Visual merchandising for a gift retail business

If you already own or are planning to set up a gift retail business, it’s vital to understand the importance of visual merchandising your retail space. The nature of the products you are selling means your shop floor layout is unique, you need to understand your customers to make the most of your visual merchandising.

Gift shops face unique challenges, a strong shop floor display is one part of your armoury to overcome these challenges. Have a read through our tips on visual merchandising for a gift retail business and make sure you’re not missing a trick.

1. Remember to cross-sell

Quite a few of your customers are going to be buying greeting cards, it’s likely the main reason they entered your shop. Use your visual merchandising to make sure they’re aware of what else you have to offer.

Use the space above your card display to house some of your bestselling gifts, the gifts you know your customers will find hard to leave once they’ve seen them.

Your counter space is perfect for cross-selling, encouraging customers to add those last-minute items to their basket. Counter-standing card display stands are a great way to highlight any premium cards you have on sale.

2. Turn browsers into customers

Another challenge facing gift retailers is the browser, customers that spend an eternity looking at the quirky items you have on offer, only to leave your shop without buying a thing. Turn these browsers into spenders by clearly promoting upcoming occasions.

It’s not uncommon for the realisation Father’s Day or Mother’s Day is coming up to dawn on people whilst they are browsing, so use your promotional space to help browsers realise they need to buy something.

3. Make sure your cards are organised, neat, and easy to view

Finding the perfect card can take a little time, you want your shoppers to be relaxed and enjoy the experience of picking out the card that is just right, making it hard for them to find the relevant cards is not conducive to this.

Use slatwall spinners to make sure your cards are organised by occasion, theme, and recipient, so your customers know exactly which section to find that hilarious birthday card for Dad.

4. Have clear pricing

Don’t allow your customers to grow frustrated because they can’t find the price of the item they’re interested in. If you are using a price code chart for your cards, make sure this is clearly on display and not covered by any other merchandise.

5. Keep displays well stocked

Customers may be looking for a specific colour of gift wrap or a particular sized gift box, if you have it out the back and not on display it’s likely you’ll lose that customer to your competitor down the road.

Gift wrap display stands are a must to keep everything neat, organised, and easy for your customers to browse.

6. Offer a gift-wrapping service or station

Help out those last-minute shoppers by adding a gift wrapping and postage preparation service, or have a counter with scissors, Sellotape, etc to allow a customer to package their purchases, saving additional trips to the post office.

Source: Pinterest

Now you know the basics, head over to Valentino’s Displays and stock up on everything you need to be the best gift shop in town.

Are you proud of the visual merchandising in your gift shop? Share your hints and tips in the comments section below.