Creating an eye catching window display has many benefits for your store: it will obviously serve to show off or display the products that you offer; it can give the store a theme and image; it can segment seasons and update the exterior look of the storefront and it can help to entice shoppers into your store, which is the ultimate aim as increased footfall is likely to equate to increased sales and custom.
While some of the above points might be obvious, there are still far too many store owners who are not exploiting the benefits of creating effective and engaging window displays.
Store windows the world over are littered with poorly arranged displays with weak lighting and cluttered, unorganised merchandising which continues to work toward missed opportunities and promoting a poor impression of the store.
With a little effort and input, these issues can be worked upon. It actually might not require a huge amount of budget but it will require thought and planning to execute it well.
Create an effective window display with these simple items!
- Tape Measure
- Scissors
- Stapler
- Two-Sided Tape
- Hammer & Nails
- Utility Knife
- Glue Gun & Hot Glue Sticks
- Screwdriver & Screws
- Pen, Pencil, Marker & Notepad
Begin With Your Target Customer In Mind
Not all customers are created equally and of course any advice presented here will need to be adapted to suit your own store. Having an intimate understanding of your customers will help you create a knockout window display and this doesn’t only refer to their age and income but also to their lifestyles. You need to dig a little deeper into your customer’s psyche when creating a window display.
It may take some trial and error to figure out the window displays best suited to your customer base. The great thing about window displays is that they’re adaptable and you can make constant little tweaks to see if it has a positive impact. One particularly effective way of testing the impact of your new window display is with a 3D SCOPE II LC camera. This camera allows retailers to find out their “Capture Rate” and know for sure how many of the people walking past their store actually enter.
Retail Display Ideas
Here are some suggestions on getting your ‘A’ game in play for your store window display.
1. Choose a Relevant Theme
If it’s Valentine’s Day, don’t go for the obvious red hearts, try to think differently while keeping to the theme so for example you could incorporate some red material as a backdrop and showcase some of your styles (if you have a clothing store) with accents of red using your red tones accessories like jewelry or handbags, purses etc. It keeps the romantic theme but it still showcases your products. Obviously put some effort into ancillary bits and bobs to amp things up, lots of flowers will add some romance and drama and use luxe materials like velvet and chiffon to accent the red colour.
2. Think Eye Level
Analyze how people will engage with your window display. As a general rule it is best to keep things at eye level but there are exceptions. You can also try suspending items from the ceiling or placing items on the floor while concentrating the customer’s main attention on what’s at eye level.
3. Give Expensive Products Space
Keep in mind that if you’re displaying expensive products don’t cram them all together as it will make them look cheap. For example, if you’re selling a pair of really expensive ladies shoes, you should create a window display to highlight the diamond encrusted buckles sparkle so they look like they’re worth every penny!
4. Be Surprising
Don’t make your storefront boring. While this may seem obvious, it’s astonishing how often store owners fall into this trap of creating an unappealing and basic window display. Your display should force people to stop what they’re doing. The modern consumer is constantly busy and they won’t stop unless you give them a very good reason. If it’s something a bit different they will and they might even take pictures and share it on social media. Hopefully it will whet their appetite so that can’t resist finding out what’s inside your store!
5. Be Creative
It isn’t rocket science. A good starting point is to think about how best to use bold colours and shapes. Maybe something that will catch a person’s eye from the distance. The amazing thing about storefronts is the potential customer doesn’t even need to be walking past your store directly, and they may be able to see a creative storefront from the other side of the street. When trying to decide on your window display, ask yourself if you would walk across the street to see it? If you wouldn’t, make little tweaks until you get it right!
6. Keep it fresh
You should change your storefront every few months. No storefront should stay the same forever and you need to keep the people passing by (or even from across the street!) interested. Remember that even the best storefronts will become boring after a while. We know it’s hard to dismantle what you worked on for a month straight to perfect, but if the same people are walking past your display every day it will start blending into the background for them.
7. Lights, camera, action
When you create a new window display you want people to see it. Effective use of lighting is essential. This is particularly true at night because if you’re the only store in the block with a lit up display it will draw attention to your store- even when you’re closed! How you light your display is important and you should focus on highlighting areas within the display rather than individual products, unless of course, you are displaying particularly expensive products.
8. Keep it Simple
By now you probably have a few ideas about constructing your window display, and it can be pretty easy to get carried away. Remember that when it comes to window displays-less is more! If you try to do too much it will end up looking too busy and the display will be too unfocused to capture potential customers as they pass by.
✔ Important Point
The products you put in your window are likely to sell quickly so make sure you have enough stock. Try to replicate how the products look in the window display in-store so customers can quickly recognize the products from the window in the store.
Window Display – Video Tips
This video by OPEN forum provides interesting analysis of how effective window displays can be. Remember that your window display should focus on selling your brand rather than a physical product. The sales will come when you’ve established a strong brand.
Hopefully by now you will be getting some inspiration for your store. However, you need to remember that creating an effective storefront is only step one. Sure, you will engage the people walking by your store, but you can extend the reach far beyond that. Check out this video as it includes an interesting point about integrating your window displays with your email marketing campaign as well as some other useful advice. Letting people know about your cool new window display might even encourage them to visit your store.
Leveraging Window Displays on Social Media
Social media can be an important tool in promoting your window display. You’ve put all this work into preparing it- now it’s time to show the world! Why not make a splash on social media and share your updated displays?
Instagram is particularly effective in this instance as it’s a platform that promotes all things visual. It’s becoming more important to ensure that, not just store windows, but also interior design and merchandising are Instagram friendly.
Instagram is the ultimate visual tool for brands and it has transformed visual merchandising. Large retailers and even new start up stores can spread their brand message on Instagram to give their store a proper identity. It’s important to reiterate here that you need to focus on branding and not sales.
If you’re old school and not on Instagram, remember that a 2015 study showed that 70% of Instagram users have already looked up a brand on the platform and 62% of users follow a brand simply because they like it. Don’t miss out on this important channel!
If you post your new displays on Instagram, consumers will soak it up without the need for any hard sales pitches. It also provides instant feedback on your new window display as you can watch the likes and comments roll in.
The Future of Window Displays
Technology and storefronts are developing together. Some of the biggest brands in the world continue to see the benefits of creating dynamic and engaging window displays.
Check out this amazing window display by Rivet & Hide. They turned a static window display interactive so it communicated with people as they passed the store. An interesting point is that the window display in the video became a topic of conversation in the local area, which again demonstrates how window displays aren’t just for people walking by your store- the message can spread like wildfire!
To reinforce the point about ‘choosing a relevant theme’, check out this great window display by Jonathan Trumbull Hatter’s clothing store in London. For the festive season, they created an interactive Christmas shop display using facial recognition technology. You can see by people’s reactions that it worked!
Other brands are taking it to the next level and Nike has created an array of interactive window displays around the world. While these will be out of reach for the majority of retailers, it’s worth noting that even the biggest brands in the world see the value in creating a window display that engages customers.
The importance of window displays isn’t going away. When customers do arrive in your store you will need to incorporate strategies to count the people entering your store. It’s important that you don’t fall at the final hurdle and we can help ensure that you don’t! Get in touch with us for more information about how our 3D SCOPE II LC camera will help you to analyze the effectiveness of your window displays and draw more customers to your store.
