Display & Design Ideas - April 2009 - (Page 14)

14 | Quick Tips ways to deliver a shopper-friendly experience in jewelry retail C reating a meaningful experience for a jewelry shopper is not a simple formula. When dealing with emotional purchases, designers have to make choices carefully. Everything you do sets a course in motion that will inﬂuence the shopping—and hopefully purchasing— experience. This becomes increasingly important if shopping trips are few and far between, as they can be with today’s difﬁcult economic conditions. Here are a few guiding thoughts: Always remember the threshold factor. Create a friendly, inviting atmosphere. Too many jewelers put out a vibe similar to Fort Knox. Security is crucial, but intimidating your potential shoppers is counterintuitive and not necessary. If they don’t cross your threshold, they’ll never know what they’re missing. You have to make customers comfortable and conﬁdent about coming through your doors. Keep it simple. The store’s look and feel should be a cue for shoppers, telling them what they can expect from their experience. Let it become a tasteful backdrop that quietly fades away so the jewelry takes center stage. And don’t forget the chairs and rock-star service—you want them to stay, shop and be comfortable. Window displays of jewelry retailer Tivol. Cultivate relationships with brands. Many shoppers are looking for something special to catch their eye and may be persuaded by a strong visual display with a featured brand. Consider the shop-in-shop trend. Designating specific sections of the retail space for exclusive vendor displays is savvy. In-store shops are popping up everywhere and can create a point of difference for the store and increase repeat trafﬁc. Just be sure to choose a brand with a strong following. Leverage strengths. Identify the competitive advantage and design the store to highlight it. Is there a strong merchandise assortment? Develop a signature merchandising strategy to display wares. Is stellar service a deﬁning point? Splurge on nice chairs and other customerservice amenities. Be creative and give shoppers something to remember when they walk out the door. more. It is, however, necessary to provide adequate content to ensure shoppers receive key messages about sales, events or new brand or service offerings, so consider ways to consolidate that information for a clean, attractive look and feel. Always stay true to your brand’s voice, and you’ll get it right every time. —Katy Briggs is vice president, brand strategy at Kansas City, Mo.-based Willoughby Design. Her extensive brand and agency experience includes work for jewelry retailers such as Borsheim’s, Tivol, Whitehall Jewelers and Helzberg Diamonds. She can be reached at kbriggs@willoughbydesign.com. Messaging should be present, but not intrusive. Resist the temptation to go to extremes with too much signage and too many messages cluttering the display cases—less really is | April 2009 www.ddimagazine.com http://www.ddimagazine.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Display & Design Ideas - April 2009

Display & Design Ideas - April 2009
Contents
From the Editor
Newsworthy
Consumer Insights
Quick Tips
Greentailing
Editor’s Choice
Design Snapshot
Channel Focus: Jewelry
Harvey Nichols Jakarta
Historic Renovations
A.R.E. Design Awards
McDonald’s
Right Light
Product Spotlight
Calendar
Advertisers
Classifieds
Think Tank

Display & Design Ideas - April 2009