Incorporating the VM process within your existing team
Retail owners, as all entrepreneurs, have many roles they are inclined to take over themselves. As we all know, this means not quite being able to fulfill all that is required, hence we it is important to assign important responsibilities to the right team members.
Visual merchandising is a retail necessity that is often absorbed into regular staff responsibilities in small businesses, who don’t have the budget nor the need to hire a merchandiser full-time. What this often means is that it is not quite given the full focus, or it is being handled by someone who is inexperienced and lacking the proper VM knowledge.
That does not mean it is wrong to give sales staff, as an example, the responsibility of also handling visual merchandising. It does mean, however, that the right training is needed for staff members to handle retail’s requirements of VM processes, strategies, upkeep and planning.
Ideally, you would not have every staff member taking ownership of visual merchandising. Rather, identify those with a stronger skill for it: someone who has high standards for presentation while they are also business-minded. Focus on prioritizing any training into this type of staff member to get the most out of your effort. This person would have the most important responsibilities of visual merchandising in overall planning, potentially executing or delegating to others, and inspiring all to help maintain the presentation.
Each person that handles the merchandise on the sales floor should also have an understanding of presentation expectations, so that the upkeep is more sustainable. This means a certain about of visual merchandising training should go into every single person who touches the products, even at high level.
Creating and utilizing tools that help with visual merchandising is a must in retail business. Consider how you can standardize:
Planning VM changes during large new shipments
Refreshing the store for monthly and seasonal changes
Presentation standards to encourage proper upkeep and brand consistency
A daily list of ownership tasks that everyone needs to be aware of
While we offer staff training and custom creation of VM tools pertaining to the above (and more), we have also created accessible, downloadable Digital DIY Tools that you may use for your VM operations!
Once you grown your business to the point of hiring staff, ensure that this investment is bringing you the return your business requires. Making use of training tools is absolutely essential to motivate essential team habits!