Carlson JPM Store Fixtures Blog Archives
Slatwall and its many uses – Store Fixtures
Carlson JPM Store Fixtures - August 9, 2010
Slatwall is generally manufactured out of ¾” mdf board (medium density
fiberboard) and machined with grooves that accept its display hardware.
These panels can have decorative slatwall inserts in the grooves as an
aesthetic detail or aluminum inserts which can act as an accent strip as well
as a strengthening addition. These vinyl and metal inserts come in many colors
or finishes.
Slatwall panels are manufactured in a variety of finishes:
- Paint Grade – accepts all latex and oil based paints
- Melamine (LPL) – wide variety of solid and wood grain finishes
Many finish choices available.
- Wood Veneer – ready to stain/seal or leave natural
- Mirrored – acrylic mirror
Slatwall is typically 4’ x 8’, fabricated in 8’ long horizontal panels to eliminate
the vertical line where two 4’ panels meet. When installing slatwall, mount the
bottom panel first if (2) 48” high panels need to be stacked. Slatwall usually
comes with 3” on center grooves, this works well for most apparel or sporting
goods merchandising. Other groove patterns are 2”, 4”, 6”, 8”, 9” and 12” on
center.
You would normally hire an installer to mount the slatwall to your walls. He will
mount them to the stud walls, thru the grooves, using drywall screws. In the
case of masonry walls, they should be furred out or studded to make a solid
base for the panels.
If you are not sure, try slatwall in smaller sections like on your side and back
store walls or in just a few niches depending on the type of products you wish
to display. You can add vignetes or “shops” by adding T-walls and endcaps.
Because slatwall has become so popular, you can find slatwall accessories
faceouts & waterfalls to showcase, books on acrylic holders, stuffed animals
in metal baskets, clothing on faceouts and waterfalls, the sky is the limit!
Slatwall is sometimes used as an insert panel on an open-sell counter, as panels
on a hexagonal feature theme table or as end caps on T-walls or gondolas.
You can also turn unappealing support columns into merchandising towers
using slatwall surrounds.
products out on the floor. You can move them around and change them
depending on your merchandising plan. They are available in various styles –
of the readily available types. Ready-made merchandisers are usually white or
maple melamine, but you can special order them in the colors you need.
classic. If you are not ready to use slatwall on a big wall, try it in smaller doses
such a floor merchandiser. You will love it!
Shoplifters don’t “shop” here! - Merchandising
Carlson JPM Store Fixtures - July 16, 2010
How would you like to say that? Here are some loss prevention products
and ideas to keep these unwanted visitors “unhappy” and help them
want not to “waste” their time in your store.
Store entry alarms and door chimes alert your store staff that someone has
entered your store. When there are only a few staff members working, this
“heads up” is especially important.
A cheerful greeting from a staff member – not pouncing on the customer,
of course – sets the tone that this store cares about its customers and its
merchandise. This is a welcoming feeling for a true shopper but not for
shoplifters, they don’t like attention drawn to themselves.
You’ve done your floor layout and merchandise planograms to create a
good shopping environment. During this process, you have located easily
pocketed items near to the cash wrap and in the sightlines of your staff
Security mirrors come in various sizes and styles to work in all types of retail
stores. They offer another set of eyes for your staff that can’t be standing in
two places at the same time.
Small items that are not pre-packaged can be individually hung on the
hooks of a wire countertop rack if they have a chain on them, if not, you
important thing is to have them within sight and make them harder to get
to discourage people from taking them.
Ratchet locks are an inexpensive deterrent to keep sliding glass doors from
being opened. Simple things like cable ties can keep things from being
taken because they can slow a shoplifter down along with an alert staff
member. Counterfeit pens can help prevent phony bills from being passed
– although they are not 100% foolproof.
shoplifters, they sure work great against non-professionals and hobby
shoplifters.
When some of your apparel merchandise is quite expensive but you can’t
afford an electronic surveillance system, consider hanger security devices
as an option.
A locking cable box turns any clothing rack into a security rack. Customers
can try on merchandise without removing cables.
Fitting room strategies to prevent shoplifting:
- Make sure the fitting room is empty of garments before a customer uses it.
- The fitting room mirror should be sealed to the wall so merchandise price
tags can’t be slipped behind it.
- Set a limit on the number of items that can be tried on at one time.
- Staff should count & carry the garments to be tried on, placing them in
the fitting room for the customer (great customer service tip!)
- Staff should check on customers to see if they need a different size or
perhaps an accessory (another great customer service tip! This also helps
to increase sales.)
- Set up a rack or shelf with a sign to show customers where to return the
items they are not going to buy after trying on. This rack/shelf should be
near the fitting room area or next to the wrap counter.
- When ringing up the sale, the staff should see if all the items taken in the
fitting room are accounted for. If the customer didn’t buy anything or
didn’t bring the excess from the fitting room, the fitting room should be
checked before the customer leaves the store.
All and all, the biggest preventives of shoplifting are store location, store
layout, lighting and most of all, an alert trained staff.
Store, to find the retail solution perfect for you.
shoplifter, entry alarms, door chimes, security mirrors, wire countertop rack, pricing loops, clear containers, ratchet locks, cable ties, counterfeit pens, security cameras, hanger security devices
Let Your Walls Help Create Your Store Image - Merchandising
Carlson JPM Store Fixtures - July 1, 2010
When customers walk into your store, do your walls invite them to come
see what you have to offer? Do they excite them with fresh ideas? Are
your walls in harmony with your brand image?
Depending on the size of your store, you might have more wall space than
floor space. You can maximize this vertical space to grow the sales using
visual presentations and highlighting products. Wall planograms can be a
vital tool to use your walls for selling. Look for more on this subject in
upcoming articles.
There are many ways to fixturize your store walls so they can present your
products and your brand image at the same time.
If your store carries sporting goods, you wouldn’t put silk wallpaper and
glass shelving on the walls. Sporting goods call for slatwall in the shoe area,
and wall standards and brackets in areas where wall gondolas are not
needed. You might be using presentations with rock walls, photographs of
favorite team players, a running river mural by fishing rods, etc.
Many shoe stores will have slatwall behind the cash wrap counter
merchandised with handbags. Depending on the price points of shoes
being featured, the type of slatwall should convey low prices or highlight
high-end items. Slatwall is available many finishes; they go from paint
grade to logo-laminated versions as well as mirrored and heavy-duty
plastic. And, of course, there are many slatwall accessories also.
A large grouping of smaller retail venues such as souvenirs, consignment,
toy goods, sporting goods (again) make good use gridwall. This versatile
inexpensive wall system has many accessories to display your products
effectively.
Metal wall standards and brackets are the most basic wall system in the
retail industry. Wall standards are attached to the studs and are slotted to
hangrail or crossbar system. Wall standards range in hanging strength from
light-duty to heavy-duty. There are surface mounted standards as well as
hidden standards, which need to be mounted to the studs before sheet
rocking the wall.
Many apparel stores use a combination of wall systems in niches to create
a department for accessories, casual versus career areas, etc.
By staying current with the latest stores in your retail field and whether
you think these stores chose the right wall systems and accessories, you
should be able to make a good decision about your own store’s wall
system. Be easy on yourself when thinking of this. If you use higher end
stores as inspiration, consider your budget and what elements of those
stores can be adapted to your store and budget, and most important,
think about what will give you the right brand image.
Store, to find the retail solution perfect for you.
Color as a Merchandising Strategy
Carlson JPM Store Fixtures - June 18, 2010
According to Judith Bell and Kate Ternus, authors of Silent Selling: Best Practices
and Effective Strategies in Visual Merchandising, color choices play a role in
setting your store décor, in bringing a sense of unity and flow, and in creating
an atmosphere of excitement to enhance your customer’s shopping
experience.
“Once customers have entered a store, the next visual merchandising
challenge is to draw them through the entire store to the back walls.
Experience tells us that, on average, customers pass through only the first third
of the store and then exit unless something happens to entice them to stay.
If merchandise displays with colorful impact are used throughout the store, it is
more likely that the customer will be drawn from one area to the next. The
more merchandise customers are able to see and touch, the more likely they
are to make purchases. Color is one strategy to help you accomplish this
critical merchandising goal.”
The authors give practical guidelines for merchandising by color.
“1. Divide the colors of product into groups, according to their color
intensity.
There are seven common color groups. (See Colorplate 5, above)
- Brights – the clearest, most vivid primary color intensities
- Pastels – colors with added white to lighten and soften their effect
- Midtones – not bright and not pastel, just in-between values
- Jewel tones – royal colors
- Muted/dusty – midtones with added gray
- Earth tones – the colors of the earth: sand, rust, brown
- Neutrals – colors that blend with every color group.
2. Combine the colors within each group to create color schemes. Colors of
the same intensity blend together harmoniously.
3. Do not combine colors from the various groups together, except for neutrals.
Neutral colors can be combined with colors from any of the various color
groups.”
When telling a color story, you can utilize mannequins to emphasize the color
trend you are promoting showing the accessories that enhance the look.
Have a two-way rack featuring the apparel on the mannequin next to it.
If your business is a gift shop or home goods store, follow the above
guidelines in your groupings to help your customer find objects that work well
together.
As we discussed in our blogs on Feature Racks and Round Racks, by grouping
products within sizes following the color wheel basics you help create that
sense of balance and harmony that makes shopping exciting.
Bell, Judith and Kate Ternus. Silent Selling, Third Edition, Pages 40 and 41,
Colorplate 5. ©2006 by Fairchild Books, a division of Condé Nast Publications,
Inc. Reprinted by permission of Fairchild Books, a division of Condé Nast
to find the retail solution perfect for you.
Harmony and Emphasis - Design Principles and Your
Merchandising Strategy
Carlson JPM Store Fixtures - June 3, 2010
Does your store say “Welcome” to the clientele you are trying to develop into
regular customers? Your brand look or store image must be in harmony with
the merchandise you are selling. This is done with a careful blending of choices
in your wall covering, flooring, lighting, display fixtures, store layout, signing and
most important – the merchandise. Nothing but what you are trying to sell
should shout out “Look at me”.
Keeping the design principle of emphasis in mind, here are some ways to
highlight what you are trying to convey to your customer. Start with a
planogram or layout of your display fixtures and walls and strategize what you
are trying to sell the customer – a hot new fashion color of casual wear, a new
line of dishware you are stocking, or the latest book from a popular author.
A well planned product placement strategy allows you to take in the length
and breadth of your store, decide what should be moved forward or towards
the back of the store to complete your product story for the customer. Are
there accessories that would complement the products you are highlighting?
What about lighting?
Most specialty stores take advantage of their store entry and utilize a
selection of the merchandise they are emphasizing.
Perhaps you have just brought in a coordinated line of casual women’s
clothes, and then you will want to showcase them on some feature two-way
If your store has several departments, you might have multiple focal points for
displaying new products or trends. Using your planogram, you can check your
customer’s ease of movement through the store as they stay in focus and in the
shopping mode.
to find the retail solution perfect for you.
Balance plays a role in merchandising strategy
Carlson JPM Store Fixtures - May 27. 2010
Merchandising your store walls is a balancing act. Balance, a key
principle of design, can become your merchandising strategy for a
harmonious and eye-pleasing presentation.
Following the guidelines of Judith Bell and Kate Ternus in their book, Silent
Selling, Best Practices and Effective Strategies of Visual Merchandising, you
can set the walls using either formal or informal balance.
Using formal balance, “draw an imaginary line down the center of the
section to be merchandised, dividing this space into equal-sized sections.
Use an identical merchandise treatment on either side.” Example: Half of
each section (adjacent to the left and right of the centerline) could mirror
each other – graphics at the top, two rows of folded shirts on shelving, and
hang a row of pants on hangrail at the bottom. The outer halves of the
equal-sized sections would have two rows of folded shirts on shelving at
the top, followed by two rows of hanging shirts on faceouts which project
out from hangrail.
Setting the wall using informal balance, you need to merchandise the
same amount of space on both sides of the centerline in an asymmetrical
arrangement. In the example Ms. Bell and Ternus use, you again have
graphics adjacent to each other on both sides of the centerline followed
by the two rows of folded shirts but beneath the folded shirts the
hangrail on the left of the centerline has the hanging pants on the
hangrail and on the right of the centerline the pants are facing forward
on two faceouts projecting from the hangrail. She continues the informal
balance on the outer halves with two rows of folded shirts on shelving at
the top, on the left outer side the folded shirts are followed with three rows
of caps and lastly a hangrail with two faceouts with front facing shirts.
On the right outer side, below the two rows of folded shirts, she placed
hangrail with two faceouts with front facing shirts followed by three rows of
athletic shoes on shelving that matched the caps’ shelving.
You could alternate your store between formal and informal balanced
sections.
Bell, Judith and Kate Ternus. Silent Selling, Third Edition, Pages 42 thru 45.
©2006 by Fairchild Books, a division of Condé Nast Publications, Inc.
Reprinted by permission of Fairchild Books, a division of Condé Nast
Store, to find the retail solution perfect for you.
How and when to use a Round Rack
Carlson JPM Store Fixtures - May 19, 2010
A primary use of a round rack is to stock a large quantity of a basic
garment such as sweatshirts or uniforms. A secondary purpose is to
house clearance items during a sale.
As with other capacity fixtures, their normal placement in a store or
department would be towards the back.
When you are deciding what to place on a round rack, there are helpful
guidelines such are keeping the same style and length of garment
throughout unless it is filled with clearance items. You would also follow the
color wheel rainbow sequence followed by neutral colors within a size.
A rounder adjusts in height from 48″ to 72″ and is available in both 36″ and
42″ diameters. When hanging thin to normal weight garments on a 36″
diameter rack, you can comfortably hold 113 pieces (132 garments on a
42″ diameter rack). This is allowing 1″ per garment. The wire hook plastic
hangers used by most stores are approximately ½” thick at their widest
point.
If you are hanging winter coats on a rounder, the quantity it will hold will
decrease substantially.
garments. This feature is best used when offering infant and toddler
clothing or swimwear.
sales from a round rack.
Round racks are available in chrome or black powder-coated finish and
are collapsible for ease in storage. Casters are an option.
There is a variation to the round rack available known as the trilevel round
rack. The hangrail portion of the rack is divided into three equal sections,
which operate independently in height adjustment. Each section of
hangrail will hold approximately 37 garments. This rack works well for
displaying coordinates such as the shirt in one section, jacket and pants
separately on the remaining sections. Again, this rack would be placed
towards the back of the store or department with the lowest adjusted rail
facing towards the front.
Resource, to find the retail solution perfect for you.
Apparel Feature Racks
Carlson JPM Store Fixtures - May 18, 2010
considered feature fixtures because they allow you to showcase the latest
trends, hottest colors, your newest coordinates and separates.
The T-Stand feature fixture holds 12 to 24 items and is the “entry piece” into
your fashion statement. The merchandise on this fixture should capture
your customer’s imagination and take them into the department for a
fuller look.
Both the two-way and the four-way racks are available with straight or
slanted arms or a combination of both style arms. The arms are usually 16”
in length and adjust individually from 48” to 72”. These racks are available
in a variety of finishes: polished chrome, satin chrome, black, and also
clear-coated raw steel.
A four-way rack holds 24 to 48 pieces on straight or slanted arms. Place
each coordinate piece (jacket, pants, shirt, skirt) on a separate arm
organizing the arm by color and size within color. Presenting a
manufacturer’s grouping or line with its matching and contrasting pieces
in this manner creates a greater impact and helps generate sales.
When you are looking at your store or department layout, a four-way fits
best behind a mannequin or a t-stand. Adjust the height of the arm to
reflect the height of the garment on a customer keeping pants a few
inches off the floor. The lowest height arm should face the front of the
department.
If you have mannequins to help in product presentation, make sure the
t-stand is adjacent carrying the merchandise shown on the mannequin.
When using t-stands and costumers in a children’s store or department,
there are add-on arms available to create a lower tier for merchandise.
A word of caution: some t-stands have only one center post with the two
individual arms adjusting from it – this type of rack does not work with
add-on arms.
Resource, to find the retail solution perfect for you.