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By Kitty Boyce
How can you sell more merchandise?
Use a swing shop to plant ideas in your customers’ minds.
A swing shop is basically an interior window or area in your store that features
a category of items. It can be as small as a two arm rack with a rug underneath
and a basket or small table adjacent, or it can be as large as a set of six or
seven racks grouped with like merchandise. Why have a swing shop? It tells a
story to your customers that says, “We have what you’re looking for. New things
arrive here all the time. It is fun to shop here!”
A swing shop should be located right inside the front door of your store to make
a good impression on your customers as they enter. It also works well to slow
them down. In the book Why We Buy, Paco Underhill teaches us that unless you
have some sort of roadblock, customers will usually go ten feet inside a store
before they slow down to look. This means they will walk right past the rack
immediately inside the door—unless you can make it look so spectacular that it
will catch their attention right away.
What do you put in a swing shop that will tell a story? Use a category or two of
merchandise to do the talking. Usually the best grouping is one that appeals to
an idea that is already on their minds. The following are some suggestions for
your swing shop.
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Hot selling items – When there is a hot new trend beginning and you have
some of those items in your store, use this area to show that you are
fashion-forward.
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Weather - If it is raining out, have your raincoats and umbrellas set up
with boots in a display.
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Seasons - Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day merchandise is very
colorful and lends itself to catching people’s eyes.
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Special events - Weddings and graduations are times to get dressed up.
There are limitless possibilities here.
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Local or national news - If there are a lot of stories about exercise and
health, feature exercise wear and athletic gear.
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Whatever you have a lot of - This works in grocery stores and at the mega
marts. Come up with a great idea why people need your overstocked items
and make a sign promoting that benefit to your customers |
Visit three to five retail stores. What is the big feature in their windows and
right inside their doors? Look at their presentations. You can probably
duplicate fairly closely what they’ve done without spending a lot on fixtures.
Look around your store with new eyes. Can that plain old broom be a display prop
for a “clean sweep sale” of your winter merchandise? Other merchandise you sell
can double as a prop. Use your imagination. A swing shop should be fun and
interesting. Do something unusual to catch people off guard. Using a small rug
under the swing shop can help to segregate it from your other racks. Hang
banners or streamers from the ceiling in the area to call attention. Emphasize
the space by moving your other fixtures back from your swing shop just a little
farther apart than your racks normally are.
Be sure to tell the story with a sign. Not just any boring sign—use humor or
rhyme to peak their interest; “pretty in pink” or my favorite of Kate Holmes’
“maternity for the kid in you.” Use complimentary colors in your signage. The
main thing you’re trying to convey to your customers is the advantage of
purchasing these items.
The basic shape for any window display—either exterior or interior—is a
triangle. Put your tallest item (whether it is a mannequin, piece of furniture,
or prop) in the center with two other focal points lower and to each side. Place
your best piece at eye level because that is what people are going to look at
first.
Be sure to maintain your swing shop. If it works really well and the racks
become sparse, add substitute items or change it completely right away. Keep it
full and coordinated. Never let your swing shop look half empty or unloved.
Change it at least every two weeks. If it stays too neat and no one is buying
the merchandise, it is time to try something else.
Plant the seeds of ideas and
watch the flowers of
extra purchases bloom in your sales totals.
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Kitty
Boyce, NARTS Vice President, owns The Kids Closet in
Rochester, IL. Kitty has
been in business for
fourteen years and her store is the largest children's resale
store in Illinois.
 
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