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Making the most of your window display is crucial to attracting customers whether you are a well-known chain store in a premium shopping mall, a high street boutique, a charity shop or a local hair and beauty salon.
Your window is the 'face' of your business - it tells passers-by what you have to offer and should be enticing and inviting. A range of studies have found that a creative, engaging, and attractive window display is one of the most important drivers for getting people through the door and impulse buying. In the current economic climate, with people watching their budgets, your window display is even more crucial to the success of your business.
We've put together some essential tips to help you make the most of what is your best marketing space.
Before getting stuck in, you have to know your target audience and make your display relevant to them and their lives. High fashion deserves an amazing extravagant shop window. If your target audience is teenagers and students, you might not want to fill your window with items that would be way out of the average budget for this demographic. You want your display to inspire and invite your audience in, not be so aspirational or irrelevant that they don't look, let alone come in.
Storytelling creates a connection between the teller and the 'listener' - and science has proven that stories are the best way to catch people's attention and create a lasting impression.
Your window display can do that at a glance - think of that travel agent's display that transported you to the beach of your dreams ... You don't need to be selling Caribbean holidays to create a story for your customer, your story might be getting ready for a night out, tidying the garden in time for spring, the delights of a night in pampering yourself or the fun of re- and up-cycling preloved goods.
Updating your display prevents it from going unnoticed - but there's no need to change it too much! Choose key seasons, promotions, or events for a full display change. In the meantime, make small changes to keep your display fresh - perhaps add a different splash of colour, add or remove a prop or change one or two of the items on display.
Avoid the temptation to throw every idea you have and every associated item into your display - it will end up cluttered, overwhelming, messy, and too difficult to read. Instead, embrace simplicity. Give each item meaning and allow it to shine. Remember the purpose of your display is to grab the attention of passers-by and hold their interest long enough for them to decide to come in and buy what they've seen (and maybe even something extra).
"A business without a sign, is a sign of no business". It's an old adage, but one worth repeating. See how the small shop pictured comes alive, firstly with a clear sign above the door. Attractive seasonal merchandising is then enhanced with simple drop banners. Finally the Open Sign on the door is easily exchanged at close of business for a Closed Sign stating the shop opening hours. Good visual merchandising and point-of-sale (POS) are two sides of the same coin, and it's a valuable one.
It doesn't matter how fabulous your display is - if you've not used lighting properly, your display will fall flat, look dull and might even be difficult to see through the window. Don't forget that your audience is outside looking in, so you need to use lighting to draw the eye to what you want them to see. Experiment with natural and artificial lighting to enhance the visual appeal of your display both during the day and evening.
You can use our sign holders in your window displays in any number of ways. From using table sign holders as price ticket holders to snap frames and suspended poster frames or banner rails as part of the story you are telling. Using poster light boxes is a great way to create a pop of light in a dark window. For attaching signs to glass we have various stick-on window poster holders, many with the facility to switch content in a moment.
So, what are you waiting for? Why not start thinking now about your next window display? Use these tips and three basic principles of design - repetition, contrast, and movement - to create your display. And if you use any of our products in your window, we'd love to see it. Send us a picture of your window display incorporating sign holders for our Facebook and Pinterest pages!
Don't rely on unimaginative window displays with predictable SALE signs!
