Sunglass season is around the corner so we thought it would be timely to share some best practices for merchandising sunglasses or really any kind of eyewear. After laying out these sunglass display best practices in today’s blogpost, we’ll share 20 examples of merchandising for sunglass displays in our next two posts with the hope of offering some creative inspiration for your next POP eyewear project.
When it comes to sunglasses, it’s all about perceived value, so investing in a nice sunglass display goes a long way in convincing shoppers that your glasses are high quality and worth the price.
Here are 10 basic design and merchandising principles to teach you how to display sunglasses in store, brought to you by Rich LTD:
1) The display needs to hold the sunglasses straight and securely. To accomplish this, you need to make sure you have the right nose piece and an effective system to hold the ear pieces.
2) Ensure adequate vertical spacing between the glasses. Some glasses are oversized so it is important that the glasses are properly spaced and not hitting each other.
3) Merchandise the sunglasses so the sides are visible, particularly the temple of the glasses since this is often the area for the logo or other points of differentiation.
4) Include a mirror. Sunglasses are one of those items that shopper like to try on and see how they look. Incorporating a mirror makes it easy for shoppers to check themselves out. Make sure your mirror is placed at a height or angled so that a 5.5” woman shopper can see herself.
5) Use white or another type of light background behind the glasses to make them pop. Black or other dark backgrounds can cause the glasses to get lost in the sunglass display.
6) Make sure the display is easy to clean and service. Black bases and black surface areas show dust easily. Pick colors where dust and dirt will blend in and think about cleaning and maintaining the fixture during the design phase.
7) Make it easy for the shopper to put the glasses back on the display after they try them on. Most shoppers don’t care about your sunglasses or your display so it’s got to be easy for them to put the glasses back or else your display will look like a hot mess in short order.
8) Consider a spinner if you are not sure where exactly your display will be placed in stores. A spinner virtually guarantees accessibility of all your sunglasses irrespective of your location in a store. It works out in the open, against a wall and even in corners. Always test the spinner prior to getting it out on the retail floor to make sure the glasses don’t come flying off.
9) If your glasses are sold at a higher price point, consider putting them in a locking case or using an open locking mechanism to keep them secure.
10) Think about boosting sales by cross merchandising sunglass straps, cases, or other accessories. In addition, items like caps, sunscreen, and other related items are excellent complementary items that are typically affordable and can help boost sunglass sales.
Jim Hollen is the owner and President of RICH LTD. (www.richltd.com), a 35+ year-old California-based point-of-purchase display, retail store fixture, and merchandising solutions firm which has been named among the Top 50 U.S. POP display companies for 9 consecutive years. A former management consultant with McKinsey & Co. and graduate of Stanford Business School, Jim Hollen has served more than 3000 brands and retailers over more than 20 years and has authored nearly 500 blogs and e-Books on a wide range of topics related to POP displays, store fixtures, and retail merchandising.
Jim has been to China more than 50 times and has worked directly with more than 30 factories in Asia across a broad range of material categories, including metal, wood, acrylic, injection molded and vacuum formed plastic, corrugated, glass, LED lighting, digital media player, and more. Jim Hollen also oversees RICH LTD.’s domestic manufacturing operation and has experience manufacturing, sourcing, and importing from numerous Asian countries as well as Vietnam and Mexico.
His experience working with brands and retailers spans more than 25 industries such as food and beverage, apparel, consumer electronics, cosmetics/beauty, sporting goods, automotive, pet, gifts and souvenirs, toys, wine and spirits, home improvement, jewelry, eyewear, footwear, consumer products, mass market retail, specialty retail, convenience stores, and numerous other product/retailer categories.