Take a Look

THE ART OF VISUAL merchandising should never be an afterthought for physical retailers. For most shoppers, windows and displays not only help drive them to make a purchase, they also create lasting impressions, setting a tone for brands or store experiences. It’s said that humans have an attention span of eight seconds (a figure that varies widely from study to study), and regardless of whether it’s eight seconds, 10 or even more, retailers have a limited amount of time to make an impact – and what better way to capture their attention than a stunning window or cleverly planned product display.

As our “Visual” issue, this July/August edition features not only our 32nd annual International Visual Competition (pg. 30, celebrating temporary retail like pop-ups, windows and storewide campaigns), it also has an in-depth look at the latest visual merchandising trends in store and in windows (pg. 40), penned by our longtime U.K.-based contributing writer, Georgia Mizen.

With another focus on the importance of visual merchandising, our latest column (pg. 18) – dubbed “On Display” – written by MBH’s Cynthia Ortiz (and Intl. President of the Retail Design Institute), examines the importance of synchronized store design and visual merchandising departments within businesses. This new section replaces our previous Next UX column and will feature rotating content from a variety of retail industry experts focusing on a range of topics. (If you’re interested in having your voice heard, be sure to email the VMSD editors at [email protected] with your ideas. We’d love to hear from you!)

Before I let you explore the amazing projects within this issue’s pages, I’d like to throw in a reminder to register for our 25th annual International Retail Design Conference (IRDC), coming to Providence, R.I., this Oct. 22-23.

Between keynote presenters like “near futurist” Neil Redding, economist Sarah Quinlan and our new closing experience facilitated by AGAR, attendees will have all their senses engaged this year through sights, sounds and even smells. Also new this year is a “young professional” registration rate, allowing you to bring a colleague who’s new to the industry and give them the exposure they need to succeed. As usual, IRDC will be co-located with the Shop! Ideation Conference & Retail Challenge – the latter of which (Retail Challenge) will have a focus on the shoe and streetwear brand Snipes. For more information on either events or to register, visit irdconline.com or shop-ideation.com.

Until then, enjoy the rest of your summer – and stay cool out there!