VISUAL MERCHANDISING IMPACT ON LIBERTY SHOE SHOP AND OBSERVATIONS OF VISUAL MERCHANDISING IN MEENAKSHI FAN HOUSE

BY S.PRASANNA 10MBA57

Under the guidance of Lecturer Mrs. T. MEENA, MBA, MFC.

Objectives of the study 1. To identify the influence made by the window display attracts the customer before entering the shop. 2. To examine the impact made by Lighting on consumer store preference 3. To find out the influence made by Product Display to encourage customers buying decisions 4. To evaluate the relative importance colors and themes of store premises on customers store choice behavior.

Business Description

Shop Type : Owner Name : Street : Description : Route : Tele Phone : Cell :

Electrical and house hold appliances. Meenakshi West Masi Street Its Very Big Electrical Shop in Madurai Opp to Raymond Showroom

9344100370

Email :

Kutti3@gmail.com

Products Fans - Ceiling Fans, Table Fans, Pedestal Fans, Wall Fans, Exhaust Fans, Other Fans Sewing Machines - Janome Automatic Computerized Janome Automatic Zigzag, Semi Zigzag Home Appliances - Kitchen Appliances, Electric Irons, Water Heaters, Room Coolers, Room Heaters Cook tops, Built-in-Hobs Cooker Hoods Engines And Pump sets, Diesel Engines, Kerosene Pump sets - Brands - Honda Electrical Motors And Pumps Water Coolers And Water Dispensers Auto Components Inverters and Home UPS Systems, Silent Generators, Brand - Usha, Zentra

Visual Merchandising in India Visual merchandising (VM) is a stores primary point of contact between product and customer. It displays and presents the product in such a manner that it convinces the customer of its value proposition and buy-a-bility. This art-for-commerce needs to be treated as long term investment for a store but in India this vision has yet to take off.

Shopper Expectations Entertainment Experience Value Added Information Commodity Transaction

Benefits for the shopper: Visual merchandising highlights the latest fashion trends. It makes it easier for the shopper to find goods as per category. Visual merchandising also helps the shopper to co-ordinate various goods and accessories. It helps the shopper visualize how the product will look on him or how the particular home decor product can be displayed in his home. Visual Merchandising educates the customers about the products and services offered creatively and effectively.

Art of Visual Merchandising Clever and creative use of flooring, wall finishes, accessories and mannequins is a must. The merchandise must be the point of focus. Products can be showcased using mannequins, window displays, static POP displays, signs etc. The overall store may be demarcated into zones and separate methods can be used to make each zone appealing : Store front Signs, Marquees and Window displays can be used Store Interior Use of lights, floor & wall covers, colors and fixtures can be done. Overall store layout can be divided into selling area, merchandising area and customer area. Interior Display use mannequins and props to showcase different products in this section. Digital, Solvent, Eco-solvent printing and Posters, Blowups, Banner Stands, Glow signs, Scrollers, Canopies, Dispensers & Road signs can also be used for visual merchandising.

How to Visual Merchandise forhousehold appliances?

Pick up a theme after brainstorming about current trends, what products to be showcased etc. Different products like apparel, books, lamps, furniture, fashion accessories etc, all resonating the same theme, are displayed together in a room setting. Think of a color-combination ideally suited to your theme. eg. A modern theme display would require black, gray or pastel colors in the display theme. A display of babys accessories can use light shades of pink and blue colors. A Christmas display may have colors of red and green. A royal theme can have rich colors of maroon, gold, bronze and may be used for displaying jeweler. Put merchandise together according to categories like price, size, sex(mens clothing or womens clothing), type(home appliances or home decor) etc. Use appropriate lighting to create mood and enhance the display.

Develop effective POS(Point-of-sales) & POP(Point of purchase) solutions, seasonal events and promotions to stimulate shopping behavior. Make use of good store design, space planning and presentation expertise. Visual Merchandising can be extended to products beyond clothing and home decor to effectively showcase food products, baby products, cosmetics, home furnishings, electronics, wall decor, lighting and the like. Visual merchandising is practiced at retail stores, exhibitions, fashion shows, boutiques, museums etc. A proper mix of fashion design, interior design, architecture, lighting and music can be used for effective visual merchandising.

VM and Design What consumers notice first in a retail store? Well, it is the appearance of the store. The retail stores design creates the first impression upon the viewers mind. Nicely designed and well maintained retail stores attract the consumers. Here in this category, you will find articles with information on retail store designs and retail store visual merchandising.

Leaving behind democratised retail legacy Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, was a legend for beautifying technology. The man will also be remembered for amazing, mind blowing retail concepts. A tribute to this genius Customising persona Marketing apparel with Mannequins has been going on for ages, but never with the force that it has today. These "silent salespeople" allow your customers to envision themselves in the clothing displayed on the mannequins - and that visual sells clothing. Store layouts When setting up a retail store layout it is imperative to remember that image is absolutely everything. Atmosphere and irresistible visual merchandising displays are what attracts customers Importance of Store Designing A well-planned retail store layout allows a retailer to maximize the sales for each square foot of the allocated selling space within the store Mannequin Mystique New innovations have marked Mannequins, not just in terms of designs but also in their uses. Fit it right! The fitting rooms in retail, once the most ignored part of retail store has turned up as the point where customer makes actual decision to buy the product. Display does the magic A powerful window display increases the footfall Signature Fixture: Do it right! Match it with the brand-image. Innovation reaches try rooms! Try rooms are given a facelift to influence the purchase decision. Mannequins: sculptures of success

Mannequins have always been an influential aspect of every retail display. A meticulous and attractive exhibit of mannequins can help your customers zero-in on buying their preferred merchandise.

FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS: The meenakshi fan house is exclusively giving special individual spacious halls for fans, washing machine, mixies and grinders, electronics, LCD television. The visual merchandising in meenakshi fan house attracts very much because of the cleanliness and the style of displaying the products. The lightings and colors given inside the showroom is pleasant, due to the warm colors like white and mild colors. Tangles and promotion boards including offer displays are given special attention. They are particularly focusing on fans , electronics and washing machines, they are not giving that much attention for heaters , air conditioners, etc., It is easy to walk around and choose the product, ambience and the environment is good. Temperature inside the showroom is maintained cool and there are varieties of brands for every product. Especially Sony and Samsung products are promoted by boards and stickers in the electronic section. The window display shows the offers and new arrivals, it is a good marketing strategy. Employees are not explaining about the products They can give equal importance in visual merchandising for the products like airconditioners and heaters. Soft music can be played to create a better ambience They are not displaying the prices and brands for many products so that it will be convenient for the customers. They are displaying old models of household appliances too., this may give a different perception about the shop. Shopper Expectations

Company history: A success story originates in a vision. Liberty Group was the vision of three dreamers who thought of producing an Indian brand of footwear to make a basic necessity available to their countrymen. Mr. D P Gupta, Mr. P D Gupta and Mr. R K Bansal looked beyond the geographical boundaries and brought cutting-edge technologies to their own country. Soon the name, Liberty became synonym to quality in the domestic market and this encouraged the company to invest further for enhancing production capacities and to cater to the demand of international markets. Today, Liberty is not only about footwear. It has diversified into various sectors establishing an invincible business empire of prosperity. In the domestic market it is one of the most admired names that ensure quality. Liberty Group expanded and diversified into manufacturing of ceramic sanitary ware under the brand name Liberty Whitewear With innovations in bathroom

products and accessories that go beyond graceful lines, the company is setting new trends in Indian ceramic sanitary ware industry. In order to offer unusual shopping experience to the customers, the group also entered into retailing and set up stores in the major cities under the brand name, Liberty Revolution The Liberty Group is expanding with the passage of time and it is committed to venture into more business areas keeping abreast with the demands and needs.

Liberty Shoes opens store in Madurai On Sep 28, 2010 Liberty Shoes Ltd has opened its first exclusive store near Town Hall in Madurai. The opening of the outlet is part of an expansion plan to increase the presence in south India by Liberty Shoes.

the main display plan is that the outlet showcases a complete range of footwear and accessories for men, women and children with more than 20,000 pairs and over 1,000 designs for every individual in formal, sports and casual wear, prices ranging from Rs 99 to Rs 2,699.

Speaking about the expansion plan, he said, more outlets would be opened in Tirunelveli, Thanjavur, Erode and Salem.

Introduction: Visual merchandising is creating visual displays and arranging merchandise assortments within a store to improve the layout and presentation and to increase traffic and sales. Elements of Effective Visual Merchandising

Balance: Asymmetrical rather than symmetrical balance with the display. Size of Objects: Place the largest object into display first. Color: Helps set mood and feelings. Focal Point: Where product and props/signage and background come together. Lighting: Should accent focal point, if possible. Simplicity: Less is more so know when to stop and don't add too many items.

Once the display is finished, add appropriate signage. Take photos of the display and keep record of the product sales during the display's existence. Save your information in a file folder for easy reference. By documenting its success, you can re-create the display next year or if it flops, you can make sure you don't repeat the same mistakes. Like any other aspect of retailing, creating an attractive display takes a little skill and lots of trial and error. As your store changes, so will your opportunities for visual displays. Keep working at designing eye-catching and innovative ways to make your retail store profitable through visual merchandising. Use accent lighting to feature products. Customers are drawn to light. Lighting can make products shine and bring colors to life. Using this visual merchandising tip to wash a display wall with light will enhance any product. Accent lighting creates visual interest for shoppers, and magically puts products in their sight. Once a product has captured a customers attention the odds are increased that a purchase is at hand. This visual merchandising tip will impact your customers impression of their shopping experience and your profits.

Change displays weekly. This visual merchandising tip reminds us that customers want to see new and different products. There is an aspect of entertainment and education that customers

appreciate when stores change their displays. Stores that dont change their displays weekly will have customers simply walking past displays that are no longer fresh. If the customers have seen the same end cap for the last six weeks, the displays are no longer new or relevant to them. These stores will not reap the potential rewards of incremental or add-on sales and can lose out to their competition. If the competitor down the street is constantly and creatively changing their visuals, there is a good chance shoppers will gravitate to that store. Color matters. Visual merchandising tips like this one are at the core of any solid merchandising plan. Color can demand a shoppers attention, evoke emotion and influence decisions. Your merchandising plan should include bright colors not only for displays or end caps, but also for the middle of aisle runs. Visually painting your store with colorful focal points will help draw shoppers to those key areas. Merchandising themes. Consider grouping themed products together for powerful visual messages. Theme merchandising is a fun way to communicate seasonal activities or other information. If your store is a hardware store, use garden gloves, flower bulbs, decorative pots, hand gardening tools, and potting soil to get your sales started for spring. Outdoor grilling displays are great themes for grocery stores and home centers. Backyard chefs will be attracted to every item in your display. Themes connect customers to projects or activities, and as a result, connect their spending to your profits.
Window display
Lighting

Lighting

Visual Merchandizing

Store Choice Behavior

Product Display

Colors and themes

Impact of window display

28% 72% 1 2

72 % respondents are strongly influenced 28% respondents are not influenced Impact of lighting

48% 52% 1 2

52 % respondents are strongly influenced 48% respondents are not influenced

Impact of product display

40% 60% 1 2

60 % respondents are strongly influenced 40% respondents are not influenced Impact of background colors and themes

32% 1 68% 2

68 % respondents are strongly influenced 32% respondents are not influenced

Impact of visual merchandising

32%

68%

1 2

68 % respondents are strongly influenced 32% respondents are not influenced

FINDINGS Another important finding was that all variables of visual merchandising are having more responses for the all age categories, gender, occupation, and education levels. That means except any demographic difference, customers are considering visual merchandising as the important factor in their store choice decisions. Actually in this store the shoes, slippers and other sandals are separately displayed according to the demographic levels like women, men, kids. And also according to the age differences like formal shoes for working men , sports shoes for youngsters and flats and heels for young ladies. And also for certain new arrivals they are displaying on the front of the store. For the high priced items they are showing the whole view with the 3600 and 1800 angles of view. The exclusive collections of shoes are placed before the glasses with different lightings.

Influence

No. Respondents

of Strongly Influenced

Not Influenced

Impact of window display

50

36

14

Impact of lighting Impact of product display

50 50

26 30 16

24 20 34

Impact of background colors and 50 themes Impact of visual merchandising 50

34

16

RECOMMENDATIONS The research findings of present study have more practical orientation and which is important for the marketers in supermarkets sector. Hence, the study recommends the following. 1. Visual merchandising is the most important variable in in-store environment among the tested variables. It can significantly influence on consumers store choice decisions. Therefore, application of more attractive visual merchandising materials in their promotions will help to obtain better results. The lighting, Design layout and cleanliness are the key elements of visual merchandizing programs other than product display. 2. Most of customers are willing to purchase products from supper markets from 6.00p.m. to 9.00p.m. in weekdays and 10.00a.m. to 8.00p.m. in weekends. Therefore, managers can pay special attention to make attractive environment in the store and make action to control the rush condition. 3. Spaces between shelves, height of shelves, height of roof are key variables of design layout that helps to make customer relaxation, convenience to selection of products, reduce average waiting time and encourage the impulse purchasing etc. 4. When designing the product display, branch manager should pay special attention on category layout, Light ceiling, color separation, lighting box, category name of product shelves. 5. Damaged items on the shells and dust will make bad image towards the supermarket outlets and design of floor tiles can make significance influence to feeling of pleasure at shopping time. 6. Majority of customers respond to the lighting more positively. They specially mentioned that lighting helps to select correct products, reduce the time wasted and feel relaxation during the shopping tours. Therefore managers can select appropriate lighting system

that creates satisfaction of psychological needs of customers. 7. Even though there is no significant correlation between in-store fragrance and store choice decisions, most of the respondents mentioned that it is strongly influence on their

store choice decisions. Therefore, the consumers preference can be changed according to the in-store fragrance used in the store. If marketers change the fragrance strategically and use more favorable fragrance, it will be more significant to patronage customers towards supermarkets and maintain the freshness within the store. 8. The background music will also encourage customers to spend extra time in supermarkets. However, it has low significance relative to the other elements of in-store environment. It will help to encourage customers to make impulse purchasing decisions in stores. And also customers will consider the shopping in such a supermarket is one of entertaining exercise. The soft and classic music are highly recommended than other type of music.

QUESTIONNAIRE __________________________________________________________________________ Name: ____________________ Product/ Store details:1) Are you a regular customer of this shop? a) yes b) no 2) What makes you to purchase in this shop? a) Near by shop b) Visual merchandising c) Good quality of products d) Acceptable price 3) Are the products visually appealing? a) Yes b) No 4) Whether the window display attracts you before entering the shop? a) Yes b) No c) Sometimes 5) Have the lighting and background colors made a good impact? a) Yes b) No 6) How much you are satisfied with the product display of the store? a) Highly satisfied b) Satisfied c) Neutral Age:_______

d) Dissatisfied e) Highly dissatisfied 7) What type of products you prefer? _____________________________________________ 8) How often do you buy in this shop? _____________________________________________ 9) Your suggestions to improve the Visual merchandising of the shop: