Visual Merchandising and Store Design | VMSD.com

(March 2009) posted on Tue Mar 17, 2009

For retailers, sourcing items that are cost-effective and durable is more important than ever — especially mannequins.

By Lauren Mang

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Want three words that best sum up the mannequin business these days? How about “proceed with caution”? Also, “return on investment.” As visual budgets take a hit, retailers say they are left with half the money they had last year for props, fixtures, mannequins and other enhancements. So they’re treading carefully, purchasing with more caution and flexing their creative chops with items they already own.

“Every company expense or investment – from mannequins to light bulbs – is being thoroughly scrutinized,” says Victor Johnson, the director of store environment for women’s specialty apparel retailer White House | Black Market (Fort Myers, Fla.). “If we’re going to spend money, the return on investment needs to be significant and immediate.”

ROI has always been difficult to measure in this industry. The “I” is high. Mannequins tend to be one of the pricier items on a retailers’ visual budget. Maintenance, employee time and refurbishing can also be expensive. And there’s no solid science to measure a mannequin’s “R.”

But for Johnson, who insists mannequin presentations influence traffic and sales in quick, positive ways, the silent sellers are a justifiable expense when carefully planned. So he intends to test a handful of newly purchased mannequins, mixed with existing forms, focusing the investment on key vignettes in high-profile store locations such as Las Vegas or Chicago.

Stephanie Picone, director of marketing and visual at IZOD Retail, a branch of Phillips-Van Heusen Corp. (New York), agrees that mannequins must remain a key component of her business – but that the business is changing. “Retailers aren’t using mannequins any less,” she says. “But in the last year, we’ve started looking for mannequins that are cost-effective and have more longevity or durability.”

Longevity is a relative term, of course. With proper care, a traditional fiberglass mannequin can maintain its luster for as long as 20 years. In fact, luxury retailer Barneys New York has preserved some of its in-house mannequin designs for more than two decades, according to Matt Reed, the company’s vp of display. But longevity also depends on maintenance.

“Retailers need to make an accurate and honest assessment of who’s going to be handling mannequins,” says Ignaz Gorischek, vp of store development and visual planning at Neiman Marcus (Dallas). “Fiberglass is clearly more fragile than some of the other materials out there so, unless they’re being handled by professional stylists, finishes and materials become very important when selecting a mannequin.”