions of display. You will have a team of craftspeople working in their specific trade to help put it all together: carpenters, painters, electricians, stylists, florists, maybe an artist or craftsperson with a specialized skill – “it takes a village”, as they say! And all of these things push the boundaries for visual display.

What most people not in our industry don’t realize is it takes months, and months of planning before a window is installed. Christmas windows are being planned a year in advance – I’m not exaggerating! Stores have to know ahead of time when they will be having “Sales” so the proper signage/banners/displays can be in place. Although this job is a lot about creativity it also takes a lot of organization and planning as well. It’s great to be a talented decorator, but you will also need to be focused and have good time management skills; because today there is nothing you can’t do in our line of work. You can go as far as your imagination will take you!

CONCLUSION

Yet many find it hard to harness the creativity needed, as well as the time and the money to invest in them. But, with a little thought, and the right lighting, your window display could become the jewel in your crown. If done properly, and consistently, your store could be known for their creative windows that become a draw to your store and talk of the town!