Mind Your Windows

If your store space includes display windows, take heed of their influence on the shopper. The Christmas season brings out innovative store windows. It’s a nice prompt to consider what makes windows work. A recent feature article in USA Today describes an EyeTrackShop study which concluded that motion and surprise in store window displays draw the sort of attention that translates into higher sales.
     A traditional English proverb, perhaps based on a biblical quote, reads, “The eyes are the window of the soul.” Consumer psychologists might reply, “The store windows are the mirror of the retailer’s mind.”

• Know your audience. Window displays designed for drive-by viewers need to be larger and bolder than those designed for walk-by traffic.
• Featuring merchandise in a store window primes the shopper to consider those items of merchandise as having special appeal when the shopper subsequently sees them in the store. This effect operates on the same psychological principle as does a celebrity endorsement.
• Displays that portray the product or service being used trigger imagination of usage by those looking at the window, and imagining usage makes purchase more likely. This is most likely when the consumer who is viewing the window display considers the usage portrayed to be by someone the consumers consider to be like them or like someone they want to become.
• Consumers seek shortcuts when making shopping decisions. This fact is of benefit to retailers as well as to shoppers. Window displays can qualify prospects by showing the types of merchandise you carry and the price level. If your store carries a good-better-best range, shoppers will appreciate indications in the display of where in the store to find the price-quality category of items they’re seeking. Including representative items from the range tells the shopper you’re not limited.
• Changes stimulate interest. Because it’s easier to reconfigure a window display than to remerchandise the shopping area, changing window displays regularly is a cost-effective way to give consumers the novelty they like and convince them you’re not in a rut.
• You also want to convince the consumers you pay attention to store cleanliness. Keep those window displays tidy. You and your staff are likely to be spending more time looking at the body of the store than at the windows, but when your windows fulfill their full potential, the shoppers will be introduced to the body when viewing those mirrors into your mind.

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