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Getting the Best from Mannequins

Getting the Best from Mannequins

Getting the Best from Mannequins

Guest Blog by Charlotte Lynch, Modern Retail UK

The focus of visual marketing is presenting your products in a way which entices customers into your store – and subsequently into making a purchase. And in fashion retail, a mannequin’s role is vital in this process; telling a sales story, helping the customer visualise how they could look in your clothing, and even just seeing the latest trends at a glance.

SHOP WINDOW

Your window is what initially attracts shoppers into your store, enabling you to create visual communication between your brand and potential customers. By having a mannequin display you can present your product personality, the style of your brand and what your clothes look like on the wearer.

But that’s not all:

Using a mannequin display can utilise story-selling to great effect. For example, if you are promoting a beachwear range, you may have mannequins positioned on beach towels, fanning themselves or even use a beach ball suspended by wire, with two mannequins positioned as though they’re hitting it to each other, generating a feeling of energy and movement in your window.

Creating an experience or atmosphere or even better, one having movement, allows your customer to envisage an event or circumstance. By doing this they can relate to as if being there, or evoke an emotion that stimulates them, whether it’s happy memories, excited feelings or just a desire to part of the trend 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.

CONTINUE THE JOURNEY IN-STORE

Your front-of-store mannequins highlight the unique collections you have, but inside you should aim to showcase as much of your range as possible.

But this is crucial:

You need to pick mannequins that you know will fit the exact measures of your clothes to make them look their best whilst on display. Your customers will get a closer, panoramic view at how your clothes look on, so you’ll want them to fit perfectly.

Why not use different mannequins to demonstrate various aspects of your brand? One could be more focused on the accessories you sell, jewellery for example. Another could be layered in various clothes to showcase how your different items can work together to create a look. If you sell both male and female ranges, then displaying them next to each other shows how they can interact together and again improves the story-selling element of your display.

If you have an eveningwear range, you could use several mannequins together to build the feeling of a group of people going out. Customers will subconsciously put themselves into that situation and imagine wearing the outfit while out with their friends. Be careful not to clutter the store too much by having too many mannequins all in one space though – save that for the front of your store.

ECOMMERCE

Using mannequins for your ecommerce site is a much cheaper option for product photography than using expensive models. They also allow your products to hold their shape, which can make product images seem more professional and consistent.

Overall, as can be seen from their longevity in fashion retail, mannequins are a great tool if you use them well and successfully display to your customer just how great your clothes can look. But, used well, mannequins can also help to create an atmosphere, demonstrate your brand’s personality and reveal the trends you have in store. And in the best cases, they will utilise story-selling to boost your takings at the till.

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Photo by kind permission from Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

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