KATE COTTONE

Visual merchandising is an area of the retail industry that is focused on visuals and aesthetics, and they use these visuals to aide in making sales for the retailer. Visual merchandising can impact store design, store signage, store atmospherics, merchandise placement and display, and the store brand image. The purpose of this study is to research and find if and how visual merchandising changes the success of a store. This paper will also be focusing on how the different aspects of visual merchandising are viewed by consumers and if it affects their purchasing behaviors. To measure the success of a store, we will be looking at how visual merchandising affects the purchasing behavior of consumers. A Survey Monkey survey was created and students in the RTE 419 Applied Research and Evaluation class were asked to fill out the survey. The data collected shows that the majority of participants who regularly shop find visual displays in a store are important to the consumer experience. Overall the data gave a great look into what this specific population thinks about visual merchandising, as well as visual displays and what part they play in the total sales a store makes. A well-organized store with visually pleasing displays is more likely to draw in customers and attract a higher amount of foot traffic, which will in turn help to increase sales. Stores with better visual merchandising will help to build a successful store, and have an overall better performance in the fashion industry.

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