When seaside retailers accessorize and update apparel displays, customers are more likely to take notice and make a purchase.On Fort Myers Beach, Florida, The Islander is known for its wide selection of coastal gifts and decor. The 3,800-square-foot space is filled with everything from apparel to jewelry, drinkware, personal care items and home decor.
“It’s almost like a mini department store,” describes owner Anita Cereceda.
By far, apparel is the store’s largest category. For the kids, the store has plenty of stylish dresses, sweaters, shirts and pants. For men, there are shirts from popular brands like Guy Harvey and Bamboo Cay, along with resort-style shirts and pants that don’t require ironing.
“The apparel is geared toward an easy resort lifestyle,” Cereceda explains. Neat yet inviting tables and racks of clothes entice customers at The Islander in Fort Myers Beach, Florida.
The visual merchandising and displays are what do most of the selling for The Islander.
Becky Tyre, owner of Retail Details, has helped offer visual merchandising and retail management solutions for independent retailers across the country for many years. She notes that visual merchandising is often the key to selling more, no matter the category.
“If a category is merchandised well, you will sell more, and there’s no doubt that good displays sell more than displays that don’t have much thought to them,” she says.
Since apparel can be a big seller for locals and tourists alike, Tyre emphasizes the importance of frequently updating apparel displays to keep customers intrigued.
“There’s no reason to wait for a season change to update apparel displays,” she says. “If an apparel item sells well, then that display will require updating as soon as stock sells down.”
At The Islander, Cereceda is always coming up with new ways to show off apparel.
She says, “Not only do you need to display your shirts with a pair of jeans, but maybe add a necklace to it, a scarf or sandals. That’s the power of suggestion.”
Always accessorizeIf used well, mannequins and bust forms can make great “salespeople” for seaside retailers. They showcase what outfits work together and give customers ideas they might not have thought of on their own.
Tyre is a big proponent of fully accessorizing mannequins and bust forms with all kinds of products from around the store. In addition to a classic tee and pants, Tyre suggests retailers try dressing up their mannequins and bust forms with hats, jewelry, scarves or tote bags to promote add-on items available.
“It should never be just one dress on it. That will look unfinished and unprepared for selling,” she says.
No matter the number of mannequins, these makeshift salespeople should tell a story with their outfits, whether that’s a seasonal story, a denim story or a color story.
Two mannequins draw attention of passersby in the windows of Happy Place Gift Boutique in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Owner Heather Napolitano dresses one up to showcase the store’s popular name-drop sweaters with some accessories draped on the shoulder and another with the store’s growing selection of stylish tween apparel.
While just carrying a small selection of apparel, Napolitano makes sure the store’s popular high-quality sweatshirts stand out up front in the store. She has also carved out one section of the store for tween girl apparel, recognizing a need for that in the community. That section has plenty of shirts, sweaters, dresses and jackets for girls in the 7-14 age range, but Napolitano says she also sprinkles in fun impulse items girls might love.
“We have a brand called Sunshine & Glitter sunscreen, and a couple of books we got through a Compendium vendor known for tween ages,” she shares. “There are also some cute purses with shell designs on them and bags that say ‘sleepover’ on them.”
Tyre says having related items near apparel is always a great strategy to boost a store’s add-on sales. She adds, “If a customer purchases apparel, what else might they be interested in? Those are the impulse items.”
Add surprisePersonality should shine through in a store’s apparel displays, easily attracting attention through elements that tie to the merchandise and vibe of the store.
 The Islander uses signage to call out the Oh My Gauze! clothing brand in its store.
“In the kids’ section for Easter, I had some big Easter bunnies and I dressed them in kids’ clothes,” she recalls. “You do something like that and it’s an instant attention getter.”
New styles also regularly come in at The Islander, and Cereceda says she often shops for new apparel styles with perhaps a dozen regular customers in mind.
“I’m always thinking about my return customers,” she says. “One woman who works for me is a perfect example of my customer. Elaine is 80, but she’s a style icon. She dresses beautifully, carries herself beautifully and always looks perfect from head to toe. So when I go to a trade show, if I don’t say, ‘Elaine would love this,’ then I’m probably not buying it.”
Employees like Elaine also can do a great job of showcasing popular styles featured in store. Cereceda says she encourages her employees to wear their favorite finds from The Islander as a selling point.
“Give your employees enough enticement or benefit to be wearing the clothes that you sell in the store,” she says. “If they like it and wear it, they’re going to sell it and people are going to see it and buy it.”
A welcome settingThe ambiance of a store matters almost as much as displays and merchandising, encouraging stores to stay and linger. Sometimes having some simple elements such as mirrors and dressing rooms can entice shoppers to make a purchase they were questioning.
Napolitano says she’s really glad she added a dressing room at Happy Place Gift Boutique.
 Happy Place Gift Boutique places complementary totes near its tween apparel.
The Islander features four dressing room stalls for customers to try on their finds. Cereceda says she also intentionally added a small space outside the dressing rooms for guests to sit if they need to rest.
“People sit on those chairs all day long!” she says. “Open space has tremendous value. Your store needs to breathe. People need to be able to walk around without hitting their arms on racks or tables. They need to see how beautiful the store is. If everything is jammed up, they can’t possibly see that. You have to carve out your spot.” |
