Interchange day 2

Today I attended the interchange session about visual merchandising. I thought this session would be really helpful with any still life I may do which might include set design. Having any more knowledge about how people buy things and tricks visual merchandisers use would be useful for me in the long run regardless. My notes from today are below.

Strengthen your brand personality; that is whats going to get you noticed. 

Arcades (like norwich one) came before shopping centres, they were covered from the elements and it was the first time windows of shops were used as a visual tool to draw customers inside.
THEN came department stores, which was the first time shopping became an experience rather than purely functional. Even when you're closed, your windows are not.

Harry selfridge of SELFRIDGES put the very first plane to crash in July 1901 in the shop window in his london Selfridges store. That next day 50,000 people came to see it, and consequently, went into his store. Best example of visual merchandising I've ever heard.

TOUCH POINTS
touch points are four key points of contact with your customer.

1. The pavement outside; determines weather or not they come in

2.The threshold experience, determines wether or not they stay

3.Shop floor; a quick 360 view of the store

4. Till points; are they accessible easily?

PUSH AND PULL PRODUCTS 
Ever noticed the most basic of products are at the back of the store? so you have to walk thourhg all the other things for sale before reaching what you really went in for.
Pull products are the basic ones, the milk and the bread. They PULL you into the store for your need.
Push products are the new stuff which is put at the front of the store to entice the customer to make a purchase they didn't originally plan to make.

SIGHTLINES AND FOCAL POINTS
Sightlines are the things in line with your sight; think the shelves above the racks in Zara, the advertising graphics hung at the back. Focal points are the tables; often lower so you can touch the products; a snapshot of the collection: Hollister are a big one for tables.

MERCHANDISING
vertical merchandising: e.g Jeans in LEVI's
Symmetrical merchandising: e.g. nike displays
Product blocking: e.g Uniqlo, the same basic product, but organised by colour.
Anotomical merchandising: the whole look at the same time, on a model or hung as though it were a complete outfit. You buy into the look.

"If Selfridges were a magazine, its windows would be its front cover"

-Alannah Weston, Creative director at Selfridges.