Today's Displays are Tomorrow's Dollars

Someone once said, "Shouldn't you say, Today's Displays are Today's Dollars?" 

It's an ongoing process. Keeping your store merchandised and products moving is what you do today so that you always have them generating income day after day!  

Whenever my clients call and say, "After you were here our sales were amazing and now everything has gone back to what it was before." First I have to ask them what they've changed around since I worked with them and most of the time they haven't changed anything, which means there must be gaps or vacant spots in the displays.  When I ask them if they have restocked, or made brand new displays out of the unsold products I get a variety of answers.
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"Yes, well, we didn't want to mess up the displays you did, so we've tried to leave them but we can't add in the same things because that inventory almost sold out. "  This tells me that they are putting too much importance on the exact displays I did as demonstrations and illustrations of ONE way to display those products. When I'm in a client's store and working with them and their staff, my purpose is to "show 'n tell" so they see the steps in action and will duplicate those steps with other products and spaces. Larger or smaller, then test the results with active sales. 

If they aren't selling or things are slow for traffic. Change them up! Use that time to be creative, crazy, and try things you've never done before.  There's magic in doing that. First the energy level in the atmosphere of the store increases. Even if you are in the middle of changing a display and shoppers step in, they can see that there's action in your store. Things aren't stagnant. Regular customers often respond to products as if they are seeing them for the first time. They slow down. They explore.  Some of them are now on the hunt to see if that one item they have had their eyes on is still there or has been sold!!! 

SECRET: I tell my clients, "If someone comes in and sees an item you've had for years and says, "Wow, when did you get this in?" You are to reply, "I just put it there!"  Do not reply, "Oh. it's been here for ____ years!"

I show clients how to build tight displays and how to 'cozy up' and condense a display with a LOT of product in one place, so that as the items sell, they just have to do a little rearranging.  I also am a fan of having a feature display, with some props and cross merchandising in a key spot and then having generic shelves of back up stock near by and within view. 

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Whether it's on top of a fixture taking up the entire space, or just on a shelf at eye level for the buyer, a feature display means less moving of products around in order to keep it looking fresh and interesting.  This saves time and reduces shop lifting when you don't have to go back into your storage area to bring more product for display. 

When it's 80% sold out, it's time to change up the entire theme on that fixture or shelf and move "onsies" into other cross merchandised feature displays.  Don't discount... DISPLAY! 

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Check out Quick Notes 111 from the Seminar I gave at a Gift Show titled: Display Ideas for Small Products and Large Sales.  

Get it now!