How to increase sales in a shoe store and accessories using visual merchandising tools

Today's demand of the time is to go from customer needs. Retail seeks to please customers in everything; for this, sellers and managers must constantly learn something new, relevant, which can immediately be put into work and put into practice. Business trainers understand this very well and try to give staff the most concise practical recommendations and applied knowledge. Anna Balandina, an expert in visual merchandising at SR, is confident that if you go beyond the needs of the buyer, your product presentation and your windows will not only be beautiful and seasoned in the brand concept, but also commercially effective and selling.

Anna Balandina -

owner of visual communications agency VM Guru, market expert in visual merchandising and store design.

@anna_balandina_vmguru, @vm_guru, www.vmguru.ru

The main problems facing shoe stores and accessories today are three. Let's consider each of them separately.

Task No. 1 - “How to get a buyer in the store?”

Now it is very relevant - the goods are good, the presentation is competent, beautiful, and the buyer does not reach the goods because he does not even go to the store. Visual merchandising is an indispensable assistant in the difficult task of attracting a customer to a store. There are two effective tools, and they must be actively used:

• emotional sales showcases;
• working selling entrance area.

They should be decorated not in isolation from each other, but as a whole. Today it’s not enough just to put the goods in the window, no matter what spectacular shoes you put, it will not work well at the entrance, if the whole window is not emotional. We definitely need emotional components, some decoration elements that would reveal the brand’s values ​​and evoke emotions, we’ll use the VM-slang “WOW effect” (the WOW effect in VM is various ways and methods that make a person buy a product right here and now).

In the windows of shoe stores, emotional images work well, which do not depict a shoe or boots, but, for example, a happy family walking in a forest sparkling after rain, a park, smiling people. It is the emotions of the heroes on the advertising medium that the customer subconsciously reads, and the task is to make him want to associate himself or his family with the heroes of POS materials, they are needed in stores.

If you have bright, emotional images, then, continuing to think about window dressing, a store selling shoes for leisure, sports, walking, it will be enough to cover the window with artificial grass, and present models from the current collection on it. Of course, there are many nuances that are very important:

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• the goods in the window must be located at the trading levels, that is, not lower than 60 cm from the floor;
• you can’t mix male and female shoes in one showcase, but if there is only one showcase, it must be very competently zoned using some kind of floor or hanging elements of different colors, styles, materials so that there is no mixing;
• It is important to make a multi-level presentation.

As for the entrance space, it is optimal to place stopper equipment at the entrance, on which a trendy, running seasonal product is presented. If the brand of the segment is low “mass market” and the trends are not particularly represented in the collection, then work is underway with the price: the most attractive price item is set in the entrance area, and we must indicate this price on the posters - it should work on entry. If this is a trending brand of the middle and premium segment, then it is advisable to emotionally design this presentation on the stopper equipment (that is, the storefront concept should “flow” into the trading space with some decoration elements on this equipment).

Task No. 2 - “How to guide the buyer through all the collections and help the buyer find their product

Often, buyers come with a clear goal, especially in a shoe store, for example: "I need shoes for a preschool child." But your task is to build a presentation and the whole way of the customer inside the store so that she does not immediately get into the children's zone, but passes through the entire women's collection. This problem is solved by arranging floor-standing trading equipment and proper presentation (reception of rooting). Floor equipment is set up in such a way as to build a path that is comfortable for the buyer and direct in the right direction - say, to a wall presentation. To find your product, a person will have to go through all the collections.

In the store, it is important to arrange the product according to functional groups, taking into account sales priorities. This is the first. Secondly, there should be logic in the sequence and arrangement of zones. For example, it is important that sports and formal styles do not stand nearby, but go through the casual line, otherwise the models of the sports line will reduce the cost of classic models. There are assortment groups that should not be together or nearby, they must be bred. Correct zoning is very important, it helps the buyer to navigate the product and find "your own".

Task No. 3 - “How to keep in the store as long as possible?”

Another task of any store, which is solved with the help of interior design, is to create a space in which the buyer would be comfortable and interesting, would like to stay in the store for as long as possible. Places to try on, music, light - everything is very important, there should not be secondary things, all the nuances play a role. The problem is solved by an emotional store in which not just shelves with goods, but atypical equipment; which is created in a certain style, taking into account the tastes of the target audience - brutal, made of wood, chromed metal and so on. The choice of concept is determined by the values ​​and DNA of the brand, as well as the wishes and expectations of the target audience.

This article was published in the 159 issue of the print version of the magazine.