Visual Merchandising

All brands communicate their products and values through multiple channels: from traditional forms such as printed paper and participation in trade exhibitions, to more contemporary forms such as social media management and customer profiling. These different languages have one main goal: to sell, bringing the end customer to the store.

And what is the clients’ behaviour?

They read magazines, they follow facebook threads, perhaps they are even on pinterest and instagram, they inquire, stroll and shop online and in actual shops.
Customers live in a world of aesthetic solicitations and technical information that shape his imagination and which, in some way, they expect to find in the showroom.

And what happens there?
They park and get in.

Between these two actions taken for granted, there is a huge communication opportunity: the storefront window! Wherever your shop is located, it is itself a sales tool. It becomes part of the story started by the brands you sell in the most varied forms. So what do we need to do go on with the story? Here’s what Visual Merchandising professionals think. Let’s start by keeping in mind that the showcase has always been the store’s business card, the captivating incipit, to put it in literary terms. The showcase has three goals: to capture attention, to thrill and to bring customers into the shop.

Fashion and design companies all over the world make use of professionals (called visual merchandisers) to take care of the storefront windows design. Each stage of the commercial calendar (Back to school, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, sales, etc.) has its own dedicated showcase. Attention to details and the originality of the result are the basis of sales success. These dynamics also apply to our sector. The customers are always the same, they leave a Zara shop, where the shop windows are renewed at a dizzying rate, they enter an IKEA shop and feel part of that emotional world, then they come to our showroom … and what do they find? To answer this question, I was inspired by the exciting visit to the last Progetto Fuoco exhibition, where the display solutions were inspiring and of great quality. I am thinking of the minimal elegance and attention to detail of the Mcz stand, of the natural warmth expressed in Palazzetti’s showcases, of the skilful use of wallpapers and colour of Termorossi, of Nordica’s communication design, and to many other suggestions I saw during the exhibition.

Why not use these tips for inspiration?

If your shop has two storefront windows, you have the opportunity to recreate two settings seen at the exhibition. One setting can be dedicated to the world of wood stoves, the other to pellet stoves.
You can bring to your shop the emotions you have experienced. Keep in mind that your costumer is already accustomed to this type of language in other contexts, and he unconsciously searches for it when purchasing a product.
Fire evokes ancient emotions, no sector has such an attractive and meaningful ingredient at its disposal!
Nothing communicates more than a showcase with a working product, perhaps visible even in the winter evenings, in the dark, while, stuck in traffic, one thinks about being back home.
A well-furnished lit fireplace, a stove with a small setting, inspired by the many solutions seen at the exhibition, should welcome your client. In this way you can arouse the emotions experienced by visiting the Progetto Fuoco stands, increasing the desire to belong to that world, through the purchase of the displayed product. As an emotion must be kept alive by constantly restoring it, even the storefront windows must be updated during the year. It is important to provide for renewals, rotations depending on the commercial calendar: promotions, sales, Christmas, must find expression in the showcase. This will allow you to give a perception of renewal and to rotate the displayed product.
Keep in mind that consumers are always the same, whether they buy a stove or a shirt, in store or online. You have to put in place all the strategies to meet their needs.
You must create a contemporary and exciting shopping experience, which starts from browsing a website, goes through your shop window and ends with the enthusiastic review on Facebook of the new stove purchased in your shop.