Open AccessVisual Merchandising Displays: Wasted Effort Or Strategic Move? The Dilemma Faced By Apparel Retail Stores
Author(s) -
Michael Colin Cant,
Yolande Hefer
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of applied business research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.149
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 2157-8834
pISSN - 0892-7626
DOI - 10.19030/jabr.v28i6.7356
Subject(s) - advertising , clothing , marketing , subliminal stimuli , business , order (exchange) , perception , dilemma , fast fashion , focus (optics) , psychology , political science , social psychology , philosophy , physics , optics , finance , epistemology , neuroscience , law
Retailing per se has been with us since the beginning of time. Over the years retailing methods and techniques have been adapted and changed in order to meet the demands of the market. In the same way the in store activities aimed at the consumer has been evolving and changing. At first the focus was on merchandising per se, but even merchandising has become more focussed and professional and specialised. This has led to this study focussing on visual merchandising and its effect or not - on consumer spending. Much has been said about visual merchandising displays and the effect it has on consumer perceptions. Consumers perceptions towards visual merchandising displays are investigated and evaluated in this study. The primary research question that was posed in this study was to determine the effect of visual merchandising displays on consumer perceptions. Explorative research was performed and qualitative data were collected by means of focus groups and nave sketches. The data was analysed by means of a thematic analysis process. The main conclusions that can be drawn from this research is that the perceptions of visual merchandising displays are subliminal in creating an interest and desire to further peruse the merchandise and aesthetically to beautify the store.