Insights firm GlobalData, and One Door, a provider of visual merchandising software, have conducted first-of-its-kind research that measures consumer satisfaction with visual merchandising and its impact on retail sales.
The results showed that the monetary cost of store abandonment due to poor visual merchandising equated to US retailers losing $124.5bn in sales last year. This deficiency represented 3.3% of annual bricks & mortar retail sales in the US.
According to the report, 73.4% of surveyed consumers were not completely satisfied with visual merchandising in retail stores they visited within the past year.
Additionally, almost 50% of shoppers walked out of at least one store over the past 12 months due to poor merchandising. The frustration was caused by a dozen merchandising factors, such as hard-to-find products, poor display practices, and damaged fixtures.
“For years, retailers have implicitly understood the linkage between great visual merchandising and sales results, but no one has ever really measured the impact,” said One Door CEO Tom Erskine. “As retailers look to prioritise their investments, this data will shed light on the potential downside of cutting corners related to the in-store experience.”
Neil Saunders, Managing Director of Retail at GlobalData, added: “It’s well known that good merchandising can drive sales, but the reverse is also true – poor visual merchandising is highly damaging to the revenue line. Consumers these days are time-poor and have a low tolerance for friction in stores. Retailers that make life difficult with messy displays, hard-to-find products, or excess clutter are driving their consumers to shop elsewhere. And in today’s competitive market, there are plenty of alternatives – including online shopping.”
