My Assistant and Daily 5 contributor Nina spotted an article from Linda Cahan, which she posted in the Daily 5 two days ago. We liked Linda’s article so much that we decided to find her on  LinkedIn to see if she might be interested in sharing a little something with us. Lucky us…she was interested ! I really enjoyed reading what she has to share and couldn’t agree with her more! I believe you will be seeing more of Linda on Shoebizness, but for now enjoy her perspective!

Linda Cahan-Visual Merchandising Guru

We all have our ways to ride out tough times –Some personal favorites are the “curl up in a fetal position” method, the “face it square-on” stance or the “this is not happening to me” state of denial. 

I’ve tried them all but the only one that really works is the “face-it, it’s happening” stance or, deal with reality before it deals with you.

I’ve been in retail for a really long time – although it feels like yesterday when I dressed my first mannequin in 1971.

Being in visual merchandising, I quickly learned about Murphy’s Law– “Whatever can go wrong will go wrong.” I also discovered that whatever you focus on grows. I know it’s a cliché. But, clichés generally evolve because they’re true.

Quick story: I was setting up a display showroom on West 19^th St. in NYC many years ago and Murphy’s Law was kicking my butt. That night as I walked over to East 19^th St. to meet friends for dinner I started listing in my mind all the things that went wrong that day. After a few minutes I decided I didn’t have enough for a good story to entertain my friends and, with that thought I stepped into dog crap – a biggieI knew right away I had my story – just not the one I originally planned.

I was focusing on how crappy my day had been and then managed to create the ultimate topper. I learned (finally) that listing my problems was not such a great idea.

Now, I list good things that happen during the day and am very superstitious about listing the bad ones. I want to focus on the good stuff. Of course I take care of the negative things that pop up – in fact I try to do so quickly so I don’t have to focus on them for any length of time.

 So….here I am going on about the power of positive thinking when I originally planned to write about visual merchandising for shoe stores. But, it’s all related somehow.

VM TIP:

A great visual merchandising idea for your store is inspired by Paco Underhill of Envirosell, NYC. Paco has his teams watch shoppers habits to see how and why they buy. You can do the same in your store unless you want to hire Paco’s team, which I would in a heartbeat if I had a store and the budget to do so.

Just ask whoever is on the selling floor to keep a small pad of paper and pen with them at all times. Note what each customer does. Do they stop once they come into your store and just look at the front table? Do they move left or right or go straight ahead?

One terrific shoe store in Vancouver, WA was having problems getting customers beyond the front door area. When I visited the store to do a consult it was easy to see why. A long, narrow main table sat parallel to the front of the store which was blocking people from moving forward and looking around the store. When a customer didn’t like what she saw on that table as she walked in – she just walked right out again. She didn’t need to come in further because she hadn’t made a time commitment to the space by entering it more deeply. Once you’re in people acknowledge your existence and it’s tough to just walk out. But, when there’s a physical barrier between you and the store staff – as well as the rest of the store, walking out is a breeze.

So, we moved the table and added smaller tables that told one shoe story per table. The small tables allowed the customers to wander through the store easily and each table led to another creating ongoing focal areas. Their business improved and everyone was happy! Plus, I bartered for some fabulous shoes – or at least as fabulous I can wear with my 59-year-old retail feet.

So, bottom line – watch how your customers move through your store and make it easy for them – don’t block them. Also, don’t list your problems – focus on the good stuff and deal quickly with the not-so good.

And believe in luck. It can and will happen for you!

Linda Cahan, Cahan & Company, West Linn, OR, is a retail design consultant with 38 years of experience working with all types and sizes of retailers from Saks Fifth Avenue, Bonwit Teller, American Express Travel, United Rentals, Meijer, Lancome, Singer and Intel to main street independent shops.

Linda travels around the world giving seminars, consulting and training retailers on all aspects of Visual Merchandising and Store Design. Her most current book is “Feng Shui for Retailers” which covers practical and logical ways to use the concepts of Feng Shui in a retail environment. She also believes a good shoe is a work of art!

www.lindacahan.com

lindacahan@verizon.net