Visual merchandising, until recently called simply merchandising, is the activity of promoting the sale of goods, especially by their

presentation in retail outlets.(New Oxford Dictionary of English, 1999, Oxford University Press). This includes combining product, environment, and space into a stimulating and engaging display to encourage the sale of a product or service. 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 and interactive installations. Visual merchandising is not a science; there are no absolute rules. It is more like an art in the sense that there are implicit rules but that these also exist to be broken for striking effects. The main principle of visual merchandising is that it is intended to increase sales, which is not the case with a "real" art. Visual merchandising is one of the final stages in trying to set out a store in a way that customers will find attractive and appealing and it should follow and reflect the principles that underpin the stores image. Visual merchandising is the way one displays 'goods for sale' in the most attractive manner with the end purpose of making a sale. "If it does not sell, it is not visual merchandising." Especially in todays challenging economy, people may avoid designers/ visual merchandisers because they fear unmanageable costs. But in reality, visual merchandisers can help economise by avoiding costly mistakes. With guidance of a professional, retailer can eliminate errors, saving time and money. It is important to understand that the visual merchandiser is there, not to impose ideas, but to help clients articulate their own personal style. Visual merchandising is the art of implementing effective design ideas to increase store traffic and sales volume. VM is an art and science of displaying merchandise to enable maximum sale. VM is a tool to achieve sales and targets, a tool to enhance merchandise on the floor, and a mechanism to communicate to a customer and influence his decision to buy. VM uses season based displays to introduce new arrivals to customers, and thus increase conversions through a planned and systematic approach by displaying stocks available. Recently visual merchandising has gained in importance as a quick and cost effective way to revamp retail stores. A close sister to visual merchandising is "retail experience". "Customer experience" looks at the same issues around product presentation but from the customer perspective, rather than the retailer perspective. In optimal retail environments such as the Apple Retail Stores, the visual merchandising, customer experience, and store design are all in synch creating amazing environments and unbelievable sales.

Retailing
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Jump to: navigation, search "Retail" redirects here. For the comic strip by Norm Feuti, see Retail (comic strip).

Drawing of a self-service store. Retailing consists of the sale of goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store or kiosk, or by post, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser.[1] Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be individuals or businesses. In commerce, a retailer buys goods or products in large quantities from manufacturers or importers, either directly or through a wholesaler, and then sells smaller quantities to the end-user. Retail establishments are often called shops or stores. Retailers are at the end of the supply chain. Manufacturing marketers see the process of retailing as a necessary part of their overall distribution strategy. Shops may be on residential streets, shopping streets with few or no houses, or in a shopping center or mall, but are mostly found in the central business district. Shopping streets may be for pedestrians only. Sometimes a shopping street has a partial or full roof to protect customers from precipitation. In the U.S., retailers often provided boardwalks in front of their stores to protect customers from the mud. Online retailing, also known as e-commerce is the latest form of non-shop retailing (cf. mail order). Shopping generally refers to the act of buying products. Sometimes this is done to obtain necessities such as food and clothing; sometimes it is done as a recreational activity. Recreational shopping often involves window shopping (just looking, not buying) and browsing and does not always result in a purchase

Retailing Industry in India Also see:

India's Consumer Market India's Middle Classes Join the IndiaOneStop Global Business Network and boost your business contacts!

Even though India has well over 5 million retail outlets of all sizes and styles (or non-styles), the country sorely lacks anything that can resemble a retailing industry in the modern sense of the term. This presents international retailing specialists with a great opportunity. It was only in the year 2000 that the global management consultancy AT Kearney put a figure to it: Rs. 400,000 crore (1 crore = 10 million) which will increase to Rs. 800,000 crore by the year 2005 an annual increase of 20 per cent. Retailing in India is thoroughly unorganised. There is no supply chain management perspective. According to a survey b y AT Kearney, an overwhelming proportion of the Rs. 400,000 crore retail market is UNORGANISED. In fact, only a Rs. 20,000 crore segment of the market is organised. As much as 96 per cent of the 5 million-plus outlets are smaller than 500 square feet in area. This means that India per capita retailing space is about 2 square feet (compared to 16 square feet in the United States). India's per capita retailing space is thus the lowest in the world (source: KSA Technopak (I) Pvt Ltd, the India operation of the US-based Kurt Salmon Associates). Just over 8 per cent of India's population is engaged in retailing (compared to 20 per cent in the United States). There is no data on this sector's contribution to the GDP. From a size of only Rs.20,000 crore, the ORGANISED retail industry will grow to Rs. 160,000 crore by 2005. The TOTAL retail market, however, as indicated above will grow 20 per cent annually from Rs. 400,000 crore in 2000 to Rs. 800,000 crore by 2005 (source: survey by AT Kearney) Given the size, and the geographical, cultural and socioeconomic diversity of India, there is no role model for Indian suppliers and retailers to adapt or expand in the Indian context. The first challenge facing the organised retail industry in India is: competition from the unorganised sector. Traditional retailing has established in India for some centuries. It is a low cost structure, mostly owner-operated, has negligible real estate and labour costs and little or no taxes to pay. Consumer familiarity that runs from generation to generation is one big advantage for the traditional retailing sector. In contrast, players in the organised sector have big expenses to meet, and yet have to keep prices low enough to be able to compete with the traditional sector. High costs for the organised sector arises from: higher labour costs, social security to employees, high quality real estate, much bigger premises, comfort facilities such as air-conditioning, back-up power supply, taxes etc. Organised retailing also has to cope

with the middle class psychology that the bigger and brighter a sales outlet is, the more expensive it will be. The above should not be seen as a gloomy foreboding from global retail operators. International retail majors such as Benetton, Dairy Farm and Levis have already entered the market. Lifestyles in India are changing and the concept of "value for money" is picking up. India's first true shopping mall complete with food courts, recreation facilities and large car parking space was inaugurated as lately as in 1999 in Mumbai. (this mall is called "Crossroads"). Local companies and local-foreign joint ventures are expected to more advantageously positioned than the purely foreign ones in the fledgling organised India's retailing industry. These drawbacks present opportunity to international and/or professionally managed Indian corporations to pioneer a modern retailing industry in India and benefit from it. The prospects are very encouraging. The first steps towards sophisticated retailing are being taken, and "Crossroads" is the best example of this awakening. More such malls have been planned in the other big cities of India. An FDI Confidence Index survey done by AT Kearney, retail industry is one of the most attractive sectors for FDI (foreign direct investment) in India and foreign retail chains would make an impact circa 2003.