5 Tips to Make the Most of your Mannequins
The mannequin is the ultimate buy-in for customers looking for clothing and are often considered as the most useful piece of display equipment for merchandising. But how do you incorporate these essential items into your retail fashion display to enhance your product range, maximize sales and portray your brand personality? Here are 5 ways to make sure your mannequins ‘dress the part.’
Make it personal
Using mannequins to display clothing and merchandise gives your customers a more realistic and tangible experience of how that certain piece will look on them. The focus of visual marketing is presenting your products in a way which entices your customers to buy, and in fashion retail, a mannequin’s role is vital in the process of telling this sales story. Allow your customers to visualize by creating inspiration and excitement, after all 50% of every buying decision is driven by emotion*, so encouraging a connection like this will help to foster passion, loyalty and advocacy to your brand.
Set the mood
Mannequins can be personalised to fit a variety of trends and fashions. Express your brand’s personality and compliment different ranges of merchandise by grouping together your mannequins using individual themes for different areas of your store. For example, to target certain demographics you could have a fun and colourful display using children and baby mannequins to appeal to your younger audiences and parents, or create an impact by dressing our eye-catching metallic mannequins in glitzy evening wear and party dresses for a truly dazzling seasonal Christmas display.
Show movement
Having movement allows your customer to envisage an event or circumstance. This is especially true for children’s clothes where their parents will know they’ll be running around in them. Child mannequins should be positioned to show movement and, ideally, you could create a story in your window of children playing. Again, creating a feeling of movement and excitement attracts the buyer’s attention but also serves in this case to highlight product practicality.
Light it up
Shoppers have a positive reaction to well-lit displays and clothes displayed on mannequins, so use this knowledge to enhance your display and further take advantage of the benefits of getting creative with lighting techniques. Light your mannequins in different ways to create distinct looks for each range of merchandise. Set a palpable atmosphere with low and moody lighting for more urban lines or create a party scene with bright, twinkly lights intertwined with other products for your Christmas range. Lighting is so under-utilised, but the results of well-thought-out lighting along-side your mannequins can be electric!
Undress or dress up
You can use mannequins to showcase as much or as little as you’d like. Use torso or half-body mannequins to accentuate scarfs, wraps and knit wear for the upcoming winter season, or effortlessly showcase swimwear and beachwear, when the time comes to set a holiday theme. Get creative and ensure that your products are directly in your customer’s line of vision.
Highlight statement pieces of jewellery by using a necklace display bust or merchandise a beautiful range of accessories with a gloss, black or white mannequin, simply dressed to draw shopper’s attention to the pieces you wish to accentuate. Our new range of Trance Mannequins are designed for a really impactful, sleek and modern retail display, perfect for a new product launch!