Every apparel retail store owner or manager wants to sell as much product as possible. Sometimes, the way you present your products can convert potential customers into regular customers. In this post, we are going to look at several retail merchandising tips for clothing stores to help boost overall retail sales.

Defining Retail Merchandising

Before we dive headfirst into tips, let’s take a moment to just clarify what we mean when we talk about retail merchandising. Retail merchandising is simply the process of selling goods in a physical store. It is embodied by the shopping experience you cultivate within a store in an effort to drive retail sales. This involves, but is not limited to, the selection, arrangement, and display of your goods, which can include special attention to seasonal promotions, store traffic patterns, and more.

A significant aspect of retail merchandising is visual merchandising, which is the process of planning, designing, and displaying goods to put a spotlight on their features and benefits. Important aspects of clothing promotion can include color, lighting, product positioning, and retail store layout.

With this in mind, let’s dig into some hands-on retail merchandising tips.

Merchandising Tip #1 – Find Your Inspiration

You’ll want to start with a cohesive vision of how you would like your store to appear. Perhaps you already have something special in mind. If you need inspiration, however, the internet can be an endless source of merchandising inspiration. Before you start ordering and/or building displays, consider taking a quick spin through Pinterest for some ideas with visual appeal that resonate with you and, ideally, your customers.

Merchandising Tip #2 – Intelligent Floor Planning

When a prospective customer steps into your apparel or clothing store, you should be displaying your newest selections, key products, and/or promotional items. They should be either folded neatly on tables, hanging on uncrowded clothing racks, displayed on mannequins, or some combination of those three. Other areas of your store should be designated to put a spotlight on top sellers and complementary items. Consider arranging your store in quadrants (or similar groupings), with like items grouped together in their designated section. Position shorter racks toward the center of the store and keep the taller racks and displays near the back. A good way to show your store’s character is with a combination of retail clothing racks, display tables, and mannequins.

Keep in mind that your floor plan might not be so intuitive to your shoppers just because it seems intuitive to you. A good way to help them navigate your store and enjoy their shopping experience is via strategically-placed display signs that lead them through your displays and shelves.

Merchandising Tip #3 – Sell More with Cross Merchandising

If you haven’t experimented with cross-merchandising, now is the perfect time to start; it’s one of the most tried and true visual merchandising tips. When you cross merchandise, you present complementary products together in an effort to increase sales. This convenience can save your shoppers time and improve their overall shopping experience.

Brainstorm some interesting ways to cross merchandise. For example, if you sell outdoor clothing, you could group accessories such as sunscreen, hats, and even bug spray to get people excited about their next outdoor adventure.

Merchandising Tip #4 – Update Your Product Displays Regularly

The quickest way to bore a shopper is to keep showing them the same thing over and over. To avoid this misstep, you have to switch up your displays on a regular basis. Seasonality and holidays are great opportunities to do this. Don’t stop there, though. Get creative. Consider new themes, such as “get the look” displays that feature styles akin to what celebrities are wearing. Perhaps you could try color schemes as themes by setting up a Breast Cancer Awareness display that highlights pink clothing and accessories. Get creative!

Giving your customer something new to look at frequently is a great way to create loyal customers.

Merchandising Tip #6 – Incorporate Props Within Your Clothing Store

One of the most overlooked visual merchandising tips is to incorporate props into your displays. While your products should remain the star of your retail displays, incorporating props into your visual merchandising strategy can create unique retail spaces that showcase your products in an environment outside of a traditional retail setting. You can incorporate props by theme, such as:

• retro
• beach
• camping
• cookout

You are really only limited by your imagination when it comes to props in a visual merchandising display. You don’t even need to spend much money on your props. Check local thrift stores for starters and help support other local businesses in your area.

Merchandising Tip #7 – Keep it Tidy

We’ve discussed product placement and ways to level up your retail product displays. With that in mind, you’ll still want to keep everything neat and tidy. An unkempt appearance can send the signal that you really don’t care about your products. And if you don’t seem to care about your products, your customers won’t either.

Keep your displays organized and tidy, so your shoppers feel at ease and can find what they want quickly and easily.

In Conclusion

From a young age, we are told that looks aren’t everything. While that certainly applies in relationships, retail displays are a different story. Looks matter. For that reason, it is important to keep your retail displays, signage, and layout fresh and attractive. We sincerely hope the retail merchandising tips in this post help you create an even better retail merchandising strategy going forward.

Updated on September 9, 2022.