Retail Therapy or Retail Frustration: How Poor Visual Merchandising Hurts Mid-Market Stores
According to a recent study by One Door and GlobalData, mid-market retailers are losing about $54.1 billion annually due to poor visual merchandising — the biggest loss of any retail segment.
(You can download the full report here.)
Overview
Key Shopper Insights
Mid-market shoppers are often driven by “retail therapy,” making purchases for a temporary serotonin boost rather than out of necessity (unlike needs-based retailers with their own merchandising challenges).
Because mid-market shoppers typically browse casually, they are more prone to impulse buys, making them a key demographic for in-store visual merchandising strategies.
These shoppers frequent popular mall retailers like Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch, Crate & Barrel, Sephora, Ulta, and Dick’s Sporting Goods.
They also shop at large department stores such as Macy’s, Kohl’s, and Dillard’s — retailers that account for a significant share of U.S. retail sales.
This preference for mid-market stores may contribute to varying financial losses across retail segments.
However, poor visual merchandising has a particularly strong impact on this group of shoppers.
Top Merchandising Challenges for Mid-Market Retailers
- Hard-to-find Products: 46.3% of shoppers identified hard-to-find products as the top merchandising problem.
- Poor Display Management: 37.5% of consumers said messy displays were their biggest frustration, followed by disorganized displays (28.9%) and cluttered displays (26.7%).
- Boring Displays: 25.4% of shoppers were dissatisfied with uninspiring displays.
- Worn-out Fixtures: 19.4% of shoppers were frustrated with worn-out fixtures.
Hard-to-find Products
Mid-market shoppers are often casual browsers who enjoy the in-store shopping experience.
Unlike needs-based shoppers who enter a store with a specific item in mind or a grocery list in hand, mid-market consumers are more influenced by product visibility and presentation.
This makes seamless product discovery essential for driving impulse purchases and maintaining customer engagement.
However, when products are difficult to find due to poor visual merchandising, these shoppers quickly lose interest and move on:
Nearly 40 million consumers — one in four shoppers — left a mid-market store without making a purchase in the past year, contributing to the highest shopper abandonment rates across retail segments.
This issue isn’t just frustrating for customers. It has a direct financial impact, costing mid-market retailers $8.1 billion annually.
And friction in the shopping journey leads to more than real-life cart abandonment.
Over the last year, 27% of mid-market shoppers spent less time in-store than they intended, resulting in an additional $7.5 billion in lost revenue.
Even more concerning, 23% of shoppers decided to never return, further costing retailers $6.5 billion.
These statistics support the theory that when shopping feels like a hassle rather than an enjoyable experience, especially for those browsing casually, customer loyalty erodes quickly.
For mid-market retailers, where competition is fierce and retaining shoppers is a challenge, poor visual merchandising is a direct threat to sales and brand reputation.
However, this challenge presents a unique opportunity. By ensuring a seamless omnichannel retail experience, mid-market stores can capture lost sales as disappointed shoppers turn to their website or mobile app instead.
Poor Display Management
Let’s break down how each element of poor display management affects mid-market stores in terms of shopper abandonment and lost sales:
- Cluttered displays led 22.6 million shoppers to leave a mid-market store, costing retailers $7.9 billion — almost as much as hard-to-find products.
- Messy displays caused 31.8 million shoppers to abandon a store. Retailers lost out on $6.6 billion in revenue as a direct result of messy displays.
- Disorganized displays led 24.5 million shoppers to walk out the door. This cost mid-market retailers $5 billion in lost sales.
- Boring and/or uninspiring displays made 21.6 million shoppers exit a mid-market store, costing retailers another $5 billion.
Combining all visual merchandising challenges in correlation with poor display management, mid-market retailers are looking at total losses upward of $24 billion per year.
Messy, cluttered, disorganized, and boring displays make it hard for customers to get excited about new products.
It makes it tough for shoppers to envision and get inspired. Mid-market shoppers are highly visual, and when merchandising lacks creativity, stores miss the opportunity to influence purchasing decisions.
Instead of fostering curiosity and impulse buying, poor visual merchandising creates frustration, leading shoppers to disengage or leave the store altogether.
Disorganization also gives the impression of neglect. A store with cluttered shelves or poorly maintained displays can feel chaotic and overwhelming, making shoppers less inclined to browse.
For a demographic that often shops for enjoyment rather than necessity, an unappealing store environment removes the pleasure from the experience.
Worn-out Fixtures
Almost 20% of shoppers cited worn-out fixtures as a top merchandising challenge in mid-market stores.
In fact, according to the report, worn-out fixtures directly cost mid-market retailers $3.6 billion annually. (That’s likely more than the total bill for fixture maintenance throughout the year.)
This is because shoppers expect a polished and inviting store environment. Worn-out fixtures instantly undermine that breezy experience.
When shelves are chipped, racks are wobbly, or signage is faded, it creates a sense of neglect that makes shoppers question the store’s overall quality and attention to detail.
They think, “If a retailer isn’t maintaining its fixtures, I wonder if the same lack of care extends to its products and customer service.”
Beyond aesthetics, faded and outdated fixtures can make shopping feel inconvenient and frustrating. Broken shelves or poorly functioning racks can make it harder to browse.
For shoppers who enjoy the in-store experience, these small obstacles add unnecessary friction, making it more likely they’ll abandon their visit or spend less time in the store than they originally intended.
Perception plays a crucial role in retail, and mid-market shoppers associate a store’s appearance with its brand value. A well-maintained store suggests quality, reliability, and a pleasant shopping experience.
Run-down fixtures give the impression of a struggling or outdated retailer.
In a competitive market, where customers have plenty of other options, failing to invest in store upkeep can push shoppers toward more modern, well-kept alternatives.
The Cost of Poor Merchandising: The $125 Billion Challenge
Arguably, mid-market retailers should be prioritizing great visual merchandising over every other retailer.
They’re the largest segment of the retail industry, which means mid-market stores have the most competition (including e-commerce) — and the most to lose.
For stores catering to impulse buyers and window shoppers, visual merchandising serves as the first and most essential touchpoint in shaping the customer experience.
To gain insight into how vital visual merchandising is for mid-market retailers, download GlobalData and One Door’s latest report, The Cost of Poor Merchandising.