15 Ways to Improve Retail Sales With Displays

Are your store displays working as hard as they could be? It’s a common frustration for retail leaders: you invest time and money into a merchandising program, only to see inconsistent execution and lackluster results across your locations. An underperforming display isn't just a missed opportunity; it's wasted space that could be generating revenue. The solution is to move from guesswork to a proven system. This article provides a step-by-step guide on how to improve retail sales with displays by focusing on the core strategies that deliver measurable results. We'll cover everything from product placement and lighting to creating a system that ensures flawless execution every single time.

Key Takeaways

Build a Strategic Visual Narrative: Go beyond simply arranging products. Use color, lighting, and placement to tell a compelling story that captures attention, guides the customer's eye, and makes purchasing feel intuitive.
Keep Your Space Fresh and Engaging: A static store quickly becomes invisible. Use a display calendar to plan for seasonal changes and special events, and invest in adaptable fixtures to keep the shopping experience exciting and encourage repeat visits.
Measure Performance to Refine Your Strategy: Your displays should be profitable, not just pretty. Analyze sales data and customer behavior to identify what resonates, avoid common pitfalls like clutter, and continuously optimize your approach.

What Makes a Retail Display Work?

A great retail display is more than just a shelf—it’s a powerful tool for communication. When done right, your displays can stop customers in their tracks, tell a compelling story about your products, and guide them toward a purchase. But what’s the secret sauce? It all comes down to a strategy called visual merchandising, which blends art and science to create an environment that sells. Understanding the core principles behind effective displays is the first step toward transforming your retail space and driving sales.

What is Visual Merchandising?

Think of visual merchandising as your store’s silent salesperson. It’s the practice of arranging your products and designing your displays to capture a shopper's attention and encourage them to buy. From the way you group items to the lighting you use, every detail contributes to the overall shopping experience. The goal is to make your products look so appealing that customers feel an immediate connection and can easily imagine the items in their own lives. A well-executed visual merchandising strategy turns passive browsing into active purchasing, making your fixtures work harder for you and turning your entire retail environment into a powerful sales tool.

Key Elements of a Great Display

An effective display doesn’t happen by accident; it’s a thoughtful combination of several key elements. Start with a focal point, which is the first thing you want customers to see, usually placed at eye level. Give your products room to breathe by considering space. A crowded display can signal a sale, while more space between items can create a sense of luxury. Use color to set a mood—red creates urgency, while blue builds trust. Strategic lighting can highlight hero products, and smart positioning ensures your most important items are exactly where customers are already looking. Getting these elements right is central to our design and engineering process.

How Displays Influence the Customer Journey

The impact of a great display on your bottom line is significant. An attractive display can increase sales dramatically, and studies show that the vast majority of shoppers say a store’s appearance influences their decision to buy. Visual merchandising shapes the entire customer journey, from the moment someone walks in to the final purchase. An eye-catching display can interrupt a customer’s planned path, introduce them to products they hadn’t considered, and create an inspiring shopping experience that builds brand loyalty. When your displays tell a clear and compelling story, you’re not just selling a product—you’re creating a memorable interaction that keeps customers coming back. You can see examples of these principles in action in our work with leading retailers.

Create Displays That Convert

A great retail display does more than just showcase your products—it tells a story, captures attention, and guides customers toward a purchase. Think of your displays as silent salespeople, working around the clock to engage shoppers and drive sales. Creating a display that truly converts is a blend of art and science. It involves understanding your customer’s mindset and using visual cues to create an experience that feels both intuitive and exciting.

When a customer walks into your store, you have just a few seconds to make an impression. A well-designed display can stop them in their tracks and draw them in for a closer look. By strategically using elements like color, lighting, and product placement, you can create a powerful visual narrative that not only highlights your merchandise but also strengthens your brand identity. Let’s get into the specific techniques you can use to turn your displays into high-performing sales tools.

Use Color to Influence Shoppers

Color is one of the most powerful tools in your visual merchandising toolkit. It’s not just about making things look pretty; color has a direct impact on mood and can subtly influence a shopper's decision-making process. For example, warm colors like red and orange can create a sense of urgency, making them perfect for sale or clearance sections. Cool colors like blue and green tend to evoke feelings of calm and trust, which can be great for high-end or wellness products. When planning your display, think about the message you want to send. A strategic color palette that aligns with your brand and campaign goals will make your display more cohesive and effective.

Light Your Products Strategically

The right lighting can completely transform a display, making products pop and creating an inviting atmosphere. Instead of relying on generic overhead lighting, use a layered approach to guide your customer’s eye. Accent lighting, like spotlights, is perfect for drawing attention to hero products, new arrivals, or high-margin items. Ambient lighting sets the overall mood of the space, while decorative fixtures can add a touch of personality that reinforces your brand. Strategic lighting is a key part of the design and engineering process, ensuring your most important products are always seen in the best possible light and never left in the shadows.

Group Products for Maximum Impact

How you group your products can make the difference between a quick glance and a sale. Instead of just lining up similar items, try creating a story through thematic arrangements. This technique, often called cross-merchandising, involves grouping complementary products together. For instance, a display could feature a complete outfit—jeans, a top, a jacket, and accessories—to show shoppers how to style a full look. This not only makes the display more visually interesting but also encourages customers to buy multiple items. By showing products in context, you help customers visualize how they’ll use them, making a purchase feel more natural and intuitive.

Design Clear and Compelling Signage

Your signage is the voice of your display, so it needs to be clear, concise, and compelling. Good signage quickly communicates essential information like price, product benefits, and current promotions without overwhelming the shopper. Keep the text brief and easy to scan, using a font and style that are consistent with your brand’s identity. A well-placed sign can answer a customer’s questions before they even have to ask, removing friction from the buying process. When integrated thoughtfully into your fixtures, signage becomes a seamless part of the overall design, guiding customers and reinforcing your brand message. You can see great examples of this in our past projects.

Place Your Products Strategically

A stunning display can fall flat if it’s in the wrong spot. Strategic product placement is about understanding how customers move through your space and what catches their eye. It’s a subtle but powerful way to guide their shopping journey and make it easier for them to find—and buy—what you’re selling. By thinking carefully about where products live on the shelf and in the store, you can significantly influence purchasing decisions. Let's look at four key strategies for placing your products where they’ll have the most impact.

Position Products at Eye Level

It’s a classic retail rule for a reason: eye level is buy level. Products placed directly in a customer’s line of sight are simply more likely to be seen and considered. Think of this shelf space as your prime real estate. This is where you should feature your high-margin items, best-sellers, or products you’re currently promoting. By placing these key items between waist and eye level, you make it effortless for shoppers to notice them. This simple adjustment can have a direct impact on sales, turning a passing glance into a definite purchase. The goal is to make the discovery process as easy as possible for your customers.

Master Cross-Merchandising

Cross-merchandising is the art of showing customers how different products can work together. Instead of keeping all similar items in one place, you create small, curated collections that tell a story. For example, you might display a set of pasta bowls next to gourmet pasta, sauce, and a cookbook. This approach doesn't just sell individual items; it sells an idea or a solution. It helps shoppers visualize how they might use the products, which often encourages them to buy the entire set. Well-executed cross-merchandising makes shopping more intuitive and can significantly increase the average basket size. Our team can help you design custom fixtures that make these product pairings look seamless.

Optimize for Store Traffic Flow

Think of your store’s layout as a roadmap for your customers. A well-designed traffic flow guides shoppers on a natural path, making their experience feel intuitive and enjoyable. By arranging your fixtures and displays logically, you can lead customers through different departments and expose them to a wider range of products. Grouping related categories together prevents confusion and helps shoppers find what they need efficiently. This strategic approach, famously used by stores like IKEA, ensures customers see more of your merchandise without feeling lost or overwhelmed, creating more opportunities for them to discover something new and make an additional purchase.

Create Compelling Focal Points

Every area of your store should have a point of interest that draws the eye. These focal points act as visual anchors, breaking up long aisles and guiding customers through the space. A focal point could be a well-styled mannequin, a unique POP display, or a feature wall with a bold design. These displays should tell a story, whether it’s about a new collection, a seasonal theme, or a special promotion. By creating these compelling visual moments, you not only make your store more engaging but also strategically direct attention to key products. Our design and prototyping services can help you create standout fixtures that become the centerpiece of your retail environment.

Design Dynamic Seasonal Displays

Keeping your retail space fresh is key to encouraging repeat visits, and nothing does that better than a well-executed seasonal display. These displays tap into the excitement of holidays, seasons, and special events, creating a sense of urgency and relevance. For retailers with multiple locations, a coordinated seasonal strategy ensures a consistent and engaging brand experience for every customer, no matter which store they walk into. It’s about more than just swapping out products; it’s about transforming your space to tell a new story.

Develop a Strong Theme

A strong theme is the foundation of any memorable display. It’s the central idea that ties everything—products, props, signage, and lighting—together into a cohesive narrative. Instead of just thinking "fall," develop a more specific concept like "Harvest Festival" or "Crisp Morning Hike." A clear theme guides your product selection and makes the display feel intentional and inspiring. Visual merchandising is all about arranging products in a store to tell a story that resonates with shoppers, and a compelling theme is your opening chapter. It transforms a simple product arrangement into an experience that captures attention and encourages customers to buy into the world you’ve created.

Plan Your Display Calendar

Great seasonal displays don’t just happen; they’re planned months in advance. A display calendar is your roadmap for the year, outlining when each theme will launch and be taken down. This is especially critical for multi-location rollouts, where coordination is everything. Plan for major holidays, seasons, and promotional events like back-to-school or annual sales. Change displays regularly to keep your store looking current and give customers a reason to see what’s new. By planning ahead, you give your teams—from design to logistics—enough time to source props, produce signage, and execute a flawless installation across all your stores.

Prepare for Special Events

Beyond the four seasons, your calendar should include special events that matter to your customers. Think big, like the Super Bowl or a major movie release, but also consider local events like a town festival or marathon. These moments offer unique opportunities to connect with your community and create timely, relevant displays. A great display can make shopping memorable and position your brand as part of the conversation. By preparing for these events, you show customers that you’re in tune with what’s happening in their world, turning your store into a destination rather than just a place to shop.

Incorporate Interactive Elements

Want to make your display truly unforgettable? Get your customers involved. Interactive elements invite shoppers to touch, play, and connect with your products on a deeper level. This could be as simple as a station to test a product, a photo booth area with a branded hashtag, or a QR code that links to a video or style guide. The goal is to move beyond passive viewing and create an active experience. By creating a narrative or theme that includes an interactive component, you give customers a reason to linger, share their experience on social media, and build a stronger connection with your brand.

Leverage Technology in Your Displays

Technology offers incredible opportunities to make your retail displays more engaging, interactive, and effective. By thoughtfully incorporating digital elements, you can capture shoppers' attention in new ways and provide a richer, more informative experience. This isn't about adding tech for the sake of it; it's about using it to solve customer problems and create a memorable journey. From dynamic digital signs that tell a story to augmented reality that lets customers visualize products in their own homes, technology can transform a static display into a dynamic conversation.

When planning a large-scale rollout, it's essential to work with a partner who understands how to integrate these elements seamlessly. The best custom retail fixtures are designed from the ground up to support digital screens, smart lighting, and other components, ensuring a polished look and reliable performance across all your locations. This forward-thinking approach allows you to create displays that not only look great but also work hard to drive sales and gather valuable data.

Integrate Digital Screens

Swapping static signage for digital screens is one of the most effective ways to create a dynamic in-store environment. Moving content naturally draws the eye, allowing you to showcase products in action, share customer testimonials, or run eye-catching promotions. The content can be updated in minutes across your entire fleet of stores, giving you incredible flexibility. You can even create new revenue by turning your screens into a retail media network, allowing brand partners to advertise directly to your customers at the point of purchase.

Explore Augmented Reality

Augmented reality (AR) bridges the gap between the physical and digital worlds, offering customers a unique way to interact with your products. Imagine a shopper pointing their phone at a display and seeing a sofa appear in their own living room, or virtually trying on a pair of sunglasses without ever touching them. This kind of interactive experience is more than just a novelty; it helps customers make confident purchasing decisions by removing uncertainty. By making your displays more engaging, AR in retail can lead to higher conversion rates and fewer returns.

Use Analytics to Track Performance

How do you know if your displays are actually working? Technology provides the answer. By using sensors and analytics, you can gather real-world data on how customers interact with your merchandising. You can track foot traffic, measure dwell time, and identify which displays are most effective at capturing attention and driving sales. This data-driven approach removes the guesswork from visual merchandising, allowing you to make informed decisions and continuously refine your strategy. A partner with strong project management skills can help you implement and analyze these systems effectively.

Implement Smart Lighting

Lighting is a powerful tool for setting the mood and guiding the customer's eye. Smart lighting systems give you precise control over this crucial element. You can program your lights to change in brightness and color temperature throughout the day, creating an energetic morning atmosphere or a relaxed evening vibe. Use focused spotlights to draw attention to high-margin products or new arrivals. Thoughtful lighting makes your products look their best and enhances the overall shopping experience. Integrating these systems is a key part of the design and engineering process for creating truly effective fixtures.

Build Sustainable and Cost-Effective Displays

Creating beautiful, effective displays doesn’t have to come at a high environmental or financial cost. In fact, building sustainability into your visual merchandising strategy is one of the smartest moves you can make. It shows customers you care about more than just the bottom line, and it often leads to significant long-term savings. Think of it as a win-win: you reduce your environmental footprint while also making your budget go further.

This approach isn't about compromising on quality or aesthetics. It’s about making thoughtful choices from the ground up. By focusing on durable materials, energy-efficient technology, and adaptable designs, you can create displays that are not only stunning but also responsible. This forward-thinking mindset allows you to build a flexible and resilient display program that can evolve with your brand. With the right design and engineering, your fixtures can become long-term assets rather than short-term expenses.

Choose Eco-Friendly Materials

The materials you choose for your fixtures set the tone for your entire display. More and more, shoppers are drawn to brands that use natural and environmentally conscious materials. Incorporating elements like reclaimed wood, recycled metal, bamboo, or other sustainable composites can tell a powerful story about your brand’s values. This shift not only appeals to your customers but also enhances your store’s atmosphere, giving it an authentic and grounded feel. When you plan your fixtures, ask about the origin of the materials and look for options with a low carbon footprint to make a choice that’s good for business and the planet.

Install Energy-Efficient Lighting

Lighting is crucial for making your products pop, but it can also be a major drain on your energy bill. Switching to energy-efficient lighting, like LEDs, is a simple change with a huge impact. LEDs use significantly less electricity than traditional bulbs, last much longer, and produce less heat, which can even help lower your cooling costs. This move reduces your store’s operational expenses while aligning with sustainable practices. Good lighting guides the customer’s eye and creates a welcoming mood, and using an energy-efficient solution proves that you can be both brilliant and responsible.

Invest in Adaptable Fixtures

Your retail space needs to be dynamic, changing with seasons, promotions, and new product arrivals. Investing in adaptable or modular fixtures gives you the flexibility to refresh your displays without starting from scratch every time. Look for systems with interchangeable components, adjustable shelving, and mobile units that can be easily reconfigured. This versatility means you can create entirely new layouts and presentations without the high cost and waste of replacing entire fixture sets. It’s a strategic investment that pays off by allowing you to keep your store looking fresh and relevant while minimizing long-term expenses.

Design Reusable Display Elements

Think about how many display elements get tossed out after a single promotion. Designing reusable components is a key strategy for cutting down on waste and saving money. Instead of campaign-specific signage, use timeless sign holders with easily swappable inserts. Opt for neutral props, risers, and backdrops that can be used across different seasonal themes with just a few small tweaks. By focusing on creating a kit of durable, versatile parts, you can build a library of display elements that serve your store for years. This approach ensures your custom fixtures are built for the long haul, not just a single season.

Common Display Mistakes to Avoid

Creating a stunning retail display is a huge accomplishment, but even the best concepts can fall flat if they fall into a few common traps. These mistakes can confuse customers, dilute your brand message, and ultimately hurt your sales. The good news is that they’re all avoidable with a bit of planning. By steering clear of these pitfalls, you can ensure your displays consistently attract, engage, and convert shoppers. Let’s walk through the most frequent missteps and how you can sidestep them.

Avoid Overcrowding and Clutter

It’s tempting to showcase as much product as possible, but a cluttered display can overwhelm customers. When too many items compete for attention, shoppers don’t know where to look, and the perceived value of each product drops. Think of your display as a curated gallery, not a storage closet. Give your products room to breathe by using negative space effectively. This helps draw the eye to key items and creates a more high-end, organized feel. A thoughtful design that focuses on a hero product or a small, cohesive group of items will always outperform a messy, overcrowded shelf.

Ensure Clear Navigation

Your displays should guide customers, not create obstacles. If shoppers can’t easily find what they’re looking for, they’re likely to leave empty-handed. In fact, research shows that many shoppers get frustrated by confusing signage. Make sure your signs are easy to read, concise, and placed where they can be seen. Keep pathways clear so customers can move freely through the space without bumping into fixtures. Your displays are part of your store’s overall traffic flow, so arrange them logically to create an intuitive and pleasant shopping journey from the entrance to the checkout counter.

Maintain Consistent Branding

Every display is an opportunity to tell your brand’s story. If your fixtures and signage don’t align with your brand identity, you’re sending a mixed message. A rustic, wooden display might look great, but it will feel out of place in a sleek, modern tech store. Use colors, materials, and fonts that reflect your brand’s personality across all your displays. This consistency builds brand recognition and trust with your customers. Creating a cohesive brand story is especially important for retailers with multiple locations, as it ensures customers have the same great experience no matter which store they visit.

Don't Neglect Maintenance

You could design the most brilliant display in the world, but if it’s dusty, disorganized, or has a burnt-out lightbulb, its impact is lost. Neglected displays signal to customers that you don’t care about your products or your store, which can quickly erode their confidence. Make display maintenance a part of your team’s daily routine. Create a simple checklist for tidying, restocking, and cleaning fixtures. Regularly updating your displays also keeps your store looking fresh and gives customers a reason to come back. Investing in high-quality fixtures that are durable and easy to clean will make this process much simpler.

How to Measure Display Performance

You’ve put in the work to create a beautiful display, but is it actually working? You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Moving beyond gut feelings and into data helps you understand what truly resonates with your customers and drives sales. By tracking the right things, you can refine your strategy, prove the value of your merchandising efforts, and make every square foot of your store work harder for you. This process is about creating a feedback loop that ensures your displays aren't just pretty, but profitable.

Identify Key Performance Metrics (KPIs)

First, you need to define what success looks like. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are the specific metrics you’ll use to gauge your display’s effectiveness. Go beyond simple sales numbers and consider metrics like conversion rate (the percentage of shoppers who interact with the display and then buy), sales per square foot, and customer dwell time. Since visual merchandising elements can account for a huge portion of a customer's purchase decision, tracking these details is essential. These KPIs will give you a clear picture of how your displays are contributing to your store’s profitability and overall customer experience.

Analyze Customer Behavior

The best way to understand if a display is working is to watch how people interact with it. Are shoppers stopping to look, or are they walking right by? Do they touch the products, read the signs, or take items with them? You can gather this information through simple, direct observation or by using in-store analytics technology. Watching your customers provides invaluable qualitative data that numbers alone can’t capture. This feedback loop is critical for the initial design and prototyping of fixtures, ensuring they are built to encourage the right kind of engagement from the start.

Assess the Impact on Sales

Ultimately, your displays need to contribute to the bottom line. Poor display management can be incredibly costly, leading shoppers to abandon stores and costing retailers billions in potential revenue. To measure the financial impact, track the sales of products featured in your display before, during, and after the campaign. A simple lift analysis will show you the direct return on your investment. This data is powerful for making the case for future merchandising budgets and demonstrates how a well-executed program, supported by strong project management, directly translates into increased revenue.

Make Data-Driven Improvements

Collecting data is only half the battle; you have to use it to make smart decisions. Use your findings to A/B test different elements of your displays. Try a different color scheme, new signage, or an alternative product grouping and measure the results. Regularly checking your sales data will help you identify what’s selling well so you can reorder popular items quickly and adjust your displays accordingly. This creates a cycle of continuous improvement where each display is more effective than the last. By investing in adaptable fixtures, you can make these ongoing adjustments quickly and cost-effectively, ensuring your retail environment is always optimized for performance.

Frequently Asked Questions

I’m new to visual merchandising. What’s the most important thing to focus on first? Start by thinking about your focal point. When a customer approaches a display, what is the one thing you want them to see first? Place that hero product at eye level—it’s the most valuable real estate in your store. Before you worry about complex themes or lighting, just focus on creating a clear, uncluttered presentation that makes your best products impossible to miss.

How often should I be changing my displays? There isn't a single magic number, but a good rule of thumb is to refresh your displays with every major season, product launch, or promotional event. The goal is to give your regular customers something new to see each time they visit. A well-planned display calendar will help you stay ahead, ensuring your store always feels current and aligned with what your shoppers are thinking about, whether it's a holiday or the start of a new school year.

Do I need a big budget to create displays that actually sell? Not at all. Creativity and strategy will always have a bigger impact than a huge budget. You can make a significant difference by focusing on smart, cost-effective principles like using color psychology, grouping products to tell a story, and keeping your displays clean and well-lit. Investing in adaptable, modular fixtures is also a great long-term strategy, as it allows you to create fresh looks without buying new units for every season.

What’s the single biggest mistake you see retailers make with their displays? The most common mistake is clutter. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that more product equals more sales, but the opposite is usually true. An overcrowded display overwhelms the eye and makes everything look less valuable. Giving your products space to breathe creates a more premium feel and helps guide the customer’s attention directly to what you want them to see.

How can I keep my displays consistent across dozens or even hundreds of locations? Consistency across multiple stores comes down to having a solid plan and a reliable partner. It starts with creating a clear visual merchandising guide and a master display calendar that every store can follow. Working with a fixture provider who specializes in large-scale rollouts is also key. They can manage the design, manufacturing, and logistics to ensure every location receives the correct components and instructions for a flawless, uniform execution.

How to Improve Retail Sales With Displays That Convert