The management of merchandising jewelry is one of the most important keys to the success of a boutique store today. Many believe it is the most important thing a store owner can do to increase sales. For boutique managers and owners, executing management programs that utilize flexibility, agility, and speed makes the difference between great profits and not-so-great, or even no, profits. 

Selling jewelry products is about telling a story to engage your shoppers and encourage them to buy. The way many businesses do this is through visual merchandising. Because jewelry is small in physical size, you must boost the appeal to customers through lighting, clever props, and location that grab a potential client’s attention.

Here are some tips to help discover what the right jewelry merchandising solution is for your boutique: 

MAXIMIZING YOUR DISPLAY CASE AREA

Think about the total space you have in your boutique. How much of this space is used by display cases? Most stores lose upwards of 40% of their total space due to doorways, offices, restrooms, aisles, and backroom storage areas. This severely limits the space used for jewelry display cases.

When you are trying to showcase as much jewelry inventory as possible, you want to avoid putting too many items into one display case. Don’t crowd things together. Spread them out so that each one can be seen as a separate piece. If your displays are cluttered, there is no focal point to draw the eye and none of the items will attract the customers’ attention.

With jewelry merchandising, you want to create a visual display that can guide your customers visually from one jewelry item to the next using a basic design theory.

INCREASING DISPLAY APPEAL

How can you make your jewelry displays much more appealing to customers? Ensuring there is more space between products, impactful color themes, and creative product positioning will help your shoppers notice and engage with the products displayed. An item with a lot of space around it makes it seem more special. It creates a visual illusion that the product is something that needs a second look.

Remember, once someone buys a product, that now-empty display case needs to be cleaned and prepared for the next item. Don’t let a case sit empty. You can’t sell anything from an empty case!

PRODUCT PLACEMENT FOR THE SALE

Display your case arrangement to draw people in. Pay attention to how you customers view your displays. Determine which products do a better job of engaging your shoppers, and then arrange the cases in a way that maximizes the visual effect and does so in some logical fashion.

Ask yourself which of your display cases are best serving the needs of your shoppers and your associates. The right product placement can help increase and encourage more impromptu jewelry purchases. Jewelry design merchandising is a way to increase your sales by allowing shoppers to respond emotionally to your products through appealing displays and encouraging your associates to upsell.

THE RIGHT PROPS: GO NATURAL

Toss away those old and outdated silk flowers. You want to ensure that your merchandising is fresh, up-to-date, contemporary. Jewelry customers are best served by those who are well-versed in design. You want to achieve this by using more natural props to draw in your customers. These props will help to create much more dramatic display cases. By contrasting the natural props with your detailed jewelry, you will begin to draw shoppers right to your displays for an increase in sales.

While you can use many different intriguing props for jewelry displays, you want your jewelry pieces to stand out as the center of attention. It’s important to remember not to get carried away by utilizing unique and interesting props that might take away from the item you are trying to sell.

PLANOGRAMS FOR YOUR DISPLAYS 

Planograms are a visual model or diagram that allows you to see the placement of displays throughout your store. Determining how to increase the area for your display cases can be simplified by using a planogram. A product display planogram can help you to visualize the possible placement of your display locations.

Planograms make it simpler for you to restock your displays up-front with the newest products to keep it fresh and new for your shoppers. By using a planogram, you can reduce the amount of time you set up your displays every morning. Planograms also help sales associates recreate the same look when cleaning and refreshing the displays throughout the day.

The most effective designs merchandisers use for jewelry display cases are the U and L shapes. The idea behind these designs is to make sure each display is presented in a manner that potential buyers can go easily from one section to the next. The potential buyers will have an opportunity to see all your merchandise and not be limited due to poorly managed traffic patterns inside the store. These designs also allow your sales associates to stand behind the counters to help any shoppers while also easing the flow of traffic.

CONSIDER EYE APPEAL

Some jewelry pieces have much more appeal to the human eye due to the materials used or their design style. They are the ones that will attract much more attention from shoppers. Consider which pieces will catch your customers’ eye and make sure they are displayed in a manner that they are one of the first ones to be seen when someone enters your establishment.

SALES ASSOCIATES CAN HELP

Don’t forget that no matter how visually appealing your jewelry is, you need someone with good interpersonal skills and the talent to make the sale. Sales associates are the ones that can provide your customers with additional information about the pieces. Sales associates will personalize the buying experience for the customer. Your associates provide one-on-one selling that ultimately transforms your shoppers into buyers. Encourage your associates to suggest jewelry to complement an outfit.

Do your homework. Research the various resources you have available from your vendors on each piece and provide your sales associates with this information. Consider role playing. Have your sales associates train with one taking the part of a customer and another playing the role of the associate.

DISTRIBUTE THE JEWELRY BY POPULARITY

A great way to avoid placing all your best-selling pieces of jewelry into one area is to evenly distribute them by popularity. Each of your display cases should contain one or more of your most popular pieces to keep your customers engaged during their shopping experience.

CREATE A MERCHANDISING CALENDAR

Using visual merchandising for jewelry can be a process which seems never ending. This process is why it is a good idea to have a calendar around where you can arrange a timetable whereby you schedule things such as refreshing your displays, starting a new advertising campaign, replacing outdated products, and more throughout the month or season. This calendar will help you stay focused and on task when it comes to merchandising your jewelry.

ADD IN COLOR

Color is one of the first things that most customers notice. In fact, some of the most exciting jewelry displays have been dominated by one or more color. Color helps to establish a certain mood. It is well known that red, for example, can evoke passion, love, and excitement.

Some customers may even use colors as an identification of quality, style, and price. Too many colors may confuse your customer and even weaken your presentation in the display. It’s okay to have many different items in a display with a few different colors, but don’t overdo it with a rainbow of hues that can overwhelm your clients.

Effective jewelry displays with colors should include no more than three different colors or three different textures.

THE RIGHT LIGHTING

Your displays must have the right sort of lighting. The right lighting will have a much bigger impact than anything else in your store. You need to pay attention to things like glare or reflections in the glass.

When you don’t focus on having the right lighting, you make things more difficult for your customers. They might not see all the pieces in the displays or might gloss over pieces that are poorly lit.

Ensure your pieces remain out of the shadows. By doing so, your jewelry pieces will look much more interesting and draw your buyers in.

CONSIDER USING DISPLAY AIDS

Display aids like necklace platforms and earring trees may help to increase the viewing angles for certain pieces.

Medium-sized aids should always be placed in front of earring trees and necklace platforms. Flat cases for displaying items like rings should be placed in front of the medium aids. This placement allows full visibility to your customers of each item.

How you place the item in the display case, most especially the angle that the item is placed at in the case, will affect the visibility and visual attractiveness of the piece. You need to find a way to arrange all pieces in a manner that ensures each piece can be viewed as a stand-alone item.

To increase visibility, many people have removed price tags on their pieces of jewelry. This adjustment has helped to increase sales by not only increasing the visibility of certain pieces but also deterring customers from feeling as if they cannot afford certain pieces.

USING MIRRORS

Some cases come designed with mirror backings. Mirrors reflect light, which makes the cases appear to be brighter. They may even reflect some of the products to give the illusion that there are more choices to choose from.

Remember, too, that it’s also important to keep a high-quality hand or stand mirror for customers to view how the pieces look on them.

KEEP THINGS TIDY AND CLEAN

Your displays should be cleaned so they look spotless. Ensure all glass is cleaned frequently throughout the course of a work day. Fill in any empty spaces from sales with stock immediately so your cases are never empty.

PROFESSIONALLY DESIGNED

Don’t take a casual approach with your designs. Spend some time on the design. You want your displays to appear as if they were designed by professionals. Keep them looking fresh and new. Touch up any chipped areas with paint and ensure you have a plan in place to repaint and resurface your cases throughout the year.

CELEBRATE HOLIDAYS AND CHANGING SEASONS

Many jewelry stores are successful because they include festive props to celebrate the holidays and changing seasons. These festive pieces help to add excitement and cheer for the upcoming events.

Get your customers excited and in the holiday spirit by adding in holiday specific or season specific props to your displays.

WHY IS VISUAL MERCHANDISING IMPORTANT?

Visual merchandising has many different elements that can be confusing when you are trying to determine where to start. The five most important elements of visual merchandising are color, focal point, story-telling, maximum merchandise exposure, and wise use of space.

Visual merchandising helps to maximize the aesthetics of your jewelry pieces. This equates to increases in sales. It can also play an important role in the look and feel of your store. When it’s done right, it will create awareness to your brand while increasing loyalty among your customers.

The most important reason to use visual merchandising for your shoppers is to engage and inspire them. The process of engagement of customers starts when they first enter your store.

Remember, when it comes to winning sales from customers, first impressions count. Not only should the displays in your store for jewelry pieces stand out, but the exterior of the store should reflect the store's culture and personality as well. This will help draw customers into your store.

Be creative when using visual merchandising for your displays, but avoid crowding items all together in one display case. Make sure, too, that you arrange the cases properly so your customers have room to maneuver.

If you do your merchandising correctly, your bottom line will increase significantly.

January 31, 2017 — Arun Yadav