You asked for it
Our latest blog poll asked what you’d like to read about next and the results are in. Visual merchandising speaks to your customers without using words. It starts with capturing your customers’ senses from the moment they enter your store. When done right, it can be the best salesperson on your team. Below are a few suggestions to help create an ambient winter wonderland within your store for the holidays.
The weather outside is frightful
Create a cozy and inviting showroom floor that welcomes your customers from the grips of the cold into the warmth of your store. Evoke their senses by adding holiday sights, sounds, and smells. Holiday scented candles and fragrances like warm sugar cookie or fresh apple cinnamon are sure to make your customers feel right at home. Soft traditional music and holiday videos create an familiar, inviting space for your customers.
Simple floral trimmings add life to a room and make for great holiday decor. Dark evergreen, deep red poinsettias, and textured ribbon add the perfect touch. Try adding woody affects like winter wreaths, pine cones, spray-painted tree branches, and rustic wood slices to give your displays a lively appeal. Then, you can easily swap out these accents after the new year for a brand new look.
Reuse and repurpose
If you’re like me, I’m sure you have no shortage of Christmas decorations lying around your home. The simplest way to set the scene in your store is to repurpose those old decorations. Old, faded, or chipped adornments from years past can be repainted in silver or gold as an inexpensive alternative that looks fabulous. Ornament balls, reindeer, and holiday candles make great decor to place in your cases for a festive touch. Empty jewelry boxes can be wrapped to look just like gifts waiting to be given to that special someone.
The finishing touch
Make the holiday shopping experience complete by putting the finishing touches on your customers’ purchases. Wrapping up their purchases can save your customers time, which they will greatly appreciate. So be sure to take that extra step. Stuller helps to make wrapping a cinch with jeweler’s rolls of gift wrap. Don’t forget to coordinate with elastic bows.
After your customer has chosen his perfect piece, follow with add-ons to enhance your customer’s overall experience. Our Klean Karats® Care Center features everything your customers need to keep their new purchase in top shape, until they come to see you again. It is available in fine, gentle, silver, and natural. The care center comes with cleaner, cloths, and our best-selling ring remover. Read more about which jewelry cleaner is best for you here.
Customize your showcase
Another way to introduce pops of color and emphasis to your showroom floor is through your product displays. Choose to accent your cases with key elements such as neck forms or earring stands. Neck forms are versatile, having two angles to accommodate both neckwear and bracelets. And as always, mixing the texture of your accents allows for depth and variety in your case displays.
A few of our favorite accent colors his holiday season:
Aubergine – A sparkling deep berry
Moon Glow – A glowing, snowy white
Spectrum – An enchanting wintry blue
Pecan Shell – An elegantly warm gold
Design your cases to carry you through the holiday season and past Valentine’s day. Rather than traditional red and green, opt for silver and gold accents. Choose jewelry boxes, ribbon, and tissue that can be dynamic and will blend into the next selling season. Displays in moon glow and pecan shell are versatile and can provide that perfect wintry feel, while still showing their style well into Valentine’s Day and beyond. Allow your décor to bleed from one season to the next, saving you time and money and allowing you to focus on more important things, your customers.
Sign here
Make holiday shopping efficient by adding signage to your cases. This creates a distinction by calling out product trends, such as engravables, two-stone designs, or stackables. You can also use signage to group products by price point. This will help your customers, as well as sales associates, find the perfect match, especially when looking for ideally priced gifts.
Arrange your products in a way that is easily navigable to make shopping a breeze. Separate your products by assigning each type to its own case located in different areas of your store. Grouping by ensembles will give you the power to cross-sell to your customers. By displaying coordinated combinations like a ring, necklace, and earrings, it’s easy to visualize just how great pieces look when worn together, fueling the desire for more jewelry. Groups of three are visually pleasing and are easy on your customer’s eye. Be sure to use risers to elevate your most popular styles, enhancing their focus and drawing your customers to the featured product of your choosing.
Loosen up
For a unique shopping experience, display a few diamonds and gemstones in your case using gem jars or loose stone towers. This builds a visual aspect and allows the customer to see the stone in detail and pair it with a mounting of her choosing. It also gives an opportunity for upselling, where your customer may buy an aquamarine ring today with the opportunity to replace the center stone with a sapphire or diamond later down the road.
Also, create an interaction with your guests and sell your stones with a story. Presenting loose gems to your customers opens an opportunity to sell with emotion. While handling diamonds and gemstones may become very routine for you, this might be the first time your customer has seen or held such a rare and precious treasure. A skilled presentation of the gem will intensify your customer’s desire to own one and will create a memorable, one-of-a-kind experience.
How do you attract customers through visual merchandising in your store? Let us know in the comments below!
