Page 80 - DMGT552_VISUAL_MERCHANDISING

Unit 4: Store Exteriors and Interiors

to back, the customer moves too quickly through the store. Even a slight deviation from Notes
the usual parallel placement will lead people in a more comfortable and leisurely path,
slowing them down and inviting them to take notice of the surroundings. Likewise, when
customers are leaving, counters carefully arranged at angles to the wall will seem to hold
them back, to delay their departure. Each hesitation on the part of the passerby is an
opportunity for interior displays to make a sale.
(iv) Ledges: The tops of shelves sometimes serve as areas for display. They necessarily follow
the set structural lines of a department. Ledge areas may be made very attractive with the
addition of decorative pieces for seasonal promotions. Because ledges with shelf space
below them are above the comfortable range of vision, constant care must be exercised in
the placement of merchandise. Unsightly portions of it, such as chair seats, shoe soles,
wrong sides of materials, or unfinished backs of stoves or refrigerators, should not be
visible to the customer’s eye and must be camouflaged with decorative effects.

(v) Merchandise walls: 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 are those that house merchandise and display that merchandise
using face-outs or 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, colourful background for the store’s other fixtures and displays.
(vi) Colour & Lighting: Colour Contributes significantly to people’s impression and the stores
overall appearance. Colour can catch an eye and make people pause and look. Colour
scheme contributes towards the atmosphere of the store. Changing the colour scheme can
contribute towards the change in people’s attribute and change their perception towards
the store and increase the business.

Colours can be distinguished into two categories:
 Warm colours: Colours like red, yellow, orange, etc. are warm colours. These colours
are stimulating and cheery. They make a room feel warm and intimate. Warm color
makes room look smaller while making the goods look larger. A warm color on the
end of the wall of a long narrow room will appear to shorten the room.

 Cool colours: Blue, green, violet are all cool colours. They contribute towards cool
and relaxing atmosphere. They make the room look larger and are therefore suitable
for small rooms.
Lighting is essential in the stores to divert customers’ attention towards merchandise.
A shopper’s eye is automatically diverted towards the brightest area. Lighting can also be
used to direct customers towards the different merchandise but for this the lights should
be 4 to 5 times stronger than the normal lights.

There are four types of lights used in store illumination:
 Primary Lighting: Overall Level of illumination.
 Secondary Lighting: Illumination for Designated display Area.

 Atmosphere Lighting: Play light against shadow to create distinctive effect on specific
display.
 Harmony: It is the agreement in the feeling and consistency in the mood. The three
forms of harmony are functional, structural, and decorative.

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