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Unit 13: Store Design and Visual Merchandising

Psychology of Shopping.” This article reported that retail giants of the 1970s relied Notes
heavily upon the philosophy of “pile it high, sell it cheap” and they found success
with that philosophy. Since then, though, retailers are using increasingly
sophisticated ways to capture the attention of shoppers – which means that you, as
a retailer, also need to use contemporary strategies, which include attractive retail
fixtures, to keep customers satisfied.
2. Choose retail displays and fixtures that are uniquely suited to your target market:
Here’s a great example of how not to structure your retail space. A blogger at a site
for petite female shoppers was complaining that retailers – meaning those who
cater to the petite – use retail displays that are not within comfortable reach of its
customers. Now, does that make any sense? Of course not. Take a detailed look at
your own store. In what ways are the store fixtures and retail displays that you’re
using not compatible with your customers’ needs?

3. Design your space using retail display systems that make it easy for your customers
to keep shopping: The BizEd article also pointed out how successfully some retailers
lay out their stores using retail displays that allow and even encourage a customer
to keep browsing. Nothing blocks the customers from this path. So, again, take a
look at your own store. What store fixtures or other items make it difficult for your
customers to continue to navigate through all of your products? Remember, too,
that an average person’s field of vision tends to be around 170 degrees. Keep that in
mind as you design your retail space.
Finally, here is a fun quote from a 1924 publication about the psychology of clothes – and,
really, it also relates to the way you lay out your retail displays! According to this
publication, “dress has a tremendous influence upon individuals, upon both the wearer
and the beholder. The consciousness of being becomingly and fittingly dressed for the
occasion, whatever that occasion may be, strengthens and insures one’s self-confidence
tremendously, gives poise and self-command, encourages the brain to forge forward,
emboldens the timid tongue, and quickens one’s wits along the avenues of resourcefulness,
inventiveness, graceful speech, and tact. In fact all of one’s faculties are stimulated and
inspired by the consciousness of being properly attired.”

Yes, dress does have a tremendous psychological impact on the people wearing them –
and the way in which you arrange your retail fixtures have a tremendous psychological
impact upon the customers who walk inside your front door. Make your retail space a
friendly welcoming place through the strategic use of contemporary compelling store
fixtures today.

Note Sensitivity to cultural values, consumer needs, and shopping patterns is critical to
the development of an effective layout.

13.2.3 Displays

Fixturing is generally concerned with the housing of merchandise in what is sometimes termed
‘on-shelf’ displays. This is the routine display of goods from which customers are expected to
make their selection.

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