Brick-and-Mortar businesses have been milking their window displays for the money with the half-openings and sudden lockdowns throughout 2020. It’s still hard to predict anything. 

Every once in a while when we’re out mall crawling with family and friends or enjoying an indoor sojourn, we find ourselves stopped in our tracks by a window display. Other times, we walk past them with nothing more than just a nonchalant glance.

Big businesses know it - we have that few seconds to capture and HOLD a potential buyer’s attention as they saunter past our stores. Lord & Taylor of New York City has more than half a million people walk past its window displays every single day, so what chances do we have to beat their record? 

Possibly close to none so, we’re not even going down that route. However, the good news is that we’re not Lord & Taylor, nor are we Macy’s or Calvin Klein.

Dressing Up Our Stores For The Right Customers

We don’t have to decorate our window displays to the T for every customer or person walking by. That’s not the deal. Both potential customers and the wrong target market are known to be distracted bunch. 

They are in the malls either:

1. On a mission to get something really quickly
2. Distracted by their smartphones
3. In conversation with the people they are out with
4. In a hurry
5. Not interested

The whole point of doing window decoration right is to be in the right place, using the right kind of decoration (marketing tactic), attract the attention of the right kind of people, and create a good first impression. 

According to NPD Group’s research, window displays have a huge role to play in a consumer’s decision-making process. On average, 24% of the time, consumers reveal that window displays were taken into consideration at the checkout counter. 

They bring in new and enthusiastic customers who have a certain level of interest in your products or services, increase footfall in your retail store, highlight new products/promotions, and enhance the brand’s image.

Finding Inspiration for Attractive Retail Outlet Window Displays

With the internet, it’s practically a walk in the park finding window display inspiration. There’s Pinterest. There’s Instagram. Even Mega online shopping platforms like Shopify published an article with tips on how to rock your window display. 

A good piece of advice is to keep a tab on your favorite retail window displays in a special folder on your computer (with links and images for easy reference), phone, thumb drive, or you can even straight up print it out and keep it in your dream display folder.

Whatever floats your boat.

 

 

 

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Just remember to put your own twist on the designs and combine concepts and themes. Some brick-and-mortar retail outlets, in an effort to attract Christmas shoppers, went the extra mile to use technology like QR Codes and Augmented Reality. 

Other important aspects to take into consideration while redecorating or redesigning your retail outlet is the store layout, aisle design, and shelf design. After capturing the attention of your potential customer, the layout and design of your store will bring them on a shopping journey.

So, it matters whether the window display complements the store’s grid design layout, curving/looping/racetrack store layout, free-flow design, spring layout design, or herringbone layout.

Using the Window Display to Create an Experience

The conventional or traditional use of the window display is for posters promoting new products, sales, and offers. Things have changed together with trends and technology. 

For instance, many stores now use scannable QR Codes to break the fourth wall (a popular trend also seen in movies) and Augmented Reality. Breaking the fourth wall is inviting potential customers to go on a more immersive experience presented by the window display. 

One popular branded clothing retailer used window displays to create moments, stories, or showcase videos and social media posts.

These show-stealer window displays work better with the younger audience. 

So, if that is your target demographic too, put it into your marketing playbook. The younger generation is not only a tech-savvy bunch of shoppers, they’re all-too-familiar with the nuances of the internet. They demand better engagement and personalized experiences.   

That’s why a more experiential window display that brings life to the retail outlet works better with them.

 

 

 

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Remember Not to Sacrifice Clarity for Creativity

Creativity might work wonderfully if you’ve established yourself as a brand. The same level of creativity might work for brands like Nike or Dell but not a novice brand. The window display has the job of attracting attention but it must immediately convey the message and deliver the experience. 

What’s the use of catching the eye of potential buyers when they get confused with the display?

A combination of props and products make your creative window displays work. If you’re trying to highlight how natural your products are to the consumers, design the window display in such a way that resonates with them. Information or teasers about what they are interested in should be instantly available; you can do this by placing relevant products, samples, leaflets, or posters next to the window displays. 

On top of the extra eyeballs you want to generate, don’t forget about the walk-ins and shopping experiences.

Making a Statement with your Window Displays

If your brand or company has a brand statement and you want your display to work its magic, you can take a page from Saks Fifth Avenue x Vetements’ window displays. Its display, at one point, was nothing more than a reflection of a teenager’s room piled high with dirty laundry. 

It may sound crazy since Saks Fifth Avenue is known for its elaborate and well thought out window displays. The deal was they were trying to raise awareness when they collaborated with French design collective, Vetements, to make a statement about sustainability and raise awareness about the impact of fast fashion.  

When a consumer is walking past, he/she might be left a little befuddled and confused about the huge (and growing) pile of clothes at the window display. But with the right statement or poster, the statement will stick its landing, especially when it was done for a good cause.

So, if your business supports a good cause, use the window display to highlight it and boost your brand’s image.

Window Displays that Knocks it Out of the Ball Park

When your potential customers are people who are essentially deep-pocketed and prefer to spend money on quality products, you need to spend on window displays that impress them. You’ve got to meet their expectations. 

When Bergdorf Goodman partnered up with City Harvest and the National CARES Mentoring Movement to raise awareness about food insecurities and inequalities in America's social and educational systems, they hired the best window dressers to do up their window displays with splashy messages of hope, love, unity, kindness, joy, peace, and equality. 

Reportedly, they spent six figures on impressing their target audience with one-of-a-kind couture pieces and fortune-telling mannequins.  

So, if you have a similar target demographic, you may want to put your resources into breathtaking window displays.

Trying Something Different for Window Displays

Human beings, no matter where they live or what they do for a living, is a social interactive species. We are also curious beings although our attention span can be fleeting at times. That is why injecting some form of human element (and not the digitally social kind) into the window display can give it a creative and highly ingenious spin. 

Barneys in New York did just that. 

For Christmas in 2015, they took an unprecedented risk and turned their window display into a freezer set. The company turned their window display into a LIVE stage with temperatures of negative five to fifteen degrees Fahrenheit aided by the experienced Utah-based team of Ice Castles. 

The risk was high but so was its potential inroad into social media feed frenzy. There could be an emergency that could result in a melting window display if something went wrong with temperature control. The other result would be selfie-worthy displays.

It was plainly something worthy of an Instagram, Pinterest, or Facebook post. What you can take away from their experience is the idea of creating something people will stop, look, take pictures of, and share with their friends, family, and followers online. 

It's was a quirky and effective way to create buzz and branding.

Start Thinking of a Theme to Bring Customers to your Store

People are facing decision fatigue due to a whirlwind of home-bound activities and whiplashes of decisions all year through because of Covid-19 lockdowns all around the world. They’re ready to go out the moment they’re allowed to and malls are pretty much the first few places they’ll visit when the Vaccines are ready. 

Now is the perfect timing. Start thinking about how to put some pizazz into your window displays for when they come flocking back into the malls and streets.

Shaping up your shop for the next customer shopping experience is a very important part of your marketing and sales strategy. Formedge has been in the industry, helping big and small businesses alike present their best products at the forefront, for decades and we know the ins and outs of it. 

We provide a wide range of shelving and display solutions and remain to be one of the biggest manufacturers of Slatwall panels, wall-mounted shelving systems, gondolas, shelves, and display stands in Malaysia. 

Check out our products or visit www.decowall.com.my, give us a call at +603-6152 2222, or email us at enquiry.formedge@gmail.com for more information. If you’re in the area, drop by our showroom in Kota Damansara to have a look around. We are also active on social media so, visit and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to keep in-the-know.