The Mannequin Movement

Are your store displays becoming mundane and stale? Add movement, animation and personality to your store displays with these simple tips. Mannequins are great for adding life to your windows and store displays. But don’t get stuck in the rut of throwing on a new outfit every now and then. Your customers may become bored with seeing the same old thing and not even notice the new items that you have arriving in the store.

Keep liveliness in mind. Pose your mannequins in new and exciting ways. Give motion to the scene by adding a backdrop to drape behind the display. This transports your mannequins to the beach, the city, the woods, wherever you can imagine. What if almost every store in the mall has mannequins wearing swimsuits for the arrival of summer? They might add a few beach balls and shells to the window, but how many other businesses take the time to do something unique? Imagine the customer attraction you would get if you used blue-green lighting, hung your mannequins from the ceiling and had an underwater backdrop. If your mannequins are swimming in mid-air, they’ll be hard to ignore.

Don’t stop there. Use music or sound effects to attract people that may not be paying attention. What if your mannequins were swimming with dolphins? A quiet dolphin sound coming from your display can attract customers from further away, luring them away from other stores. Lights, fans and flowing fabric can really give an underwater appearance.

Another exciting concept is to move your mannequins every day. Your swimmers can travel around inside of their little ocean. They might discover shells or treasure on the bottom one day, or meet up with a shark. Two mannequins might pass each other one day, look back with interest the next day, show a shy attraction the third day, and then finally embrace on the fourth day. Telling a story with your window display is innovative, creative and enticing to customers.

Don’t get stuck in a rut. Your customers will be bored and so will you and your employees. Creativity will help your juices flow and keep up your motivation to do well in your business. Your employees and customers will be entertained and it gives them something to talk about. Customers will spread the word about your store front to their friends. I doubt that word travels quickly about a window display that just has a mannequin in a swim suit standing in it. But curiosity about what’s happening next can keep your customers returning day after day.

Use your brain when you’re coming up with your window ideas. Hold a contest with your employees to see who can come up with the most exciting store displays. Help marketing ideas and creativity become as much of a part of your employees jobs as standing behind the register. Morale and job satisfaction can be boosted with just a few smart moves on your part. Do something new and unique with your window displays today!

About the Author: Ron Maier is the Vice President of S & L Store Fixtures, a leading provider of retail store displays and store fixtures, including slatwall accessories, mannequins and more. For more information, please visit www.slstoredisplays.com.