Visual Merchandising, The First Line Of Offence For Retail Players

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Mumbai:: Visual merchandising (VM) can be called the silent salesman for retail formats. The mannequins, the general merchandise placed in the stores, the lighting and even the uniforms worn by the customer service personnel form part of the VM exercise of any retail format. As organised retail evolves in the country, VM has become the first line of offence to capture consumers’ attention. Even as the industry expands, the need is to fuel the interest in the medium which players feel can become an industry by itself.

VM today combines the element of art and science, fusing creativity with the arithmetics of space utilisation within retail space. In the retail format, utmost care is given to the merchandise displayed on the rack, the mannequins and the colour of the facade displaying the brand image in synergy with other mediums. Retail players as they expand are taking care to ensure there is consistency as far as the visual presentation is concerned.

For Tanishq, the jewellery business of Titan Industries Ltd, visual merchandising formed an important area of focus when it had taken a hiatus from audio visual promotionals. After a gap of three years, the company has produced an audio visual for its products. Meanwhile, the concentration has been on in-store promotions and incorporating the various elements of visual merchandising at the stores, said Titan Industries Ltd divisional manager Tanishq V Govind Raj. “Even while undertaking in-store promotion, visual merchandising comes to play as the mood and ambience has to match consumers’ expectations,” said Mr Govind Raj. Even in newer formats like shop-in-shops which Tanishq is experimenting with, the visual appeal has to be in sync with the image that a customer would find in a stand alone Tanishq store. “Even in limited space, one has to bring out the Tanishq look and feel which one finds at our store. That;s where visual merchandising comes into play,” explained Mr Govind Raj.