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Unit 13: Store Design and Visual Merchandising

Merchandise walls Notes

Imagine a customer standing in the entrance to a store, taking in the “view.” Wherever that
customer looks the background will be a merchandise wall. Merchandise walls form the total
background of the store.
Types of merchandise walls:
1. Those that house merchandise and display that merchandise using face-outs
2. Those that house merchandise and display that merchandise using grids

But these walls can be treated in many ways to create a strong store “look” and provide an
interesting, colorful background for the store’s other fixtures and displays.

Color and Lighting

Color and lighting are critical to an ambiance that projects a store’s image and attracts customers.
Used strategically, color can influence the perception at a room’s size complement the merchandise
on display, state a as lion position, and attract a particular clientele. The psychological effects of
color have been well documented.

Example: Blue, green, and violet project elegance and orange, yellow, and red convey
intimacy.
Appropriate lighting in turn, enhances the effects of interior color.
Lighting is essential to creating interest, shaping moods, and stimulating customer buying.
Compared to other interior design elements, it has a very potent, immediate effect. Its functions
include the illumination of space and merchandise, the accurate rendition of color, and the use
of contrast to direct customer attention and movement. Merchandise may be lit directly through
color and intensity or indirectly through surface highlighting, the degree and type or lighting
needed depend on the merchandise to be presented. Spotlights emphasize key promotion,
displays; lights of varying intensity draw shoppers to particular areas. In fitting rooms and
mirrored selling areas, lighting must be designed to flatter customers.

Figure 13.13: A Store with Innovative Lighting

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