Shop windows: 8 errors to avoid when setting up shop windows

Shop windows

Shop windows: The mistakes you don’t have to make when creating your own showcase.

The shop windows are the first step of any purchase of a client process: more than half of consumers consider showcase the most important part of a store.

The US National Retailers Merchant Association, through a recent market analysis, underlines the fundamental importance that shop windows take on within the promotion and communication strategy of any store. The showcase constitutes the first point of contact between the store and the customer and must be able to promote the image of the products in an effective and original way.

A creative and captivating showcase represents a real business card. Through an accurate and planned arrangement of its products, it will be possible to attract the attention of potential customers and convince them to enter their point of sale. The showcase must be able to communicate an offer and to create a real visual experience capable of emotionally involving the customer.

Shop windows: How does it work? Simple. It is not necessary to contact a visual merchandiser to create a really effective showcase, even the shopkeepers can do it. In fact, there are some simple rules that allow anyone to set up an excellent showcase for their store. However, we must be careful: while on the one hand there are rules and tips for creating successful showcases, on the other there are also some particularly common errors that should not be committed in window dressing.

Let’s find out what are the 8 mistakes to avoid in the shop windows dressing activity …

Shop windows

1# Don’t choose a theme

A successful showcase cannot fail to have a “theme”: a showcase with a recognizable theme and background that is able to attract the customer’s attention the most. Choosing a background for your business card is essential to create creative, original and never repetitive scenarios. Planning is an essential activity: creating a calendar to update your showcase with themes and backgrounds chosen based on the time of year or specific marketing strategies can help the shopkeeper in the set-up activity. Choosing a theme for your showcase can help the store to build a coherent and original image: exhibiting products without a precise logic could, in fact, communicate an unrecognizable brand identity. Finally, the display cabinet should always reflect the style of the interior furnishings of the store.

2# Expose too many products

Many shop windows are confused (and therefore not very attractive) due to the excessive quantity of products displayed inside them. To attract the customer’s attention, it is necessary to highlight some products in particular: by exposing a huge quantity of goods, it is not possible to adequately highlight their flagship products. A potential customer needs to identify the products in an orderly manner in a showcase in order to decide whether to enter the store. Finally, displaying too many products leaves no room for freedom: mental order and attention to space are fundamental cornerstones of any visual merchandising strategy.

3# Don’t show prices

One of the most common and most damaging mistakes for retailers undoubtedly concerns the lack of price exposure: the cost of products inevitably constitutes a fundamental element of communication to attract the attention of customers. Not communicating prices in your showcase could prove to be a particularly harmful activity. Most customers will not enter the store to inquire about the cost of the goods and will prefer to leave without knowing the prices of the store.

4# Display exhausted products

Updating store windows based on the availability of goods at the point of sale or in the warehouse is an essential activity. Displaying sold-out items can be dangerous: a customer, after seeing a featured item, could make the decision to buy it. Not finding the product in the store can annoy the customer to the point of inducing him not to return to that point of sale.

5# Do not take care of cleaning

A dirty and careless display case can prove to be a real problem for the store: dust and dirty glass are the worst enemies of the store business. Customers are attentive to cleanliness: a poorly curated display case can communicate a negative image of the store and consequently make the promotion and sales activity ineffective. Often the weather conditions also contribute to making the windows externally dirty: it is therefore essential to take care of cleaning the window both from the inside and from the outside.

6# Have poor lighting

Lighting is a fundamental tool for highlighting the products offered within its showcase. To effectively display each product, it is essential to have an adequate lighting system. The lights are able to create attractive backgrounds and to attract the customer’s attention in a simple way. A dark shop window could make some products appear negatively and thus risk losing potential store customers.

7# Do not place tip articles in the foreground

In the window dressing activity, it is essential to identify a “scheme” to effectively display one’s articles. Products with special offers must be displayed in particularly strategic positions to immediately attract the consumer’s attention. Creating adequate backgrounds, using bright colors and using modern lighting are useful activities to highlight one’s flagship products. The customer’s eye must first be drawn to the most affordable offers. Immediate communication based on intuitive visual schemes is essential to give the right emphasis to the most important products.

8# Do not update the window periodically

Shop windows: one of the most common mistakes made by retailers concerns the periodic updating of their windows. Renewing its showcase with original themes and new articles is an essential activity to attract the attention of potential customers and to communicate a positive image of the store. Consumers love the news: different colors, creative set-ups and new items in a shop window are essential elements to increase the sales of your store. A window that is not renewed and always the same runs the risk of boring the customer who does not find new incentives to enter the store.

Tony Jimenez

Tony Jimenez

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