Attracting the attention of shoppers in-store is extremely important. While more and more people are shopping online, brick and mortar retailers need to keep up with trends if they want to engage customers right at the point of purchase.
In this article, we are going to focus on the latest visual merchandising trends. We are going to talk about the best ways to display your merchandise if you want to catch the eyes of shoppers and keep them coming back.
What is visual merchandising?
Before we dive deeper into the latest trends, let’s do a short recap on visual merchandising. Visual merchandising is a marketing strategy in which retailers arrange products in such a way that attracts the attention of shoppers and increases the chances of them purchasing a product.
Visual merchandising also helps customers easily find what they are looking for. An attractive display, a catchy end cap, or a perfectly arranged shelf are just parts of the visual merchandising assets retailers use to attract attention.
Why is it important to leverage visual merchandising inside your store? Because 90% of the information sent to the brain is visual. People don’t really remember the text on a display, but they can remember the color or the way the products were arranged. Also, shoppers easily remember which aisle is the one for cleaning products and which one is for snacks. That’s why changing aisles with regularity is not a great idea.
Tokinomo tip: Read our article on The Power of visual merchandising in grocery stores for more insights on the topic.
Since brick-and-mortar retailers are “fighting” with eCommerce platforms that can change the design and don’t need to arrange their products on a shelf, they need to keep up with the latest trends in visual merchandising if they want to attract customers.
Visual merchandising trends in 2022
It’s important to keep track and try out the latest trends in visual merchandising if you want to stay ahead of the competition. Let’s see what 2022 has in store for in-store visual merchandising.
1. Experiential merchandising
You’ve heard us talking about experiential marketing, also known as retailtainment, even before it was cool. Now, it’s time to focus on experiential merchandising. The way you arrange and promote your products inside the store should offer customers an amazing experience. Instead of focusing on selling more products and on being pushy, you should try to delight your customers by marketing your products differently.
One of the best ways to do so it’s to try out a robotic POS display like Tokinomo. Instead of using old-school in-store marketing solutions, using Tokinomo can help you better engage your customers and increase sales by about 200% without price cuts.
2. More informational signage
Another thing that will hit the stores in 2022 is more informational signage. People want to be able to know more about the products before they buy them. That’s why 80% of people do their research online before shopping.
What if you could offer more information, without boring shoppers, directly at the point of purchase. Looking for an example? Here are two:
Suggesting complementary products is always a good idea.
Also, offering styling tips directly in the store is a great way to help customers envision your product in their future outfits.
3. Stores within stores
Another great trend in visual merchandising you should follow in 2022 is “stores within stores”. While it might not be a new trend, this technique still continues to attract customers. Retailers prepare pop-up shops inside their stores.
Maybe you want to promote a new line of products or simply focus on seasonality and display the latest Halloween costumes. Creating special stores inside your shop is a great way to attract attention and to increase sales.
4. Phygital in store
Phygital in-store is another great trend that you should follow and include in your visual merchandising strategy. Phigital comes from the combination of physical and digital. While eCommerce platforms focus solely on digital tactics, physical stores have the ability to combine both of these elements.
Tokinomo tip: Read our article on Phygital in retail: Bringing the online and the offline together to find out more about this topic.
By creating an immersive experience and introducing digital elements in your store, customers will be more engaged.
5. Sustainability in retail
Sustainability in retail is a hot topic at the moment. Since 30% of food in American grocery stores is thrown away and fast fashion factories account for 10% of humanity's carbon dioxide emission and rank the second largest consumer of the world's water supply, it’s time for retailers to focus on sustainability.
Actually, consumers are demanding retailers to make a change. 51% of shoppers aged between 16 and 34 would be more likely to shop with a retailer that has made consistent efforts to be sustainable over one that has not.
How can you show your efforts to be sustainable? By integrating them into your visual merchandising. One of the brands that are known for making an effort to be sustainable is Patagonia.
While this message might sound counterintuitive, Patagonia actually doesn’t want you to purchase something you don’t need. They make products that can be worn for years and they even had a campaign in which they repaired their own products and gave them back to the owners to show that everything can be reused.
Tokinomo tip: Want to find out more about sustainability? Read our article Sustainability in retail: trend or necessity.
6. Instagramable displays
Last but not least, let’s not forget about social media. People are spending 145 minutes on social media every day. They share content and watch content produced by other users. By creating Instagramable shelves and displays, you encourage people to take pictures and share them with their friends and followers.
This can help you leverage word-of-mouth marketing and increase the chances of other people visiting your store.
These are just a few emerging visual merchandising trends you should follow in 2022. By including these tactics into your playbook, you will be able to attract more shoppers and increase brand awareness.
