
Very pleased with the out come, would love to create this in real life, all there is to do now is print it off and mount it on a A3 mount board.
Here are some print screens of the websites:
Visual Merchandiser is someone who designs windows for brands and companies, trying to keep the current costumers and bring new ones in, overall you are trying to increase sales.
As a visual merchandiser you would earning from 12,000 to 16,000 on the first year, then can go up to 20,000 with experience, if you then become a manger you could be earning anything from 25,000 to 45,000 a year.
What the job entails:
Hours
In a full-time job you would work 37 to 40 hours a week, often including late evenings to set up displays when stores are closed. Part-time work may be available.
Putting up displays would mean spending a lot of time on your feet, lifting, carrying and climbing ladders. Working in shop windows can be hot and cramped.
You could be based at head office or in store. In jobs with chain stores, you might travel to different branches to set up displays and brief sales staff.
Skills & knowledge you need:
Selfridges & co
Background information…
Selfridges is the United Kingdom’s high end department stores, coming second (after Harrods) is the biggest shop in the UK and was opened in 1906 March 15th.
Harry Gordon Selfridge (owner) was born in 1858. He joined field Leiter and company, where he worked for the famous Chicago retailer; he worked hard and made his way up through the firm, he married into Buckingham family and amassed the fortune, which he then built his brand new store in London.
Gordon wanted his stores to be as about entertainment as retail, where mostly women could meet up with their friends and have fun together, he wanted the atmosphere to be a friendly social centre, not a merely places for shopping. He tried to make shopping a fun adventure rather than a chore.
Gordon was interested in education and science; therefore he attracted shoppers with educational and scientific exhibitions. He truly believed that displays would help getting new customers in and the current customers interested and making them want to come back for more if they could see what they could miss out on.
Visual Merchandising…
In 2003 the window displays where so good, that they became a tourist attraction, also being passed by thousands of people on foot, in cars and public transport every day, people can always see what’s new and going on, this shows that window displays are massively important as it increased there business up by 20% (according to VM fashion manager).
When Alison Jackson put her trade mark Tony Blair and David Beckham lookalikes in the window, it brought so much attention to Oxford Street, that police had to tell her she had to finish the project, as it was clogging up traffic and getting way too busy.
To a certain degree Selfridges has become famous for the company and where it has been located in Oxford Street in London. When the Selfridges building was a undergoing restoration, the scaffolding had a giant photograph of stars such as Elton John by Sam Taylor-Wood.
The window displays are always getting attention from tourists, designers and fashionistas alike to marvel at the current designs, styling and fashion trends.
Since 2002 the windows have been photographed by London Photographer Andrew Meredith he has been so successful his work is in things like Magazines such as:
· Vogue
· Dwell
· Icon
· Fame Magazine
· Creative Review
· Hungarian Stylus Magazine
· Design Week
· Harper’s Bazaar
· New York Times
· WGSN
And many more…
(He is someone I will be taking inspiration from his images, such as styling, what angels he has taken his images in and colours he has used in his photographic work.)
Selfridges has stores in
Visual Merchandising
Visual Merchandising is active and professional display to maximise sales, this enables you to highlight their features and benefits. The purpose of visual merchandising is to attract, engage and motivate the customer towards making a purchase. Visual merchandising commonly occurs in retail spaces such as retail stores and trade shows.
Why visual Merchandising helps sales…
· Makes it easier for the customer to locate the item they wish.
· Makes it easier for the customer to self-select
· Makes it possible for the shopper to co-ordinate and accessories
· Recommended highlights and demonstrate particular products.
Visual merchandising builds upon or augments the retail design of a store, it’s one of the final stages in setting out a store in a way customers find attractive and appealing. Many elements can be used by visual merchandisers in creating displays including colour, lighting, space, product information, sensory inputs, (such as smell, touch and sound), as well as technologies such as digital displays.
Window displays can communicate style, content and price. Display windows may also be used to advertise seasonal sales or inform passes by of other current promotions, planogram is a diagram or model that indicates the placement of retail products on shelves in order to maximize sales. Planogram allows visual merchandising to plan size, price or some other category, it also enables a chain of stores to have the same merchandise display in a coherent and similar manner across the chain, and Planograms are also known as Plano-grams, Plan-organs schematics and POGs, used a lot in Visual Merchandising. Schematic is a diagram that represents the element of a system using obstract, graphic symbols rather than realistic pictures.
Personal Opinion on Window displays…
I think a window display brings character to the store and shows off what kind of style and price range they are, also makes you think shall I go in and try that on? Really brings your attention only if it’s worth looking at, so needs to be lots going on, colourful and never bland (innless to fits in with the theme or style). Personal Experience I really liked a H&M window display, but I will only ever go in and try it on if there is a price on it, I think this comes down to target market such as Low class, Middle class and High class, because I have noticed that the higher brand displays not always have prices but seems like lower market does nearly every time.
Hear are some images that helped me get to grips of how window displays and visual merchandising works.