This is the reason why product display skills have become a necessity for a business to make good sales. Goods that are well displayed and located in near the front of the store encourage consumer to purchase then even if the items are not on the consumer’s shopping list.

This is also the reason why retailers nowadays are seeking experts advice on how to display their goods, and developed planograms which identifies the location of the merchandise to assure that every area in the store is maximized for higher profitability.

People buy when they see it, leave when they don’t

The shopper who comes in your store might have set in his mind what he needs to buy and if he cannot find it in your store, he will transfer to the next store.

If you want to highlight certain range of merchandise, make sure that it visible even from far when a person is within the store. This saves the customer a lot of time and agony of finding the item that the shopper wants. Poor visibility can make the customer leave without buying.

Most of the clothes stores have transparent walls. This allows the consumer to view the product from outside. People who do not know which store stocks their favorite clothes can also locate them easily.

Clothes are also hanged for the buyer to have a good view. You cannot put clothes in a box and expect people to buy.

Shoppers are uncomfortable when they are choked

The store should have enough space. This allows the customer to walk without been blocked inside your self-service store.

Another customer can also pass freely without have to push a person out of the way when you put enough distance between your gondolas or block displays.
Consider the size of the trolley, shopping baskets and shipping bags that your shoppers carry when setting up your floor plan.

People buy more when items are grouped

You might not that a man who buys jeans also needs a new belt until he picked the belt up when he saw it being display beside the jeans.

Not just complementary items but also similar items that are placed on the same shelf or near each other encourages shopper to buy more. For example, bath soaps are placed together on one shelf and next to it are shampoos, and next hair get, deodorant, toothpastes and so on. This makes the buyer choosing process with ease.

Shoppers get frustrated when products are out of stocks

Imagine what would you feel when you’re very excited to watch the Wolverine 3 but when you arrived at the counter to buy a ticket, old seats are sold out. Most likely you’ll be frustrated, don’t you?

Similar feeling your customers would have when they are excited to buy an iPhone 6, I mean iPhone 5, yet it is out of stocks.

Demand of a commodity also influences display. Quick moving products are placed where they can be located easily. For example, clothes and shoes that are on fashion are placed at the window while others are placed further inside.

Consumers’ purchasing behavior is also influenced by the store atmosphere, Levy and Weitz (1995). So we look forward that the atmosphere of your store and the way your merchandise are being displayed could turn your undecided shoppers to on the spot buyers.

Featured image: By JRLibby (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Operating a business is already difficult in itself and the above mentioned case is added to the burden. Making sure that the operation will lead to business profitability requires even more effort and tactics. Check out some of these concepts below on how to increase retail sales.

Power-up Your Silent Salesperson -Visual Merchandising

You can find a lot of posts from this blog that discusses about importance visual merchandising in an offline  retail business and how it contribute to boosting sales. Feel free to explore this blog for more VM and window display articles.

Keep in Mind that Price is Not Everything

In a retail business, a slight adjustment in price could mean a profit or a loss for products being sold. The strategy on how pricing is done is too complex and depends on different businesses and market. The point that needs to be emphasized here is that one should value products on price and face value alone.

Most consumers will keep talking only about price but value can be found in other aspects such as convenience and quality of service, thus affecting retail sales pricing.

Controlling the Cash Flow

This is a business management basic but needs to be mentioned. More sales mean higher returns but conversely, higher returns can also be a result of lessened expenses. This is not to suggest going for cheaper options. Just be keen in putting more value on every dollar you spend you’re your business.

Expanding Network by Following the Pareto Principle

Time is very limited especially for businessmen. One way of being efficient in managing time is following the 80/20 rule or the Pareto principle. One business owner will not have enough time creating new connections personally even with the aid of social networking.

By simply choosing the best people to build connections with will lessen the time spent on extending the business network. So choose those people who can be considered as connectors. Connectors will do the creation of network for you by building bridges between you and your target market.

Spending More on Marketing

Common among business owners is the thought that the only ways to increase retail sales are to lessen expenses and increase sales. Before a person takes on a business, he should have an understanding that profits come with risks. If a person is not willing to risk and play on chances, being successful in getting higher returns is impossible.

Spending money for advertising is risky because it creates no guarantee in increase retail sales. And with that, you are bound to lose money for the advertising expenses. But to get the best marketing results, remember that cheap money will not buy you any kind of honest service.

Create Incentives for Your Customers

A simple token for loyal customers will keep them loyal with a company. This strategy does not need to force the business to give incentives to every customer that the company has. Random events such as raffle prizes or loyalty points send good message that there is an interest in keeping a good relationship with all the customers.

Use a Good Incentive Strategy for Your Sales Staff

These are the people that interact directly with customers. Business owners usually miss to see the value on these people. This kind of relationship the employer creates with his employees is then reflected on how most sales staff interacts with customers.

A business puts high value for customers, but if the front liners don’t feel the same way, the business is bound to fail. Incentivize sales staff especially those who represent your goals towards the customers you have.

Image: Money Pounds by George Hodan

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Written for The Creativity Window by a Guest Writer.

I do not know what came in her mind to post that kind of update, but it make sense. Food on ads are well-styled while the actual products in fast food counter have not. That is why the burger in an ad rally looks delicious. Let us talk more about that below.

After few years that digital DSLRs were available in the market, many people have taken to photography as a hobby and are getting good results. The cameras available in the market now are of high quality and help the photographer capture the real essence of the image being photographed.

Although, the normal scenes captured are people and places, food is the new item being clicked by many. The evidence can be found your Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, Picasa and different blogging platforms.

In its commercial sense, food photography is done carefully. It is done with group of professionals including nutrition specialist, food-stylist, chef and the photographers. The health benefit, taste and beauty are being looked into before deciding to publish the picture.

But since we starting to learn the Art of Food Photography, let us start from the basics.

Common Food-styling Techniques

There many tricks in food photography to make a yummy-looking food photographs, and some of them are consolidated on this five techniques below.

1. Apply artificial steam. Use nebulizer (a device that converts liquid into a fine spray like humidifier), combination of chemicals,  cigarettes, smoke pellets, incense stick or hot wet cotton balls to create steam effects.

2. Make it fresh. Spraying food with water or other liquid like corn syrup or cooking oil to enhance the freshness of the subject. Use blanched vegetables instead of completely cooked once. To avoid the sliced fruit and vegetables turning into brown quickly, dip them into water with little amount of oxalic acid.

3. Use substitutes. Heavy cream or white glue instead of milk when shooting with cereals; icing instead of real ice cream; acrylic cubes (see photo above) instead of ice cubes ; motor oil for dark syrup and many other substitute.

4. Fasten the parts. Pins, toothpicks and glue are most popular materials to use to ‘pose’ the food in front of your camera. Tiny parts like sesame on a burger bun can be glued while little bit larger like raising and berries can be pinned.

5. Enhance the color. Browning agent can be used but if you are not satisfied with the result, you can manually paint the it using food coloring. Other photographers uses shoe polish for this purpose like what Haje Jan Kamps says. For beverages that are too dark, water is being mixed to lighten the color and add sparkle to it.

Food Photography Tips

Aside from the techniques that are presented above, I have here additional tips to make food shooting interesting and produce more appealing shots.

1. Consult the graphic designer and concerned individuals.  Before you start your shooting, know the purpose of the photos. Is it for a menu, for cook book, stock photos, poster, banner or what? In case that the it the photos are to be incorporated in a graphic design, consult the graphic designer of what particular shot he or she needed for the project.

Maybe the the food is needed to be shoot in white background, in narrow depth of field or perhaps the crisp details are necessary.

2. Choose appropriate tableware and cutlery. Always remember that the food is the star of the shot, not the surroundings. So, instead of using expensive and decorative China ware that draws the attention away from the dish, a subtle plain self colored plate makes the dish visually appealing.

If you can notice in cookbooks and stock photography sites, white tableware and stainless cutlery are being used.

3. Use less food.  We all hate getting small portions of food when we are eating in a good restaurant but there is a reason for this. Serving food in small amounts makes the plate look neat and thus makes the food more appealing. The same goes with photography of food as the clean background of the plate provides a great frame for the perfect shot.

4. Contrast with background.  When clicking for food styling for product photography, setting contrast into the shot is very important. When the food on the plate is vibrant and colorful, the background should be a plain white. In the same way, for pale looking food, a dark background makes the dish come to life (not literally).

5. Allow natural spilling.  Spilling of food can make the dish look untidy and dirty but natural spilling or sprinkling of food adds a bit of freshness to the shot. But note that this should not be overdone if not it will look too messy. There is a fine line between styling and mess.

6. Use paper for texture. A clean pate looks appealing but sometimes can look boring. Food styling for product photography requires the viewers to shift their full attention to the shot. Paper adds texture to the plate and the dish and gives it a rustic look that can never go out of style.

7. Emphasize on the beauty of natural food. Do not over the food styling tricks that are being mentioned above. When people order something, they should get what they have pictured in their heads and not something totally different. This is very crucial when you are shooting for a menu book.

Keeping the natural beauty of the dish is very important. An example of this is keeping a roast duck whole instead of carving it into tiny bits. Bear in mind that people will at least get what they see – do not exaggerate your styling.

8. Consider work-in-progress shots.  We mainly focus on the finished dish and forget what it took to get there. Getting some pictures of the process of cooking the dish is also very important. The preparation and cooking process are good shots for food styling for product photography.

9. Be ready for ideas all the time.  A photographer must be ready for any kind of instance. While eating, a great idea may pop up and the photographer must be prepared for the shot. The best shot is not a pre planned one.

10. Eat and shoot again. Taking breaks is the best way to get ideas into your head. Go to a café or a snack bar and have a bite of something and I assure you something will hit you for an amazing shot. A good photographer never goes hungry.

Bonus Food Photography Tips

Take advantage of the ‘Photoshop’ power. If you have good Photoshop skills, you have one leap ahead of the crowd. The tricks and special effects on the photo can be easily added in the using Adobe Photoshop.

If your shooting props, material and equipment are not enough, Photoshop can surely help you to achieved the kind of photo you wanted to have. Think about this things:

• Think about adding artificial smoke in using the your computer instead of using chemicals during shooting time.
• Shoot the product in plain-colored background, white in particular, and simply change that background with a desirable one using the editing software.
• Cleaning of unwanted elements is also easy in Photoshop.
• Lens blur and tilt-shift? Of course, Photoshop can do that.
• Morphing, adjustment on color, contrast and brightness, noise reduction, temperature, monochromatic effects are only some of the basic things you can do for your image in Photoshop.

These were just a few basic techniques for food styling and product photography tips. Following these simple steps will definitely give you a good shot for your products. So, go ahead and keep clicking. Cheese!

Photo Credits:

• Ice Cubes by Darren Hester (Openphoto.net) [CC-BY-SA-2.5], via Wikimedia Commons
• Food photography demo by Elke Wetzig (Elya (talk)) (Own work) [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons
• Beef dish, free photo from iStockphoto.com

If you have ever visited the ‘Visual Merchandising’ page of (English) Wikipedia, I am sure that you have as well seen this picture because it is located at the right side of the page.

If you have tried searching the term ‘visual merchandisng’ on both Google web and images search, this picture is visible on the first page of the search results.

I am happy to say that this photo is from one of our projects if past years.

Hence these diagrams have become an important part of strategic planning and development of the retail industries around the world. Specially it’s considered as the most important part of visual merchandising. Almost all leading brands hire high quality R&D professionals to prepare a complete layout of their retail store plan.

Planogram in Retail: why it is important in retail industry?

Retail industry predominantly uses the concept of planograming. They have been using the concept since a long time. Depending on the type of business, products and stores, these diagrams may vary. These diagrams are considered as highly specific and powerful indicators. Sales volume of a specific product in a superstore or retail chain shop reflects the efficiency of a planogram.

Fast moving consumer items and related retailers focus on preparing planograms with text and box-predominant to ensure proper space optimization, inventory management and profit margins. In the other hand, apparel retailers and manufacturers pay more attention to visual representation of the products to be sold to ensure better illustration and identification.

Depending on the market requirements, planning and business strategies, the planograms are prepared using few basic concepts and theories. Visual products are placed according to horizontal, vertical or block placement theories whereas commercial placements primarily depend on market share and margins.

These planograms are known for their major functions which are termed as derivative targets in retail industries. These derivative targets are fixed by the researchers and retail leaders around the world. These targets play crucial role in merchandising and hence considered as the backbone of planogram in retail.

• Maintenance, communication and setup of the merchandise
• Efficient inventory management
• Effective use of space and other infrastructural resources
•  Facilitating proper mapping and planning of a retail store

Planogramming software: automating the complex procedure

Usually, the larger retailers hire retail professionals and expert planners to prepare these diagrams. After researching the market shares and other important factors, the experts prepare efficient visual representation of the products placed in a superstore.

However, the leaders in retail industry have started thinking about automating the process. They have started investing in software that can prepare planograms easily without experts. These software tools need exact data, facts and figures to prepare something very professional and highly effective.

There are literally hundreds of software tools available today. Among those, a few have become extremely popular and almost all retailer leaders are using those tools frequently.

RetailSmart is actually a firm that has developed a efficient tool for preparing planograms instantly depending on the data input. Another popular software is Capture Plan. Shelf logic and SmartDraw are also becoming very popular these days. These tools are developed by expert software developers and retail experts and they ensure exact precision that every retailer looks for!

The concept of planogramming is being used since a long time. This was a concept exclusively used by the market leaders and large chain retailers even a few decades back. But today, things have changed a lot and automated planogramming has made things a lot easier. Today, even the small, new retail brands are using the concept efficiently.

The ‘BEAUTIFUL – On or Off’ campaign, which was created by the communications agency adam&eveDDB, will entertain shoppers and commuters with a memorable augmented reality experience, which has been audio-enabled using Feonic’s Whispering Window invisible speakers.

The window displays have been designed to showcase the innovation of Smart TVs, including the latest voice and gesture control technology. From Friday 12th April until 7th May, people passing by the stores will be able to use the technology first-hand, and by integrating the Whispering Window technology, sound will be projected through the windows so everyone can hear what is being played through the Smart TVs.

The project has been led by TRO Group, which specializes in experiential marketing, retail activation and live event services for national and international brands. The Feonic installation has been managed by sound and communication specialists Orbital Sound, alongside event production company, EPMD.

The augmented reality component has been designed by creative technology agency, Inition, which has a strong focus on augmented and virtual reality and gestural interaction.

Continue reading the story >>

He received a Master of Science in sculpture from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1967 and  bachelor of arts degree in interior design the University of Washington in Seattle in the year 1960.

Here are some sample of his work from www.chihuly.com. You may visit the website to view more of his amazing projects or you can search on Google image the terms ‘Dale Chihuly glass sculptures‘ or ‘Dale Chihuly glass art‘.

Her is the list of the articles from the highest to lowest:

1. 9 Visual Merchandising Tips and Ideas for Retailers
2. How To Take A Screenshot On HTC Sensation
3. 36 Things a Visual Merchandiser Should Know How To Do
4. 2013 Pantone Color of the Year and Its Harmony with RGB & CMYK
5. 11 Questions to Test Your Common Sense and Tease Your Brain
6. 11 Window Display Essential Ideas You Need To Learn About
7. Key Elements of Visual Merchandising
8. 5 Product Display Ideas that Rock Sales

Don’t forget to take photo with Tom Cruise,  Morgan Freeman and the rest of the stars. ^_^

As usual, we have here green graphics which you can you for you  Eid al-Fitr celebration. You can also check the items that we published last year on the blog.

Download: Free Hari Raya 2013 Background

Keywords: Green free background fro Hari Raya Aidilfitri 2013

“I almost crashed all the bricks; only one more left but I have used all the moves,” he replied. With a little bit of confusion, I queried again, “What moves?” “I am playing Candy Crush Saga!” he answered then he explained the nature of the game.

Well, that the was the first time when I heard about the game that become after Temple Run become less interesting.

If it is your first time to hear about Candy Crush Saga (I presume), let us get to know about this game before you throw me the question what it is all about. The concept of the game is not new but there are only additional feature that make it unique.

You need to align three candies of the same appearance vertically or horizontally to crash them out. When those three candies are crashed, the items above them will move down. In case that you can align more than three candies ( four for example) of similar appearance, only three candies will be crashed and the remaining one will be transformed a special kind of candy that strongly blast when aligned with its group.

Your usual goal as player is to remove all the bricks and bring down all the ingredients like cherry and nuts within 50 moves (this is the highest move I know, I not sure if there are variation of it). When will be able to achieve your goal, you proceed to the next level.

On your first play, you are given 5 lives with 50 moves each. Every time you use your 50 moves with achieving your goal, you will start playing that level using another one of your available life. In event that use have used all you lives, you have the option for wait for another few minutes to gain another life or you can purchase a new set of lives for $0.99 or you can ask your friends on Facebook to give you life so that you can continue playing.

On the menu screen of the game, there is a track that shows which level you have rich. It is also shown in that track the levels where your friends on Facebook have reached. It is like a challenge for you to beat them.

Do I play Candy Crush Saga? Yes I do, but seldom and I am stuck on the level one. Haha!

How about you, what level are you in?