Visual appeal

HE thriving Indian retail industry has led to a stiff competition among the Indian and foreign retailers to attract and retain customers. This competition has given rise to a new breed of retail staff – retail experience managers or visual merchandisers. Their job is to focus on the design and merchandising aspects of the retail business. In this tug-of-war between numerous stores, the display and arrangement within the store becomes the best way of attracting eyeballs of the potential customers. After all it’s all about catching their attention! The window displays of the storefront are the initial point of interaction with a potential customer. “Like in the West, the concept of store design and window displays is catching up fast in India.

The customers now demand international shopping experience and visual merchandising plays a major role in customer satisfaction,” says Deepak Seth ,group chairman, House of Pearl Fashions. Visual merchandising has emerged as the most important arm in retailing, but it is still establishing its identity in Indian market. Many confuse it with the art of window display. However, contrary to the belief, window display is a very small part of visual merchandising.

“These days it’s the packaging that counts. When you present a gift to someone, it’s the packaging that creates the first impression. Customers are not willing to buy the products unless the stores show them in an appealing way. The stores in turn are willing to hire professionals to attract customers,” says Sunil Sethi of Alliance Merchandising Company. A good display means the store cares about entertaining, informing and educating the customers. It has become the best method of increasing sale worldwide. “In the West, stores are spending lots of money on Christmas decoration to come up with the most attractive window. The stores present to sell. In fact when companies make a presentation to the franchises, they do it visually now which gives the store insights,” says Mr Sethi.

With globalisation and intense competition, Indian market is waking up to the need of the industry. “There is a huge demand for professional visual merchandisers, who would be able to fulfil the need of the retail industry. Visual merchandising will further pick up as the number of malls go up,” said Dr Sanjay Gupta, chairperson of fashion textiles at National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT). NIFT offers a wholesome course in fashion communication that also includes visual merchandising. “It’s the way you communicate with the customers. The demand for visual merchandiser has picked up over night as the retail sector opened up. However, it’s not only in retail, but also in the fashion industry that one needs visual sense. Colours are an integral part of the fashion merchandising and unless you have a visual sense to arrange them, you cannot lure customers,” he says.

Seeing the demand, Pearl Academy of Fashion has tied up with Pantaloon Retail Industry(PRIL) for recruiting retail experience managers. “A customer has more choices and retailers are trying to grab their attention. Merchandising is an integral component of the business image. This course will help in providing creatively inclined employees with a skill-set, best suited to catering to the need of the industry,” says AKG Nair group director Pearl Academy of Fashion (PAF). PAF will soon start this six-month long course in visual merchandising dealing with the nuances of spatial and structural dynamics, creative design processes and understanding of materials. Pantaloon would provide on-the-job training and opportunities for projects at any PRIL stores or offices.

At the end of the course, the retailer would extend an open offer to students with an aboveaverage performance to join it. “The industry today needs trained retail experience managers who know how to communicate with the customer. We want to produce experience retail designers who are more sensitive and know how to connect brands to customers. It means implementing both push and pull strategy. Any touch point between the store and the customer should be regulated properly and this is what this course aims at,” says Vishal Kapoor experience design chief PRIL. As a result of this tie-up, PRIL gets trained retail experience managers and PAF will get the first hand information about the customers’ response to Pantaloon stores.

The course will look at holistic development, taking into account ambiance, conducting and packaging and the way employees communicate with the clients. “Visual merchandising and design play a major role in connecting customers to the brand or store,” said Mr Nair. For instance, the whole ambiance in a designer apparel shop should convey the feel of design-focused outlet. Retailers know the impact of a store’s atmosphere on its financial performance. Minute details, ranging from music to visual display of products in the store, exercise great influence on the whole shopping experience of the customers. With tough retail competition, a retailer cannot ignore something as important as visual merchandising. Retail outlets are now looking at visual merchandisers to provide the edge as far as visual display is concerned. The customer attitude has changed because of the number of options available and this has created a bright future for visual merchandising.