Visual Merchandising/Promotions
Bailey, Chelsea, Kendra, & Nick
Entrepreneurship
Exterior Presentation
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Exterior signs - Many signs will be competing for customer’s attention. Therefore, your design
and logo are more important than ever. They should be unique, noticeable, and readable.
Marquees - Used to announce a change in seasons, a special event, or a promotion.
Banners - An inexpensive but colorful, eye-catching means of promotion. However, you should
not overuse banners otherwise shoppers will begin to stop noticing them.
Awning - Provide customers with protection from weather and makes viewing the window
display more pleasant. Also it reduces heat, cuts down on glare and reflection, and prevents
fading of the merchandise from exposure to sun.
Walks and entries - Protects customers from bad weather and can appear as an aesthetic of
the building. But, you should make sure that you are being consistent with the
architecture of the building.
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Landscaping - Plants will lead to a positive community reputation by adding beauty to the town.
But, be sure to have a low maintenance landscape.
Window Displays - Most important form of advertising. You have 11 seconds to attract the
attention of a customer and invite them into your facility.
Principles of Design
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Interior Presentation - Your goal should be to motivate your customers to spend money, project
the image of the store, and keep expenses to a minimum.
Display Design - You have 3-8 seconds to attract a buyer, so display should have a theme that
draws interest.
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Balance- Make sure your displays have an equal placement between products.
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Emphasis- Have one focal point that leads customers eyes through the display.
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Proportion- Products should have a comparative relationship of distances, sizes, amounts,
degrees or parts.
Color and Lighting
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Color - Warm colors (red, yellow, beige, etc.) make a room feel small and merchandise look
bigger. Cool colors (blue, green, violet etc.) make a room feel larger and more spacious. Blue
calms and encourages conversation. Green stimulates conversation and makes environment feel
tranquil. Red excites, invokes aggression, and makes time appear as though it’s going by slowly.
Yellow boosts morale, draws attention, and encourages happiness.
Lighting - Helps to draw attention to merchandise. Shoppers’ eyes will gravitate to the brightest
item in the store. It also will help to direct customers through your store.
Visual Merchandising/Promotions
Bailey, Chelsea, Kendra, & Nick
Entrepreneurship
Props, Fixtures, and Signage
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Props - Used to compliment merchandise and draw customers’ attention to the surrounding area.
Merchandise and Fixture Display Recommendations - Should compliment merchandise along
with the atmosphere. Should act as a silent salesperson by promoting the merchandise.
Fixture Placement - Aisle width should be 4-8 feet as required by State Law. Also there should
be 3 feet between racks.
Interior Signage - Store signage will help to promote sales without the use of a salesperson. It
makes customers aware of the departments offered and what items are located in each aisle.
Errors Commonly Occurring in Displaying
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Too Much Merchandise - Shelves should not appear crammed with product.
Too Little Merchandise - You don’t want your store to look like it’s going out of business.
Too Many Props - You don’t want your customer confused on which item that you’re selling
and which item is just a prop.
Poorly Selected Props - Make sure that props are within the season and appeal to your target
market.
Limited/No Display Budget - Make sure that you have enough money to be creative and come
up with a good theme.
Lack of Attention to Detail - Make sure that displays are clean, neat, and orderly. Also make
sure that all items are tagged with prices and sales promotions
Visual Merchandising Display
Buddy
Visual Merchandising/Promotions
Bailey, Chelsea, Kendra, & Nick
Entrepreneurship
For our business we chose to display our dog treats in the form of a dog house. This display is
consistent with the “dog” theme and will correspond with the interior design of our business. The frame
of our display, that is unable to hold dog treats, will be painted yellow to match the box of dog treats.
Also, yellow is a warm and inviting color so by painting the frame yellow we will be able to draw
attention to our dog treats and provide customers with an uplifting experience.
The decision to build this dog house to display our dog treats can be handmade and all equipment
needed can be bought right at The Home Depot. The equipment we will need in order to build our display
is some plywood, nails, and a gallon of paint. The cost of these items will be:
(3) Plywood- $14.95/sheet
Nails- $2.68/pound
Paint- $27.98/gallon
This display will have a total cost estimate of $90.46+tax.
Promotional Information
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Events- The dog walking business could have a presence at local events (for example, the Grand
Affair), whether it is through an actual booth or simply sponsoring to get their name on event
literature. This style of promotion for one’s business is a good fit for a city like Wisconsin
Rapids.
Chamber of Commerce Membership- Joining the Chamber allows a business to gain exposure,
increase community involvement, utilize the Chamber’s business services, and gain networking
opportunities.
Promotional Items - Whether it’s leashes and water bowls for the dogs or calendars and pens for
the owners, getting promotional items with your business’s logo and information into the
community is always a positive promotional device.
Loyalty Programs - Customer retention should be a primary focus as a small business, as it costs
more to attract new clientele than it does to retain current customers. Having some form of
loyalty program in place increases the business’s attractiveness to potential and current
consumers alike.
Coupons - While they no longer have the prevalence they used to with the decline of the
newspaper, coupons are still capable of promoting a business. Online coupons that the customer
prints are a possibility, additionally given the nature of our dog walking business putting print
coupons in the Daily Tribune would be a fine investment.
Community Involvement - Sponsoring a little league team with the business’s name, or even
hosting a dog walking seminar would both be ways to get our business’s name into the
community.
Free Trials - In this economy, people are more comfortable purchasing a product or service that
they have previously utilized, so giving two free walks (and returning with a happy and wellexercised dog) could be a great promotional tool.
Email Contact - Having a contact list of potential clients is an important asset, and can be
difficult to obtain. So we would offer value to our clients in exchange for their email; in the form
of a branded email in which we could extend special offers, company news, and information that
would be important to dog owners (reminder of seasonal issues such as fleas/ticks, food
recommendations, etc.).
Visual Merchandising/Promotions
Bailey, Chelsea, Kendra, & Nick
Entrepreneurship
Five Promotions with Costs
1. The following coupon, which would cost us two weeks’ worth of income multiplied by the
number of people who redeemed it.
2. Chamber of commerce membership; which would cost $220 yearly if we only had one full-time
employee and $250 if we had five. The membership form can be found at
http://www.wisconsinrapidschamber.com/join-us.
3. Promotional items, specifically a doggie waste disposal bag dispenser (branded with our logo). If
we purchased 250 to give away (keeping a couple to be used by our on-duty walking staff), the
cost would be $322.50 plus shipping. http://www.epromos.com/product/8841453/pet-wastedisposal-bag-custom-dispenser.html
4. Event participation (using the Grand Affair as the pricing example) in local happenings is a great
way to interact with potential customers and promote a business. The Grand Affair’s prices (as of
2012) were $40 for a 12’ x 12’ booth; additionally you can co-sponsor the event to get your name
on the literature. (For the Grand Affair, $100 sponsorship gets your business listed on the
sponsor board at the event and verbal recognition. For $300, you get both of the previously
mentioned perks plus recognition in the “Heart of Wisconsin Pulse of Progress”, verbal and logorecognition in pre-event advertising, and recognition in the Heart of Wisconsin Annual report.
5. A loyalty program (similar to the old Subway stamp cards) is a good way to promote the
business; a potential mock-up is below (the cost is a week’s worth of walking for free multiplied
by the number of customers participating).
Visual Merchandising/Promotions
Bailey, Chelsea, Kendra, & Nick
Entrepreneurship