by Rosie Schulz | Jun 19, 2019 | Trends, Visual Merchandising, Visual Presentation, Window dressing |
The world of retail is big and crowded. How does one stand out from the rest, develop lasting relationships with customers, sell their product and create a beautiful space all at the same time? From a creative perspective, we’ve put together our five top tips for retail success. 1. Create an experience in your shopping centre through memorable activations. Design interactions Allow visitors to play with and experience a product. From pop-up activations and champagne bars, to school holiday workshops and personal styling sessions, there are many ways to interact with your customers to create an engaging space with a point of difference. Energize your precinct Engage and evoke emotions and creating relationships. School holiday activations and workshops invite families to extend their stay in the centre as well as create repeat trips to your shopping precinct. Design a late night shopping experience with a glamorous pop-up bar for friends to catch up at, or lay down some vibrant green artificial turf for a secret garden themed space with pallet furniture and tepee tents. With zones brought to life, customers will be inclined to increase their dwell time. Unexpected areas such as workshop pop-ups with greenery and colour strike interest and evoke emotion of wanting to be included in the activation. Disrupt, adapt, react and innovate. (WGSN) Activate stagnant zones by encouraging involvement and inviting interaction with customers. Encourage retailers to become involved in activating a space by instructing a demo therefore leading to sales. Inspire people to photograph and share your space onto social media for advertising and publicity. Add some signage with a hashtag and watch it...
by Rosie Schulz | Mar 27, 2019 | Custom Design, Shopping Centre, Visual Merchandising, Window dressing |
“Sometimes the most inspiring person you’ve ever known is the first person you’ve ever met” Spoil mum this month in your shopping centre with a Personal Shopping Experience, Pop-up Champagne Bar or a deluxe Gift Wrapping Station. We also have endless ideas on how to dress your windows for Mother’s Day and celebrate in style. Champagne for Mum Create a late night shopping experience for the mothers out there with a glamorous pop-up champagne bar. Make it glow with hanging disco balls over head as they reflect the petals of a cherry blossom tree. Add some extra luxury with velvet furniture for mum to relax on as the family spends time hunting for the perfect gift. Keep it classy with marquee letters to catch the attention of passersby, LOVE or MUM are the perfect words to express admiration. Pink Power Decorate and design your windows for Mother’s Day with pretty pink flowers and love hearts. By choosing a colour, there are many ways to show love for all of the mums around us. Fill your windows with strawberry tones and use repetition to encourage present purchases. By filling your store windows with pink motifs, it is a reminder to shoppers that the occasion is coming up, your store front will stay in their mind and remind them to come back or go straight in as they know they will find a gift in-store. Luxury Pods A personal shopping experience or styling lounge is the perfect way to treat mum to a little luxury experience. If you don’t want to commit to a complete styling experience, create ‘luxury pods’...
by Rosie Schulz | Feb 19, 2019 | Children's Play Space, Custom Design, Shopping Centre, Trends, Visual Merchandising, Window dressing |
“Follow the Easter bunny… He has the chocolate” There are many ways to celebrate Easter. This year we’ve decided on four looks for various Easter activations and displays that you can bring into your shopping centre or store front display this year. Invite the Easter bunny into town with chocolate eggs and pastel bunting as children hunt for eggs in a bright garden party theme or create a sanctuary with a neutral look featuring DIY activities. Bright as a Bunny Vibrant green artificial turf, a life size fig tree, market carts filled with flowers and pastel seating for tired shoppers. The ultimate Easter activation! If your centre is thinking of promoting a school holiday activity area this year, look no further than VM+ to create a whimsical experience for both children and parents. From little moss bunnies to giant sunflowers, activation spaces can be created to ensure your promotion is the focus and time spent in-store is increased. With white picket fencing and kid friendly pallet furniture, our kids school holiday activations are memorable and unique. View our activation gallery on Facebook here. Carousel Capture Get your hashtags ready and the Instagram filter prepped. Photo backdrops are the perfect way to share that your centre is current on social media platforms. With Easter around the corner, backdrop displays encourage shoppers to linger, take a snap with friends and share their location on social media. By avoiding the classic Easter motifs, target the next generation with beautiful visuals and your customers are more likely to share their experience. We love the paper fan blooms, cherry blossom trees and our white...
by Rosie Schulz | Feb 11, 2019 | International VM, Shopping Centre, Trends, Visual Merchandising |
An Authentic Australian Autumn “I see the turning of a leaf dancing in an autumn sun, and brilliant shades of crimson glowing when the day is done”. As Autumn approaches in Australia, instead of visions of pumpkin lattes and maple leaves, we start getting excited about the prospect of pulling out a long sleeved shirt and start to panic slightly about the end of summer weather warnings. As summer swings into autumn, the tones of chocolate brown, mustard ochre and caramel latte tones get absorbed into our clothing and home wares. Bloom We’d like to introduce autumn to you this year with the soft feathery details of pampas grass, artisan rattan light shades and a delicate mix of textures. With an eye for composition and balance, mixing textures is the perfect way to subtly introduce the autumn season with harsh surfaces symbolizing winter and the delicate finishes representing summer. We have introduced the textures of mirrored disco balls to add contrast to the soft neutral foliage. Experimentation is key with this look and play is essential. The bloom trend embraces fallen foliage such as palms and fronds instead of the classic maple leaf. For the ultimate DIY – grab a can of spray paint and coat that frond in glossy gold. Farm House Getting into the more classical autumnal style, this look focuses on weekends spent in the country with cups of tea and homemade scones. Textures include jute rugs, leather ottomans and vintage suitcases. Like any country home, the farm house look is created through the art of layering (just as you would with your clothing during...
by Rosie Schulz | Jan 22, 2019 | Trends, Visual Merchandising |
2019 Trends “You’ve always got to push yourself forward; you’ve always got to keep up with the trends or make your own trends.” – Alexander McQueen Trends can be broken down into many categories; interior design, fashion, graphic and industrial design, technology and beauty. Thanks to the world of Pinterest and Instagram, trends are coming and going as fast as their legs can carry them. Trends can be a direct focus on colour (hello, yes we see you there Living Coral), inspired by a location (1950’s Palm Springs anyone?), and this isn’t the first time we have seen a retro movement cycle back again (will spots and stripes ever be not on trend), or even a lifestyle choice, as sustainability disrupts fast fashion. We’ve curated a select group of trends which have flowed through each category and we predict, will inch their way into your lives this year. Living Coral Phrased by Pantone as, “an animating and life-affirming coral hue with a golden undertone that energizes and enlivens with a softer edge”, Living Coral is a colour that embodies play and expression. Social media platforms were a big influence for this colour trend, inspired by destinations that reflect the pink/red pigment, such as the Amalfi Coast. This tint is harmonious with a variety of other colours including muted merigold, burnt orange, cloudy grey or sea salt green. We want to see walls dedicated to this colour, furniture becoming enveloped in coral velvet and artwork lining your walls featuring the peachy tone. Living Coral strives to seek authenticity in a world dominated by technology; an authenticity that casts a hue...
by Rosie Schulz | Dec 21, 2018 | Children's Play Space, Christmas, Custom Design, Shopping Centre, Visual Merchandising |
“Lets do what we love, and do a lot of it” – Marc Jacobs As the year comes to a close, it’s the perfect opportunity to look back on 2018 and bring out the VM highlight reel. From Chinese New Year installations to Rainforest Play Spaces, an arcade extravaganza, Christmas decorations out of our ears and everything in-between. We’re excited to show you our favourite parts of 2018! One of our favourite play space activations for 2018 was Tree Top Play, a hinterland inspired sensory space for little ones to explore and experience. Including a tree house, distortion mirrors and hanging greenery rings hiding frogs and birds, the play space is the perfect location for interactive learning and fun. Read more on the blog, specifically about the incredible custom designed features of this space, here. It almost feels like a whole year ago we completed this job, but during February, VM+ installed a stunning installation of red and gold fans and lanterns to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Two chandeliers hung in the two Australia Fair Shopping Centre voids, dripping with cherry blossom detailed fans, 2018 disks and lanterns with eye catching tassels. A traditional CNY dragon was also setup in the centre as a photo opportunity for visitors to the Gold Coast. Our next memorable moment is the fun we had putting our visual merchandising hats on for B Lucky & Sons. We traveled to Melbourne and Brisbane to VM the incredible retro selection of prizes and memorabilia for the adult arcade bars. Shelves and cabinets within the arcade bars required visual merchandising so winners could choose their prizes,...
