Hint: It’s by adopting retail technology.
Visual merchandisers are the unsung heroes responsible for crafting the in-store experience that captures customers’ hearts. However, despite their best efforts, getting their innovative ideas heard by HQ execs can sometimes feel like an uphill battle. The key to becoming an integral contributing partner in merchandising planning is transparent and collaborative tools that can prove the value visual merchandisers bring to the table. Let’s explore some tips for visual merchandisers to ensure their ideas not only reach HQ but also contribute to the bottom line.
1. Data-Driven Storytelling
Visual merchandisers deeply understand in-store trends, customer preferences, and display performance. To make their ideas resonate with HQ execs, visual merchandisers must become adept at data-driven storytelling to show why their ideas will make an impact. Instead of simply presenting an idea, back it up with relevant data that demonstrates the potential impact on sales, customer engagement, or overall brand perception. Quantifiable metrics are the language of execs, and by speaking it fluently, visual merchandisers can make a compelling case for their proposals.
2. Embrace Collaborative Tools
The lack of transparent and collaborative tools can be a significant barrier to communication between visual merchandisers and HQ execs. Investing in a collaborative platform that allows seamless sharing of ideas, plans, and performance metrics can be a game-changer. Visual merchandisers can use these streamlined tools to present their ideas from the inception, making it easier for execs to grasp the concept and its potential impact. Additionally, with transparency, HQ execs are seeing more of the reasoning behind visual merchandising decisions from the get-go and can understand why plans might be the way they are.
3. Demonstrate ROI Potential
HQ execs are inherently interested in return on investment. Visual merchandisers who adopt technology that can prove how successful their work is, show immediate value based on impacting the bottom line. Whether it’s through increased efficiency in plan execution, higher sales, improved customer satisfaction, or something else, demonstrating the tangible ROI of a visual merchandising initiative can significantly enhance its appeal to HQ execs.
4. Foster Open Communication
Building relationships with HQ execs requires open and transparent communication. However, presenting data that are stacks of paper high or hundreds of columns long on spreadsheets once the planning is in effect isn’t the best way to tell HQ execs what’s going on. Retail technology that fosters real-time transparency in both the planning and execution to compliance phases loops in HQ execs in real-time, so they understand and can bring visual merchandisers into the conversation earlier as strategic partners.
How One Door Can Help
One Door’s visual merchandising solution ensures visual merchandisers have what they need to make and prove their impact at any time in their work process. One Door provides retailers with the tools they need to consolidate their efforts into a single platform, eliminating any silos and allowing for transparency across all the teams, especially between HQ and the visual merchandising teams.
One Door’s platform helps by:
• Measuring promotion compliance, audit, and share store compliance photos, and benefit from two-way, real-time communication between stores and HQ.
• Leveraging AI to help review both good and bad compliance photos faster, giving teams real-time feedback on execution success to prove ROI. (Check out Image IQ!)
• Providing immediate feedback to promote data-driven decision-making.
• Automating real-time communication replaces endless, unorganized email threads, streamlining collaboration among HQ.
• …And more!
Bridging the gap between HQ execs and visual merchandisers is essential for success in the retail industry. Giving a strategic spot to visual merchandisers is crucial for retail success, but they need a tech solution like One Door to truly succeed.
Ready for your seat at the table? Book a demo with One Door today!
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