The story can be told throughout the whole store as a theme, such as ‘Spring Break’ or ‘Back to School’, or can be specific to one display. One important tool for storytelling is signage. Telling a story in store, using visual merchandising techniques, makes it easier for the shopper to connect with the products. Signage can also help telling a story within a store. The signs’ meaning should be understood by the shoppers within 5 seconds this is called the 5-second rule. Therefore, from the entrance throughout the store, the signs should provide clear guidelines how to navigate through the store. Signage is an essential visual merchandising tool to ensure the customer has a pleasant in-store experience and can find all the products that they want and need! Poorly executed signage can lead to frustration among shoppers and can subsequently lead to a quick exit of the store.įrom the moment shoppers enter a store, they scan the store and use visual stimuli to lead them through the store. Product grouping is important here depending on the product type, product grouping can be per brand or product category for example. In contrast, products that customers ‘want’ should be at the be front of the store to lure people in the store, this is also called the Magpie effect.īesides exposing customers to as many products as possible, the store layout should also provide the shopper with a pleasant and exciting shopper’s journey through the store. Other techniques are positioning products that consumers ‘need’, in corners or at the back of the store, extending the journey that shoppers make in the store and thus increasing product exposure.

By making smart use of the retail floor space available, the store layout can ‘force’ shoppers to pass a large part of the aisles in the store and increase the exposure to products.

Therefore, the more products costumers can see, the more purchases they will make. Costumers cannot make impulse purchases instore, if they cannot see the products.

Retail planogram tool