Unfortunately, many stores miss out on this golden opportunity to cater to their fall-sentiment loving customers. We’re so anxious to get the Christmas season off to a great start that we kind of tend to leave Thanksgiving in the dust. Are you looking to stand out from the crowd? Do you want to boost your holiday sales without waiting around for the end of December before you see it? Maybe it’s time to give Thanksgiving a little more attention.

No one has ever suggested that skipping a season is a good idea. We seem to dote over spring, summer, back to school, and Christmas, but we leave that beautiful fall weather theme untapped. Many customers are turned off by seeing the Christmas decorations out really early. Many companies start planning, stocking and decorating for the winter wonderland in early October. This leaves many customers thinking, “What about Halloween? What about Thanksgiving?” The weather has barely required you to bring your jeans out of storage and already you’re looking at snow, Santa Claus, and heavy winter gear.

Just imagine how refreshing it would be for your customers to see how much you love fall, like they do. Finally, this beautiful time of year has been given the respect that it deserves! Bravo to the stores that don’t try to push Christmas before a tree has lost a single leaf! Be the one. Make sure that your customers know that you are celebrating the Thanksgiving season. No more squeezing into the “back to school” or general “holiday season”. Thanksgiving deserves the attention and your customers who love it will appreciate it, too.

Make sure that you make it known. Send out your newsletter, mailers, flyers, post signs on your garment racks, whatever it takes to show that you’re different. You’re sure to stand out among the competition when you put your best fall foot forward. Display those rich reds and bright yellows. Leave no garment rack undecorated. Get those window displays popping. Show the world (or at least the mall) who loves the fall weather!

About the Author: John Garvey is on the staff of Only Garment Racks, a leading online source of garment racks including clothing racks. Find a high quality garment rack or clothing rack at http://www.onlygarmentracks.com.

The first rule is pretty basic. You don’t want your store to look like a mess when customers come inside. Using too many tables and shelves for displays can make your store look disorganized, because customers will invariably need to rummage through folded stacks of clothes to find their size. Even if you have sizes separated by shelf, customers will still have to unfold to get a good look at the garment and will put it back on whichever shelf is most convenient.

Use wall space and display systems like slatwall to keep the store looking neater. You can use garment racks to hang extra clothing and keep the store looking neat. Be careful not to crowd garment racks. You do want the customers to have plenty of space for maneuvering about the store. They don’t want to be back-to-back with other customers or staff.

Also, using too many garment racks can make the store look crowded and bland. If the customer can’t see what you have without sifting through, then they’re not likely to look around for long. Make sure that you utilize three dimensional displays to keep the customer interested. Hanging mannequin forms are great for creating feature displays on garment racks and slatwall displays. You can also display hanging outfits on top of your garment racks. Customers that can see how clothes look and stay interested as they make their way through the store.

Another thing to keep in mind is that customers tend to shop at eye level. Make sure that the focal points of your garment rack and shelving displays are where they will get customers’ attention. Every display should have a point of focus and should be designed to make the customer want to slow down and investigate. The longer a customer spends at your garment racks or feature displays, the more likely they are to spend extra money.

People associate the quality of an item with the way that it is displayed. Cheap, plastic displays communicate discounted, lower quality merchandise. People expect sunglasses on a checkout rack to be a lot cheaper than sunglasses in a glass display case in the same location. Price things according to the display quality and you should increase your sales and minimize the amount of merchandise that you have to clearance out.

About the Author: John Garvey is on the staff of Only Garment Racks, a leading online source of garment racks including clothing racks. Find a high quality garment rack or clothing rack at http://www.onlygarmentracks.com.

1) POP displays were originally designed to get the customer to make extra purchases at the checkout. These types are highly effective. Position them around your register or where customers will have to look at them while they’re waiting in line. Countertop and impulse buy displays should display a product and also have some sort of logo, graphic, or information about the product. This is your chance to really convince the customer to increase their purchases because they actually have time to read the details about the product or brand. When a customer feels informed, they are more comfortable making the decision to buy.

2) You can use POP displays around your store, too. They are effective around mirrors, dressing rooms, outside of major departments, and at the ends of aisles. They are great for drawing attention to certain areas of the store. They draw the eye and can help you to control what the customer looks at next while shopping. Our inclination is to read something when we see words, so take that into consideration when you set up your display. You might want to keep it brief so that the amount of reading is not overwhelming. A simple name brand, logo, or tag line that gives a person the gist of what the product is about is sufficient. Once they’re drawn over, you can go into more detail about how the product is made in the USA, uses only organic materials, or donates a certain portion of their sales to charities.

3) People choose boutiques over giant department stores for specific reasons. Keep these reasons in mind so that you can tailor the display to your target market. Uniqueness is one reason that some people shop at boutiques. They enjoy the “off the beaten path” brands and designs, so make sure that they are aware of the brands that you carry by using POP displays. Sometimes companies will even provide you with a free display if you ask so that they can promote their brand as well.

4) Keep your boutique easy to shop in by leaving space between your garment racks or the garment rack and the wall. You don’t want to crowd your customers with numerous POP displays and clothing racks. You can use a POP display, even a small one, as the only display of that particular product. Just make sure that you keep it fully stocked so that people don’t think that they won’t be able to find what they need in other areas of the store.

About the Author: John Garvey is on the staff of Only Garment Racks, a leading online source of garment racks including clothing racks. Find a high quality garment rack or clothing rack at http://www.onlygarmentracks.com.

1) Make sure that basics are not at the front of the store or at the ends of your aisles. If someone is coming in for jeans, a black t-shirt, or some other common wardrobe essential, you want to lure them deeper into the store. Try to ensure that they will pass a lot of other enticing items as they make their way back to the basics.

2) You should also arrange your brands with this concept in mind. If your boutique sells a lot of a certain name brand of shoes, then customers should have to weave around all of the other shoe displays to get to them. If you have aisles, put the most popular name brands in the center of the aisles. You don’t want people to be able to easily avoid your other products by being able to grab what they need from the end of the aisle.

3) Surround or pair items that you know to be basics with other items that you want to promote. If you know that people are coming in for that new style of jeans, then you should create interesting displays coordinating those jeans with other items. Mannequin displays are perfect for this cause. Dress the mannequin in a top that goes great with the jeans, and then also load it up with accessories, like purses, sunglasses, hats, shoes and jewelry. Use a sign or other form of communication to make sure that your shoppers are aware that you have the popular item, but don’t promote it out on its own.

4) If you use a lot of bright lighting, obtrusive music, or other “in your face” themes, you’re not really encouraging the customer to relax and shop. Make sure that your retail design incorporates things that make people want to spend time in your store. Displaying samples is a good way to make sure that people spend time on your cosmetics aisles. Putting your shoe inventory our where people can try on shoes without having to ask an employee is a good way to keep them there longer. You can even use scented air filters, incense, candles and air fresheners to induce relaxation.

5) Make sure that your shoppers are comfortable and that everything is easy to access. Don’t crowd your displays. Clothing racks, garment racks, shelves and other displays should not be placed close together. No one wants to be looking through a clothing rack for their size and be backed up to another customer. Narrow aisles discourage people from browsing and taking the time to find the items that they’re interested in.

About the Author: John Garvey is on the staff of Only Garment Racks, a leading online source of clothing racks including garment racks. Find a high quality clothing rack or garment rack at http://www.onlygarmentracks.com.

Your general customer around the holidays may be looking for good deals. So, ask yourself what “a good deal” is. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the product is at the lowest price they’ve ever seen. If they were only looking for the lowest price possible, they would have already gone online at 3:00 in the morning to bid on the item from an auction site.

They are shopping in your store to get a good feel for what the product is all about. It’s not easy to get a secure feeling about the quality and craftsmanship of a product when you’re looking at a two dimensional product online. This is why web sites spend big bucks creating three dimensional views that can be enlarged to show more detail.

So, consider your advantage here. You have the product in your store. Now the goal is to convince the customer that the product that you carry is worth the price that you’re asking. Not only that, but that it is “a good deal” by virtue of the fact that the quality is undeniable. The customer can look, touch, feel, hold, test, and try out products in your boutique or retail store. Testing the product with their senses helps customers to make an educated decision about what they’re willing to pay.

Your goal is to get them to feel confident enough to pay the price that you want. Many things can influence what a customer thinks when they’re inside of a store. Just assume that everyone is coming in skeptical. They’re making snap judgments with every glance and touch. Their ability to quickly deduce how they feel from their first impression of your store is something that you need to cater to.

Make the customer immediately comfortable with everything that they see. Exhibit quality from your entrance to your dressing room, so that nothing throws them off of their positive path of assumption. Make sure that they don’t feel cramped by spreading out your garment racks and retail displays. Avoid harsh lighting and only use spotlights to deter shoplifting and showcase certain products. You don’t want someone to be able to take cover by reaching into a garment rack to slip something into their purse, but you do not want to put them on edge and make them distrustful of your store.

Work on your presentation, quality displays, neatness, and customer service to ensure that this holiday season will be a successful one.

About the Author: John Garvey is on the staff of Only Garment Racks, a leading online source of garment racks including clothing racks. Find a high quality garment rack or clothing rack at http://www.onlygarmentracks.com.

1) Get the creative juices flowing by imagining what you can do to make your boutique stand out among the competition. A bland boutique is hardly a boutique at all. Customers shop at boutiques to gain a unique perspective on things. They expect to be inspired and find things that excite them and get their creative wheels turning. Make sure that you provide your customers with these experiences by using unique concepts and creative displays around your store.

2) When you have a promotion, it is the perfect time to let the creativity soar. You definitely want to draw attention to your promotion, but don’t forget the meaning of the promotion. It’s generally not to make a quick sale, but to introduce your boutique to new customers and ensure that the ones you have will keep coming back. You want to give them something to talk about so that they spread the word to their friends. Word of mouth is the best advertising that you could ever have, so make sure that you do something unique enough to mention.

3) Start by checking out what you have to work with. If you have slatwall, then it is easy to maneuver shelving and racks creating interesting shapes, textures and patterns with your slatwall accessories. Moving your garment racks around may not seem like it would make a big difference, but consider how effective a sidewalk sale is. Simply placing a garment rack or two outside of the store attracts new and old customers to the store so that they can check out what’s going on.

4) Now that you have everything arranged how you want it, try using objects that are not usually used for displays to get things looking good. You can place mannequins on top of garment racks or create a storyline with the mannequins around the store. Have something interesting waiting for your customers around every turn. Hold their interest in this way and you’re sure to leave a lasting impression.

About the Author: John Garvey is on the staff of Only Garment Racks, a leading online source of garment racks including clothing racks. Find a high quality garment rack or clothing rack at http://www.onlygarmentracks.com.

A mannequin wearing your boutique fare may not be very interesting standing alone in your storefront window. You will need to use your imagination to make grab attention if you’re on a budget. Here’s some food for thought. If you’re in a boutique, then you’re selling interesting and unique items, right? So it stands to muster that if you use something really unique in your visual display, then it will lend itself to being a hip and fashionable choice. After all, you’re the one setting the trends here.

Some stores have successfully used recycled and reused items to create stunning displays that didn’t cost them a dime. One store used an old oil drum cut up into a giant sheet of stars to create the background for their new summer line display. They painted multi-colored stripes on an old curtain and hung it behind the stars, adding depth and texture to their window mannequin display. It didn’t cost but a few bucks to the welder the cut out the stars, but the display ended up being pretty effective.

They dressed the mannequins in clothing that had lots of prints, plaids, paisleys, and spots. Sounds just awful against that striped and starred background, but when they added in some banana tree leaves and piles of pots and pans around the bottom, the mismatched assortment helped to communicate the unique nature of the clothing that was offered inside the store. People just couldn’t pass that window without wondering what in the world it meant!

Creating a little intrigue can go a long way. You can bring the theme of the window display into your store if you want. For example, take the store that we just mentioned. They could have the welder put together some structures made out of old pots and pans to put on top of their garment racks. They could take it a step further and fashion the pots and pans into chairs or even a tall column to display in the middle of the store. They could use pots and pans to display accessories, socks or tank tops.

It doesn’t really matter what you use. It could be petticoats, water bottles, CD’s, or old TV’s. You can decorate or paint reusable or recycled items to make them into works of art. You could even take various items, like softballs, flower pots, and computer keyboards, and turn them into a mannequin that displays your clothing.

The point is that you run a boutique. You can do whatever you want. The more “out there” your designs, the more attention you’re going to get. You can top each garment rack in your store with a mannequin’s head, a leg, or a giant stuffed bird. Use your imagination. If you get interesting enough, you may start to see people getting their pictures made next to your oddly intriguing visuals, and then just imagine how far the word could spread! Talk about effective marketing on a budget!

About the Author: John Garvey is on the staff of Only Garment Racks, a leading online source of garment racks including clothing racks. Find a high quality garment rack or clothing rack at http://www.onlygarmentracks.com.

1) Rolling garment racks are very versatile and can be used for dressing room management, items to be held behind the register, or as storage in your back room. Boutiques use these a lot so that they can roll the merchandise to the display instead of making several trips back and forth to storage. Some boutiques use rolling racks for promotions or sidewalk sales. Round rolling garment racks are usually used in a retail setting. They can be rearranged to fit the space that you are using, or can be removed if you are lower on inventory. A lot of stores keep extra round rolling garment racks in storage for times when they have extra clearance items or extra inventory to sell.

2) Some display racks are made of wood and are very attractive. You can have them custom embossed with a brand name or store logo. These racks are usually on mounted on casters and can be easily moved around to fit in small spaces. They make eye-catching displays and are very sturdy. Wooden racks are used to draw attention to certain items, like sunglasses or a high end brand and are sometimes provided by the brand’s manufacturer.

3) Boutique specialty racks feature more detail than a general retail garment rack. They are usually finished with something that will make them stand out. Some are chrome, but most are black, pewter, or gunmetal grey. Boutique racks will have artistic points of interest, such as swirls at the ends of bars or decorative metal work at the top. These special clothing racks draw a lot of attention and show that you really care about the details and the image of your store.

4) Vintage racks are interesting to add to boutiques, but be careful what you are buying. Some older racks may have sharp edges or may not be very stable. You can purchase replica vintage racks to add flair and style to your boutique without worrying about safety.

With all the different types of garment racks on the market today, you are sure to find a style that fits your every need. Use a manufacturer that produces a high quality garment rack to ensure that you get exactly what you need for your boutique.

About the Author: John Garvey is on the staff of Only Garment Racks, a leading online source of garment racks including clothing racks. Find a high quality garment rack or clothing rack at http://www.onlygarmentracks.com.

The first rule is pretty basic. You don’t want your store to look like a mess when customers come inside. Using too many tables and shelves for displays can make your store look disorganized, because customers will invariably need to rummage through folded stacks of clothes to find their size. Even if you have sizes separated by shelf, customers will still have to unfold to get a good look at the garment and will put it back on whichever shelf is most convenient.

Use wall space and display systems like slatwall to keep the store looking neater. You can use garment racks to hang extra clothing and keep the store looking neat. Be careful not to crowd garment racks. You do want the customers to have plenty of space for maneuvering about the store. They don’t want to be back-to-back with other customers or staff.

Also, using too many garment racks can make the store look crowded and bland. If the customer can’t see what you have without sifting through, then they’re not likely to look around for long. Make sure that you utilize three dimensional displays to keep the customer interested. Hanging mannequin forms are great for creating feature displays on garment racks and slatwall displays. You can also display hanging outfits on top of your garment racks. Customers that can see how clothes look and stay interested as they make their way through the store.

Another thing to keep in mind is that customers tend to shop at eye level. Make sure that the focal points of your garment rack and shelving displays are where they will get customers’ attention. Every display should have a point of focus and should be designed to make the customer want to slow down and investigate. The longer a customer spends at your garment racks or feature displays, the more likely they are to spend extra money.

People associate the quality of an item with the way that it is displayed. Cheap, plastic displays communicate discounted, lower quality merchandise. People expect sunglasses on a checkout rack to be a lot cheaper than sunglasses in a glass display case in the same location. Price things according to the display quality and you should increase your sales and minimize the amount of merchandise that you have to clearance out.

About the Author: John Garvey is on the staff of Only Garment Racks, a leading online source of garment racks including clothing racks. Find a high quality garment rack or clothing rack at http://www.onlygarmentracks.com.

Unfortunately, many stores miss out on this golden opportunity to cater to their fall-sentiment loving customers. We’re so anxious to get the Christmas season off to a great start that we kind of tend to leave Thanksgiving in the dust. Are you looking to stand out from the crowd? Do you want to boost your holiday sales without waiting around for the end of December before you see it? Maybe it’s time to give Thanksgiving a little more attention.

No one has ever suggested that skipping a season is a good idea. We seem to dote over spring, summer, back to school, and Christmas, but we leave that beautiful fall weather theme untapped. Many customers are turned off by seeing the Christmas decorations out really early. Many companies start planning, stocking and decorating for the winter wonderland in early October. This leaves many customers thinking, “What about Halloween? What about Thanksgiving?” The weather has barely required you to bring your jeans out of storage and already you’re looking at snow, Santa Claus, and heavy winter gear.

Just imagine how refreshing it would be for your customers to see how much you love fall, like they do. Finally, this beautiful time of year has been given the respect that it deserves! Bravo to the stores that don’t try to push Christmas before a tree has lost a single leaf! Be the one. Make sure that your customers know that you are celebrating the Thanksgiving season. No more squeezing into the “back to school” or general “holiday season”. Thanksgiving deserves the attention and your customers who love it will appreciate it, too.

Make sure that you make it known. Send out your newsletter, mailers, flyers, post signs on your garment racks, whatever it takes to show that you’re different. You’re sure to stand out among the competition when you put your best fall foot forward. Display those rich reds and bright yellows. Leave no garment rack undecorated. Get those window displays popping. Show the world (or at least the mall) who loves the fall weather!

About the Author: John Garvey is on the staff of Only Garment Racks, a leading online source of garment racks including clothing racks. Find a high quality garment rack or clothing rack at http://www.onlygarmentracks.com.