Displays

  1. How to Optimize Your Retail Floor Layout

    Wondering how to optimize your store's layout? The truth is, there is no secret to perfecting store layout. Rather, the right layout for your store will depend on a number of different factors, including the type of goods you stock and the kind of shopping experience you are trying to create. However, there are a few options you should keep in mind. Let's take a look.

    The Grid Floorplan

    In the grid floor plan, fixtures and displays run parallel to the walls, making use of every possible inch of space, including the corners. The major advantage of the grid floorplan is that is an excellent way to maximize use of both floor space and wall space. It's also easy for retailers to categorize goods by type and stock shelves accordingly, creating different sections that are easy for customers to navigate and find what they are looking for. This can create an intuitive, hassle-free shopping experience, enabling customers to grab what they need and go. Moreover,

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  2. Introducing a New Rewards-based Payment Feature From Ibotta's App

    Ibotta is an established mobile application that works with various retailers to offer a rewards program to clients. Recently, Ibotta added a new feature to its application allowing for rewards-based payments.

    The New Feature

    Before this most recent update, Ibotta mostly served to let users earn cash back as they shop. It originally acted similar to a digital coupon-clipping service, automatically offering savings for various products.

    The latest version, however, adds in payment functionality for even more savings. This feature, called Pay with Ibotta, will automatically distribute rewards for your transaction among the 30 restaurants and retailers at the checkout.

    Participating Retailers

    At its launch, the first national chains that will participate in Pay with Ibotta include Sephora, Old Navy, Lowe's, The Home Depot, Bath & Body Works, Ulta, Gap, and the Banana Republic. More restaurants and retailers will

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  3. Millennials Are Driving Sales of Irish Whiskey in the United States

    Millennials have a reputation for ruining some industries, but Irish whiskey is not one of them. In fact, Irish whiskey has seen an increase in sales in the United States and this is largely attributed to millennials.

    Some Figures

    In 2018, sales of Irish whiskey in the United States grew an impressive 9.4 percent over the previous year. In fact, over the past five years, Irish whiskeys sale volume in the country increased by 61 percent, based on information from the Irish Food Board. This translated into distillers earning revenue of around $1 billion. The contribution of Irish whiskey has led to spirits taking more market shares from beer despite struggles to adapt to new customer tastes. 2018 was the ninth year in a row that spirits took beer’s market share.

    Why Millennials Drive the Growth

    According to the chief economist for the Distilled Spirits Council, David Ozgo, part of the reason that millennials

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  4. How Major Retailers Like Walgreens and Kroger Are Using Artificial Intelligence

    Most people around the world are aware of the growing role of artificial intelligence, but you likely do not know just how far this technology extends. Many major retailers, including big names like Kroger and Walgreens, have begun incorporating artificial intelligence.

    How Retailers Are Using AI

    There are multiple ways that retailers are already using artificial intelligence or are planning to do so in the future. One of the most common applications is the use of AI facial recognition and similar AI tech for its ability to track physical movements or objects. An example would be using AI to understand what influences purchasing decisions in real-time. Or it could be something like a dressing room mirror that includes facial recognition technology to know when it is okay to dim the lights. Other retailers use this facial recognition to figure out how shoppers interact with various displays, technology, and merchandise.

    Smart Displays to Customize

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  5. Walmart Is Changing Thanksgiving Shopping with In-Store Parties

    Black Friday has been the biggest shopping day for many years already, and in recent years, retailers supplemented this by starting sales on Thursday night. Walmart is taking this to another level by offering parties in its stores on Thanksgiving in hopes to bring in more sales. These events are designed to appeal to those who celebrate Thanksgiving earlier and want to get energized before the major sales begin.

    The Parties and Sales

    According to Walmart, the new events will take place in retail stores on Thanksgiving Day, November 22, between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. At the event, there will be free cookies and coffee to provide the energy you need to enjoy a night of shopping. When the parties end at 6 p.m., they will be immediately followed by Black Friday deals starting in stores. The online Black Friday deals from Walmart will start earlier than they have ever begun in the past, at 10 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, November 21. According to Walmart chief merchandising

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  6. Animatronic Mannequins for Retail

    When most people picture mannequins, they imagine the traditional static ones. However, this type of retail display has significantly advanced over the years. Now, moving or animatronic mannequins are gaining in popularity. Moving mannequins show off your clothing just as the static ones do, but they can take your display to the next level.

    Show Clothing in Motion

    The biggest advantage of animatronic mannequins is that they show how your clothing looks when it is actually in motion. This can give customers a better idea of whether pants ride down in movement or a shirt tends to ride up. It also lets potential customers know what the clothes will look like and how they will function while in motion.

    Help You Stand Out

    Moving mannequins can also help your retail store stand out from the crowd. Although this type of animatronic display has been around for years, few retailers have used it. Therefore, the few with moving displays

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  7. The Second Generation of Department Stores

    The retail landscape is changing, and the traditional department store is losing its niche as consumers show a clear preference for smaller stores with a singular focus. This has led to a change in the way that department stores have to operate to remain successful. Some experts are calling this the new or second generation of department stores.

    A Need for Reinvention

    In 2018, department stores have seen that they need to take the time to reinvent themselves, or they will be forced to close. As an overall category, department stores in the United States did worse financially than non-department stores in 2017. Major companies, such as Kohls, Sears, and Macys, are all taking this as a sign that they need to make changes if they want to keep up with the changing retail requirements of consumers.

    Smaller Locations

    One of the biggest and most dramatic changes for these department stores is moving on from the large locations that

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  8. Zara Replaces Mannequins with Augmented Reality

    Forget about mannequins. The next time you walk into a Zara store, you can see clothing modeled in augmented reality.

    For a full week at 120 Zara stores worldwide, there will be no mannequins on display. Instead, clothing will be modeled in augmented reality. This new in-store experience can be accessed by customers via an app, so all they need to do is pull out their phones while they are in-store. The pedestals normally used to display mannequins will be bare, but customers can scan the location where a mannequin would be using their phones, and a hologram replacement will pop up in the app. The best part? Customers can even take selfies with the hologram mannequins.

    Believe it or not, the augmented reality models are actually based on real models (Julian and Fran Summers). Julian and Summers were each photographed upwards of 60 times while they posed, talked to one another, and danced to create the holograms.

    This is likely just the beginning of Zara's foray

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  9. This NYC Boutique Is Revolutionizing Mannequins

    When Rob Smith founded the Phluid Project, an NYC-based boutique store that is believed to be one of the world's first gender-neutral clothing outlets, he wanted to get every detail right. But getting one detail right was harder than he expected: the mannequins. Smith wanted gender-neutral mannequins in his store, but the problem was that he couldn't find any.

    This was maybe the most critical decision in the store, Smith explained. I went through as many catalogues as I could find, and every accessible catalogue I went through, it was impossible to find a mannequin that was gender-free. That's likely because the majority of mannequins are designed with gender in mind, representing ideal feminine and masculine physiques without much in the middle. Finding mannequins in diverse shapes, sizes, and styles let alone gender-neutral mannequins can often be a major challenge for retailers.

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  10. Tips and Tricks to Create Compelling Impulse Shopping Zones

    One of the keys to success for retailers is maximizing both the average dollar per transaction (ADT) and units per transaction (UPT). One of the best ways to do this? Capitalizing on human impulse behavior, of course.

    Retailers can significantly drive up both ADT and UPT by encouraging consumers to make impulse purchases. The vast majority of American consumers – a full 84 percent – admit to making unplanned purchases while shopping. A full 33 percent of consumers actually admit to making impulse purchases at least once per week. Research consistently shows that consumers struggle to completely control their urges to buy something they see and want, especially when they feel that they are scoring a good deal.

    Recognizing the economic power of the impulse purchase, retailers like Sephora, Target, and H&M all entice consumers to make impulse purchases, often relying on impulse shopping zones. Wonder where and how to create compelling

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