Sewing is a visual medium. The wide variety of color palettes, designs, and styles is what draws many to begin sewing and quilting. As the owner of a sewing store, you should capitalize on the visual nature of the products you sell by employing skillful visual merchandising in your store. Indeed.com defines visual merchandising as “the practice of organizing and displaying products in a retail space . . . to highlight products and their features, gain customers’ attention, make customers feel comfortable and promote sales.”
It’s in your best interest to put your best foot forward by presenting your greatest products front and center at your store. These could be the top sellers, the highest quality products, the most visually appealing items, or in some cases, the unexpected and unique offerings that could catch customers’ eyes. To run a successful store, you have to know how to obtain great products, but you also need to know how to present them in the best possible light.
Tip 1: Create a Welcoming Entrance
Your sewing retail store should try to create the kind of environment that will attract your target audience. Many sewing store owners are sewing enthusiasts themselves – if this is you, consider what would draw you to a sewing store. Good lighting, visibility of your product from the outside of the store, and window displays with your most popular products will help you to catch the eyes of potential customers.
A customer’s first impression of your store is very important. A well-designed store logo display and consistent branding throughout the store and online will help create a positive brand image in the mind of customers and promote recognition of your brand. Seasonal decorations can also help you generate interest and add variety to your displays.
Tip 2: Focus on Product Placement
The way your products are arranged can have a significant impact on sales. Your best-selling items are probably what the most customers are looking for when they enter the store, so having them clearly visible will ensure these customers can find them easily. While quilting customers tend to browse, if these best-selling items are difficult to find, they may give up and look elsewhere.
You can also use cross-merchandising techniques to boost sales. Cross merchandising is the technique of placing items that would logically be purchased together next to each other to motivate customers to buy multiple items. Consider what items are typically bought together, and if necessary look at past sales data. You could place coordinating fabrics or fabrics from similar collections next to each other. You can also use cross-merchandising with your displays. If you’re displaying a quilt, you can place the fabric or pattern used to make the quilt next to it. If a customer is inspired by the quilt display and wants to create the quilt themselves, they’ll have the resources they need right there in the same spot. Utilizing this technique in your sewing store can increase your sales and benefit customers by providing them with a more convenient shopping experience.
Tip 3: Tell a Story with Displays
Quilters usually don’t enter a store just to find a product and leave, they come to be inspired and to explore the many varieties of fabrics and materials available. You can accommodate this tendency with interesting theme-based displays. In addition to highlighting your most popular products, create in-store displays that highlight a certain kind of sewing project. Keep your eye out for new trends you can introduce to your customers. They may be inspired to buy supplies for a project they’ve never attempted before.
Apart from the standard threads and fabrics in these displays, you can also incorporate props, accessories, and tools, like containers, bags, cutting and measuring tools, and more. If you have space, you could even create a DIY project station, offering quilters a space to get started on a project in the store. Having some quilting being done right there in-store can add to the authenticity and atmosphere of your shop.
Tip 4: Harness the Power of Color and Lighting
Among other visual attributes, color plays a significant role in consumer purchasing decisions. According to Hubspot.com, up to 90% of a customer’s first impression of a product is based on color, and color can increase brand awareness and recognition by 80%. Quilt shops tend to be filled with a variety of colors of fabric, thread, and other materials. By choosing to display brightly colored items you will create interest and draw customers to your products. It can also be helpful to know the emotions people tend to associate with colors. Blue suggests trustworthiness, Red suggests power and energy, yellow suggests optimism, and green suggests health (Hubspot.com). Choosing to display products with colors that produce a more positive response in people can create more sales.
Don’t forget to make sure displays are well-lit. Depending on the situation, additional light may be needed to make a display stand out in a store window or within the store, ensuring that your most important products catch the eyes of customers.
Your ideal customers should feel comfortable within your store. You can add nice decorations like art, plants, vinyl lettering with humorous or uplifting messages, and more. Your atmosphere should feel cozy and inviting.
Tip 5: Offer Interactive Experiences
Offering interactive experiences at your store will create excitement and get people into your store who may not have come otherwise. Once they are there, they will see your impressive visual merchandising displays and will hopefully make purchases. Some of the best interactive experiences are hands-on demonstrations and workshops. Teach a class yourself or invite someone you know to teach. You may want to teach a basic quilting skill to beginners, or an advanced or new technique to experienced quilters.
Digital technology can also help you facilitate interactive experiences in the store. You can use posted QR codes throughout the store that will take shoppers to your website, where they can find more information. There are also virtual online tools for people to see how a certain fabric would look in a quilt or as a piece of clothing. Incorporating these tools will help customers feel more informed and more confident in their purchasing decisions.
Tip 6: Maintain a Neat and Organized Layout
The cleanliness and organization of your store is critical for making a positive first impression with a customer. We’ve all stepped into a store that is messy and unorganized. It’s difficult to find what you’re looking for and is a less enjoyable shopping experience. Make sure aisles are wide and clear so multiple customers can comfortably shop in each aisle and traffic won’t back up throughout the store.
Strive to keep your shelves stocked with products so they don’t appear empty or low, and clean your store regularly to avoid collecting dust or debris, which will discourage customers from buying. Creating clear signage for your various product categories will be helpful to your customers as they look for specific materials. Large labels with a font and style that matches the rest of the store will help maintain a consistent brand and help your customers find what they’re searching for.
Tip 7: Embrace Seasonal Themes and Trends
Displays related to holidays, seasons, and special occasions are a best practice for quilt stores. Special fabrics and projects related to the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other holidays work in tandem with holiday excitement to inspire customers to create seasonal projects. These displays should go up a few weeks before the holiday, so the customer can reasonably create the project in time to display on the holiday.
Along with seasonal displays, you can offer seasonal promotions and events. Perhaps you offer a discount on Christmas-themed fabric around the Christmas season, or a store-wide sale on the Fourth of July.
Pay attention to what colors, patterns, and styles are trending in the quilting community. These may be related to holidays or may not. Keep an eye on social media and try to supply the products that quilters are most interested in purchasing.
Tip 8: Utilize Digital and Online Platforms
Using the internet to promote your business was once a luxury, it is now a necessity and has become more accessible than ever before. A website specifying your store’s location, hours and product offerings will help customers find you and make plans to visit your store. Add high-quality photos of your products and specific descriptions to help customers make informed purchasing decisions. Social media channels will help your business be discovered. Make sure your brand imagery is consistent across your website, social media accounts, and your store location. You can also offer a virtual tour of your store or provide online workshops, creating loyalty and community even with customers who live far from your store.
Conclusion
You may have great products at your sewing store, but to stand out and find success, you need to put your best products in front of your customers’ eyes. You can do this by creating a visually appealing store layout with clear labels, easy navigation, interactive elements, and seasonal displays, as well as establishing a consistent online presence to support your in-store operations.
Do you feel too busy running your business to implement all of these strategies? LikeSew’s point-of-sale software provides you with the tools you need to manage your store, including inventory management, website and social media support, and email marketing services. Our all-in-one platform can also assist you with visual branding and merchandising. With the system working for you, you’ll have more free time to organize your store the way you want.
Contact us today to learn more!