The Pros and Cons of Hiring Visual Merchandising Companies
Why outsource your Visual Merchandising? The cliché goes, "two heads are better than one".
This is very much applicable in retail merchandising.
Although one has the talent to do all the actions, another head can always add to the ideas.
For a store owner, studying the market and setting the direction to capture a portion of it is already a challenging job.
What more if he still has to do all the planning for creative and effective displays and implement the same? That would surely be too much a task for a single person! So why outsource this task? To receive the benefit of an expert input into the process.
What is the role of a Visual Merchandising (VM) Company? They have the following roles: 1.
Work with you on establishing a plan.
2.
Collaborate with you on developing a strategy for implementation.
3.
Guide you on staff communication.
4.
Set up your displays.
5.
Train key people on how to maintain displays that result in increased sales 6.
Help you troubleshoot problem areas and maximize fixture usage.
7.
Provide visual merchandising training How to Choose a Good VM Company: When hiring a VM company, the following questions may be considered: 1.
What are your objectives for outsourcing your visual merchandising process? 2.
How involved would you like the outsource company to be involved with you? 3.
Would you like help solely with planning or would you prefer them to be fully engaged in the process? 4.
How much of your marketing resources would you be prepared to allocate to visual merchandise? Being fully conscious of the fact that a good visual merchandising company would pay for itself within weeks! 5.
Consider the type of relationship you would want with the outsource company.
It can either be a per need ad-hoc basis or an on-going relationship.
How to Derive Maximum Benefit From a VM Company: The following guidelines may help in choosing the appropriate company for your retail store: 1.
Ensure that the outsource company understands your organisations: aims and objectives, demography, unique selling preposition (USP) and organisational culture.
2.
The company proposal reflects the above mentioned points and is achievable.
3.
Ensure there are mechanisms in place for performance measurement.
4.
Conduct adequate reference and testimonial checks to ensure the outsource company has a demonstrable knowledge of visual merchandising.
5.
Store employees need to be trained and engaged with the process to ensure compliance and cooperation.
This is very much applicable in retail merchandising.
Although one has the talent to do all the actions, another head can always add to the ideas.
For a store owner, studying the market and setting the direction to capture a portion of it is already a challenging job.
What more if he still has to do all the planning for creative and effective displays and implement the same? That would surely be too much a task for a single person! So why outsource this task? To receive the benefit of an expert input into the process.
What is the role of a Visual Merchandising (VM) Company? They have the following roles: 1.
Work with you on establishing a plan.
2.
Collaborate with you on developing a strategy for implementation.
3.
Guide you on staff communication.
4.
Set up your displays.
5.
Train key people on how to maintain displays that result in increased sales 6.
Help you troubleshoot problem areas and maximize fixture usage.
7.
Provide visual merchandising training How to Choose a Good VM Company: When hiring a VM company, the following questions may be considered: 1.
What are your objectives for outsourcing your visual merchandising process? 2.
How involved would you like the outsource company to be involved with you? 3.
Would you like help solely with planning or would you prefer them to be fully engaged in the process? 4.
How much of your marketing resources would you be prepared to allocate to visual merchandise? Being fully conscious of the fact that a good visual merchandising company would pay for itself within weeks! 5.
Consider the type of relationship you would want with the outsource company.
It can either be a per need ad-hoc basis or an on-going relationship.
How to Derive Maximum Benefit From a VM Company: The following guidelines may help in choosing the appropriate company for your retail store: 1.
Ensure that the outsource company understands your organisations: aims and objectives, demography, unique selling preposition (USP) and organisational culture.
2.
The company proposal reflects the above mentioned points and is achievable.
3.
Ensure there are mechanisms in place for performance measurement.
4.
Conduct adequate reference and testimonial checks to ensure the outsource company has a demonstrable knowledge of visual merchandising.
5.
Store employees need to be trained and engaged with the process to ensure compliance and cooperation.
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