Colourblocking and merchandising :
a winning team

erchandising is the most effective thing you can do to turn consumers into shoppers. And colour is the soul of merchandising!

Today, marketing professionals have embraced the successful trend of colour block merchandising, and not only in the fashion & accessory category. By incorporating bold, contrasting colours, designers stimulate curiosity, inspire creativity, and evoke positive emotions among shoppers. The striking visual impact of colourblocking can help an offering stand out, drawing people in and encouraging exploration. Furthermore, using bold colours in a thoughtfully designed layout can guide customers, highlight featured products, and creating focal points that capture attention.

In this article, we explain how you can stand out and incorporate colourblocking.

What is colourblocking?

Colourblocking originally refers to pairing Mondrian-style opposite colours. Combined colors make an interesting and complementary visual experience of contrasts.

The basics (before we move to the benefits)

A colour wheel is an abstract organization of colours around a circle. It shows the harmony between colours based on three primary colours – typically red, blue and yellow, and their mixes, secondary colours, tertiary colours etc.

We're obsessed with matching colour to the seasons and trends. In winter, we prefer darker colours. But when spring season begins to poke through the clouds, we feel it's time to manifeste a new brighter colour style. Tough season is essential for fashion, all categories are affected by long-term trends.

Consumers won't necessarily buy from you because you have a great assortment that meet their needs at reasonable prices. Consumers form emotional connections with the things they come across. Colours are the easiest way to affect emotions and impact shopping behaviour. They set the atmosphere and inspire different feelings: blue to green colours for calm and warm colours for excitement.

Why you should do colourblocking?

Successful shops realize that shoppers are engaging in moments of fierce competition for attention, more fragmented than ever. Every shop you come across is fighting for your attention. By adopting colours, brands and shops try to break through this visual jungle and influence your decisions.

Here are some benefits to making sure colour is a key element of your visual merchandising:

1. Entice shoppers to browse

Organising merchandise by colour is an effective way to entice shoppers to investigate further - causing them to "aha, my favourite colour of the day!" and be encouraged to impulse buying.

For example, take your bath and body range - when organised by colour it can transform from a rather functional product into an attractive display customers can't resist, wanting them to plunge in and discover the divers range of scents. Colourblocking looks well organised and gives the impression that your assortment is "hot" and "fun".

2. Abundance reduces focus on price

Chaotic display overwhelms customers. In a hurry or impatient, they are unable to decide, leave frustrated and may never return. Colourblocking has proven to be effective in solving the need for clustering assortments in a natural, comprehensive fashion. Colourblocking maintains an attractive layout together with an image of abundance, where price perception becomes secondary.

3. Maintain flexibility

When displaying colours together, some colours may be sitting on the shelves longer than others. By colourblocking old and new merchandise, you can still effectively maintain an attractive layout, move more merchandise and maintain a great shopping experience.

In the end, store operations are easier to maintain, and you remain flexible, no matter what stock you have.When displaying colours together, some colours may be sitting on the shelves longer than others.

Conclusion

In today's retail environment,everything and everyone is competing for the attention. For decades, retailers had to be concerned with each other. Now, the toughest opponent is a color screen in the hands of everyone.

To win this competition, retailers have to stand out. In the end, consumers favour brands and retailers that facilitate purchase with dynamic and imaginative display, create engaging experiences, master colour and understand what's hot this season.

🔍 To find out more, read our article > The Colours of POP Display Influence Shopper Behaviour

Date: June '20 — bh