Dressed By Drake

Visual merchandising is a key factor of driving sales in the retail world. While merchandise assortment is unarguably important, the way in which the product is presented is equally as valuable. It helps customers envision potential styling techniques while presenting the assortment in a visually pleasing way.

Luxury

The luxury market hones in on the consumer who demands the latest trend and also has the paycheck to do so of course. With such high prices, the consumer also demands enhanced customer service and an entire experience. Think of strolling down fifth avenue during Christmas time and seeing the ellaborate displays in the Bergdorf Goodman window. This fascinating creative presentation helps to reel customers in and do more than just sell them a $2,000 coat, it tells them a story.

Interestingly enough, I felt that although being a luxury department store, the windows at Barney’s were fairly simplistic. The display was a celebration for Riccardo Tisci’s debute collection at Burberry so perhaps that was why. Despite being pretty simple, the visual merchandising still offers a rather sleek aspect. The longline, oversized silhouette of the women’s jacket as well as the nylon material both repeat itself in the products from the other stores looked at.

In contrast, the windows at the Salvatore Ferragamo on Fifth Avenue were a little more intricate. More emphasis was placed on accessories, giving them their own section whereas at Barney’s they were placed diretly next to the apparel. The coats definitely had a long silhouette here as well, but the materials were leather and posessed more of a trench coat shape.

Mass Market

The window displays of stores targeting the mass market tend to be more basic. Visual merchandising is typically used to present the product rather than potentially “tell a story.”

The Macy’s windows were beautiful to look at, because there wasn’t too much going on. Men’s and women’s were merchandised in seperate windows unlike at Barney’s, and accessories were styled into the outfits rather than given their own display. A similar shape of a women’s nylon coat as in the Barney’s display is pictured in the middle left picture and even in the men’s also. The single brested trench in the Ferragamo window was mimicked here as well but this time in a blue and white striped pattern. Leather fabrication in the previous display was swapped for mostly denim here.

Lastly, is the mass market specialty store the Gap. Like Macy’s, denim was extremely prevalent in the window display. Interestingly, this was the only reatiler to incorporate the children’s department in their windows. The display emphasized the store’s best sellers and was extremely basic, barely even sectioning off the display from the store behind it.