Unit 19: Visual Merchandising
and Display Techniques for
Retail Businesses
Assessor : Claire Stapley
Owned By: Neha Shanavas
★ Introduction to Businesses
The two contrasting businesses I have chosen are Ikea and Zara. While Ikea is a
furniture retail store, Zara is a clothing retail store.
IKEA - part of the homewear sub-sector
Ikea is a global home furnishings retailer that operates
internationally. It was founded by 17-year-old Ingvar Kamprad
in Sweden in 1917. They design and sell furniture, home
decor, home services, ready-to-assemble furniture, kitchen
appliances, and various other services. Ikea has 422 large
stores in more than 50 markets. Ikea uses visual merchandising in a clever way by
using their layout to present their furniture in a desirable way so that consumers can
purchase it easily.
ZARA - part of the fashion sub-sector
Zara is a Spanish multinational retail clothing chain and
fashion brand. It was founded in 1974 by Amancio Ortega
and his wife, Rosalia Mera. It has almost 3,000 stores in 96
countries. They specialise in fast fashion for men, women,
and children. They sell products such as clothing,
accessories, shoes, swimwear, beauty products, and
perfumes.
★ Responsibilities and activities of the visual merchandisers
Ikea
The visual merchandisers' activities at Ikea include
using space, lighting, atmosphere, and other visual
elements to enhance a warm and appealing
atmosphere in the store. For example, they might
use lighting to highlight some of their new products.
Furthermore, they are responsible for collaboration
and negotiation with other departments, such as the
Finance Department, to set budgets.
Zara
In Zara, the visual merchandisers are responsible for creating eye-
catching products for window display and inspiring customers to
purchase these products. For example, they might have to decide
which clothes to display depending on the current fashion trends.
Furthermore, they also require team leadership skills since they
would manage a team of visual merchandisers to ensure that all
areas of the Zara store are visually appealing in addition to
aligning with Zara’s goals.
★ Explain how the size and sub-sector of retail outlets affect the work of
visual merchandisers
The size and sub-sector of Ikea and Zara have a significant impact on the work of visual
merchandisers, as the elements used to create effective displays vary greatly
depending on these factors.
Ikea
Visual merchandisers working at Ikea have
a more specialised role since Ikea is a
large company and has many different
sub-sectors within itself, such as the
furniture and kitchen departments. Since
Ikea is a large company, they can have
elaborate and eye-catching displays due to
more space, and their budget is also
higher. Furthermore, Ikea attracts a
broader range of people due to its vast and diverse products, which means that the
visual merchandisers will need to understand them better to gain customer satisfaction.
Hence, it also has to be ensured that the customers can easily navigate through the
store, find the departments they are searching for easily, and clearly navigate to the
checkout, as Ikea is a large store of 300,000 square feet on average. The visual
merchandisers will have to work with a wide variety of products and services, from
home accessories to lighting and storage solutions.
Zara
Zara is a relatively small store compared to
Ikea, which means that they do not require
as many specialised visual merchandisers.
They would be required to make creative
use of their space while still showcasing all
their products. The visual merchandisers
will also, like Ikea, have to work with a wide
range of products, from clothing to
accessories. They wouldn’t necessarily
have to be specialised as they would have
to manage multiple tasks. Furthermore, as
Zara is only targeting a specific target
group, they would only have to study them specifically to cater to their needs.
★ Analyse how the size and sub-sector of Ikea and Zara affect the activities
and responsibilities of visual merchandisers.
The size and subsector have a significant impact on the activities and responsibilities of
visual merchandisers.
Ikea operates large, multi-level stores with a wide range of product categories, including
furniture, home decor, and kitchen appliances. Due to the scale of Ikea's stores, visual
merchandisers must create complex store layouts and product displays to help
customers navigate the store easily while highlighting the company's products. The
different departments at Ikea, for example, the living room department or the kitchen
department, would require different visual merchandising techniques to showcase the
products in an appealing and informative manner to the customers.
Compared to Ikea, Zara, on the other hand, operates much smaller. This means it is
mainly focused on specific product categories, such as men’s or women’s clothing. As a
result, this causes visual merchandisers at Zara to require different sets of skills and
techniques. Their responsibility is to showcase their latest fashion trends and highlight
the features of their clothing that make them a unique brand. This could either be the
quality of the material or the design and details of the cloth. Additionally, their activities
could also include assisting with sales, managing inventory, and staying up-to-date with
fast fashion trends.
★ Explain the techniques used by visual merchandisers in two retail
businesses operating in different sub-sectors.
Both businesses, Zara and Ikea, use techniques in their visual merchandising, such as
window displays, store layout, interior displays, point-of-purchase displays, and lighting,
to attract more customers and increase their total revenue. However, how they use
them for their brand is what makes them different.
Ikea
Psychological techniques:
Ikea’s store layout is one of their most unique
visual merchandising techniques. They have one
direct path from the entrance to the exit with many
sub-sectors, such as bedding, kitchen, rugs, lighting,
desks, kitchen, etc. In order for one to exit, they have
no choice but to get past all these subsectors,
psychologically influencing them to get anything that
catches their eye before they exit.
- Ikea’s music is one of the key parts of the shopping experience. Music is
carefully chosen to create a pleasant and upbeat atmosphere. Depending on the
energy levels of the customers, the tempo and volume of the music are often
adjusted throughout the day.
Display Techniques:
Ikea creates various room settings, including
furniture, textiles, lighting and accessories,
arranging them in a visually appealing way to help
showcase their products. Through these fully-
furnished displays, customers are able to visualise
these products at their home, encouraging them to
buy the full set.
Furthermore, Ikea uses an “open sell” approach
where customers try and interact with the products
by themselves. Ikea displays these products in such
a way that it is easy to access and touch the
products or furniture the customers want to check
out.
Visual Techniques:
Ikea sales staff might use visual
techniques to personalise each
customer’s shopping experience. For
example, this may be done by creating
a virtual room plan using Ikea’s planning
tools and its various furniture products
to show the customer a customised
solution for their home.
Zara
Psychological techniques:
Lighting choices have an impact on the atmosphere, as they are used to express
energy and maximise visibility. Zara’s bright lighting is used to highlight all the vivid
colours, designs, and fabrics used
on the merchandise. The wall is one
of the most valuable areas at Zara,
so they strategically place all the pot
lights aiming at the wall.
Zara places their best-selling and
most popular merchandise, which is
Zara Women, on the right side of the
wall. The reason being that customers have a tendency to turn right when entering the
store, thus making the right side of the wall considered the highest sales area of Zara.
To make customers of Zara feel more at home, they have the Free-Form (Boutique)
Layout. Zara has its own radio, where they play top hits to make customers stay longer
and feel an attachment to their products.
Display Techniques:
- Zara uses their window display to show their latest
trends and collections. These window displays are
intended to catch the eye of the passers-by and
attract them inside the Zara Store.
- Another strategy Zara uses to make the most of the
wall is to light up the entire portion to attract
shoppers to that specific spot. The items often on
display in this spotlight section include the season's
trendiest trends or an entire shelf of shoes.
Visual Techniques:
One of the visual techniques that Zara heavily
relies on is their colour presentation. When a
customer is stuck trying to put together an outfit,
the appealing colour presentation provides them
with a better perspective to reassure their
preferences. In addition to, even if the customers
were simply browsing
When the customers are trying to put together a
specific outfit or have a particular image in mind, the attractive colour presentation gives
them a better perspective to reassure their desires. If customers are only casually
looking, the colour schemes persuade them to buy more than one item since the items
compliment each other well.
★ Describe the tools used by visual merchandisers in two retail businesses
operating in different sub-sectors.
Ikea
Ikea uses the visual merchandising tool of signage and
graphics to engage with customers and persuade them to
purchase their items. This is done through their large-scale
graphics and bold typography which brings attention and
emphasis to specific products that Ikea wishes to sell.
Ikea has wide isles which are typically wide
and spacious, making it easier for customers
to move around and browse. On top of that,
the customers feels a sense of openness and
makes the crowd feel less crowded in
general.
Ikea has both horizontal and vertical blocking which
helps Ikea organise their product display. Horizontal
blocking is the process of organising things according
to their purpose or category. For example, in Ikea all
the kitchen accessories would be displayed in a
horizontal manner or block.
Vertical blocking is the process of organising things
depending on their height or [Link] example of this
would be, in Ikea, there is a vertical block that displays
carpets of different lengths hung from the same rail. This
helps the customer easily compare the differences and
choose the best one that fits their preferences.
Zara
As Zara is in the sub-sector of fashion, they use different visual merchandising tools,
these include:
The use of mannequins is to showcase a brand’s clothes
and accessories, whereas the props are used to enhance
the mannequin display. In Zara, the use of fully-dressed
mannequins is to provide customers with entire outfit
ideas and to get more inspiration from how the
mannequin is displayed - whether it is sitting, standing, or
in any position.
Zara keeps a certain image by only using wooden hangers for all
their clothing, in addition to placing mirrors that reach from ceiling
to floor. The use of wooden hangers is to give customers a
luxurious and high-end feel in the store. Adding on to the use of
mirrors from ceiling to floor creates an illusion of space, which
makes the store appear bigger and gives customers a sense of
how Zara’s clothes look on their entire body, which can also
increase their confidence in their purchasing decision.
For Zara’s alignment of their products, they
use both horizontal and vertical; however,
they also have pyramid alignments. This
type of alignment helps the customer focus
on the main product, which is in the centre,
and then on to the other two potential
options, which are each different products,
on the lower platforms.
★ Analyse the benefits of using the different techniques and tools in both the
businesses
Ikea
- The benefit of using different techniques and tools at Ikea for customers is that it
stands out from other average furnishing retail businesses due to its different and
unique display rooms, making customers specifically attracted to Ikea.
- Continuing to utilise the good visual merchandising techniques and tools at Ikea
will encourage customers to visit again, and this provides the customers with the
latest updates on furnishing trends.
- This increases brand visibility and awareness for the company, maximises sales
for the producers at Ikea, in addition to improved marketing.
Zara
- Similar to Ikea, Zara will also stand out from other fashion retail businesses due
to the strong visual merchandising techniques and tools used. This helps to
create a strong impression of the brand for customers.
- Subsequently, this boosts their image, which attracts more people, thus having a
positive impact on the company.
- In addition, by using different merchandising techniques and tools effectively,
there might be increased customer traffic, and customers at Zara would be more
likely to make impulse purchases, thus increasing the total revenue for the
producers of Zara.
★ Evaluate the effectiveness of the businesses success of the activities,
responsibilities, techniques, and tools used by visual merchandisers in two retail
businesses operating in different sub-sectors.
Ikea and Zara have both incorporated a diverse range of visual merchandising to
engage with customers and create a memorable shopping experience.
In Ikea, the use of horizontal and vertical blocking is effective as it helps customers
easily navigate and find what they are looking for. Moreover, using fully-furnished show-
rooms for Ikea’s sub-sector is also effective as it supports open-sell displays. This leads
to increased customer satisfaction and sales.
Zara’s themed display is effective as it creates interest and excitement about their new
collections and products. Besides that, another effective tool they use is technology,
such as interactive screens and displays. This is effective as it builds a modern and
innovative customer shopping experience, which leads to business repeats and
customer loyalty.
In conclusion, for both Ikea and Zara, open- sell displays are the most effective. Since,
in Ikea, the show-rooms encourage open-sell displays, where customers interact with
and feel their products, which can make them feel connected to their products. Zara, on
the other hand, supports open-sell displays by encouraging their customers to try on
their products. Through this effective visual merchandising technique, both companies
are able to increase their sales and total revenue.
References
IKEA Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc.).
Banking & Business Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc.
Ikea | Company Overview & News Forbes. Forbes [Link] | Company Overview
& News Forbes. Forbes Magazine
Zara: latest news, analysis and trading updates | Retail Week
Working at IKEA | Visual Merchandiser Specialist
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