Visual Merchandising

Explore retail location types and their impact on store layout and sales per square foot, including mall, freestanding, shopping center, and home-based formats.

Plan store layouts and atmospheres to maximize sales per square foot, guide customer traffic, and showcase visual merchandising displays through floor plans, fixtures, and lighting techniques.

Explore grid layouts that place counters in long rows to maximize display while limiting browsing and creativity, and compare free-flow, loop, and spine layouts to guide flow.

Learn to use a planogram to design effective store merchandising, map zones from windows to checkout, and optimize traffic flow with visual displays, impulse items, and strategic fixtures.

Compare merchandising, presentation, and visual merchandising to create cohesive retail spaces using planograms, displays, and product placement that guide shoppers and boost sales while reinforcing the brand.

Discover how window displays create the first store impression, attract traffic, and showcase products with lighting, motion, and varied window types like island, elevated, and shadowbox.

Create an exciting storefront and window display as the department’s prime selling area, showcasing newest arrivals with a single trend and color story, applying the arena principle front to back.

Master back wall merchandising by segmenting wall space into color-coordinated blocks, creating a focal point with a major fashion trend, and arranging merchandise by color, size, and balance.

Choose sturdy, flexible fixtures to display merchandise and create ambience. Rotate floor patterns, balance layouts, and use props and mannequins to tell a visual story.

Develop a merchandise presentation plan that defines who, why, what, where, and when, speaks to the target consumer in three to eight seconds, and aligns with promotions.

Select merchandise thoughtfully to anchor the display with back-up stock, compatible styles, fabrics, and colors, often two colors with a neutral, while aligning with fashion trends and the store's image.

Select color first to drive attention and mood in visual merchandising. Create a color scheme from neutral to warm to cool, using light-to-dark sequencing and intensity to guide merchandise presentation.

Plan and arrange display elements to achieve unity and harmony, using color, texture, proportion, line, shape, and design principles such as balance, rhythm, repetition, and dominance, guiding the viewer's eye.

Apply symmetrical and asymmetrical balance to distribute weight across a display, using space, color, and element size to create harmony and visual interest.

Learn how rhythm guides the viewer’s eye through displays by establishing a dominant focal point and a flow that uses progression of sizes, color, line, and a continuous eye movement.

Learn how harmony unifies color, light, textures, and congruity to create cohesive displays in visual merchandising. Explore functional, structural, and decorative harmony with practical examples.

Apply repetition to reinforce rhythm in visual merchandising by reiterating a concept through repeated cues such as same color, shape, or item, and arrange odd numbers for more interest.

Master proportion in visual merchandising by balancing size, space, texture, and contrast across pyramid, steps, and repetition to create a proportional, engaging display.

Use signage to complete the display composition, provide descriptive product information and trends, harmonize the theme, and help customers and staff boost impulse sales and profits.

Plan lighting techniques combine light and shadow to add depth, enhance color, and guide shoppers using primary, secondary, and atmosphere lighting in displays.

Evaluate display effectiveness by meticulously planning and evaluating each component, including color, line, balance, rhythm, props, and lighting, to attract target consumers and boost sales.