In my opinion, visually, High Street merchandising is superior to the high end form of marketing.
Hey guys! Another blog post coming your way... Visual merchandising is something I am extremely passionate about in the fashion industry and I aspire to go into that sector of fashion in the future. I love it because VM varies so widely in the industry, that in reality so many people can be in so many different jobs and still be able to create displays that are still aiming for the same outcome – to attract attention, to sell merchandise and to build the brand. Not only does the output vary, but VM varies by country and brand too. In this blog post I will be comparing the High End VM to the High Streets.
Today, whilst shopping in Notts, I was blown away by the quality of the visual merchandising in River Island and TopShop. Their displays were so bright and visually pleasing on the eye; through their use of store layout the popular high street brands are easily able to weave their customers through their store and point them subtly towards their best sellers and towards products that their customers will need to buy.
This got me thinking about other brand's visual merchandising, specifically in the High End market. I questioned when the last time was that I walked past a High End store like Chanel and was 'wowed' and drawn in by their visual display. I thought a lot about why this was happening and came up with several arguments... Firstly, I looked at the consumer demographic of both River Island and Chanel and each were obviously completely different. For example, the people who are going into Chanel to buy things, are usually of a higher class and age, and aren't interested in being 'pulled' into the store by their visual display, they are more interested in the products and services Chanel have to offer. Whereas, River Island's consumers are typically of a lower class and much younger, with less money to spend and so they need to be drawn into the store by thorough thought out VM.
Secondly, I thought about the location of each store. For example, River Island is typically placed in shopping centres around all of its competitors, such as TopShop and H&M; and so because of this their visual merchandising is competing to get their demographic into their stores instead of their competitors store. River Island therefore have to make sure their VM is visually appealing to their target demographic and stands out amongst its competitors.
Chanel on the other hand, would never be placed in a shopping centre and will more likely be seen in a 'higher end of town', amongst its own competitors. However, Chanel do not have to worry about their competitors because of how well known their brand is, due to their successful 'celeb status' and high quality products. In addition to this, most high end brands tailor their products to a particular consumer (unlike most high street stores, who copy the catwalk) so they don't need to worry about whether a customer is going to be drawn into their store, because they have an established name.
Lastly, I started looking at the more 'communicative' side of VM and why Chanel don't have to dress up their window with flashing neon lights to get peoples attention. I looked further into the stores details and their advertising and started to compare to the popular high street stores offering. I noticed the atmosphere in both stores are completely different and the gestures and details are less prominent in the River Island. For example, when walking into Chanel you are...
Greeted warmly into their store...
Asked if you needed any help...
Sometimes given complimentary gifts...
Gift wrapped when purchased with brand logo...
Given the famous 'Chanel shopping bag'
as a gesture to show off!
Whereas with River Island you get none of this and just a usual branded plastic bag at the end of a busy and crowded experience shopping in their store. Therefore, to conclude, although Chanel may not have the best visually pleasing display in their stores in my opinion, they focus on the gestures and the details to make their customers happy, but, River Island my have to stick with their flashing lights to drag their customers into their stores!
Hope you enjoyed reading and found this interesting.
Feel free to comment your opinion down below!
Much love,
Becky xo
