Window Displays

Window display design for shops is sometimes the last thing the manager thinks about. They often neglect to keep the window refreshed on a regular occasion – so customers don’t make a habit of looking. The shop window should, in fact, be one of the prime concerns as it is the store’s main piece of advertising. Why spend thousands for small spots in the back of a magazine, when the actual window display has been left the same for weeks on end?

A window display designer can be brought in to not only carry out the work of choosing goods from the store to display, but can also draw up a plan for how they will be displayed. The next task is to actually dress the window.

But how do you know the design is having an effect? The store manager should carefully monitor trading figures before and after a design is changed. A comparison can then be made on the effectiveness. Managers should also look at market testing displays. Many window design firms will take responsibility for these facets of the business.

It is one of the western world’s premier hobby – window shopping. This pastime is defined as going to the high street to browse for items you would like to buy – but without actually buying them. However, this is not something for the average trader to worry about. The fact that the shopper does not actually buy at that moment – does not mean they will not buy eventually. What the trader has to do is make his/her shop window more attractive to potential customers than others in the high street.

For decades, some retailers have made their name by putting on eye-catching displays on the high street. Good examples include Selfridges in London’s Oxford Street and Allders in Croydon’s North End. But what actually makes a good display?

Designers aim to lay out a shop window display to stop customers in their tracks and coax them in through the doors. This can be done by, either putting the best looking ware in the prime window space or, creating a visually stunning backdrop to the goods.

Selfridges frequently uses very artistic and fashionable cutting edge design to make the display more akin to a top modern art gallery. Allders was famed for telling folk tales in its Christmas windows.