Festival mode

Sept. 23: It is festival time and visual merchandisers are on an overdrive to attract more footfall to their shops.

Pictures of sindoor khela, conch, dhunuchi and decorative pieces like chandmala — the lifestyle stores and malls in the city are all decked up for Durga Puja through visual merchandising.

Visual merchandising is the act of promoting sales of goods by their attractive display in the retail outlets.

It has become an important element in retailing that includes a combination of products, environments, and spaces into a stimulating and engaging display, which encourage the sale of a product or service.

“We have used a pylon of goddess Durga , pictures of conch , trisul, sindoor khela, as these are associated with Durga Puja and to lend our customers the flavour of the festive season. Visual merchandising is very essential in the retail stores dealing with clothes where the main focus is on merchandising the apparel,” Krishikaa Bansal, visual merchandiser of Pantaloons said.

“It is a festive season and many prefer apparel of bright or earthly colours like yellow and red with heavy embroidery and sequin work. I displayed the mannequins with fabrics of zari work, jamawar work, crystal beads to exhibit our latest arrivals. Our main objective is to attract the customers to the store. As a visual merchandiser, I have to look at the overall presentation of the store. Even the backdrop and the graphics have been done keeping with the flavour of the festive season,' Bansal added.

Varsha Nahata , assistant visual merchandiser of Sohum Shoppe said the main purpose of visual merchandising is to give a new look to the store and to make it visually stimulating and attractive.

“In a retail store displaying various products in an attractive and systematic way is very important, so that the products get highlighted,” she added.

“We have used the wallpapers with Puja greetings for our customers as well as danglers. Puja mannequins are donned in ethnic apparel using bright colours like pink, orange and it is also a way to display the latest arrivals in accessories, dress, jewellery, among others and communicating with the customers. In creating displays, colours, lighting, space, product information are also considered important aspects in visual merchandising of a store,” visual merchandiser Juliee Dehangia of Sohum Shoppe said.

She said with the malls and the lifestyle stores mushrooming in the city, the concept of visual merchandising had arrived.

“On every occasion, be it Bihu, Christmas or other festivals, we endeavour to give a different look to lend the flavour and mood to our customers through visual merchandising. For Durga Puja, we are keeping the décor basic and traditional. We are using bamboo for effect. The display of the new arrivals in the apparel section mainly in the ethnic and the Indo-western wear, has been given much importance to attract customers,” Mukesh Sharma , general manager of Hub, said.

Another lifestyle store, Westside, is also getting ready with its visual merchandising plans to lure shoppers.

Ganesh Khatiar, manager of the outlet, said the store had already received instructions from the visual merchandising department.

“We will now do up the store emphasising mainly on window display,” he said.