An exploration of fashion visual merchandising and its role as a brand positioning device

Abstract

In today's globally competitive and dynamic fashion environment every clothing and lifestyle brand, from the largest luxury conglomerate to the independent market stall trader, utilises one if not more elements and principles of visual merchandising (VM). This exploratory study aimed to investigate this under-researched marketing tool within the context of a window display's role in communicating the brand's identity and position in the marketplace. Using a qualitative two-phase approach of nonparticipant store observations and in-depth interviews with visual merchandisers, the research focused on two main elements of window display: color and lighting. Undertaking a comparison between the VM window display techniques of high street and luxury fashion brands, the primary research demonstrated that a clear difference in approach was evident and that this was dependent on the position in the marketplace. The paper concludes by identifying these differences.

The Role of Visual Merchandising to Position Fashion Retailers: a Key Place in Spanish Literature

“…For Park, Jeon and Sullivan (2015) in-fashion and attractiveness visual merchandising can influence positively in brand attitude and purchase intention. According to Nobbs, Foong and Baker (2015) the main elements of window display from the point of view of a non-participant observation and the visual merchandisers interviewed are color and lighting. However, the approach is different depending on the position that VM plays in the market place.…”

Visual merchandising: Uma análise bibliométrica e proposta de pesquisas futuras

“…Regarding the three qualitative studies identified, the methods were Grounded Theory (Law, Wong & Yip, 2012) and case study (Nobbs, Foong & Baker, 2015). The studies used interviews for data collection (Law et al, 2012;Nobbs et al, 2015) and focus group (Yu, Tullio-Pow & Akhtar, 2015). Nobbs et al (2015) adopted the observation collection technique and the interviews above.…”

“…The studies used interviews for data collection (Law et al, 2012;Nobbs et al, 2015) and focus group (Yu, Tullio-Pow & Akhtar, 2015). Nobbs et al (2015) adopted the observation collection technique and the interviews above. For data analysis, studies adopted different techniques, namely:…”

“…Grounded Theory (Law et al, 2012), thematic analysis (Nobbs et al, 2015) and content analysis (Yu, Tullio-Pow & Akhtar, 2015).…”

Narrativas que venden moda: el visual merchandiser

“…El expositor del producto y el escaparate son "elementos ubicuos y prominentes de la estrategia del comercio minorista poco estudiados como técnica de comunicación" (Sen et al, 2002, p. 277). Y el escaparate como elemento principal en el entorno competitivo y dinámico de la moda (Nobbs et al, 2015). En la era omnicanal se ha demostrado que elementos de branding como el tour virtual de fotos de la tienda real incrementan la intención de visita a la tienda (Baek et al, 2020).…”